Career Grifter and CPS Boss Forrest Claypool's Trail of Slime Pointed Out by Juan Perez!

The Chicago Tribune's Juan Perez, Jr. is asking the questions about the Rula Lenska of Progressive Chicago Politics, that I have asked for years.  My heart is warmed.  Mr. Perez has a nice set of teeth. 

Forrest Claypool, the Rula Lenska* of Chicago politics,  has had one helluva run!  For decades this fading beauty has been treated to quality moisturizers, Dior Air-Flash foundation, blot & powder and just the right blush on those apple cheeks, by the stooge propagandists at WTTW, ABC 7, NBC5, and . . .oh, what the hell CBS2.

About the time Rula Lenska was bombarding the TV airwaves hawking  Alberto Culver products and stunning millions of Americans into raising the question " Just Who IS Rula Lensaka?"  Forrest Claypool was brushing the Saluki moss from the back of his grey worsted Brooks Brothers and insinuating his way into the corridors of power on La Salle and Clark between Washington and Randolph.  Soon, Chicagoans were saying, " Just Who IS Forrest Claypool?"

No one seemed to have the insight, or the gumption to say," He's a grifter and damn well-practiced one, Rubes."

Nope, we are too nice.  We swallow anything, because our news papers and electronic media is as much a part of the political anatomy of Chicago, as the 14th Ward Regular Democratic Liver, Bacon and Onions Boosters.

Forrest Claypool oozed into Chicago Power Politics with David Axelrod, Judson Miner,  and Rahm Emanuel.  They helped Abner Mikva and Michael Shakman remove the City That Works' political limbs, leaving a Progressive torso that requires much more monetary sustenance, than the once functioning apparatus had ever dreamed of stealing.

The old time political crooks never stole everything.   Progressives do.

Progressives are loyal only to power and those who bring more power to the table. Claypool is master of the game. He requires short memories and no interested inquiry on the part of people who should know better.  Do any Progressive a favor and a politician will soon find a six inch blade where his kidneys once functioned.  The political landscape is littered with corpses of once trusting and effective public servants.

Claypool gets appointments via his network.  If he runs for office, he generally gets his ass handed to him - County Board President and Cook County Assessor. He did manage to squeak by Ted Lechowicz  and grab a comfy seat on the county Board

He has been appointed

• to Cook County Board of Appeals
•  as Deputy State Treasurer
• Mayor Daley's Chief of Staff
• Head of Chicago Parks
• CEO CTA
• CEO CPS

Succeeding where?  Rula Lenska has more chops.

Now, with digital media some people begin to ask " Who Exactly IS Forrest Claypool?"  Even the always pliable Chicago Tribune has turned its blind but gimlet eye on Forrest Claypool and his modus operandi.

The inspector general for the Chicago Board of Education says his work has been obstructed and duplicated by a better-funded arm of CPS chief Forrest Claypool's office, according to a report that lays out a political scuffle between the legally mandated watchdog and the mayoral-appointed administration.

In his report, Nicholas Schuler accuses auditors for Chicago Public Schools of "significant interference" with his investigation into the alleged theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth of CTA fare cards by a district employee.

A "parallel investigation" of that case by CPS' Office of Internal Audit and Compliance last year "compromised a criminal investigation by prematurely alerting a main subject, and sowing fear and confusion in the minds of key witnesses," Schuler said in his report, which was sent to Claypool and the school board. 

Auditors also contacted Cook County prosecutors in an effort to inject their department into the inspector general's fare card investigation, Schuler's office said. He said "very troubling issues remain" with other investigations being undertaken by the auditor's office.

Gee, who'd a thunk?  Carol Marin? Jay Levine? Neil Steinberg?  Mark Brown? Jamie Kalvan?

No one worried too much when Rahm made Claypool the CTA Boss and got Rev. Pfleger to do a politcial hatchet job on the Presidentod Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 308, or about Bombardier contracts, or the Ventra Card Boondoggles. Why should WTTW worry about the fighting Progressive beaten by Joe Berrios, when he took over CPS, after Triple B sold the store to SUPES?

Forrest Claypool pads himself with dollars and silence afforded by trhe compliant media.  Now, that same padding is getting shredded. Lookee H'yar!

The district's internal audit team is led by Andrell Holloway, who previously worked with Claypool in a similar role at the CTA. The unit has received significant funding increases since Claypool took office.

CPS budgeted a little more than $958,000 for the audit department in 2015. This year, the budget for Holloway's office is roughly $4.4 million, not including up to $14 million worth of consulting contracts that he manages. 

This year's budget for Schuler's office is about $2 million, relatively unchanged from recent years. The office perennially asks the school board for more money and staff.
"I think there's a fundamental disagreement, at some level, about the importance of the IG's office," Schuler said in an interview. "I've been told that at the end of the day, nobody's going to stand in our way. We're free to do what we can. But I see that as something different than a wholehearted embrace of the inspector general's function and the idea that there's going to be independent and transparent investigations. CPS declined requests to interview Claypool and Holloway about Schuler's report." (emphasis my own)

Forrest managed to drag poor old Frank "The Mailroom Guy" Clark -former CEO of ComEd into the bed of Claypool's making

Frank Clark, the school board's president and a mediator in the dispute, said Holloway's unit needed more firepower after "not meeting even the minimal obligations of an internal audit department."
"Of course he would like more people," Clark said of Schuler's office. "That could be said for almost every office in central office. But it's unrealistic."
CTA and CPS, like Chicago Park District all seem to have the same players and same grift.  The IG's concern now is the connection between Claypool's CTA Boss-Time and his CPS Boss-Time.
Schuler's office concluded the CPS employee "participated in a criminal conspiracy" in which he would steal transit passes from his office, then distribute them to accomplices who sold them on the black market.
Schuler's investigators believed the employee, who has not been charged with a crime, took at least $72,700 worth of transit passes over about seven months.
The CPS employee was fired in November, according to Schuler's report, which said Holloway's audit department conducted an "improper separate and parallel investigation" into the theft.
Schuler's office said the audit team "disregarded repeated requests … to refrain from simultaneously and separately investigating the matter."
According to the report, Holloway and other members of his team instructed one person interviewed by the IG's office to contact the audit department about the investigation, and conducted separate interviews that Schuler said "prematurely alerted" the suspected employee.
"This investigation implicated a subject who had been hired from the CTA," said a summary of Schuler's investigation.
"Thus, so as to avoid the mere appearance of any impropriety or undue influence on any investigation into the theft of CTA transit passes purchased by CPS, Internal Audit clearly should have stepped aside and let the (IG's office) — the statutorily independent investigative body — undertake its own investigation," the report said.

