Thursday, May 28, 2009
News / Clout City The Worst Council Vote?
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 05.28.09 at 01:12 PM
In his anger over the latest parking meter meltdown--just when you think it's bad, it gets worse--alderman Joe Moore told the Sun-Times that his vote in favor of privatizing the system was "probably the worst vote I've made in my 18 years in the City Council."
Hmm, tough call. I'd have to say that his votes in favor of bringing the Olympics to town are in close competition. The Olympics are like a bad joke that Mayor Daley is playing on his loyal constituents. If the International Olympic Committee gives us the games, it will probably cost us much more than selling off the parking meters. It will burden future Chicagoans with debt and rising taxes for years to come.
Not that I'm picking on Alderman Moore. In terms of independence, he's one of the better council members we've got. And unlike the 39 others who voted for the parking deal, he at least admits he got it wrong.
Comments (12)
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US Attorney goes after another AA tool for Da Mayor,Ike Corruthers. Hey Patrick Fitzgerald! Nobody does nothing in this City unless somebody backs him up!The Mayors OC is the Somebody!Getting another African American is getting old, Patrick Fitzgerld.
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Good comment on a (mostly) good alderman. He definitely is one of the better ones in this city.
He had a few staffers passing out coffee at his "mobile office" by the Loyola red line today, I should have asked about this.
I'll bet those people who voted for this idiot in 2007 wished they had their vote back too.
Ha! Moore may not be perfect, but unfortunately we had a choice between him and a moron who said he wouldn't dispute anything Mayor Daley wanted because it's not wise to argue with your boss! Sorry, THH, Moore was the better candidate.
Unfortunately, Thomas Westgard is a racist, unemployed storefront lawyer (no longer licensed to practice) who now runs a "newspaper" without revealing he is a campaign worker for Joe Moore. The trouble isn't Joe's bad choice; it's that he completely failed to analyze the situation before making his decision. Add to this his brilliant "foie gras" activities and you have perhaps the least effective alderman in the city. It's also only a matter of time before Joe's pay-to-play activities come under the light.
The 49th Ward would be better off without an alderman, rather than this complete bozo. Joe's biggest mistake, in truth, was accepting a job that he is incapable of fulfilling. The truth is, Joe barely won the last election and did so in such a vile manner than fully half of his constituents will never support anything he ever says or does. For that reason, it is impossible for Joe to be effective. That, of course, and his complete lack of intelligence.
Good lord, that weird Westgard guy is still made at Don Gordon for running for alderman? I wonder if it has anything to do with Don beating the daylights out of Jim Ginderske in the first round of that campaign. That weird Westgard guy was in charge of Ginderske's campaign and obviously did such a lousy job that he was the first one tossed out of the election. And now he's still looking for any opportunity to insult Don Gordon, who has politely kept his mouth shut since the election. Sour grapes anyone? Oh, and it's true that this weired Westgard character is now running a newsletter for Joe Moore disguised as a community newspaper. It is worse than any high school paper one can imagine and clearly exists to provide Joe Moore with at least one outlet for positive exposure, if you consider Westgard's butt kissing to be positive exposure.
"In terms of independence, he's one of the better council members we've got." Well, strictly speaking, that may be true, but that's not saying much. In fact, it's saying so very little that bothering to put it in writing is misleading and dishonors the Reader and your byline.
When Moore took office in 1991, Chicago had just 16 TIF districts. We now have about 160. Each TIF was sillier than the last, but Moore voted for them all, until the LaSalle St TIF vote, 3 months before a close election in early 2007. Moore's record on TIF district establishment is approximately 143 for, 1 against. Moore's record on TIF subsidy approval is 18 years of unbroken support. But hey, if you want to use "Moore" and "independent" in the same sentence, knock yourself out I guess, it's your byline.
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