Chicago -
The Democrats, Episode 1
The Beachwood is proud to kick off its Mystery Debate Theater series with last night’s Democratic brouhaha in South Carolina. Our commentary is provided by Steve Rhodes and Beachwood contributor Andrew Kingsford.
Note: We tuned in late, but just in time to see Barack Obama asked what he would consider “mission complete” status in Iraq and 100 percent not answer the question. He went nowhere near it. Let’s pick up the action from there.
Posted on April 27, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
There has always been a disconnect between the rhetoric of the Obama campaign and its fundraising operation. Far from being a grass-roots effort on behalf of “the people,” Obama is in fact tapping the same wealthy donor base that he decries as “insiders” and “special interests” as Establishment presidential candidates past and present.
What’s worse is the campaign’s willful deception in, among other areas, its e-mail solicitations to the Net crowd in which the rhetoric of a citizens’ campaign is laid on thick, even as the Obama works hard to keep his top-dollar fundraisers secret and out of the press.
Now some hard data and quality reporting is in that illustrates the reality of Obama’s fundraising – and not just the fat cats behind it, but how the campaign has at once declared it won’t accept money from lobbyists even as it accepts money from lobbyists.
Posted on April 24, 2007
By Margaret Burke
To say that I read with interest the article in yesterday’s Tribune about the outsourcing of Olympic bid work to China is an understatement. I’m livid.
The City of Chicago has a residency requirement; anyone who works for the city must live in the city. If I remember correctly, the defense for this requirement was that the taxpayers are paying these people; these people should also be taxpayers. While I don’t necessarily agree that the city gets the best value, as many talented people for many reasons live outside the city limits, there is some value in seeing the taxpayers get something for their money.
I guess that doesn’t go both ways. The Olympic bid committee needs animations. Do they go to local graphic designers and video artists? Do they call the faculty at Columbia College, requesting student submissions? I’m sure there are any number of talented people in Chicago who would have been able to do the work and happy to have it. Some of the best computer graphics minds in the world are right here in Chicago; did anyone consider calling the Electronic Visualization folks at UIC? No, of course not – the bid committee just sent it off to China.
Posted on April 23, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
The Sun-Times expands today on Barack Obama’s relationship with indicted political wheel Tony Rezko in the first of a two-part investigation, this part called “Obama and His Slumlord Patron.”
The paper reports that “new facts [have] come to light that paint Rezko as a landlord overseeing dilapidated housing in the middle of Obama’s former state Senate district,” and that “Obama did legal work on some Rezko deals.”
As the paper acknowledges, the scope of Obama’s work remains unknown. But his involvement at some level is unmistakable – as is the absence of evidence Obama ever spoke up for the low-income citizens in his district whose lives were made miserable by the crappy housing Rezko built for them, even as he was taking campaign contributions from Rezko. On that score, the campaign would only say – in a written statement – that “Senator Obama did follow up on constituency complaints about housing as a matter of routine.”
Posted on April 23, 2007
By Polly Pollworker
This past Tuesday, I served as an equipment manager election judge, in charge of setting-up and trouble-shooting the touchscreen voting machines and the optical scanner (for recording paper ballots) during the election. At the end of the day, it was my responsibility to transmit the votes, dismantle the machines, pack everything up and transport the important materials, including the voting machine memory packs, to the central receiving station.
This was my first time working the vote. Hours of hands-on training had gone into preparing myself and my fellow equipment managers to handle the technology of democracy. I’d read the materials multiple times, highlighted, tabbed and flagged my notebook and attended a practice session, where I’d changed the printer paper so many times I could practically do it blind-folded. I was nervous and excited to participate in an election from the other side of the curtain.
What follows is my riveting account of working the April 17th Cook County Consolidated Election.
Posted on April 20, 2007
By Allison Riggio and Hunter Clauss
Four of the 12 Chicago aldermen running in the April 17 runoff employ relatives or other loved ones on their publicly funded ward staffs, costing taxpayers more than $400,000 a year. While laws in other major cities prohibit this practice, Chicago politicians say there’s nothing wrong with hiring people they trust and think their relatives deserve the same chance as other applicants.
“That’s just something that people always have done,” said Ald. Madeline L. Haithcock, who’s fighting challenger Bob Fioretti to hang on to her 2nd Ward seat. “Almost everybody has a relative on their staff. I have a daughter and have my husband that is watching my back on the West Side.”
Haithcock is not alone, according to a six-month investigation by creatingcommunityconnections.org, and published jointly with The Beachwood Reporter.
Posted on April 12, 2007
By Tim Howe
I’ve swooned over the soaring rhetorical splendor of Barack Obama and John Edwards. I’ve geeked out on the earnestness of Tom Vilsack and Bill Richardson. But most of all, I’ve cringed at the political calculations and machinations of Hillary Clinton. Not only because they seem so redolent of what’s wrong with what politics has become in America, but because they’re likely to be successful and place her squarely on the path to a November ’08 showdown with whoever happens to survive the GOP primary.
And the prospect of a Hillary candidacy more than anything has made me fear for civilization. What passes for political discourse in this country has been on an ever-downward spiral for some time now. And the Red State/Blue State invective long ago reached a level that makes me literally sick to my stomach. And I’m well aware that the right wing’s Public Enemy #1 is Hillary.
While I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU, a big city, pro-choice, pro-labor liberal trial lawyer, I’m also an avid hunter and outdoorsman, so I spend a lot of time with Republicans. Generally, they’re okay people. Really. But going way back to 1992, even the most kind-hearted, decent and open-minded among them have shared one thing: an utter loathing for all things Hillary. I’ve even endured the sweetest little PTA soccer moms telling the most vile jokes about Hillary Clinton’s sex life. It is singularly amazing the level of hatred that’s been directed to this one woman.
Posted on April 3, 2007
