Friday, March 2, 2007
News / Clout City "I have my volunteers"
Posted by Mick Dumke on 03.02.07 at 07:26 PM
To many observers (including me), one of the biggest surprises of Tuesday’s election was the resounding victory of 12th Ward alderman George Cardenas. The Daley loyalist was targeted by the Chicago Federation of Labor after he switched his vote on the big-box minimum-wage ordinance to help sustain the mayor’s veto; Carina Sanchez, his union-backed challenger, received more than $159,000 from organized labor, accounting for almost all of her campaign funds.
And unions went after Cardenas for another reason: he looked weak.
Four years ago, Cardenas won his seat with the aid of the Hispanic Democratic Organization. His opponent, then incumbent Ray Frias, dropped out of their runoff election, saying he'd lost the support of the ward's voters. But after federal investigations into rigged hiring at City Hall—some of it tied to the organization and its leaders—the HDO was generally written off as too crippled to play a significant role this time around.
Despite the conventional wisdom, however, Cardenas won reelection outright, capturing 59 percent of the vote to Sanchez’s 28 percent—though only 4,372 voters cast ballots in the ward, the second-lowest total in the city.
On Friday, Cardenas said he knew he would win all along because he had delivered services to his constituents. He was evasive, though, when I asked him if he’d relied on HDO troops.
“There’s a big misconception about what that means,” he said. “Do you know what [the HDO] is? I don’t know. I have my volunteers. There may be people associated with HDO, but it doesn’t matter who they were associated with, because at the end of the day, it’s about whether you’re doing a good job."
Comments (14)
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Yesterday at 7:10 AM Martin Munoz, the campaign manager for George Cardenas and the brother of State Senator Tony "TWO SIX" Munoz premeditated violence on the job and cracked a fellow worker John Majick in the head with pipe. He was bleeding, face all bloody, cut, and concussion. This is not the first time. The weekend before the election Eddie Acevedo, his brother, and his son beat up Rene Carvajal at Martins at 22nd Place and Hoyne--the site of a lot of cocaine and violence covered up by the 10th District and the City. Violence is common place with HDO and these thug elected officials. It is sad and pathetic the Mayor allows these thugs, even appoints and protects them.
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Last week, Martin Munoz, related to Sen. "Gang Banger" Munoz, punched an old white operating engineer in the head that was close to retirement. I hope Sen. Munoz does not interfere with the investigation and try to rehire this piece of work back on Chicago's City Payroll. The Department of Water Management needs to enforce the zero tolerance in "Violence in the workplace" policy. Good bye, Munoz and you HDO gang bangers.
Volunteers with good paying jobs. Control of the services. And lots of money outspending Sanchez. Lots of developer money and a little on the side.
==PROPOSAL FOR AN ELECTION EXPERIMENT== This may not be the proper forum for this, but I will state my 'idea'/'proposal' anyway, and see if anyone is intrigued by my reasoning. I hold the opinion that it has been a very, very long time since we, the citizens of these United States, have truly and honestly been represented by our so-called 'public servants'. While it can be said that a certain small percentage of any given area's population is well and generously served by their elected officials,(at the financial and social expense of the area's 'common', politically unconnected citizens),for the most part, our elected officials are motivated by three basic principles: get power, keep power and use that power to gain wealth, for themselves and for those of like mind. I assert that the vast majority of voters are poorly served by the 'powers that be', in all areas of their daily lives. It is obvious that many 'public servants' define themselves as being those individuals who are served BY the public. This sad state of affairs is the result of simple mathematics. If one determines, in any given area,(ie. city, county, state and federal),the total number of citizens who are qualified to cast a vote, one finds that perhaps 50%, more or less, of that number are actually registered to vote; further,in any given election, one finds that typically between 50% - 60% of those registered don't even bother to make the effort to actually cast their vote(s). Thus, all that is required to win a 2 person race is 51% of the votes actually cast, effectively meaning that a mere 26% of the total number of citizens qualified to vote are determining who is elected. In a race of more than 2 contestants, the percentage needed to win becomes even lower than 26%. It is a puzzling mystery why the 2 major political parties, the Dumbocrats and the Retardicans, continue to strongly resist the establishment of additional political parties, though one sees occasional use of 'shill' candidates by both major parties. So, I propose a little experiment, to be conducted in both the smallest, local level elections, (ie. town, city, county, township, village,etc.), as well as in the larger level elections, (ie. state and federal), an experiment