Thursday, June 14, 2007
News / Clout City Under Daley's skin, or under his thumb?
Posted by Mick Dumke on 06.14.07 at 06:50 PM
Howard Brookins Jr. was an attorney who represented victims of police abuse before he was elected to the City Council from the independent-minded 21st Ward in 2003. But after Mayor Daley watched the City Council reject Brookins's plans to bring a Wal-Mart to the ward, the alderman seemed to retreat into a strange "me-against-the-world" political philosophy, railing against unions and supporters of the big-box minimum-wage ordinance while also antagonizing Daley. He almost proudly told reporters the story of how the mayor had threatened him for backing a couple of independent aldermanic candidates on the south side. "I'll see you on the battlefield," he said Daley told him.
Then Brookins was forced into a runoff with a labor-backed challenger--and accepted Daley's endorsement and more than $40,000 from a Daley-affiliated PAC. He held on to his seat.
So Brookins surprised a lot of observers yesterday when he cut off Ike Carothers, the Daley yes-man who chairs the council's police and fire committee, as Carothers began to introduce the mayor's plan to give himself control over the Office of Professional Standards, the body responsible for investigating police misconduct.
Currently OPS is housed within the police department--which only makes sense to those who remember that it was created because allegations of police abuse were once investigated by the department's Internal Affairs division, which reported to the police chief, which reported to the first Mayor Daley. That didn't work.
Neither does OPS in its current form. This Mayor Daley now agrees, even though he's the one who appoints the person who nominally runs it, and that person only runs it as long as the mayor says so. That's how every other public agency in Chicago works, and it's how OPS works as well.
In that respect, maybe it wasn't as bold as it appeared for Brookins, backed by mayoral annoyance Joe Moore and newbies Bob Fioretti and Pat Dowell, to move to "defer and publish" the OPS reform proposal. That puts off any action on it until at least the next full council meeting on July 19.
In an interview immediately after the move, Brookins insisted that Daley's willingness to talk about any reform of OPS was "a huge step" that Brookins would never have thought possible when he was a rookie four years earlier.
Fioretti, a trial lawyer who has represented people wrongfully convicted, strode up to Brookins's side and joined the interview with more pointed language: "I do think we need a clearly independent body--taking it from the police department to the mayor's office is not sufficient," he said.
Channel 7's Andy Shaw then directly asked Brookins if the aldermen were saying that Daley has too poor a track record--as mayor and as the state's attorney who did nothing about police torture under former commander Jon Burge--to be responsible for the agency that polices the police.
"I don't know if I'd go that far," Brookins said, but added: "Clearly we have seen throughout the time that Mayor Daley has been mayor that there have still been police officers who have had problems in the past that we may have been able to stop, and the city has then been liable for millions of dollars. We have to send a clear message here."
Daley would later scoff at the notion that he shouldn't be the one to oversee OPS directly, saying, "Who should it be--the pope? . . . Who are you going to give it to, an alderman?" Yet he claimed he wasn't upset about the delay, calling it part of the legislative process.
The truth is that Daley isn't used to following a legislative process that involves aldermen defying him, even for a month. And he certainly doesn't like it.
As Brookins and Fioretti were talking to reporters, Daley aide Lance Lewis, one of the few straight shooters I've met in the mayor's administration, was standing in the middle of the throng with a recorder that captured every word they said. "When I take notes, I can't read my own writing," he explained. I asked why anyone from the mayor's office needed to write down OR record what aldermen were saying to the press. "Well, if the mayor gets asked questions about it, he needs to be prepared."
This one, Lance, I can't buy. The mayor's press conference was held within a half hour, and it seemed pretty unlikely that anyone was going to transcribe the Brookins-Fioretti interviews in time for the mayor to review them.
Almost lost amid the OPS frenzy was another council move: approving the Daley administration's plan to expedite the process for selecting public art, putting most of the decision-making process in the hands of aldermen and itself.
