Monday, February 2, 2009
News / Clout City Alderman O'Connor: Fox Or Wuss?
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 02.02.09 at 06:22 PM
It was a great show at Sunday's debate at DePaul University among Democratic candidates for the open seat in the Fifth Congressional District.
So many people showed up--at least 700--that the room filled up and latecomers were forced to listen to the debate over a radio set up in the hallway.
Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet did a good job of keeping the forum moving, not an easy task with eleven candidates eager to talk. They covered a range of issues, from President Obama's stimulus bill to Middle East policies. I thought Jan Donatelli, Tom Geoghegan, and John Fritchey did well, and I was happy to hear all the candidates come out against Mayor Daley's plan to privatize Midway Airport. It would have been nice if any of them--particularly Fritchey and his state House colleague Sara Feigenholtz--had criticized the deal before the City Council rubber stamped it. But you know how it goes in Chicago politics: most folks will only criticize the mayor's policies if he's not in the room.
The great mystery Sunday was 40th Ward alderman Patrick O'Connor--as in, where was he? Not at the forum, even though he'd filed nominating petitions to run in the race. Suzanne Elder, who helped organize the forum, said she'd called O'Connor at least three times and e-mailed him another three times. He never responded.
His no-show inspired a couple of theories among folks at the forum. One is that he's dropping out of the race because he didn't get Mayor Daley's support, since there's no way he can win without the mayor's support. The other is that Mayor Daley put him in the race to siphon votes from Mike Quigley and win the election for Fritchey, who has the support of the district's four big Machine aldermen: Richard Mell, William Banks, Eugene Schulter, and Patrick Levar. The theory is that one Irish name will take votes from another Irish name. Hey, the pols who run this city really do think you're stupid, and some of us are wondering if they're right after remembering that voters in the Fifth District elected Rod Blagojevich to Congress on three occasions.
But O'Connor told me the theories about him are wrong: he says he's not dropping out and he's not a front for Fritchey. In fact, he argues that he's a better fit for the job than Fritchey and will end up whooping him before it's done.
O'Connor says he had better ways to use his time Sunday than spend two hours on stage with all the other wannabes. "I was busy--I stopped by parishes, larger parties, restaurants, and sports bars," he said. "I got to meet three times as many people by making other appearances. The more people I meet the better off I am."
Plus, by not showing up, he's getting more attention than if he did. "Not that I'm a fox or anything, but my name is mentioned three times in the stories the [Trib and Sun-Times] wrote about the forum, and a lot of the other guys who were at the forum are not mentioned at all."
And now I'm writing about him.
So did he make the right decision? Well, he might have alienated more people than he won over at all those Super Bowl parties--the debate was aired on the radio, so presumably there were more people paying attention than just the ones who showed up at DePaul. And he could have gone to the other parties and the forum, which only ran from one to three.
For what it's worth, Quigley thinks O'Connor came off as a wuss who chickening out of the forum. "I think it was a mistake," he says. "It's disrespectful not to respond to the public's questions. This is an attempt by the public and the media to probe how you will handle issues. I think you owe it to them hear your views."
