By Steve Rhodes
It wouldn’t be Election Night in Cook County without the words “chain of custody.”
Although, to be fair, voting problems were reported nationwide. Can’t we just contract our elections out to Google? Seems like a company whose technology can search millions of websites for the term “vote fraud” in .04 seconds and deliver 907,000 results could probably figure out how to transmit voting results from Schaumburg to downtown in under three hours.
Here are some other observations on three hours of sleep. I mean, who could go to be with Tony Peraica storming the citadel?
* How many days until the governor is indicted?
* What will Pat Quinn do in his first 100 days?
* What will Bill Beavers do in Todd Stroger’s first 100 days?
* How many extra reporters will the Sun-Times assign to its endorsed candidate? Will the Sun-Times release its reorganized reporting plans to the public? Or will they just kind of hope you forget what they promised?
* Was this election really more negative than elections past, or were our candidates just that much worse?
* I received a mailer at home on Monday titled “Lucky Number 7,” proclaiming Mayor Daley & Todd Stroger: Fighting for Your 7% Property Tax Cap!” The mailer included a letter from Daley and claimed that “only one County Board President candidate supports a property tax cap.” Which is true. They just didn’t say which candidate.
From Peraica’s website:
“On the seminal property tax reform measure in Cook County in the last generation, Todd Stroger took a pass. I am speaking of property tax caps being extended to Cook County. Stroger voted against authorization of the 1994 referendum asking voters to weigh in on whether the General Assembly should limit annual property tax extension increases to 5%. That referendum passed and it ultimately led to property tax caps being extended to Cook County the next year. (HB 1038, 71-38-6 in the House)”
Daley’s letter also says says “Alderman Stroger and I are working together to get the State House of Representatives to pass [the extension.]”
Right. I’m sure Stroger has been working the phones and personally lobbying legislators. He didn’t do that when he was in the General Assembly, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.
* Barack Obama endorsed Todd Stroger.
* Barack Obama remains silent on City Hall corruption.
* Barack Obama went in on a real estate deal with Tony Rezko well after the political establishment expected Rezko to be indicted.
* Barack Obama: Regular Democrat.
* Barack Obama on the Democrats’ showing: “This is a vote for change all across the country.” Except in Cook County.
* Barack Obama: The Audacity of Business As Usual.
* “Blagojevich is in danger of being indicted,” Walter Jacobson said on Channel 5 last night, “and we have to talk about the possibility of Daley being indicted.”
* How long until Alexi Giannoulias gets in trouble? Find out what the oddsmakers think.
* How do citizens vote against corruption if both candidates in a given campaign are corrupt?
* Maybe Tammy Duckworth will run in the district she actually lives in next time around, which would be Melissa Bean’s district. Which would mean that Melissa Bean would have to run in the district she actually lives in, which would be the district Dan Seals just ran in. Which would mean that Seals would have to run in the district he actually lives in, which is Jan Schakowsky’s. Or maybe Rahm Emanuel will just eliminate districts as he consolidates power.
* “This was the machine rolling,” said Bill Beavers.
* Rod Blagojevich is against gay marriage.
* Mary Mitchell repeats the lame argument this morning that Todd Stroger should be afforded the Cook County Board presidency because the sons and daughters of white politicians have cheated their way into office too. Mitchell, like most pundits echoing this sentiment, seems to forget that those cases inspired outrage as well – aside from the basic fact that favoring equal corruption rights is not a tenable position. Further, she ignores the two white men named Rich and John Daley behind the curtain.
* Like Forrest Claypool before him, Tony Peraica failed to explain that those hurt most by the corrupt Stroger dynasty are African Americans who depend on the county for health care, among other services, and a fair and humane criminal justice system.
* “Blagojevich must do a better job of realizing the promise that we saw in him when we were among his earliest supporters in 2002,” the Sun-Times editorial page says this morning.
In 2002, the Sun-Times editorial board supported Paul Vallas over Blagojevich in the Democratic primary. Publisher and now-felon David Radler overruled the board – against the objections of current publisher John Cruickshank and editor Michael Cooke – for reasons that the paper has never made public. Why compound the lie?
* I think we can all agree that Radler chose the wrong guy. Paul Vallas lays it bare for John Kass.
* Results of a Cook County referendum calling for the withdrawal of Ameican troops from Iraq: Yes, 456,091. No, 167,446.
* Results of a referendum in 21 Chicago wards in support of the big-box living wage ordinance that Daley vetoed: Yes: 12,823. No: 3,163.
* Blagojevich’s father-in-law, Ald. Dick Mell, appeared at Giannoulias’ victory party, not the governor’s.
* Ray “Spanky the Clown” Wardingley snared 22 percent of the vote in his congressional run. Methinks Dan Lipinski is vulnerable. The bearded woman might have pulled it off.
* In 2004, Christine Cegelis received 105,367 votes (44.2 percent) against Henry Hyde. Last night, Tammy Duckworth received (unofficially) 77,222 votes (48.5 percent) against Peter Roskam. Sure, 2004 was a presidential year, bringing more people to the polls, but still.
* Let’s not crown Emanuel king yet. He supplied the money and the muscle, but Howard Dean provided the vision and the strategy, and Chuck Schumer arguably had a better night.
* “We’re going to have another – what do you call these things? – Oh yeah, another victory party!” Todd Stroger said speaking to supporters late last night. I kid you not. Then Todd went to bed while Peraica stormed the election board headquarters. Which is pretty much how the next four years will go. Look for Stroger to take a really long nap.
* Sign held by several people at Stroger’s rally: “I’m With Todd.” Think about it.
* Michael Sneed on Channel 5 about the possibility of Denny Hastert resigning altogether: “Denny Hastert is a wrestling coach! Do not forget that!” Hastert hasn’t been a wrestling coach since, well, since Sneed was a reporter.
* Nonetheless, Channel 5’s coverage was clearly the best among the locals.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Scanning optically.
Posted on November 8, 2006