By Steve Rhodes
Mayor Daley on Monday filled two new positions in the city’s Department of Aldermen. State Rep. Deborah Graham (Chicago-D) will now be the mayor’s liaison to the 29th Ward and businessman Joe Moreno will be the mayor’s liaison to the 1st Ward. Each will report to the mayor.
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“Graham and Moreno are the 34th and 35th aldermanic appointments in Daley’s 21-year tenure as mayor,” the Sun-Times reports. “But they are the first to follow an open invitation for applicants on the city’s Web site.”
And they are the first appointments made after the local media went along with the fiction that online applicants would be considered for the job.
Moreno is one of the names floated by the outgoing Manny Flores; Moreno is also connected to the United Neighborhood Organization, which is essentially “the new HDO.”
The mayor is paying particular attention these days to directing resources and attention Hispanics in advance of his next re-election bid.
Graham, meanwhile, already works for Daley as a city planner when she’s not carrying his ill-fated gun control legislation in Springfield. She replaces convicted corruption peddler Ike Carothers, which figures.
“After going through the motions of taking resumes on the city Web site, Daley picked someone who wouldn’t have been state representative if Carothers hadn’t decided to pull out all the stops to get her elected in 2002, with some help from Carothers’ wholly owned subsidiary in the 37th Ward – Ald. Emma Mitts,” Mark Brown writes.
More to the point, from the Sun-Times: “In 2002, Graham and her Democratic primary opponent finished dead even in a race decided by a coin toss. She helped finance that 2002 campaign with a $13,000 contribution from Carothers’ New 29th Ward Campaign Committee.”
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I live in the 1st Ward – on the same block as Manny, just a few buildings down – and I sure would have liked to have been able to vote for my new alderman. Even over the Internet.
Tase Phase
“A man who hid inside Macy’s on State Street after hours was Tasered when he tried to leave the store with merchandise Saturday night, police said,” the Sun-Times reports.
This made me think of a recent conversation I had with my friend Tracy Siska of the Chicago Justice Project about Tasers and other so-called “non-lethal” weapons.
While expressing some reservations about Tasers to the degree that they have actually contributed to the deaths of some suspects (usually, as I understand it, not on their own but as a result of aggravating a pre-existing condition), I told Siska that I had always thought Tasers and other options like beanbag guns were progressive alternatives to using guns in situations where a lesser level of force could get the job done. Siska enlightened me a bit: non-lethal weapons are never really an alternative to guns, because non-lethal weapons are used in situations in which guns would never be used.
For example, a police officer wouldn’t use a gun on a shoplifter at Macy’s. That’s not to say using a Taser is wrong in that situation, just that it’s as much about the officer’s safety in not having to, say, wrestle the suspect to the ground (without knowing if he has, say, needles in his pocket or even a weapon).
Tasers can be a useful part of a police officer’s toolbox, but sometimes the way we talk in the media about their value and the way they are deployed them is a bit muddled.
Mystery Quinn Theater
But no one believes you, Governor!
Poll Patrol
“Pew: Online News Users Don’t Want To Pay – Or Look At Ads.”
This just in: Neither do newspaper readers or television watchers!
This just in: Drivers Don’t Want To Pay For Cars – Or Look At Car Commercials.”
And by the way, for the millionth time, if print newspaper subscribers were willing to pony up for just the news, we wouldn’t have had to suffer through Cathy and the horoscopes and the likes of Bob Greene and Richard Roeper all these years. A newspaper is not the same as the news.
App That
In more interesting media news . . .
“Hearst has about 70 apps under its LMK banner in the iTunes App Store right now and it just plans to keep adding more and more,” paidContent reports. “Most of the LMK apps sell for about $1.99, while a handful cost $0.99 per download. The LMK initials stand for ‘Let Me Know’ and are devoted to news and photos about a single Hollywood stars and sports teams and figures, as well as hobbies and general topics like cupcakes and Barbie dolls. The apps run the gamut from Lady Gaga to Metallica to Tiger Woods to the NY Yankees and feature photos and news updates.”
The Worst Jobs Drew Has Had
“I’ve had jobs that left me scared for my life, angry at an unfair God and questioning whether humanity shouldn’t just die in a nuclear holocaust,” our very own Drew Adamek writes in his latest list. “And for $4.15 an hour at that.”
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Like a cloud.
Posted on March 16, 2010