The IG's investigation applies the Bounty to the slug trails going back to Claypool's Boss-time at CTA and his Boss-time for the children at CPS.

Schuler's office concluded the CPS employee "participated in a criminal conspiracy" in which he would steal transit passes from his office, then distribute them to accomplices who sold them on the black market.

Schuler's investigators believed the employee, who has not been charged with a crime, took at least $72,700 worth of transit passes over about seven months.
The CPS employee was fired in November, according to Schuler's report, which said Holloway's audit department conducted an "improper separate and parallel investigation" into the theft.

Schuler's office said the audit team "disregarded repeated requests … to refrain from simultaneously and separately investigating the matter."
According to the report, Holloway and other members of his team instructed one person interviewed by the IG's office to contact the audit department about the investigation, and conducted separate interviews that Schuler said "prematurely alerted" the suspected employee.

"This investigation implicated a subject who had been hired from the CTA," said a summary of Schuler's investigation.
"Thus, so as to avoid the mere appearance of any impropriety or undue influence on any investigation into the theft of CTA transit passes purchased by CPS, Internal Audit clearly should have stepped aside and let the (IG's office) — the statutorily independent investigative body — undertake its own investigation," the report said.

Back in Jaunary of 2016. Juan Perez wrote a brilliant study of Claypool's long and slimy trail of grift in public service.

The career grifter has the Winston Strawn attorney Ron Marmer and the mega donor Ron DeNard and all of the old gang in his wagon train.  Now, it's in a tight defensive circle.

Juan Perez is attacking the wagons!  Watch you back, Juan. Bruce Dold has long ridden in Claypool's wagons.

Just who is Forrest Claypool?  He's no Rula Lenska.  Better ask Juan Perez!  Tell it, Son!

Closing Neighborhood Schools, Like Daley Closed Neighborhood Saloons, Is Part of the Small Global City Plan

19th Ward parents packed the Beverly Arts Center to help find a solution to CPS' problems.

Richard M. Daley closed more saloons than Billy Sunday, Frances Willard and Carie Nation combined.

Daley closed neighborhood bars and used 'public safety' as an excuse.  He gamed the ordinances that would permanently void a liquor license, citing residential complaints, noise and public urination. Fights happen in bars to be sure.  But they also happen anywhere. There are more brawls in Walmart than saloons and Chuck-e - Cheese is the place to go for a swell brawl. Daley closed taverns so people would no longer have a place talk sense over a pitcher, or two.

Rahm Emanuel is closing neighborhood schools to kill neighborhoods.  CPS has been ignoring 'residency' rules for decades.  Kids from Austin attend Morgan Park High School, no biggie.

Well when CPS closes neighborhood schools within cross-over Disciple/Gangster Disciple/ Stones/ Four Corner Hustler turf in Gresham, Brainerd, Chatham, Washington Heights, & etc., there are problems a plenty.  A grammar school aged kid living in an apartment in a two flat on 7900 S. Morgan may have to cross four gang turfs to one of the five ( Oglesby, Stagg, Wescott, Cuffee, or Gresham).

Now, there is a growing concern of parents in the 19th Ward about CPS closing and consolidating neighborhood schools that work the way schools are supposed to work.

Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and Forrest Claypool's CPS dictum is the same - if it works and not fixed break it.
 Parents and teachers say this -

Stop the closing of neighborhood schools. It may not be happening in your area now, but you never know when it's coming. We were blindsided by a proposal to close a high performing neighborhood school to relieve overcrowding at another. Let's make sure ALL students get the space they need, while not sacrificing our neighborhood schools! 19th Ward News

The 19th Ward is one of very places in this city where black and white neighbors get along very well and behave like neighbors to one another.  No rules, or ordinances; just civility and Christian charity.

Can't have that in a Global City!

Here's the thing - Mount Greenwood School has a capacity for 990 kids and it is at over 1,100 kids.

There is no undeveloped earth upon which to expand the campus. It is over-populated - way past filled up.

Alderman Matt O'Shea offers this solution in Howard Ludwig's solid report for DNAinfo Chicago:

O'Shea said there is no more room to build at Mount Greenwood Elementary, which can accommodate 990 students. That's why he's proposing the school take over the campus of the Keller Regional Gifted Center, which is just 3½ blocks away at 3020 W. 108th St.
Keller would be moved to 9241 S. Leavitt St., now the home of Kate S. Kellogg Elementary School. O'Shea has said that Kellogg and nearby Sutherland elementary school in Beverly have seen declining enrollment by neighborhood residents in recent years. So O'Shea wants to merge the two schools on Sutherland's campus at 10015 S. Leavitt St.

The merger would be phased in over roughly three years. O'Shea said he believes Sutherland, built to accommodate 504-756 students, can handle the merger, particularly as enrollment is projected to continue to decline.

I don't know where these projections come from but I can tell you that my daily polling of little guys, toddlers, infants and  moms large-with-child from my wide neighborhood perambulations, indicate that 19th Ward neighborhood schools will continue to swell like a thirsty tick for good decade or more.  School crowding should be a happy concern, but this is Rahm's Chicago, where neighborhood means racism and community means 'it's all good!'

The charge of racism is answer to every problem.  Because Kellogg is 83 % African American and suffers a declining enrollment, while its immediate neighbor Christ the King Catholic School is majority and doing nicely, racism must be at the core.  The Chicago Tribune launched into race-baiting immediately.

Ald. Matt O'Shea, whose plan to reconfigure schools within the 19th Ward has drawn criticism from some residents, took a different tack when explaining the controversial proposal Monday — presenting it as crucial to freeing up money to renovate crumbling Esmond Elementary, a nearly all-black, low-income school in Morgan Park that he called "the greatest need in our community."
He opened the evening's presentation of his plan to relocate or consolidate four elementary schools in his district by rolling out staff from Esmond, which is not part of the restructuring plan, to detail the substandard conditions at their building and plead for help. . . .Community members expressed alarm that the plan — which seeks to merge two high-performing majority black schools in Beverly to accommodate a predominantly white school in Mount Greenwood — had concerning racial overtones.

