Tuesday, June 2, 2009
News / Clout City Paul Volpe -- Live!
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 06.02.09 at 08:11 PM
Inspector General David Hoffman was roughly halfway through his press conference criticizing the parking meter deal when reporters started getting the word over their cell phones: Paul Volpe, Mayor Daley's chief of staff, was going to hold a rebuttal press conference within minutes.
Talk about rapid response--if only Mayor Daley ran the CTA as efficiently as he goes after his critics.
Actually, I'm not sure why the mayor was so upset. For the most part, Hoffman was rather measured in his comments. He made no sweeping accusations of fraud or negligence -- even though reporters gave him plenty of opportunity with their questions. He refused to speculate as to why the mayor rammed the deal through the City Council so quickly. He even allowed for the possibility that it was a deal worth approving. I mean, he was like the Rubberband Man, the way he bent over backward to be fair.
Hoffman's presser was in the fourth-floor conference room of the city building at 740 N. Sedgwick; as soon as he finished, we all packed up our stuff and schlepped upstairs to the fifth floor for Volpe's.
Volpe was supposed to appear at 2:45. But he didn't show up until 3:18. Hey, what's the fun of being the mayor's right-hand man if you can't make reporters sit around?
But let me tell you, it was worth the wait. What a performance! Volpe deserved a standing ovation when it was over, and it was all I could do not to stand up and cheer. He kind of reminded me of Jimmy Cagney, with his spunky, pugnacious defense of his man (the mayor) and their parking-meter deal. Lips quivering, voice occasionally cracking, he expressed outrage bordering on disgust that Hoffman--or anyone for that matter--could even remotely suggest that things didn't work as well as they should in Chicago.
As for defending the deal, it's pretty clear that the mayor's central argument is that $1 billion in the bank today is worth more than anything 75 years down the road. He and his aides may need a new one--fewer and fewer people seem to be buying that line.
Volpe went on to make a big deal about all of the seniors who wouldn't be getting meals on wheels if we hadn't sold off the meters. And he clearly wanted us to think that without the parking meter loot Mayor Daley would have to pink-slip a bunch of cops and fire fighters or at least raise taxes--never mind the big-time user fee that quadrupling meter rates represents.
My absolute favorite part of Volpe's performance came when he took a moment to defend the integrity of his friends in the City Council, who, as you may recall, agreed to sell the meters after less than two days of debate over sketchy information. How dare anyone suggest that a legislative body so august as the Chicago City Council could be Mayor Daley's rubber stamp! "It's impossible for us to force the City Council on any matter," he said.
Like I told you, it was a great performance. He even managed that last line with a straight face.
Comments (20)
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The meters are chump change for the Daley family, chump change. Where is Patrick Daley hiding?
David Hoffman wants it both ways. He wants to appear independent of Daley without upsetting him. The same is true of Patrick Fitzgerald. I HAVE GIVEN BOTH HOFFMAN AND FITZGERALD EVIDENCE OF FRAUD AND BOTH DID NOTHLING.
Was paul volpe shaking in the press conference? He looked scared, like Fitzgerald was standing next to him smiling. Da Mayor is lost.