Despite weeks of controversy (scroll down) over the measure, including a defer-and-publish move at the last council meeting by First Ward alderman Manny Flores and the 22nd Ward's Ricardo Munoz, it passed yesterday without a single word of debate.
On the one hand, for the first time since I've been attending council meetings, the roll call began with five straight "no" votes--from aldermen Flores, Fioretti, Dowell, Toni Preckwinkle, and Leslie Hairston. Nays were also cast by rookies Sandi Jackson (7th Ward), Scott Waguespack (32nd), and Brendan Reilly (42nd) as well as veterans Munoz, Moore, and Rey Colon (35th).
On the other, 38 aldermen, including union-backed newcomers Toni Foulkes (15th) and Joann Thompson (16th), voted with the administration, and 43rd Ward alderman Vi Daley courageously skipped the vote altogether. It struck me as a possible preview of the vote on the OPS reforms and a whole lot of other administration policies over the next few years.
Later, when the mayor was asked if the 11 "no" votes bothered him, he engaged in a classic Daley deflection. "No, I think public art is really important in Chicago," he said. "I think we need more of it."
"Right, but they don't like the way you're going to choose the artists," said Fran Spielman of the Sun-Times.
"I'm not choosing the artists. I'm not choosing the artists. [Cultural Affairs commissioner] Lois Weisberg is," Daley said. "We have more public art in Chicago than in most cities in the country. If you look at our public art, it's all over. I mean, it's really fantastic . . . "
After several more minutes, the question was pressed again, this time at a much higher volume: Were you concerned with the 11 no votes?
"No," Daley said. "No, no." He hurried out of the room.
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For Daley to have such an arrogant attitude, concerning any doubt expressed about his ability to justly control the OPS, is a perfect example of a 'what the fuck' moment. As Shaw's question succinctly points out, Daley HAS HAD effective control and oversight over the OPS, and we know what he has done, and failed to do, with it. Without even getting into his dereliction of duties during his stint as State's Attorney, during Daley's time as mayor, police abuses have increased dramatically, albeit in usually petty and less outrageous ways than the recent, clearly criminal actions of a few, off-duty thugs-with-badges. There are many CPD officers who feel all too free to slip over the line between proper police conduct and a range of misconduct that runs the gamut from verbal abuse to full fledged beat downs, from blatant perjury in traffic court cases to felonious activities properly subject to state and federal prosecutions. Officers are taught, during their training at the Police Academy, that they have a duty to NEVER BREACH THE PEACE, as in, never act in such a way as to be the cause or source of a violation of criminal or civil law, nor ever a cause or source of instigating a violation of criminal or civil law. In plain english, 'cops ain't supposed to START SHIT, they're supposed to clean it up'. Their duties include not merely the enforcement of law, but the investigation of criminal acts, the gathering of evidence as to the identity of the perpetrators and the arrest of same. Their duties DO NOT include either protecting citizens, as bodyguards, provoking citizens to commit criminal acts or to commit even misdemeanor criminal acts against citizens, whether on-duty or off. Our police officers are, for the most part, hard-working, dedicated individuals, doing an, at best, difficult and stressful job, but there are far too many who find it has been all too easy to bend and break the basic rules governing their conduct. This is because, under this mayor, police misconduct has NOT been seen as a negative, but rather, as a positive and effective tool in achieving a low-level of constant, cautious fear in the hearts and minds of all citizens, fear of the police, fear of the authorities, fear of 'city hall', fear of the 'powers-that-be' and fear of engaging in any conflict with same. For this mayor to insist on his police force adhering to the standards of conduct specified 'on paper' would require that he want to do so. His dismal history in these regards proves, beyond any doubt, that he does not. While there are some situations in which police officers need to feel less restricted in their behavior, where and when a certain, controlled brutality is the only effective means to counter some citizens choice of actions, these occasions are few and far between and are usually not what the average citizen is objecting to. It's the commonly disrespectful, routinely harsh and unnecessarily abusive treatment many citizens have experienced, when circumstances bring them into contact with the police, which have been treated as 'no big deal' by the OPS, found to be 'without merit' on a regular basis by the OPS and tacitly approved of by the OPS and the mayor's neglect and inactions. Even if we were not considering this mayor's competence in the oversight of police behaviors, the mayor, whoever he or she may be, already has authority over the police department, via the power to appoint the police chief, the power to establish policies concerning police activities and the power the mayor's office has over the OPS, namely, the appointment of it's authorities. For Daley to even propose that he is fit to be 'in charge' of investigating police misconduct and determining whether or not it has occurred, is another example of his state of mind. This city is Daley's Kingdom, and any who dare to question his 'birthright' to same are subject to the 'wrath of the leprechaun'. As in, he'll mumble you into submission.