"I can tell you our community, yet diverse, is also very segregated," Shanya Gray, a Kellogg parent, said. "One of the things that it truly appears is that you are sacrificing black students because of the white students, which may not be the case, but I will tell you it appears that way."

Parents also argued that the racial and economic diversity of a merged school would suffer since, under O'Shea's plan, the Options for Knowledge program, which currently enables non-neighborhood kids from more impoverished areas to attend either Kellogg or Sutherland, would be discontinued.

Lindbloom was a neighborhood high school; it is now a 'selective enrollment' high school for the children of privilege.  Try getting your kid into Lindbloom and good luck.  CPS works for the Magnets and selective enrollment academies and lab schools.  Neighborhood schools can go pound sand, until they close.

Like Daley with saloons, Rahm's destruction of neighborhoods cuts brush for  Chicago -A Global City.  Empty of middle class.

As things stand, Alderman O'Shea and parents of the schools want to see a fair and intelligent solution to overcrowded schools in Mount Greenwood and schools with declining enrollments a few miles to the east.  Bad schools, closed schools and no schools help destroy neighborhoods for the community.  The community of bankers, real restate players and race hustling creeps also want a Global City   The people of the 19th Ward neighborhoods want to do right by their children. But, this is Chicago and Rahm wants Chicago on the fast track to Small City Global Village on the Lake.  Real Estate, banking and race-baiting creeps will do all in their to help the little man get what he wants.

Shakman Exempt Career Grifter Forrest Claypool Explains The Pad in The Sun Times

 Career Grifter and Shakman exempt Forrest Claypool CPS Boss and Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney are amused. So would we all, were we oligarchs and not helots.

To be "On the pad" means that someone, usually in law enforcement or other position of authority, regularly takes bribes.Detective Dolan was kicked off the force because he had been on the pad to local wiseguys for years.Urban Dictionary

Shakman Exempt - Anyone Micheal Shakman deems to be

• A-OK, on-the-level, a stand-up Progressive, really great person, who will feed all news outlets precious pieces of propaganda to ensure that no helots, their fat breeder wives, or horrible kids ever get a fair shake, much less a job dragging a shovel behind a big, blue City, operated Garbage truck and just keep their damn traps shut about how good Shakman Exempts have it . .  . well, not as good as Michael Shakman, but then again, Michael was blessed by the late Abner Mikva

• Necessary to maintaining "Our Village City," for US, By Us and only US in this urban Banana Republic

Forrest Claypool, more than any other public person in Chicago, is the perfect Progressive Shakman Statesman.

Since the fabled and idiotic 1983 Federal Decree, limited to Cook County, gelded the Cook County Democratic Committee and made a Committeeman as useless as a mint flavored suppository.

Claypool boarded the Cook County Ship of State,right after law school where he branded himself as "an attorney and served in several non-elected positions in state and county government, including deputy commissioner of the Cook County Board of Appeals and as Deputy State Treasurer " and yadda, yadda, yadda from meeting Dave Axelrod to Kopping a plea in the Chicago Sun Times this morning, and has been looting it to the scuttles ever since.

Today, Forrest fogs the facts with his love of children and heroic chinless jaw thrusting in the name of the people, as well as working his Huckleberry Hound-like-Carbondale Hillrod eyes in perplexed self-pity at being caught out.

In response to your editorial (CPS can’t afford to flunk ethics, transparency class — Aug. 12), as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, I take seriously the trust the public places in us and my responsibility to protect every dollar for our classrooms. ( scan for giggles, tittering, or rolled eyes and go thundering!)
That’s why my administration pursued (BUT never brought) a potential ( Yeah, I said Potential) civil rights lawsuit against the state of Illinois. With the district’s very survival at stake, and years of academic progress at risk because of a racially discriminatory funding system, retaining the finest legal counsel was paramount.
A last-minute settlement by Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators altered the need for such a drastic measure. However, had the lawsuit been necessary, the skills of outside counsel could have been the difference between defeat and victory. That’s why, with the concurrence of CPS Board President Frank Clark ( AKA- The COMEd Mailroom Guy), I sought out Jenner & Block, perhaps the nation’s leading litigation firm with a proven track record in civil rights cases. CPS’ general counsel himself ( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney).is one of the country’s preeminent litigators,( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney.).having served as the American Bar Association’s litigation chair.
The Sun-Times’ character aspersions are beneath the well-considered views of this editorial page. Our general counsel ( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney).earns a tiny fraction of his private-sector pay and the attorneys at Jenner & Block took this case at steeply discounted rates, because of their belief in the cause. Few attorneys (Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney). or firms of this stature and expertise would do so. . . ."

And so on with the firm belief that everyone in Cook County is a dope and  Forrest Claypool is not - he's a Shakman Exempt!

The Inspector General told the Sun Times these pearl onions of interest left out of Claypool's gimlet:

• Acting in closed session on July 27, the school board voted to pay as much as $250,000 to Jenner & Block, which spent months preparing a never-filed lawsuit against the state seeking increased funding.
• The Sun-Times reported Marmer left the law firm in 2013 but has continued to receive yearly payments of $200,000, which are to end in 2018.
• Under CPS’ code of ethics, school officials can’t have any “contract management authority” over any deal with a contractor “with whom the employee has a business relationship” — defined as any transaction worth at least $2,500 in a calendar year to the school system employee.
• According to Claypool, Marmer wasn’t involved in hiring Jenner & Block, which he said “was my decision” along with Frank Clark, the board president.
• A CPS spokeswoman declined to comment Monday. ( You Know It, Mabel!)
• The lawsuit Jenner & Block was preparing didn’t get filed because legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner agreed on a stopgap budget deal on June 30 that’s to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to CPS.
• Marmer and Claypool once worked together at Jenner & Block. Claypool worked there in 1982 — his first job out of law school. Marmer was at the firm from 1978 to 1993 and 1997 until 2013.
• Marmer — who had a solo law practice after leaving Jenner & Block and started his $185,000-a-year job at CPS on Nov. 2, 2015 — has made $29,000 in campaign contributions to Claypool’s bids for elected office since 2003. That includes $10,000 toward Claypool’s unsuccessful run for Cook County assessor in 2010. Marmer also gave $5,000 to Rahm Emanuel’s first campaign for mayor in 2011. (And Forrest Got the CTA! Ventra and Bomdardier!!!)
• Jenner & Block began working for CPS on March 3, though the contract with the firm that Claypool’s administration released last month was dated June 20.
• Through June 30, the firm had billed the school system for more than $182,000.
• CPS had refused to release any of the firm’s invoices for more than two months after the Sun-Times filed a public records request seeking them in May.
• The Jenner & Block lawyer who signed the deal with CPS was Randall Mehrberg, who worked for the Chicago Park District in the 1990s when Claypool was parks chief under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. State election board records show Mehrberg contributed a total of $30,500 to Claypool’s campaigns and $10,000 to Emanuel.

