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.
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