Of course the mayor's got his minions keeping close track of everything every one of the aldermen say and do, how else can he know who to thank and who to fuck over? The boys in the Kremlin could learn a few things from mayor mumbles. At least this guy Lance wasn't wearing a wire.
Unfortunately, people like Lance and what he did for his boss are the reason the media in Russia doesn't exist.
The Mayor has a TERRIBLE record on police issues from Burge on down. What about the Acevedo brothers? Or giving a meritorious promotion to Peter Dignan? Lots of torture, abuse, drug dealing, cover ups, violence Sheehan, Joyce, lots of bad people, lots of racism
As Mick and Ben's analysis of each of the alderman in our 50 wards shows, there are maybe 5 truly independent alderman at this point in the game - Moore, Preckwinkle, Waugespack, Dowell, and Fioretti (and I think there is a big question mark if Fioretti is going to play with others at all - from what I have seen, the lawyer in this guy won't shut up or share the stage with anyone.) Maybe Jackson, but I don’t think it can be called independence so much as self-aggrandizing opposition that is going to come out of her. I hope I am wrong. I think the mayor has the council pretty well under thumb - I would just encourage any of them to keep getting under his skin as often as possible - it is nice to see him try to give respect toward any dissention. I fail to see how the tactics of Cook county Dems are any different than those of Roves efforts at the national efforts, but I have always felt Daley would have made a great Republican - if only the NRA would be rational - one issue can make all the difference I guess. Oh well, the press now has an opportunity till the July meeting to discuss the merits of the OPS changes, and to inform the public on better solutions. Let’s see if the press lives up to its obligations. The big question in my mind is if the fourth estate is getting under his skin, or is under his thumb? The next month might be telling.
Strange. I said Fioretti was going to eventually run for mayor after the first city council meeting when they were sworn in and he postponed a vote in a committee he was on. He said something about not being a rubber stamp and the way he said it made me thing, "This guy is gearing up for a run at mayor, possibly for the next election."
> there are maybe 5 truly independent alderman at this point in the game - Moore, Preckwinkle, Waugespack, Dowell, and Fioretti wha? may i ask, what do you mean by truly independent? what is your evidence for this assessment?
Ben, Mick, Defied Daley Often come on now guys what do you mean by "often" in this context? often relative to what? to the total voting record? no way on a few highly-publicized stunt votes maybe
often, as compared to the average for all aldermen, which is never? you guys are not helping when you portray the pseudo-opposition as opposition, you're contributing to the problem
The only truly independent Alderman at this point is Waguespack - he didn't have a patron - he cobbled together the funding from unions, business, and most importantly from residence who wanted a say on the development of their community – that makes him independent of any political influences other than the constituents of the 32nd ward. As for the others, I think they are independent from Daley - though beholden either to a patron or the unions (Fiorriti may be the exception because he can finance his own campaign for alderman - not for mayor - and he needs to show that he can play well with others before any of his colleagues takes him seriously - I think a big hurdle for him - this is a lawyer who just can't shut up and listen and doesn't appear to value anyone else’s opinions.)