Let's all join hands and sing the joys we all share in our Chicago oligarchy and let's try to remember that Forrest Clypool, really, really  "takes seriously  the trust the public places in us and my responsibility to protect every dollar for our classrooms."

Stosh and Stella in Garfield Ridge can't call Cap Mizenshky, over by the Ward, to see, if, maybe, their son Marek, in the Marines after St. Rita, can get a job on the trucks, when he gets back from KAIA by the Kabul airport this September, because no that would be just Shakman wrong.  Ask Forrest Claypool.

Early Voting Bonus - How About a Forrest Claypool Dunk-Tank?

I usually vote on the stated Election Day, primary elections are a huge pain in the ass with all of the same names sneaking into GOP and DNC conventions.  I usually need to bone up on candidates and issues.

This primary is easy.  I am drawing Democratic ballot and will vote for two people.  The rest I will have some fun with - this primary is an insult to every voter in America; I shall return the compliment.

I usually vote on election day, but I could be induced to try early voting, if the City Election Commissioner would offer free back-to- school CPS left-overs, Wilco's Jeff Tweddy and Gang playing on a flat bed truck in the parking lot, or. better yet. a dunk tank featuring CPS/CTA/Cook County/ Chicago Parks/City Hall multi-pension jackpot career grifter, lightweight, dim-bulb and chinless wonder Forrest Claypool squeezed into a Chicago Logo speedo over big-ass barrel of chilled Lake Michigan Straight.

After chopping teachers and staff at CPS, this smarmy soulless Klepto-bureaucrat and WTTW regular could use a Polar Plunge*.

The temperature of his pasty pelt could then match that of the blood coursing through Temple Claypool.

Someone, maybe Commisioner Bill Kresse, or a Bill Kresse Imitator, wearing a huge Flava Flav style clock on a gold chain could collect each I Voted chit and shout enthusiastically as the alarm clock clangs, 'WHATBOYIE???? What????  WHAT TIME IS IT? Dunk Time!"

Each citizen emerging from a designated early voting polling place rewarded with an I VOTED sticker, or palm card could march up to the dunk tank and collect three yellow plastic coated 12" softball for a shot at the metal target/release trigger and plunk Claypool into the icy brine.

Kids and Veterans t'row free all day!

CPS teachers showing proper identification get two additional balls - a metaphor for the apparatii missing from most elected officials and every insider-career grifter.

March can be chilly.

But nothing is so cold as the endless placement and pension looting by Progressive Shakman Sanctioned creeps in government.

* Chicago's real hero James Sheahan raises millions fro special needs youngsters.

CPS Gets Claypool; Chicago Gets Another Sound and Thorough Screwing!

Just when one might believe that CPS is up the proverbial creek with the legendary paddle, Rahm makes Forrest Claypool, the chinless wonder of all metropolitan career grifters, to be CEO of CPS.

Well, F Me!

Forrest will serve Chicago's soul-less local cadre of connected venture capitalist as well as he did in every appointment he has enjoyed at the County and City levels of government.

Name a Claypool achievement, success, or non-disaster.

Name one.

I hear crickets.

Croesus Would Have Loved Chicago's Annointed and Appointed Grifters!

"There! That Old Lady Sneaked on!  Shoot Her!  Good catch, Forrest!  Here's another Double Saw-buck to put in your sling!"

Teachers!  7% pay cut! Sophisticated economics!  Let's here it!  Forest Claypool is still with us!

Imagine being someone like Frank Kuesi, Ron Huberman, Dave Mosena, or Forrest Claypool!  That is not a question.  Imagine if you, some poor slob of a Streets and Sanitation worker, CPS teacher, or white collar drudge saddled with dues to AFCSME had some how caught the eyes and ears of a Richie Daley, or Rahm Emanuel and somehow had flattered their vanities, or had some nasty bit of dirt on them and suddenly found yourself appointed to some lofty post with perquisites out the Ying Yang and six figure salary - then you'd be bullet-proof, frost-proof and BGA proof. BGA is run by Andy Shaw - a guy who could not find a microphone wrapped around his noggin.

Andy Shaw, boys and girls!

Such imaginings go back as far as Herodatus (485-425 BC).  Herodatus, the Father of History, wrote wonderful tales ancient glories about kings, commoners and culture in the ancient world of Persia and Greece.

One of his favorite early topics was Croesus King of Lydia.  One yarn had to do with Alcmaeon, Son of Megacles The First Archon of Athens who was booted from town for sacrilege.  Alcmeaon was the son of a judge, which always put one in good stead with someone who might need a judge on the hip. Croesus invited Alcmeaon to Sardis for doing him some good services. Alcmaeon has helped kill the suppliants of Cylon the guy who started the Olympics. It's a religious thing and religion had nothing much to do with Croesus who was all about the gold.

Croesus allowed Alcmaeon to carry off as much gold as he could carry - on his person. Alcmaeon immediately

stuffed his legs with as much gold as his boots could hold, and then, after he had filled the fold in his tunic brim-full with gold, he sprinkled gold-dust over the hair on his scalp, shoved some more into his mouth and left the treasury barely able to drag his boots along as he went.

Croesus was so tickled by the sight of this impious gonif that he allowed Alcmaeon to carry twice that weight and by Cylon's Jockstrap . . .he did.Nowadays, People who make absolutely no impact on the public good whatsoever do exactly the same thing -

Although Carter, 57, was bypassed for the CTA's top job some years ago, he held a number of posts that count there, including executive vice president and chief administrative officer. That puts him miles ahead of other CTA presidents of recent years, including Forrest Claypool (who now will be Emanuel's chief of staff), Frank Kruesi, Ron Huberman and David Mosena. None of them had any transit experience of note when they were tapped to head an agency that provides 1.6 million rides every workday.