which is designed to accomplish several goals and answer several questions,(besides the obvious one, of seeing if enough people/voters will get off their butts and choose to participate in this experiment!). Basically, my question is this: what would happen if enough voters choose, in every election, both primary and general, to cast their votes by adhering to the following rules, completely disregarding all factors commonly used by voters to make their decisions on who to vote for, and simply casting their vote(s) by applying these rules/formula: * 1) Determine which candidates are the INCUMBENTS and DO NOT vote for any of them. * 2) If there are only two candidates running for any given office, all that the voter MUST know is which one is the INCUMBENT, then vote for the CHALLENGER candidate. * 3) If there are MORE than two candidates vying for a given office, determine if the incumbent is listed FIRST, and IF THIS IS SO, then vote for the challenger candidate who is listed LAST. * 4) If the incumbent is NOT listed FIRST, then vote for the challenger candidate who IS listed FIRST. * 5) If no incumbent is running for office, always vote for the LAST candidate listed. Remember to COMPLETELY DISREGARD all impulses to concern yourself with the specific persons who you are voting for and/or the specific persons you are not voting for and/or the specific incumbents who will, should enough voters in any given election participate in this experiment, be losing their jobs. Remember,also,that the issues don't matter, policies don't matter, individual candidates' personal charm/attractiveness does not matter..................... nothing matters other than adhering to the 5 rules stated above. If enough voters in any given election participate in this experiment, the result should be that a whole lot of incumbents will be voted out of office. What reaction(s), on the part of politicians and their cronies, will this stimulate? If enough voters CONTINUE to participate in this experiment during the next several election cycles, thus keeping any specific person from holding office for more than a single term, will those non-politically connected individuals who would like to sincerely serve their fellow citizens by holding public office, but have determined that their chances of being elected are slim-to-none, now find that they have a reasonably decent chance of succeeding in holding public office? Will the 'professional politicians' eventually find other lines of work and abandon trying to gain and hold power over their fellow citizens, (since it's difficult to establish power,influence and control in just a single term in office)? Will the majority of those citizens who do gain public office now be honest, ethical, hard-working and intelligent individuals, who seek office to actually serve the electorate, (since the traditional motivations of power, influence and wealth will effectively no longer be available)? Will these new, honest candidates, now encouraged to run for office, alter the usual dynamics of 'campaigning'? And in what ways? As the reader may surmise, this experiment is designed to disrupt the decades-old flow of bullshit, which has passed for so long as democracy; bullshit both by the politicians and bullshit by the voting public's failure to effectively participate in their own governing. The above experiment should be conducted in all political contests; Administrative, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. The rule to remember is: WHEN IN DOUBT, VOTE THEM OUT. The 5 rules above are designed to mathematically ensure that the maximum number of votes are cast in such a way as to be effective in denying all elected officials more than one term in office; to prove, by the only means those smugly in power ever understand, that the voters actually determine who holds public office, and that those presently holding said office(s) have, for way too long, held the vast majority of their constituents in contempt, evidenced not by their words, but by their deeds. Keep in mind that this experiment I am proposing is not meant to be a solution to our present social, economic and political disparities, but more as a catalyst for positive change in the attitudes of those who claim to represent ALL citizens' best interests, instead of the present predominance of their representing only the interests of the chosen few. To paraphrase one of our past presidents, who once said: * You may fool SOME of the people ALL of the time * You may fool ALL of the people SOME of the time * But you cannot fool ALL of the people, ALL of the time The sad reality is that you need only to fool just the right number of people, at just the right time, to attain power and control over the many.
It is a real shame that the HDO hoodlums which include elected officials think they can get away without even an investigation. HDO has caused damage to latino politics in Chicago. Where is Fitzgerald now?
On election day HDO members were walking the polls with their city and cook county jackets on. The media has gven them a pass. In the 7th precinct (12th ward) Cardenas' brother was the election judge. Al SAnchez and Victor Reyes were out and about all over the 12th ward. The city investaigators need to see how many of them were on the payroll. Of course, the ones who didn't vote serve what they got. More of the same.