> The only truly independent Alderman at this point is Waguespack Tell ya what, Waguespack's 1st full meeting was 5/21. The proceedings should be posted soon (it's late, it normally goes up the afternoon of the day of the next meeting, last Wed). When it goes up, what say let's browse through it together and see if we can find any evidence of Waguespack's independence. http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/journals/
So what, 5 out of 50 aldermen are 'independent'. Big fucking deal. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Daley will still get his way, these 5 will find that the 'leverage' they think they got will turn around to bite them all in the ass. Richie jr. hasn't gotten where he is today by letting amateurs fuck up his game, he'll eat 'em up and shit 'em out without even farting once.
You're the guy that makes book on all this political shit, right? That's gotta be a way more lucrative gig than working the games....... So, what's the line on this one, does Daley get OPS or not, it's gotta be heavily weighted in the mayor's favor. Do you take American Express?
...give Waguespack a few meetings before jumping down his throat, jeez. what exactly have YOU all done recently besides bitch and moan?
1-3: agree 4: certainly for City Council vets 4 should be w/o exception for the frosh, let's revisit this before the opportunity to vote when we have a voting record to look at 5: you lose me
My whole point was that the city council is under thumb - you’re correct that nothing has changed. You don't measure political independence by the record of one council meeting - what Mick and Ben were trying to show is the potential - and I still think that Waguespack and Dowell have the best potential on the new city council - they are up against a lot of dead wait, so instead of standing on the sidelines gearing up to beat the hell out of them, lets look at what the next generation is going to put their efforts - Daley and about 20 of the old guard of Alderman are in their last term - Richie Jr. got were he is because he was born into the right family - and those 5 don't think they have any 'leverage' - they know what they are up against - but this city deserves better than Daley and the rest of the 45 rubberstamps on our council. Get a grip - both of you.
Moore Defies Daley: Often Moore doesn't need help from the press promoting his mythology about himself.
Mick, thanks for another excellent report & analysis from Council chambers, far beyond what's available elsewhere. And thanks to the Reader for paying you to be there!
> You're the guy that makes book on all this political shit, right? no but I'll byte OVER/UNDER: Number of votes in opposition to Daley control of OPS based on history as prologue I would have handicapped this at 0 (zero), which admittedly is not going to get much action on th downside but after reading Mick's report maybe 11 is the push anything greater than zero is progress
>...give Waguespack a few meetings before jumping down his throat, jeez. no with the Chicago City Council a few meetings means a few months how many TIFs and bone-headed developer subsidies will he vote for while he is getting a feel for the place? I guess a 1st 100 days thing would be WAY to much to ask from a Chicago alderman, you know, a legislative agenda or something
Well, how many TIF's and bone-headed developments has he voted for? You’re an ass if you’re going to advocate for reform, and then start beating up on Waguespack before he even hits the ground running. This isn't about the first 100 days - it's a four year commitment to work with and empower the residence of the 32nd ward to have input and influence in the development of their community. Until you have something to criticize Scott about - relax.
Too bad Hugh has only got one vote, with his dedicated attitude, he could pull off that FIRE ALL INCUMBENTS campaign all by himself. I can see him now, running all day, from polling place to polling place, from the furthest northern precincts, all the way down to the southern borders of the city, speed voting like the Tasmanian Devil on a meth binge. If only there were such a thing as a 'masked crusader', Hugh would be his secret identity. You tell 'em!
> You don't measure political independence by the record of one council meeting a LOT of real damage can be done in 1 Council meeting
"they are up against a lot of dead wait, so instead of standing on the sidelines gearing up to beat the hell out of them, lets look at what the next generation is going to put their efforts" No doubt- and for all the folks who hate the influence the developers have, here's a crazy idea- donate some friggin money to the Waguespacks out there so they are beholden to people in addition to lobbyists. or in the common vernacular: "put yer money where yer pie hole is"
"I hold him responsible for ALL his votes" and.... so what? I mean no argument with the concept, but how exactly does that translate into meaningful reform?