Beyond that, Carter most recently has been chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation, the mothership for aging urban transit agencies that need federal cash.
"I now have an ally who can work his Rolodex just like me," Emanuel said today—for once, not exaggerating. "We can play tag team."

Not Red Tag, Coon eyes!

Forrest Claypool received a   $198000 annual salary for insulting CTA employees, staging L Rides, Shilling for Ventra Cards and Bombardier Rail Car Wheels that didn't fit the gauge of the Chicago rail line tracks, oustin the union leadership of Amalgamated Transit Worker with Michael Pfleger and wowing the britches off of Carol Marin on WTTW.  It stands to reason that Dorval Carter will pack that much in his wallet.

Claypool, as Coon-Eyes' Chief of Staff, will get a signing bonus and points above that  $198000. It will not be public record, I imagine - executive do have privilege.

Croesus to Kruesi, to Huberman, to Mosena, to Claypool! It's all about the gold . . . .which used to be in your wallet. 

Leo Man Frank Considine '39 - Chicago's Greatest Business Leader Fought for Meigs Field

         

Frank and Nancy Considine  " One of the best liked "fellows" in Leo" The Oriole 1939

Richie Daley's Progressive vandalism

Frank W. Considine is a Leo Man*.  Frank played on the 1937 football team that attracted more than 125,000 fans to Soldier Field.  He was a tackle.  His grades at Leo are impressive, especially when one considers that the Irish Christian Brothers who staffed Leo in its infancy were outstanding scholars and exacting teachers. Frank played for the great Whitey Cronin ( F. Considine front row l.) on the football squad that played before the largest crowd to a attend an America football game( Pro, College, Semi-pro, high school) in history. Leo was trounced by Austin High School 26-0.

Frank Considine learned team in football, but it was the extra-curricular work he performed as a Caddie at South Shore Country Club, where Mr. Considine's business acumen was honed.  He learned the value of human association - contacts, "I Know A Guy!"  More business is conducted on the links than in the board rooms of American commerce, than any meeting conducted with a stenographer present - today it would be a recorded disc, chip or some other techno gizmo. Back then it was a man's word, followed up with deeds.

Frank Considine was already formed by the Leo Testament - Facta Non Verba: Deeds not Words. He was ahead of the game and learned to walk away from the guys whose honeyed words could never match future deeds.

After taking his degree at Loyola of Chicago, Frank Considine went to war as a Navy officer aboard a WWII destroyer.  The deeds, like so many combat veterans, were enough.

You can link on to a Loyola University tribute to Frank Considine that chronicles his brilliant career in business from glass to aluminum.  Considine was genius at bringing the American canning industry to businesses overlooked by his less astute predecessors.  So great was Considine's influence in American Commerce, that President Jimmy Carter tapped Frank Considine to lead the Egypt-US Business Council.  Frank Considine helped Anwar Sadat westernize Egypt's economy after the death of Soviet-allied Nasser. In fact two other Leo Men joined Considine in those efforts.

If you take a look at the Forbes biography that I have pasted below, you will note the many boards, religious, charitable and civic, chaired by Frank W. Considine. That is impressive. However one incident in Chicago history most defines Frank W. Considine and that was his clash with Richard M. Daley over the closing of Meigs Field.

Daley's Progressive Alliance demanded Chicago go Green, as well as undermine cops, take down the projects for the sake of Valerie Jarret, Allison Davis and the hogs at the trough and turn its back on the breeders in the neighborhoods.

Green Space is easy - vandalize a municipal resource ( Meigs Field) used by affluent people and say it will be a Peoples Park -Northerly Island. . In the process, put the Chicago business community that this in no longer Richard J. Daley's Chicago.  Daley started to agitate for the close of Meigs in 1994, while Frank Considine who negotiated the McCormick Expansion sought another compromise with Daley. Progressives never compromise, it's a John Dewey thing concerned with 'outcomes.'

In 2003, on a bright March morning, pilots flying into Meigs Field with dollars were diverted.  There were huge Xs torn into the concrete by back hoes operated by at least two Leo HS graduates and members of IUOE Local 150.  No kidding.

Meigs Field was no more. Frank Considine was outraged.  He is Leo Man, but one tempered by Catholic charity and business grace,.  Frank Considine was gracefully outraged over this malicious vandalism. Frank Considine knew that Chicago's economy would never recover from this act of radical socialism and juvenile hubris.  He acted with a team.  His was the first voice condemning Daley for this idiocy.  He did so without my colorful bile, mind you.

The Civic Committee's action came in the form of a mid-July letter to Mayor Daley by Frank Considine, chairman of the group's Airport Task Force. A copy of the letter was obtained by CRAIN'S from outside sources.
Initially, the committee had intended to remain neutral on the Meigs plan, Mr. Considine wrote. "However, many of our members are concerned that the closing of the airfield, which is a valuable amenity for Chicago, will have a negative impact on Chicago's overall commercial attractiveness."
The letter goes on to argue that Meigs serves 150,000 business travelers a year, many of them headed for conventions at McCormick Place. "Keeping Meigs open will send an important message that you are committed to maintaining Chicago's downtown business vitality and accessibility," it concludes.

Here is what I find fascinating - Daley had already 'become' a Progressive and the green space vision was only a feint; the real thumb in the eye was a provocative Screw You to the powerful businessmen and nothing more.  It is interesting to note that Daley's SDS WeatherGirl and PR Maven Marilyn Katz and the career grifter and public money mooch CTA President Forrest Claypool took the lead in this effort:

Katz - Marilyn Katz, a media consultant who is spearheading the city's public relations campaign for the park plan, said she's in the process of contacting hundreds of civic groups-and argued that such an effort is both needed and proper.
Lost patronage
Most Chicagoans don't know that Meigs has lost 40% of its patronage in the last 15 years, and is shut down all or part of 100 days a year, she said.
"The administration didn't wage a public relations war (before), so nobody knows anything," Ms. Katz said. "I don't think they understood how the governor was going to use this issue," she said, charging that many letters from CEOs were prompted by Mr. Edgar

Claypool - "We thank them for their concern, but there are two conflicting visions, and there can be no compromise on a park," said Chicago Park District Supt. Forrest Claypool, whom Daley designated to speak to reporters.