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According to the Sun-Times, Feigenholtz was less forceful about the Midway Airport deal: "All 11 candidates at the forum say that if elected, they would (or, in the case of State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, might) fight Mayor Daley's plan to privatize Midway Airport." http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1408479,candidates-forum-congressional-seat-020109.article
HELP STOP THE THE OLYMPICS Lets build a movement to keep the Olympics Games out of Chicago. Security and Transportation cost alone to exceed 2 billion dollars. SATURDAY,FEB. 7TH 3PM. 901 w.JACKSON (Jaks Tap), CHICAGO 901 W. JACKSON
Will Chicago politics taint the White House? BY JAMES LASKI Now that Barack Obama has been sworn in as our 44th president, one has to ask how much Windy City politics will influence our new chief executive. Illinois has had a long, 150-year history of public corruption. Three former governors have ended up in federal prison. Ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was recently arrested by the FBI, and is awaiting a formal indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Over the past 30 years, at least 25 aldermen, two city clerks, and a host of lobbyists, judges, contractors and city employees have been arrested, convicted and sentenced to federal prison for public corruption. More than 40 government employees and trucking owners alone were indicted in the Hired Truck Program Scandal, a scam by which private trucking firms bribed elected officials to place their service vehicles on the city payroll. One major political hiring scandal that took place in Chicago resulted in Mayor Richard M. Daley’s patronage chief, Robert Sorich, being sent to a federal penitentiary. Through it all, the Chicago political machine has survived. Despite some adjustments, it’s still business as usual. The Chicago system is the same one Barack Obama used when he decided to run for a state Senate seat. He didn’t court a local civic league group, or consult with his pastor, or his neighbors. Instead, he did things the old-fashioned Chicago way: He went to his alderman, an influential politician, and told her he wanted that seat. He also mastered the talent of challenging petitions, knocked every opponent off the ballot, and ran unopposed in his first election. This tactic has long been a real art form in Chicago politics. The architect of that system is our country’s most powerful mayor, Daley. His style of running a political machine with an iron fist, a political army and a huge war chest is second to none in this country. It was the inner circle in Daley’s office that dispatched hundreds of workers and thousands of fund-raising dollars to guarantee Rahm Emanuel would win his congressional seat in 2002 (his first political race). This is the same Rahm Emanuel who is now Obama’s chief of staff. Another member of the Obama team and inner circle is David Axelrod. The top political strategist in Chicago, he has also been Daley’s chief consultant for a number of years and is a brilliant tactician. Axelrod also handled multiple campaigns for the Democratic National Committee and its most influential member, Rahm Emanuel. Also adding to the Chicago flavor is Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s senior policy advisers. A former Chicago Habitat Company CEO, she is a past cabinet member of Mayor Daley, and has worked with Bill Daley, the mayor’s brother, who served on the Obama transition team. The people mentioned so far do not take into account all of the ancillary figures from Chicago who will also take up residence in D.C. as part of the Obama patronage army. Although Obama professes to be a political outsider, he has certainly learned the ropes of fund-raising the Chicago way. The Obama presidential campaign raised more than $600 million, shattering all records. When Obama first ran for the state Senate, Chicago businessman Tony Rezko, who is awaiting sentencing for public corruption, funded a portion of that first campaign. Our president, who still claims he's an outsider, has openly acknowledged his own maturation in the Chicago political arena. Politics change a person. The political culture often promotes power and ego over the public good. The Chicago political machine breeds corruption by illegal patronage and hiring practices that have existed in the city for decades. The old adage “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know†is the key to getting a job in Chicago. That philosophy has been taken to a whole new level over the past 20 years. To dismantle the machine, you need to cut cancerous patronage out. By and large, people have been rewarded in Chicago not for their education and skills, but for how many votes they can get from their precinct, or for how much money they can pay their political bosses or benefactors. The other political cancer in Chicago that needs to be cut out is the system’s abuse of fund-raising. Current fund-raising rules allow for too much leeway and misuse. For example, Blagojevich is alleged to have been involved in pay-to-play politics, by trying to auction off Obama’s now vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. In Chicago, Daley’s war chest is in the millions of dollars, and many of his contributors also have contracts with the city of Chicago. On their face, such arrangements may not be illegal, but the appearance of, or the potential for, impropriety is readily apparent. The answer is to require public funding for all political campaigns. We also need independent boards, not politicians and their patronage chiefs, to issue government contracts and jobs. Obama has embarked on a course of change, and his political rhetoric indicates that things will be different. However, his political roots are deeply embedded in the bare-knuckle, down-and-dirty blood sport known as Politics, Chicago Style. Our new president, along with his inner circle, will certainly bring a Chicago flavor to the nation’s capital. At the end of the day, though, the question will remain: Can this country stomach it? Only time will tell. James Laski was the city clerk in Chicago from 1995-2006 and was indicted in the Hired Truck Program Scandal. He spent 11 months in federal prison. He is the author of "My Fall From Grace: From City Hall to Prison Walls." http://www.freep.com/article/20090130/OPINION05/90130027
BENJAY, O'Connor is the farthest thing from a lay down candidate. He is the one everyone is worried about. Daley will work behind the scenes for Patrick as well as major unions.
he din't go to this event, because he didn't need have to. The event was for the lakefront wannabes. They will split that vote between Fritchey,Quigley and Sara Feigenholtz.Patrick will win his 40th big and allot of the NWS. Don't put a stake in him yet!
