Wednesday, November 5, 2008
News / Clout City Remembering Fast Eddie
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 11.05.08 at 04:52 PM
Just a day before a new-school Chicago politician got elected president, an old-school pol, former Tenth Ward alderman Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud in a deal having to do with a Gold Coast development deal on the site of the former Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine.
Vrdolyak was usually lodged on the right side of the political spectrum, but I once saw him deliver an antiwar speech.
It was in the fall of 1984. As the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, Vrdolyak -- who later became a Republican -- was hosting a rally at the Medinah Temple for Walter Mondale's ill-fated presidential campaign.
Vrdolyak blistered President Ronald Reagan for sending soldiers all over the world, including Lebanon. As I recall, he pointed out that we had lots of problems closer to home. The folks in the audience -- lots of lefties and union types -- ate it up. I don't know what got into Vrdolyak that night -- I'd never heard him talk like a peacenik before. It made me wonder if Vrdolyak -- with all of his charisma and charm -- could become a force for progressive politics.
Silly me. The next time I heard him speak at a political rally was in 1987, when he was running against Mayor Harold Washington as a right-wing independent. Speaking to Tenth Warders on the far southeast side, he denounced the public schools for providing birth control to teenagers: "You can get condoms in public schools but you can't pray in school."
Two different crowds, two different pitches--so call him a pragmatist. But ultimately, I guess, he wasn't as fast as he thought.
Comments (6)
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Pres Obama Valarie Jerrett and company were having a secret meeting with Aon's Ryan,at the Aon Building. I bet the first and second items on their agenda was the Olympics,and getting rid of patrick Fitzgerald.
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I bet Daley is having cold sweats at night since Eddie V fessed up. "PLEASE BARARK DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS GUY". Daley need some peace of mind from Fitzgerald advance.
Ed Vrdolyak did more to help more people than Barack Obama ever did. How many jobs did Barack Obama get for people in his neigbhorhoods? How many Hispanics did Barack Obama help? Ed Vrdolyak helped a lot of people Vrdolyak gave good speeches too. Give me Ed Vrdolyak over Barack Obama any day.
In part I agree with you. Eddie screwed up with his long winded fight with Harold Washington. If Eddie had publicly made peace with Harold he would have been the MAYOR OF Chicago instead of Daley.