Vi Daley voted for the Dept of Cultural Affairs ordinance. Was someone else missing?
Hugh is holding someone accountable for votes that haven't even been cast?! What a moron - critical of one alderman who has been in office for one month, doesn't have a voting record that he can be critical of, and who beat the 75 year old Rostenkowski/Gabinski machine - way to win over allies in your struggle for a more enlightened and independent city council. Don’t worry Scott, we’ll stand by you as long as you remain independent, despite these type of extreme fanatics, and we understand what you are up against. The residence of the 32nd ward spoke and selected you as our representative, not an ass like Hugh, and we understand that it is going to take patience to institute reforms.
An angry and motivated minority of the 32nd Ward, mostly yuppies who wanted to slam the door after they got in, squeaked out a majority in a low turnout runoff thanks to Labor $. Now I can't even find Waguespack's office or Waguespack. My neighbor says she goes across the border to Vi Daley's office to get any real city services or even a parking pass. Looks like the real new alderman of 32nd Ward is 311.
His office is located across the street from Costco on Clybourn. Matlak, true to the bitter end, thought he wasn’t a public servant paid by the cities residences, and refused to lend any assistance toward a smooth transition of services to the residences of the 32nd ward – he did not hand over the parking passes for Cub night parking, nor any files on bad buildings, nor follow through on any of 100's of request for services from the constituents the 32nd Ward. Your neighbor needs to put her anger aside and get used to the fact that a majority of her neighbors had enough of Matlak giving zoning variance after zoning variance and making it virtually impossible for anyone to afford to live in the 32nd ward. If you haven't seen Alderman Waguespack, you must have been on vacation during the two months. He has met with each of the four police district commanders, with each of the chamber of commerce, held several community meetings (I saw him Wends. night at the Roscoe village community meeting), been meeting with school principles, and is in his office every day working with volunteers from the community to give everyone in the 32nd ward a say. Get over it Ted - you were exposed for the unresponsive, arrogant, petty hack that you are.
Thankfully, there were enough voters whose aim was better than 'missing ted's'; the rare occurrence of the voters whacking out a clouted hack with a volley of well placed shots is refreshing, to say the least. Matlak's ignoble exit is typical of his 'character', he always was a pouty-faced mama's boy, prone to throwing tantrums when things didn't go his way. It's great he finally got the spanking he deserved. Look for teddy to surface somewhere in the clout machine's ranks, pulling down a juicy slice of the taxpayer-financed pie, they do take care of their own, especially the 'fallen warriors', even while they're mocking him behind his back. Now, if only there were more wards with residents who aren't resigned to be eternally bent over and spread wide, we might see some actual progress in ridding this town of the ancient systems of favoritism so costly to us all. One can dream, can't one?
The point of 5 is to maximize the votes for a SINGLE challenger in any given contest with 2 or more candidates challenging the incumbent, thus, defeating the strategy of deliberately splitting the dissatisfied voters efforts, by the machine putting up shill candidates, [as in the most recent mayoral contest, as well as, historically, the Daley / Byrne / Washington primary, (when Harold won because of the split of the 'white' votes between Byrne and Daley), and, more recently, the Clinton / Bush Sr. / Perot presidential election]. No one with any experience in Chicago-style politics believes Brown was anything BUT a shill candidate, with the other black challenger, (what was his name?), being there to split the dissatisfied black vote. As it turned out, the machine was worrying about the wrong thing, Daley was a shoe-in, with two weak 'challengers', and the aldermanic races were where the action was. Also, multiple challengers, however 'independent', increase the risk of an incumbent getting enough votes to avoid facing a run-off, what with the typically unified efforts of the clout monkeys and the typically pathetic participation levels of the rest of us commoners making it less likely for a given incumbent not to get the required 50% + 1 votes on election day. (This not even considering the abilities of the machine to nudge their guy or gal over the finish line with a little 'creative' vote counting) Yes, this mathematically based strategy seems to be intuitively counter to our sense of what elections are all about, ie., selecting the best person as our public representative, but, as you may appreciate, it's difficult, at best, to get enough voters to register and vote, let alone unite behind a single challenger in a multiple challenger contest.