Claypool bristled when asked why the administration was adamant about ruling out any compromise, even one that could involve softening of positions on a new Bears stadium."This is fatally flawed. The mayor isn't interested in trading chips to support a state tax-subsidized stadium for the Chicago Bears," said Claypool, whose agency now manages Soldier Field.

Daley would never trade chips?  Really Forrest?  The oily Claypool is still on the public tit.

Marilyn Katz and Forrest Claypool did more to damage Chicago business than any Guy Fawkes Mask wearing anarchist ever dreamed of doing by lighting tire fires.  Rahm, Daley, Claypool and Katz are all part of Progressive pack of jackals that sold off Chicago's assets, destroyed its neighborhoods, gelded a once proud and independent news media and continue to reap millions of dollars while Roseland, Englewood, Austin and Gresham reap the whirlwind.

Frank Considine tried to keep Meigs open.  The Meigs vandalism took place in the shadow of Soldier Field, where Bill De Correvont  and Austin HS rolled over Leo in November 1937.  Considine fought Daley and legions of Mammon the Progressive.  Like Leo against Austin the score told some of the story.

Frank Considine has pumped millions of dollars in support of Leo High School - he funded the Frank and Nancy Considine Caddie Scholars Program, funded a computer based algebra program that was state of the art in 1998, and tuition assistance that has graduated hundreds of African American kids from Leo, who went on to great college and vocational careers.

Frank Considine, kept Chicago's Civic Opera running out of his own pocket.

Frank Considine helped found the Big Shoulders Fund

Frank Considine fought to keep Meigs Field in operation

Frank Considine learned to walk away from the honeyed words of grifters who never intended to match their words with deeds.

God Bless Chicago's Greatest Businessman.  

God will take care of the grifters and so will Chicago voters very soon.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-12-07/news/9612070084_1_mayor-richard-daley-meigs-field-million-park

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-01-13/business/8803220076_1_texas-instruments-triangle-industries-william-n-sick

*Mr. Frank W. Considine serves as Vice President for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Considine served as the President of Rexam Beverage Can Americas Inc. from 1969 to 1988 and Chief Executive Officer from 1973 to 1988. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University, Chicago. He served as an Honorary Chairman of American National Can Company since 1990. He served as Chairman of the Board of American National Can Company, a subsidiary of American National Can Group, Inc. from 1983 to 1990. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University Chicago (LUC) and of LUHS/LUMC. Mr. Considine serves as Director of IMC Global Inc. He serves as the Board of Trustees of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. He serves as a Director of SEI Information Technology. He has been Director of Rexam Beverage Can Americas Inc since April 14, 1999. He serves as Member of the Board of Directors at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. He served as a Director at Loyola University Health System (LUHS) since 2006. He served as Director of Scotsman Industries, Inc. since April, 1989. Mr. Considine served as a Director of American National Can Group, Inc., a packaging manufacturer in April 14, 1999. He serves as Vice Chair of the Archdiocese of Chicago Finance Council. He was the recipient of LUC's Damen Award in 1982. In October 1985, he was inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame. He received the National Distinguished Service Award of Hull House in 1986. In 1987, he was presented with the Sword of Loyola, LUC's highest award. Also in 1987, the Boy Scouts of America recognized him with the Distinguished Citizen Award. The Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry honored him in 1988 with its first City of Chicago Volunteer Leadership Award. Mr. Considine earned his doctorate from Loyola in 1943. He was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from LUC in January 1986 and received an honorary degree of humane letters from Northwestern University in 1987.

Hey, Pilgrim -Read Progressive's Progress! It Will Give You Bunyans

Career Grifter and CTA Appointee Forrest Claypool just could not 'lean' right enough to avoid a photo-up with serial speeder and scoff-law Mayor Coon Eyes, while the daughter of Progressive Nepotism in Chicago Deb Mell works her face muscles ala Dick Durbin -feigned concern masking a cartoon cavalcade playing in the brain-pan.

“Mr. Worldly-Wiseman is not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? ”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

The above photo from today's Chicago Tribune article offering Chicagoland's mythopoeic star and Red Light Running Mayor an opportunity to avoid blame, offers the face of Progressives.  You get what you vote for when you do back Progressives.  You get a metaphorical knife in the kidneys, if you happen to be an old time Ward healer.  You get betrayed, if you helped them nuzzle up to Power.  You get a daily shower of contempt and economic burden, if you pay taxes and work for a living in support of your wife and children.
Once the government cash cow is thoroughly milked as dry as a Progressive's heart, We all get stuck with bills and the clean-up.

We are all to blame for not laughing Progressives back into the crazy-house of pious secular platitudes and policy scams from whence they spring.  Laugh early, or cry often.

That is the Progressive Chicago Way.

Labor Videte -The Attack on Bob Kelly ATU 308 Will Happen to All Skilled Trades

              

                         Labor Advovates Videte - Labor Leaders, be watchful.

Again, the Chicago Tribune lines up with the political power class and makes war on a genuine labor leader who has confronted the insular Claypool's CTA whenever Claypool attempted to afflict people who actually work for a living. The Tribune and the Sun Times Editorial Boards are protecting 'pay-to-play' grifters like Emanuel and Claypool, perhaps to maintain friendly access at the CTA and City Hall or perhaps to benefit from the venture capitalism rooted in Progressive deal making. The hypocrisy behind the 'death by a thousand cuts' ordered and organized by Claypool and his protected cronies and the willing participation in the public and personal attacks on Mr. Robert Kelly of ATU Local 308 is worthy of Saul Alinsky. If the skilled trades unions think that they will not also become targets of these pompous asses, they should give close attention to the stories.  All of skilled trades unions will get the same treatment, as that meted out to Robert Kelly.

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board continues its punitive war on Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308's President Robert Kelly.  This is another exercise in the Saul Alinsky tactic perfected here in Chicago by David Axelrod known as the death by a thousand cuts. It is a Progressive thing.  It works.

