By Steve Rhodes
Mr. Peanut, one of America’s most beloved commercial icons, is getting a bit of a touch-up. The Planters people, promoting their centennial, is giving the public a chance to vote on whether to add a bow tie, cuff links, or a pocket watch to the already stately Peanut’s repertoire.
Or the public could vote to keep Peanut just the way he is.
Mr. Peanut was created by a 14-year-old boy in a contest in 1916, according to a report in today’s New York Times.
“According to the company, Mr. Peanut’s hat, monocle, cane and shoes symbolize fresh taste,” Wikipedia reports. “The gloves do not symbolize anything; Mr. Peanut simply likes them.”
Peanut even once ventured into the political arena, in a way.
“In 1974, the Canadian conceptual artist Vincent Trasov ran for the office of mayor of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia in the guise of Mr. Peanut,” Wikipedia notes. “He wore a full peanut costume, with top hat, monocle, gloves, spats and cane and did nothing but tap-dance at the all-candidates meetings. He garnered less than four percent of the vote.”
Godspeed, Mr. Peanut. If only the Hostess Pie Magician was shown as much love.
Mr. Mayor
Mayor Richard M. Daley previewed a possible slogan for his 2007 re-election campaign on Monday when he declared, of the massive fraud in job-hiring that led to the conviction of his former patronage chief and three other aides,”It Was Not All A Sham.”
Daley said he “should have exercised greater oversight” over hiring, which goes into the apology file next to the rest of his long list of apologies, evasions, and denials about his thoroughly corrupt administration.
As Greg Couch says of Dusty Baker today, don’t we know what kind of manager Daley is by now? A corrupt one. What more do you need to know?
(In July 2004, Shane Tritsch wrote a cover story for Chicago magazine called “The Mystery of Mayor Daley,” which persuasively showed that the mayor is well-aware of what goes on in his administration, and in fact allows it to happen. I’d link to it but the magazine never put it online.)
Daley’s claim of ignorance about the way City Hall hiring worked is laughable. The Sun-Times‘s Fran Spielman says the clout-based hiring system was the worst-kept secret in City Hall, and points out in her report today, that the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs kept a list of 5,700 job-seekers and their political sponsors.
Everyone knew what IGA was up to except the mayor? Robert Sorich, the now-convicted former director of the office, was the mayor’s patronage chief! The mayor doesn’t communicate with his patronage chief about, um, patronage?
As Tony Peraica says, have you had enough yet?
The Bill Beavers Puppet Show
Daley also pulls the strings at the County Board, though Bill Beavers is the current frontman. Todd Stroger is the stooge.
“Though Todd Stroger did not return calls and Beavers continues to speak for the family,” the Sun-Times says, “Beavers insists Todd Stroger is ‘not a puppet for anybody,’ calling him an ‘educated young man’ who ‘has a backbone.'”
Meanwhile, Bill Beavers will triple-dip from the public payroll if he takes John Stroger’s place on the county commission, as planned, so he can tell Todd Stroger when the meetings are and where he should sit.
“But Beavers insisted that he’s not making the career change with dollar signs in his eyes,” the paper says. “That never was about the money. It’s about doing less work. It’s less work being a county commissioner than it is being an alderman.”
Nice to know Beavers will be earning his pay and representing his new constituents with all the vigor they deserve.
Tony Train
Judging by several recent conversations with fellow journalists, the biggest hurdle Tony Peraica faces in becoming a viable alternative to the Machine is satisfying disaffected Democrats that he’s not crazy. Peraica says today that he’s not.
Topinka Twaddle
In a press conference after the fundraising visit of President Bush, Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka had this to say about her opponent, Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “Ethics are important. There is no reason why the public has to put up with an unethical administration. There is no reason why the public has to put up with anything less than excellence in public office. I like to think I stand for that. That’s the difference.”
This is what she had to say about Daley: “I like Mayor Daley, yes. I’ve known him for a long time. I think he’s a nice man. I think he’s done a very good job for the city of Chicago.”
Dusty Watch
Paul Sullivan conducts a tough interview of Dusty Baker, who sure talks about his past a lot.
Google Motors?
Google is building a research center in Michigan.
Stiff Arm
“I only talk to sports reporters.”
– Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, refusing to comment as he left the Will County Courthouse after a hearing on visitation of the child he fathered with a Joliet woman 13 months ago.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Leaning toward the bow tie.
Posted on July 11, 2006