Poor little Mick, so desperate to be a "somebody" but can only "rage against the machine" on the ink smeared pages of a free paper that includes in its revenue stream ads for escort services, and columns like Savage Love. Little Micky, why don't you run for office ? Because you could not draw flies to feces ? It is much easier to lob hand grenades from the cheap seats than to actually do something besides dip your poison pen into a cyanide inkwell. Between Ben "One Trick TIF" and angry Lil' Mick, there is a lot of anger management issues at the Reader and based on Fran "Bottle Blonde Skokie Resident" Speilman usual dose of vinegar laced articles, that must be what is required to work the City Hall beat. Lance is free to tape record whatever he wishes, just as you are free to bitch about not being on the invite list for the Mayor's schedule. Your pithy thumbnails about each of the aldermen are classic symptoms of someone with a Napoleonic complex. Please get some help. And if you noticed, Sandi "Hair Weave" Jackson does not even know how to vote or what she is voting on. On more than one occasion she comes running into the chambers and hearing her name called shouts "Here" as if they were taking attendance instead of a roll call. However I am glad that Scott Hodes can now go screw himself because this new law about Public Art has basically castrated him. But keep on spitting in the wind Lil Mickie, once your face is covered with phlegm you will wise up.
Thank you Lil' Mick, 'One Trick TIF' Ben, and anyone else in the press for exposing how my tax dollars are being so misused. I am glad to know that the public has been taken out of Public Art, our law enforcement officials will continue to abuse their authority without fear of prosecution or of elected representatives placing any checks or balances, the TIF districts will expand until every area of the city except the very blighted manufacturing areas (the very target of creating TIF districts in the first place) are designated one, the continued shell game that serves as an excuse for the CTA's crumbling state, our schools that will continue to dumb down the test until finally the Mayor looks like he has been successful, and the eventual suspension of those meddlesome democratic elections all together. All of us can now keep spitting in the wind, our faces nearly covered in phlegm, we will be so blinded we will never wise up and get rid of these incompetent shits. Now back to my escort service ads and reading Savage Love - the treatment of the tax payer being bent over isn't savage enough - but they love us. And please - just let 'Orion' have his/her say and don't get into a long thread of him/her ridiculing everyone’s input - ignore Orion - no one reading this blog respects him/her - we understand how little respect toward the reader/press/or taxpayers Orion has.
If 'orion' HAD balls, I'd say that they're a bit sweaty today. Maybe he's just waking up from a long, Friday night's worth of being told "No, I don't do THAT for any amount of money", by his 'life partner'......... On the other hand, this post is really way too long, too many words, for it to be our own, lovable 'orion', seems like it must be an 'orion' wannabe. In any case, is this any way to talk about your co-conspirators in city hall?
So, what do you think of the quoted post by "5 vs 45 = business as usual"? DOES it "sound like a plan?"????
