The Blog

Thanks for the post! Excellent analysis of the endorsements. You got the bottom line right: > ... the “strong, independent” council envisioned by the federation isn’t a whole lot different from the current one. No one else highlighted the CFL's inconsistent treatment of the living wage opponents and "flippers." Thanks again.

SEIU is a corrupt communist joke especially that phony hypocrite Jerry Morrison. They sold out and will be shown to be fools on election day.

Y'all left off my favorite challenger: Leroy Jones, who's taking on that idiot Brookins in the 21st...

CFL's Dennis Gannon, SEIU's Tom Balanoff are CUNT's! They are scared of Daley! The guy that should be running the CFL is Crazy Coconate!

CFL is a joke. Daley privatizes, cuts benefits, lays people off. These unions are corrupt and racist. The union bosses all have non union companies where they exploit people. They are fat pigs who are bad for the little guy and real workers

The CFL endorsement is a joke. They want to go after Naturus in the 42nd -- how many union members live in Streeterville? They should be putting all of their resources in Southside working class wards -- 7, 21, 15, 18 and protecting their friends like Moore. Lyle and Colon.

Dennis Gannon is a joke. All these fat white guys in suits. And all these unemployed people. They all sell out to Daley for pennies.

Leroy Jones will make a great alderman no making who is endorsing him.

Carina Sanchez is a great candidate. She will win and Cardenas will go the way of HDO.

Jesus Salazar will win the election in the 12th ward. Carina Sanchez claims to be the union's candidate because of the endorsement,but the rank and file are working with Salazar.

Carina Sanchez Has all Unions, Chiago Federations Of Labor and the Labor Council for Latin America Advancement support we will all vote for Her

Hello everyone Just wanted to say hi and Ill do my best to bring the monimun wage up. come check out my page. http://www.myspace.com/carina_sanchez4alderman

THE CFL WANTS PUPPETS,LIKE THEIR MOPE BREWER ,WHO WILL JUMP TO THEIR TUNE.

CFL ENDORSEMENTS ARE A LIST OF WHO TO VOTE AGAINST. THEY MANIPULATE THEIR POOR MEMBERS AND WASTE THEIR HARD-EARNED DUES TO MAKE THEMSELVES IMPORTANT.UNIONS WERE NECESSARY DECADES BACK BUT NOW THEY'RE BLOOD-SUCKERS-SEND THEM A MESSAGE-VOTE AGAINST EVERY CFL,AFSCME AND SEIU ENDORSED CANDIDATE-TELL THE BOSSES--NO!!!!

speaking of brewer, they got that chump to spend his own dough-ck the financials

Why are we, the rank and file of SEIU forced to voluntarily work for Carina Sanchez (12th ward), a person who many of us do not like and was not our hand picked choice for the 12th. ward? Further, why are certain high level SEIU members and their friends and family being PAID to work for Ms. Sanchez. Case in point: Cynthia Martinez of SEIU $1,800 for staff salary; Anthony Thomas of SEIU 228.25 for staff time; Gerald Morrison of SEIU $694.70 for staff time; SEIU PAC $334.00 for live calls; Rita Kastrup (related to Genie Kastrup of SEIU) $465.00 for staff time and Scott Kastrup $1,750.00 for fundraising consulting. If the rank and file have to volunteer our time to Carina Sanchez why shouldn't the other members do the same. The rank and file should be treated fairly.

First of all, no one is forced to volunteer, no one could possibly force you to do anything you do not want to do. Carina is the only candidate equipped to do the job, the only one with experience, and the only one with the track record of being union friendly, she comes from a union family, and will work hard for us. If you choose to volunteer, you do it because you know that it's necessary for a better tomorrow. I am proud that the unions choose a strong candidate , and not a weak or corrupt candidate such as: Salazar, a man who runs on the platform of being a lawyer, and "from the community", yet does not reside here, rather rents an apartment, Bocanegra, a man who has a young crew of hoodlums knocking on doors, and Cardenas, who backed by the HDO, has let our coummunity go to waste. None of these candidates, with the exception of Carina, are out there talking about the issues. Because the real issue is not who is getting paid or not to work on a campaign, rather; the fact that crime has gone up in our neighborhoods, we still have no high school in our ward, taxes are going up, and we have an Alderman who is hardly an honest man!

Mary, why do you feel that you have to criticize the other candidates in order to defend Carina Sanchez. Mr. Salazar comes from a life long union family. His record of over 14 years of working with union members and community at large speaks for itself. We, the Salazar campaign have from day one stayed on the issues and been positive about it. We have never once attacked anyone at all. Your blog unfortunately makes just you look bad because of your lack of professionalism. We are not interested in judging you or the other candidates. The 12th ward needs hope, vision, and inspiration not negativism.