Forrest Claypool, Rahm Emanuel's appointee to the CTA, is off limits to the bovine media who graze only with the approval of the Progressive Elites. The bovine media ( editorial boards, some columnists, activists lawyers, foundations controlled by Progressives, academics and their patrons) work in concert with a limited number of voices all rooted in the ideals, goals and tactics of the Hyde Park Mafia.  The Democratic Party, once called the Machine has not existed since Harold Washington won the 5th Floor. Forrest Claypool has flourished in these times.

Forrest Claypool, like every Progressive political animal I could name, is not a people person.  He is a some people person - people who can protect him, enrich him, do favors for him and advance him.  People who can not do for him need to stay put. stay quiet, or stay dead.

Robert Kelly is skilled tradesman who earned his advancement by dint of study and careful attention to the job at hand.  So competent is Mr. Kelly, that his fellow workers asked Kelly to represent them and lead them.   Kelly is life-long member of a skilled trades union and skilled tradesman.  Unlike other public sector unions, the skilled trades are led by one of their own - someone who went through the apprenticeship and certified each step up the pay scales with studies and practices paid for our of his own pocket.  The monster public sector unions, especially SEIU, are led by degree-waving social science majors from big universities.

The Progressive political class and the bovine media changed the meaning of Labor away from the skilled and industrial trades to the massive Political Action Corporations of SEIU, AFSCME which provide cash and T-shirted mobs to political aspirants.

The Skilled Trades ( Carpenters, Engineers, Plumbers, Pipe Fitters, Machinists & etc.) are open targets for smears, ridicule and death by a thousand cuts from the bovine media.  The Skilled Trades are and at the moment remain autonomous.  They control the qualifications for and admission to the apprenticeship programs they run.  Progressives have long wanted all apprenticeship programs controlled by the State of Illinois, where they would intensify the power of people in control -Rahm Emanuel, Toni Preckwinkle and Pat Quinn.

Robert Kelly became the target of bovine media only because he refused to sell-out the membership of Local 308.  Forrest Claypool only plays with people who do for Forrest Claypool.  Kelly will not scratch Claypool's  confortable belly.

The last straw was over Kelly's refusal to play ball with Claypool, Rahm and Pfleger over the ex-con CTA job hop.  Since December, Citizen Mike Pfleger issued a Fatwah on Kelly, led a protest that included Bobby Rush at the Local 308; the Sun Times accused Kelly of snitching a scholarship for his child, even though Kelly has been a life-long dues paying member of Local 308; Sneed smeared Kelly, BGA Andy Shaw, no stranger to pay-to-play himself and Crain's Chicago Business answered Claypools whine that Bob Kelly would not roll-over,

What is happening to Bob Kelly in media and in the flatulent out-cries at CTA and City Hall is a towering hypocrisy and gross injustice.

I hope the leaders of the skilled trades unions of greater Chicago and Illinois are noticing what is happening to one their own, because as sure as Forrest Claypool will resign his post at CTA and land another big salary and government appointment, Progressives are going to end skilled trade union autonomy.

You are next, Fitters, Carpenters, Plumbers, Machinists and Engineers.

Tribune Editorial Board Boosts the Progressive Fatwah Against Labor Issued by Imam Pfleger

Man, if you had the juice of the droopy-eyed mope and career grifter of the CTA - Forrest Claypool - you could wake up any morning with a dead Mormon family in bed with you, start the morning off with a big bowl of Jello shots swimming in Maker's Mark, drive to work like Danny Davis, do as little as Governor Quinn for a straight six hours and draw a pay check and change with no less than six zeros behind the arabic numeral of your choice.

However, you are not Forrest Claypool, Sheila Simon, Pat Quinn, Toni Preckwinkle, or Deb Mell;  you needs to work and be accountable.

Robert Kelly is the President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308.  I have never met Bob Kelly.  I have read about the man in the newspapers and find him to be a genuine man of labor.  I have met Forrest Claypool and read about his. I can't say deeds, jobs in government going back to Mayor Harold Washington.  The guy, in my opinion, is a dope, but the luckiest dope in the world, to paraphrase Babs Streisand   Forrest Claypool is job-hopping grifter.

Bob Kelly has had a job with Chicago Transit Authority in nearly every capacity concering rail cars and has earned the trust of his co-workers who made Kelly their agent and finally union President. They elected Bob Kelly.   I can not remember the last time Forrest Claypool earned the votes of anyone for anything.  He is a career appointee. Wait!  Claypooly narrowly beat Ted Leschowisz for a County Board seat, but had his patrician rump handed to him by Todd Stoger in the county Board President race and most recently Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor. Todd Stoger???

Well, Rahm got elected Mayor and appointed Forrest Claypool to the presidency of the Chicago Transit Authority, because that post is a Non-Shakman patronage haven.

In the spring of last year, following a series of bumps on the rails caused by Claypool, Rahm, Pfleger and Claypool announced a Progressive feel-good dodge that gave 65 ex-felons jobs cleaning CTA rail cars. That trio of grifters never bothered to chat with Local 308 about this Studs Terkel of an initiative.

When it came time to renew those hand-outs, it was discovered that Kelly and Local 308 wanted to pay these ex-cons a better salary than Clayppol's coffers could stand. Rahm tossed Claypool the Progressive Playbook.

• Problem - Kelly
• Solution - Destroy the man and his reputation!
• Enlist Sneed, Andy 'The Microphone" Shaw's BGA, the ususal sheep

So beginning in late November, Claypool had smooched the proper Progressive fannies and had Citizen Michael Phleger, Robby Rush, Danny Davis and the Later-Day Marats of both city editorial boards geared up to go Full Axelrod on White Boy Kelly!

Citizen Pfleger decided to issue a Fatwah on Robert Kelly in January*.

Today, Bruce Dold and the Tribne Editorial Board joined that Imam Pfeger's fatwah and used a stale Sun Times smear from December impyling that Robert Kelly fixed a scholarship and shook down companies doing business with Claypool's CTA.