Cardenas won because the 12th ward residents did not come out and vote. They had so many choices. They received tons of mailers, phone calls, volunteers ringing their door bells,newspaper ads and clippings, and forums. For whatever reason, they still did not come and vote. Even Cardenas only got his base vote of 2500. Thew 12th ward residents are an example of apathy. They did have clear choices, a community lawyer, a woman with government experience, two community organizers, a former alderman's assistant and police officer, and of course the incumbent alderman. Someone should go in to the 12th ward and ask them why? Does anyone care?
Lily has defined the problem without realizing it. TOO MANY CHOICES = INCUMBENT VICTORY Tho the 'spock' post above is rather wordy, he/she hits the nail on the head. Divide and Conquer is an alive and well strategy and, as can be seen here, VERY, VERY EFFECTIVE. Spock's 'proposal' is an extremely effective response to 'politics as usual'. Since all professional politicians routinely say whatever their pollsters tell them the voters want to hear BEFORE the election, and do whatever they want to AFTER they are elected, the only strategy left to the voter is to ignore the individuality of each challenger candidate and to focus on getting rid of the incumbents at every opportunity. Spock's simple mathematical calculation can achieve this. And, like he/she says, once enough incumbents are fired, (as in ALL OF THEM), then, and only then, will the real challenges begin to be faced by the voting public. Only when the voter has to think about who the candidates for public office are, and who they'll truly represent if elected, will authentic democracy and honest representation of the public good be possible. The political playing field will never be a fair and honest one, so long as governance is accepted as the catering to the chosen few, by the sacrifices of the average citizen. We'll never deserve to be honestly governed, as long as we continue to accept being ruled by the mediocre and self-serving bottom-feeders that a vast majority of us continue to allow to be re-elected. NOW is always the time to act to achieve positive change. What more positive change can there be than breaking the stranglehold of political power held for so long by our great city's decades' old 'machine'?
the areas in the 12th ward known as 'little mexico' didn't get this name for nothing. spend a few months in Mexico and you'll soon realize that Chicago-style politics is tame in comparison. so, it's not surprising that those transplanted natives of our southern neighbor would bring with them their particular style of political campaigning. the historically astute will recall hooliganism around election time as being the rule, rather than the exception. Sadly, the voters understand that, even though their vote is a secret, they still have to show their faces at the polling place and run the gauntlet of goons unleashed upon the neighborhood. and who is naive enough to have faith that their absentee vote will be applied to who they voted for, let alone counted at all? or maybe most of the residents of this ward are too busy dodging gangbanger crossfire and working two - three jobs, just to barely keep up with paying their rent and utilities? life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. some peoples' understanding of these words are radically different than others. what do they mean to you?
Did Frias drop out because he lost the support of the voters or because he might lose the ability to keep breathing if he didn't? Just asking.
I guess nobody's gonna fess up to strong arming Frias. Nice job of takin' the 5th!
Sometimes I wonder if those who don't vote or don't register to vote understand how much of their hard earned income is wasted by the gross mismanagement and misuse of the tax dollars we all are forced to 'pony up'. Property Taxes, (part of your rent, if you don't own property AND part of the price you pay for everything you buy, goods and services, 'cause the businesses you buy from pay the same or greater taxes than you do.) Sales taxes of all kinds. Income taxes, both state and federal. Licenses, Fees, Fines, Permits, etc. (also passed on to the consumers) Utility taxes, in addition to the sales taxes, which juice your utility bills. Mystery taxes you may or may not see, and couldn't know what they're for anyway. What's the calculation now, something like 40% - 45% of our GROSS income is taken from us in taxes. Every year we work from January 1st until mid May and ALL of our income earned during that time goes directly into the pockets of some government agency. Granted, many things that government uses our tax dollars for are beneficial to us all. Many, however, are not. Yet, year after year, decade after decade, there still seems to be a steady 70% - 80% of our fellow citizens who either don't vote or don't even bother to register. Our 'elected officials' pay lip service to 'getting more people to register', and only make efforts to do so that benefit their particular political party. WAKE UP, WAKE UP, SLEEPY VOTERS! Our fates are in our own hands.