Obama was a wannabe once... I was impressed with Jan Donatelli and could do without another recycled alderman moving to Capitol Hill.
The machine shill candidate Bryar was excellent, They even were able to boo as charlie wheelans answered the questions the others would not. Fritchey is a smart man. He is pure machine candidate and knows how to fool people. But you cannot fool voters all the time. vote for wheelan and you will get a non-machine elected official that will save your tax dollars. He won't spend them like Madigan and Fritchey spend your money.
Red eye, are you nuts? Bryar is a self-funding doctor that's in this on your own. Do a LITTLE bit of homework before posting.
It's just as likely that the Mayor has O'Connor in there to pull votes from Fritchey in order to promote Quigley 'up and out'.
more dirty chicago machine tactics is what homework shows. From the Journal: "Joe Woodward, Bryar's campaign manager, confirmed to Chicago Journal that Trejo and Scala are volunteers for Bryar but said they acted independently, with no direction from the campaign. Bryar's campaign is not paying Jaconetty, Woodward said. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Trejo & Associates contributed $600 to the 32nd Ward Democratic Organization in three individual contributions this decade. John Fritchey, another candidate in the race for the 5th District congressional seat, is the 32nd Ward Democratic Committeman." Bryar did nothing to stop them from challenging. So what that makes Bryar is complicit in dirty politics. Lets send someone to Washington who is not cutting backroom deals and challenging every possible opponent off the ballot. Why not tell the 32nd ward to stop the dirty politics when he had a chance, because being a shill is the game. Pete Daghers own name was challenged. that is dirty. Charlie Wheelans wifes name was challenged. that is dirty. typical Chicago machine candidates do it all the time. Follow the money. Wheelan will set them straight.
While the Round Robin forum was short and sweet it became evident who the political shills were in Fritchey & Feinholtz (with a touch of arrogance). One ex, Fritchey says he fought Pay to Play for years but later states he's all about Earmarks, which translates - Pay2Play. That's the kind of sideways speak we're accustomed to in this gangster land of machine politics. While Quigley is the other career politico in the bunch he does well to provide a No Spin Zone and has more of the fighting spirit of David vs the machine's Goliath. On the other side of the spectrum, the stronger political outsiders, at least at this event, seem to be Donatelli, Geoghegan and Wheelan. To me they appeared as enablers with good credentials who could specialize on certain committees, Transportation, Labor and Finance respectfully. For Progressives, whose political time is beginning to mature on the national stage, Quigley & Geoghegan struck a chord, albeit with different substance and styles. Quigley appears comfortable on the conservative front with political moxie while Geoghegan appeals to the vision and style of the grassroots base. Unfortunately, Chicago politics has hardly been about who has the best ideas on the table or foot soldier support, but often who has the most money and "machine" support. Times are changing though, this opportunity in the 5th is the perfect time to show "change" HAS come.
The better forum was the American Muslim Taskforce because it will be on TV and the internet. I was there--it was great. It was a tie between John Fritchey and Prof Charlie Whealan. Great debate.
The AMT event did look great, but the bigger event, with more candidates, IS on CAN-TV, and the internet, as well as being live on radio. I'm looking forward to watching them both.
O'Connor is the best choice of the candidates running. With his experience as well as his hard and honest work ethic and host of other qualifications....is clearly the best candidate for the job. He has ran a clean and honest campaign as well..something most of these candidates know nothing about.. oconnorforcongress.com. Check it out for yourself.
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