This editorial  is a political hack-job done only to smear a genuine labor leader of a skilled trades local. Robert Kelly has stood up to Mayor Rahm and his hapless. job-hopping appointee CTA President Forrest Claypool. The charge against Robert Kelly crawled from under the stove in December hours after Claypool allies ( Bobby Rush and Michael Pfleger) protested at Local 308 over the placement of ex-felons in union jobs without the consultation of Local 308. The Sun Times did that story which Bruce Dold and Editorial Board uses today. Pfleger has issued a Fatwah on Robert Kelly, the media has taken the side Forrest Claypool whose tenure with CTA has been one screw-up after another -called out onl;y by Robert Kelly at each ( potty Breaks, Bombardier wheels, the Forset Park wreck of Old 98, Ventra & etc.). The Tribune editorial board loves Progressives and shugs when progress come to a screaming halt, when a proteceted species of Progressive Cook County pulls the brakes and not the throttle. This is character assasination worthy of Joseph Medill.

I f you really want to know why things are so screwed up, read the papers, watch the news and remember something, anything.


*

Father Michael Pfleger

January 2

Robert Kelly, President of ATU Local 308 did not get his New Year wish to fire 65 Ex-Offenders from their jobs at CTA. Thankfully CTA moved them to another Union 241 so that they could continue to Work! This Second Chance Apprentice Program for Ex-Offenders has helped hundreds of Brothers and Sisters get a second Chance and sent a message to thousands that a Second Chance is possible, but Robert Kelly in his Arrogance and Power Play threw them UNDER THE BUS on Dec 31st. TO ALL 308 UNION MEMBERS, YOU NEED TO THROW MR. KELLY UNDER THE BUS IN THE NEXT ELECTION!!!!!!!

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  Matthew Deal I think Father Pfleger is just mad that he has to stay a Virgin for life so he taking it out on Robert Kelly. Smh

  January 2 at 5:36pm · Like · 3
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  Don Mack WOOHH!!! That's Great 65 people still get to keep there Jobs

Claypool Wouldn't Know the Truth Unless It Came With a Government Paycheck

DNA Erica Demerest photo

Forrest Claypool - say it with me, please " Forrest Claypool."  There; isn't that like a Yoga moment, or cucumbers on the eyelids?

For most Chicago journalists, just saying " Forrest Claypool" is a tonic akin to a seventh grade fat boy getting a Saint Valentine's Day card from a tween stunner - the Hope, Oh the Hope!

You see over the last forty years, Chicago newspapers gave up integrity for access.  Columnists and Editorial Boards care more about the news morsels tossed by a Daley, a Blago,  an Obama, a Rahm, a Mike Quigley, or a Pat Quinn than it does about getting out the full story. Public television and radio, WTTW& WBEZ share the agendas of the elected Progressives who run this city, county and this state and the activists and PACs who help keep them in power, They feed at the same tax-funded trough.

I'm just a working stiff, with a mortgage and a new tax on something I own or don't own every sixty seconds in Cook County. To me, the name " Forrest Clayyyyyyyyyyyypoooooooooool " portends a looming grift - a government sanctioned pinch of my wallet.  Forrest Claypool to my waxless ears is akin to the names of great grifters, cads, bounders, cut-purses and ne'er-do-wells of common culture Reese Kilgore, Butch Cavendish, Velma Valento, Bill Sykes and of course Galworthy's hideous Soames Forsyte. .  Uriah Heep is Congressman Mike Quigley's sole property, though Forrest Claypool would give Wee Mike a run for his money.

Thanks to the capriciously snorting snouts of Chicago's iconic news hounds, Forrest Claypool does not get away with murder, only character assassination of better persons -Amalgamated Transit Union Local #308 Bob Kelly.  Why only yesterday, Forrest Claypool celebrated the continued employment of 65 felons turned CTA apprentices with this -"Despite Mr. Kelly's commitment to end the rail car servicer apprentice program and put his own union members out of work, we've been able to work with Local 241's leadership to find a place for these individuals, guaranteeing them the opportunity to work and put food on their families' tables for another year," CTA President Forrest Claypool said previously." And often.

Robert Kelly has been portrayed in our collective Chicago media as cross between Simon Legree and Sir Percival Glyde, from the moment that the doomsday clock on the Forrest Claypool, Rahm Emanuel, Michael Pfleger CTA School for Felons was announced last March. Though the ex-cons were placed in rail cleaning posts, no one bothered to let the union governing such labor in on the plans.  Kelly wanted the workers placed in the jobs at the Local 308 recommended salaries, but Rahm Pinchpenny Savior and Forrest Claypool chained the workers to Micky D salaries in the name of Saul Alinsky.

But Kelly has said he wanted the CTA to pay the rail workers more money. The 65 rail apprentices are dues-paying union members, but they’re paid a considerably lower wage than their union counterparts, and they don't get benefits.
“What do I say to people when I say you’re going to do the exact same work next to a guy making $25 an hour and benefits, and I'm not going to pay you benefits?" Kelly asked on "Chicago Tonight" recently.
"They're using these people to save money. Give them the right wages, health, pension, benefits. Let’s give these people a real second chance. Let’s do it. I will sign that deal tomorrow, turn these people over, and give them a real shot at life,” Kelly said.

The SPIN fed to the gaping maws of the Chicago news hounds avoids the facts, minutes, calendars and records of Forrest Claypool.  No one from WTTW to Chuck Goudie to Eric Zorn will bother with the facts missing from a good Claypool news feed.

Claypool is such a gutless, sniveller that he and Rahm hired Citizen Michael Pfleger to perform the character hit on Bob Kelly.  Michael Pfleger wrote a Jeremiad on the alleged nasty nature of Bob Kelly in the always complicit Chicago Tribune, followed by an idiotic smear piece about Kelly's daughter winning a scholarship in the Sun Times.  Pfleger led a December protest that included accomplished grifter and activist Rep. Bobby Rush and a score of Pfleger acolytes at the offices of ATU 308, during the Local's Christmas Party. Now, Michael Pfleger has issued a Fatwa on Kelly via one of his FaceBook pages.

Post by Father Michael Pfleger.

Claypool knows enough to duck a working man in an honest forum.  I have never met Bob Kelly, but I have had more than enough personal contact with Forrest Claypool for one lifetime - usually at political fund-raisers for good people in public life who must admit Claypool on the guest list or near their coat tails.  Usually those same people find themselves subject to scurrilous charges on TV or in a column, later to be dropped.

Claypool would not know the truth if it came with a government check.  He does not need to know it.  Forrest Claypool is fine. Rahm Emanuel is fine.  Michael Pfleger is fine.

Chicago?  Not so good.

Robert Kelly?  We shall see.