No matter how many scandals are exposed, there are dozens for every one that makes the news that remain hidden. It's the scandalous rascals we need to rid ourselves of, you know, the Incumbent office holders. How, you wonder? Here's how: 1. Party Primaries are held to determine which candidates for elected office will be chosen to run in the ONLY election that really matters, the General Election. 2. Unless you care about which specific Republican, or other party, candidate will face off against the Democratic candidate, (in crook county and Chicago, that is almost always an Incumbent), there is NO reason for you to cast your Party Primary votes in the Republican Primary and EVERY reason for you to utilize your votes in the Democratic Primary, using your votes to DENY the nomination, to be the Democratic Party's candidates in the General Election, to the Democratic INCUMBENTS. BECAUSE: 3. The Incumbent Democrat is MOST vulnerable to being denied reelection by NOT winning their party's nomination in said party's PRIMARY elections. THAT'S how you get rid of these Democratic Incumbents, by denying them the their party's nomination to General Election ballot, which is what happens when your votes succeed in denying them their party's Primary victory. Q: Now, how can the voters be assured that the votes they cast in the Democratic Party's Primary will ensure that the Incumbent Democrats will NOT win their primary contests? A: By casting your votes using the following voting strategy: 1. Compile a list of all Democratic Incumbents who you want to NOT make it onto the General Election ballot. Organize your list of Democratic Incumbents by the office(s) which they currently hold. 2. Bring this list with you when you go to vote. 3. Locate the Incumbent Democrat's name on the voting ballot, under the public office which they currently hold. 4. If the Incumbent Democrat's name is listed FIRST, then cast your vote for whichever candidate's name is listed LAST OR If the Incumbent Democrat's name is NOT listed first, cast your vote for whichever candidate's name IS listed FIRST. Casting your votes in this manner will, if enough citizens apply this strategy, result in every voter NOT wanting the Incumbent Democrats to win their primary casting their votes for a SINGLE challenger candidate in each contest for public office. In order to ensure that Incumbent Democrats fail to win their party's nominations in the General Election, the voters must, for this purpose, disregard who they are specifically voting for, and focus on who they are specifically voting against, voting AGAINST the Incumbent by voting FOR the same, single challenger candidate. This strategy, if applied by a sufficient number of voters, is the most certain to result in the Incumbent Democrats not being reelected, since, if the Incumbent Democrats fail to win their party's nomination to the General Election, said Incumbent Democrats, being no longer their party's primary victors, are left with only one other option, ie., to attempt to run in the General Election as 'Independents'. The application of this voting strategy can be the first step in restoring Authentic Democracy to this city, county and state. If Authentic Democracy is what you, the voter, want, the use of this voting strategy will effectively help you to begin the process of it's restoration. No other voting strategy is as mathematically effective.
I am reconsidering my outrage over this deal, as Mary Dixon WXRT this morning presented a possibility I had not considered - that in 50 years we'll all be traveling by jetpack, thus the parking meters won't be generating anything. what a forward thinking genius Da Mare is.
Volpe has definitely been woodshedding at the Richard J. & Richard M. Daley School of Rhetoric. "Volpe went on to make a big deal about all of the seniors who wouldn't be getting meals on wheels if we hadn't sold off the meters. And he clearly wanted us to think that without the parking meter loot Mayor Daley would have to pink-slip a bunch of cops and fire fighters or at least raise taxes..." OOPS! Volpe missed the memo: Daley has forsworn doomsday talk. DALEY: No one likes that [a proposed doomsday budget] in legislative bodies, just don't like it. http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=34312
pssst ... Evolution Revolution There aren't any primaries for any citywide elected positions. Cheers to Shortshanks for dat one.
When did daley change his chief of staff. Where did the chick with the big time Economic education go and when ?? I guess she's trying to protect her resume and future. Unfortunatly for Volpe this BLIZZARD OF A PROBLEM called THE METER LEASE DEAL will end mr Volpe's credibility but he'll land with one of these co conspiritors companies that richie is in bed with so he can still be controlled. Its your nightmare now paul, ENJOY!!!
I guess Volpe can't count to 27. 27 IS THE NUMBER OF WORTHLESS ALDERMAN THAT THIS CORRUPT MAYOR HAS APPOINTED. I guess pauls right that those people can't be controlled. What a genuis paul is, IRS should definiatly AUDIT tis guy. His understanding is WACK!!!
The fundamental conceptual disconnect here is that the fault has to lie with either the Mayor, or the City Council. The truth is, neither of them did their jobs well. There is plenty of blame to smear on every single one of them.
Pssst.... tm, then that's even better. Applying the HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT votint strategy to a single election guarantees that the Incumbents will lose. Which, by the way, is what the voting strategy is designed for. Cheers to the midget for that one.
Rich Samuels caught a decent-size clip of Volpe live http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,8&vid=060209a
Alderman Waguespack was great! He was the only one to orginally vote NO on the Meter Deal. Lets get behind Wags and David Hoffman. Lets show them we need them to continue to open up the Chicago's 5th floor.
DH is trying to wipe egg off his face we got when the legislators at Springfield punked us and the reform commission out.
This State ain't ready for reform! Pat Collins, David Hoffamn,Pat Fitzgerald,Noelle Brennan your job is complete. Dismissed!
