Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
I won’t have time for a column today, but we’ll be back tomorrow with a full Beachwood slate. A quick note, though.
I was shaken from my sleep due to a strange sensation in the early morning hours and I immediately wondered, “Was that an earthquake?”
It was.
How did I know?
I remembered the last time! (See item 1.)
Posted on February 10, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
You know what? No one paid attention to Pat Quinn when he was winning the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor twice either. Few politicos took him seriously and he certainly wasn’t Rod Blagojevich’s choice, but the lieutenant governor’s office has pretty much always been a joke.
And when Quinn took office after Blagojevich was impeached last year, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
Yet, the political establishment – for some strange reason – lined up behind Quinn once he became the putative incumbent.
There are two reasons for that.
Posted on February 9, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“Actually I think [Scott Lee] Cohen’s biggest problem is that we in the news media failed the voters by missing the story,” Mark Brown wrote over the weekend, “and now we can’t let up until we have atoned for our sins by pounding him into submission.”
Cohen submitted last night, dropping off the ticket so the Democratic State Central Committee can choose someone of clearly stronger moral fiber to help them block ethics reform while doling out contracts to cronies and voting themselves pay raises. Thank God for our media watchdogs!
Posted on February 8, 2010
By Natasha Julius
We’re just trying to find an honorable way out of this one.
Market Update
If you thought the rewards for arrogance and incompetence in the banking sector were bad, wait until you see the perks in the NFL.
Posted on February 6, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
As I ask in Go Cohen! today, is Scott Lee Cohen really more of a disgrace on the Dem ticket than Alexi Giannoulias? At least Cohen earned his millions.
*
“In 2002, [infamous Chicago madam Rose] Laws was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison,” John Kass writes today. “The circuit’s Outfit protector, Michael ‘Jaws’ Giorango, was convicted of promoting a nationwide prostitution ring and sentenced to six months federal time.
“Even before his last prison stay, Giorango had reinvented himself as a real estate investor.
“He’d already been purchasing office buildings and renting space to politicians. His tenants included U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; now-retired state Sen. Carol Ronen, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago. He also received $11 million in loans from the Giannoulias family’s Broadway Bank. The loans to Jaws were approved by Alexi Giannoulias.”
Posted on February 5, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
More notes from the election, plus some other stuff at the end.
1. Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen has stolen the spotlight from Pat Quinn, Dan Hynes, Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady, Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk this morning. I’ve got it covered in Lite Guv Lunacy.
2. “Last night, my intern Barton Lorimor talked to Quinn campaign finance director David Rosen about the election results,” Rich Miller writes. “‘I think that one person cannot divide the party any longer,’ Rosen said. Rosen also called the victory a ‘mandate,’ and said that even a ‘one-point’ win would be a ‘mandate’.”
I wonder if Rosen thought George W. Bush had a mandate after the 2000 election.
Posted on February 4, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“Some of the candidates for Illinois governor may be weighing the pros and cons of a recount,” AP reports. “Both the Democratic and Republican primaries are too close to call.”
That’s what you get when you hold a primary on Groundhog Day; looks like we’re in for six more weeks of campaigning.
Posted on February 3, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Primary thoughts:
* I won’t be going to the polls today because I don’t believe journalists have any business being members of political parties, much less helping them decide who their nominees for public office are.
* You can’t vote for change if change isn’t on the ballot. Newspaper editorial boards like to implore citizens to do their duty and even provide a list of endorsements for them to follow – you know, we’ll do your thinking for you – but there is merit to the argument that voting for the clowns that fill up most of our ballots only enables and reinforces bad behavior.
Posted on February 2, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Ironies continue to abound in the fight over Dan Hynes’s use of Harold Washington in a campaign ad attacking Pat Quinn. But the chief irony Quinn’s supporters don’t seem to recognize is that Quinn is the one attacking Harold Washington.
Quinn maintained then, and apparently does now, that he was fired as Washington’s revenue director because he wouldn’t do any favors for Friends of Harold. He accused the Washington administration of being corrupt. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. As far as I can tell, Quinn never named names. (A further irony given that he’s attacking Hynes for not going after Burr Oak wrongdoers.)
A question for Quinn: Who sought illicit favors from you? Did you report them to authorities? Did Washington know? Then why did he fire you?
I’m not defending Washington; I’d say there’s a 50-50 chance Quinn’s allegations were/are true. But don’t parade noxious racemonger Bobby Rush around and say that Dan Hynes is the one besmirching Washington’s legacy.
Posted on February 1, 2010
By Natasha Julius
Pro Bowl, Schmo Bowl. We all know it’s Super Bore Sunday. For those of you jonesing for some real football action, we offer our annual list of suggestions for beating the January swoon.
1. Tired of all the blustering and utter phoniness of this utterly fake match-up between two almost-identical rivals? Then maybe it’s time to pick a third-party option.
Posted on January 30, 2010