==PROPOSAL FOR AN ELECTION EXPERIMENT== This may not be the proper forum for this, but I will state my 'idea'/'proposal' anyway, and see if anyone is intrigued by my reasoning. I hold the opinion that it has been a very, very long time since we, the citizens of these United States, have truly and honestly been represented by our so-called 'public servants'. While it can be said that a certain small percentage of any given area's population is well and generously served by their elected officials,(at the financial and social expense of the area's 'common', politically unconnected citizens),for the most part, our elected officials are motivated by three basic principles: get power, keep power and use that power to gain wealth, for themselves and for those of like mind. I assert that the vast majority of voters are poorly served by the 'powers that be', in all areas of their daily lives. It is obvious that many 'public servants' define themselves as being those individuals who are served BY the public. This sad state of affairs is the result of simple mathematics. If one determines, in any given area,(ie. city, county, state and federal),the total number of citizens who are qualified to cast a vote, one finds that perhaps 50%, more or less, of that number are actually registered to vote; further,in any given election, one finds that typically between 50% - 60% of those registered don't even bother to make the effort to actually cast their vote(s). Thus, all that is required to win a 2 person race is 51% of the votes actually cast, effectively meaning that a mere 26% of the total number of citizens qualified to vote are determining who is elected. In a race of more than 2 contestants, the percentage needed to win becomes even lower than 26%. It is a puzzling mystery why the 2 major political parties, the Dumbocrats and the Retardicans, continue to strongly resist the establishment of additional political parties, though one sees occasional use of 'shill' candidates by both major parties. So, I propose a little experiment, to be conducted in both the smallest, local level elections, (ie. town, city, county, township, village,etc.), as well as in the larger level elections, (ie. state and federal), an experiment which is designed to accomplish several goals and answer several questions,(besides the obvious one, of seeing if enough people/voters will get off their butts and choose to participate in this experiment!). Basically, my question is this: what would happen if enough voters choose, in every election, both primary and general, to cast their votes by adhering to the following rules, completely disregarding all factors commonly used by voters to make their decisions on who to vote for, and simply casting their vote(s) by applying these rules/formula: * 1) Determine which candidates are the INCUMBENTS and DO NOT vote for any of them. * 2) If there are only two candidates running for any given office, all that the voter MUST know is which one is the INCUMBENT, then vote for the CHALLENGER candidate. * 3) If there are MORE than two candidates vying for a given office, determine if the incumbent is listed FIRST, and IF THIS IS SO, then vote for the challenger candidate who is listed LAST. * 4) If the incumbent is NOT listed FIRST, then vote for the challenger candidate who IS listed FIRST. * 5) If no incumbent is running for office, always vote for the LAST candidate listed. Remember to COMPLETELY DISREGARD all impulses to concern yourself with the specific persons who you are voting for and/or the specific persons you are not voting for and/or the specific incumbents who will, should enough voters in any given election participate in this experiment, be losing their jobs. Remember,also,that the issues don't matter, policies don't matter, individual candidates' personal charm/attractiveness does not matter..................... nothing matters other than adhering to the 5 rules stated above. If enough voters in any given election participate in this experiment, the result should be that a whole lot of incumbents will be voted out of office. What reaction(s), on the part of politicians and their cronies, will this stimulate? If enough voters CONTINUE to participate in this experiment during the next several election cycles, thus keeping any specific person from holding office for more than a single term, will those non-politically connected individuals who would like to sincerely serve their fellow citizens by holding public office, but have determined that their chances of being elected are slim-to-none, now find that they have a reasonably decent chance of succeeding in holding public office? Will the 'professional politicians' eventually find other lines of work and abandon trying to gain and hold power over their fellow citizens, (since it's difficult to establish power,influence and control in just a single term in office)? Will the majority of those citizens who do gain public office now be honest, ethical, hard-working and intelligent individuals, who seek office to actually serve the electorate, (since the traditional motivations of power, influence and wealth will effectively no longer be available)? Will these new, honest candidates, now encouraged to run for office, alter the usual dynamics of 'campaigning'? And in what ways? As the reader may surmise, this experiment is designed to disrupt the decades-old flow of bullshit, which has passed for so long as democracy; bullshit both by the politicians and bullshit by the voting public's failure to effectively participate in their own governing. The above experiment should be conducted in all political contests; Administrative, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. The rule to remember is: WHEN IN DOUBT, VOTE THEM OUT. The 5 rules above are designed to mathematically ensure that the maximum number of votes are cast in such a way as to be effective in denying all elected officials more than one term in office; to prove, by the only means those smugly in power ever understand, that the voters actually determine who holds public office, and that those presently holding said office(s) have, for way too long, held the vast majority of their constituents in contempt, evidenced not by their words, but by their deeds. Keep in mind that this experiment I am proposing is not meant to be a solution to our present social, economic and political disparities, but more as a catalyst for positive change in the attitudes of those who claim to represent ALL citizens' best interests, instead of the present predominance of their representing only the interests of the chosen few. To paraphrase one of our past presidents, who once said: * You may fool SOME of the people ALL of the time * You may fool ALL of the people SOME of the time * But you cannot fool ALL of the people, ALL of the time The sad reality is that you need only to fool just the right number of people, at just the right time, to attain power and control over the many.

Just..Get your affairs in order for the next election David E. Neeley!