I think that once the taxpayers get their second installment of their property tax bill, they will begin to realize that Ben has been doing Chicago a huge service by focusing on the TIF abuse, that the Obama's/liberal "new politics" and mainstream press should be ashamed for endorsing Stroger and his clout driven management style that is ruining this county. I think that voters through out this country are beginning to realize the quality of personnel in our 'elected' officials is at an all time low - (I can't think of one elected representative of mine whom I have any respect for.) I think that many of the problems we have outlined, like education dependant on property taxes, TIF laws, election laws and the machines undemocratic use of them concerning ballot access, and so many other things can only be solved within the state legislature, not the city council. I think our state is the most corrupt in the nation, and we are in a world of hurt by not insisting on better representation. And I think you post your VOTE ALL INCUMBENTS OUT too often. Your point 5 makes absolutely no sense. Select the best person who steps forward. Supporting new faces like Sharon Denise Dixon, Dowell, and Waguespack are the best things we can hope for. In the end, events in China, Pakistan, and the morons we have sent to Washington, are going to adversely affect this nation for generations. We can't even get things right in a city council election, and there is little hope we are going to clean house of the pieces of shit who claim to be fighting for us, when in fact they are interested in one thing only, maintaining their current positions and preparing to sell us out. Good luck on getting people organized with your platform and plan. Get out their and circulate petitions - but do it outside the combine of the two established parties - neither one is open to anyone with convictions or principles. Finally, I think by responding to 'nutroot' blogers like 'Orion' you only encourage assholes like them to ridicule the conversations on blogs like this.
> [Waguespack] doesn't have a voting record yes, he does, it just hasn't been published yet http://chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/journals/ he cast hundreds of votes at his 1st meeting, 5/21 stand by
> So what, 5 out of 50 aldermen are 'independent'. ... NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Q: What do you call a Chicago ordinance that passes with only 39 votes in favor? A: A LAW! > "No," Daley said. "No, no." Maybe a little dissent shouldn't matter to Daley, but it DOES, big time. Maybe if he keeps telling himself & the press it doesn't over and over he can convince himself or someone else.
> ... counter to our sense of what elections are all about, ie., selecting the best person uh, yeah let's work together to encourage people to keep their heads in the game when voting
From our City Clerk's office: "Please look for the next meetings Journal and Guide for the May 23rd meeting no later than the middle of next week." let's meet back here middle of next week and begin our object assessment of the independence of our new aldermen
One more thing that I am thinking, I agree with many above, Hugh is an Ass! The idea that you can judge the independence of any given official based on the votes cast at one meeting is ludicrous. Hugh reminds me of the type of person who thinks that if anyone were to disagree with him, they then lack independence and are worthy of his scorn. Hugh should give his last name, file petitions to run, and let us judge him on a voting record. All bitch and no substance.
“4: certainly for City Council vets 4 should be w/o exception for the frosh, let's revisit this before the opportunity to vote when we have a voting record to look at†– Hugh on this blog responding to the man with a plan. Later Hugh claims that the Freshmen already have a voting recording to implement the man with a plan plans. What a moron.
> The idea that you can judge the independence of any given official based on the votes cast at one meeting is ludicrous. Yeah, well, some people think FOUR YEARS was not enough to evaluate Rey Colon's independent cred.
> The idea that you can judge the independence of any given official based on the votes cast at one meeting is ludicrous. There's no practice swings in the Chicago City Council.
No practice swings, I agree, but before you gear up on beating up on the new blood, follow your own advice of revisiting this when they have a voting record to look at. Stop being an ass, admit you got out of hand, and help support a group of seven who might show some dissension, rather than giving everyone the impression that in Chicago it is Daley’s way, and everyone is for it, mostly due to the fear of retaliation. That's a shameful way to conduct the peoples business.
Hugh, if you are so smart about the ins and outs of Chicago council politics, why don't you run for office next time around? Put your money where your mouth is, instead of whining. And if MT is right and matlak did not hand over documents or tossed them, no one could move anything forward without having to start all over. Not handing them over should be a crime, especially if those are public documents.
The 11 who voted against the public arts ordinance were right, but got plowed under by the Daley machine aldermen. Whether it was Scott Hodes or anyone else who objected, the ordinance went from one extreme to the other and wasn't worth passage. I guess the good thing now is that we won't have Naturus or Tillman deciding what art goes into a building. But expect more cows, more million dollar beans, more useless art decided upon by aldermen who barely have time to clean the streets. And Hugh is worried about a few dozen votes on stop signs?
