Don't Forget Forre$t Claypool, Fran, or is ForreSt Claypool Working for Free?

Sometimes being left out is a good thing. Being absent from a list of top salaried City Officials in a Sun Times red meat piece tossed to us helots in order to stoke up the time honored Pitch Fork and Torches Parades, is a perq for Forre$t Claypool - CTA BOSS.

Now, as far as I know, CTA buses and trains run in and through the great City of Chicago. Bus drivers and train engineers will not get pee breaks, on Boss Forre$t Claypool's watch! Penny wise, dollar Progressive.

You'll recall that following another electoral defeat, Forre$t Claypool was appointed to yet another high profile policy postion by Mayor Rahm Emanuel - Boss of the CTA. One report had it that the Rula Lenska ( What exactly can Forre$t do? Never mind; enjoy) of Chicago political life has an undisclosed salary with City and Sho 'Nuff!!! you can't find Claypool among the salaried, Garzas, Newmans, O'Briens, and Zielinksis on the City Salary Spreadsheets.

Today, Fran Spielman offers up the big salary Titans, but no Forre$t Claypool.

Even with 517 layoffs, $417 million in budget cuts and $220 million in higher taxes, fines and fees, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first city budget rewards a handful of top mayoral aides.

Harrumph!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we get the top cops, fireman, transportation, city services and a Hynes, which are all non-Progressive Shakman Exempt Targets.

Where's Forre$t?

I am given to understand that Forre$t rakes in at least $185,000 and change sans perquisites - there's always perquisites.

Why leave the poor lad unheralded, Fran?

Boss Claypool had no problem banning potty breaks and lunch from bus drivers. Now that's Progressive.

That's Forre$t in the City!

Goo-Goos Are Not a Working Man's Pal - Claypool Rolls the Bus Over CTA Employees

Policy killed politics. Politics is what made government effective. Politics responds to people's needs. Policy is the pathway to power.

The goof who first said, "There ought to be a Law" opened the door to government for Progressives. Progressives entered that smoke filled room and immediately went shopping for judges to get smoking banned; the rest is government that pads the few and pounds the rest.

Witness this swell photo of Armani clad CTA Brahmin ( appointed, n'cest pas) Forrest Claypool standing on the platform for a CTA L Train, clad in his Progressive Work Clothes. Shucks, he's just like folks.

However, folks seem to scan for the train in the correct general direction that the train will take.

Working Folks are about to get another world-class, transcendent, post-racial screwing, from Goo-goo Progressive Forrest Claypool.

Fifteen minutes of paid “coffee time” before the start of each shift. Twenty-minute paid bathroom breaks for customer assistants with easy access to washrooms. Paid lunch breaks for CTA rail operators and Sunday bus drivers. Paying workers convicted of drunk driving to do nothing for 180 days while they appeal and attempt to get their driving privileges back. Starting the clock on emergency overtime when employees get the phone call at home instead of when they arrive at work.

Those are some of the CTA work rules that CTA President Forrest Claypool wants to change in order to fill a $277 million shortfall in the CTA budget without raising fares or cutting service.

Yeah, taking a leak is killing this City. Thus, always the way of reform. It does not matter that policies begun by people like Frank Kruesi and continued by Forrest - people who have absolutely no working experience in the field of transportation -and deals cut to make a few people rich and not a bathroom break has crippled the Chicago Transit Systems. Did we really beg for accordion buses? Green buses? Faux Parisian benches?

Forrest Claypool never drove a bus, or a train. I doubt if Forrest Claypool has ever been on the business end of a janitor's broom, mop, or brush. I'd venture to offer that, Forrest Claypool does not drop by CVS, Jewel-Osco, or other fine venues to purchase a CTA Red Pass at a modest $85.00 good for a full month of rides anywhere in Chicagoland.

I have one in my wallet. In fact, I ride the CTA in order to ease my carbon-footprint off of Mother Earth's back and to save a few shekles. I generally get on the 5:06 Bus at 104th & Western to 79th Street Terminal and grab and east bound ( Red Line) to 79th & Morgan and legendary Leo High School.

I have never seen Forrest, or Rahm on that run. They keep different hours.

I am a working stiff. A College and Graduate school degree'd mope. I ride the bus with a Mr. Duckworth ( 'Duckie') a Coast Guard Veteran who works at Calumet Harbor, Vanessa, a cook at Perspectives ( formerly Calumet H.S.) and Bertina, a nurse at Jackson Park Hospital. We are very happy with the working men and women at the wheel who not only safely and promptly get us to work, but also maintain command presence and authority over drunks, crack-pipe artists, thugs and idiots. They (Bus and Train drivers) are in harm's way, all day and every day, and do not wear Kevlar.

Driving in Chicago traffic is a bitch and a half on a good day; driving a bus is a labor fit for Greek Gods. God Bless Our CTA Folks!

Sorry for your looming troubles, folks.




Then there is the Goo-goo appointee - Forrest Claypool who gets conveniently slotted into an elective spot when someone dies and his opponent is in an iron-lung, or more commonly appointed to a six figure salary. Forrest Claypool is the Rula Lenska of Chicago*. One always wonders - "What exactly did he/she do?" Rula was the sexy Limey broad who did Clairol commercials staged in what was supposed to be a theatrical dressing room. Forrest Claypool bounces from Parks, to Staffs, to Hospitals, to Boards, to Executive Suites.

The guy can't keep a job.

Forrest is a Goo-goo Brahmin - that is a life-long sinecure - he is a professional 'Ain't He Great-er' and therefore will always collect a huge paycheck.

American Labor, like the Democratic Party has snuggled up to the Goo-goos for forty year. Why? God only knows. Unions are now learning what Old Time Ward pros have known all along. Goo-goos ( Mike Quigley, Pat Quinn, Forrest Lenska, Deb Shore, Sheila Simon, Quentin Young, Dawn Clark Netsch, Ralph Martire, Terry Cosgrove, and always hilarious Jan Schakowsky) are not friends of working people.

When a Goo-goo, Reformer, Progressive, Activist, Mobilizer, or glue-sniffer gets power, grab your ankles, make sure you have a good athletic mouthpiece firmly fitted between your uppers and lowers, and wait for the screwing of the Ages!


*"

Who the hell is Rula Lenska?" The question was first asked on the air by Detroit TV News Anchorman Don Lark, then echoed in print by Washington Post Columnist Roger Rosenblatt. She is, as many TV watchers know, a glamorous redhead who appears regularly in commercials for Alberto VO5 hair spray. She tosses her long locks, identifies herself as R-u-ula Lenz-z-zka and speaks of herself as though she were a famous actress. But, as the newscaster asked, who is she?
Chicago Adman David Lewis knows the answer, and he is telling everyone who will listen: Rula Lenska is the 31-year-old daughter of a Polish émigré count and lives in London. She was featured as a rock singer in the British TV series Rock Follies and as a character in a never released film, Queen Kong. What fascinated Lewis, who had nothing to do with the hair spray commercials, was this obscure actress's hopeful pretense of being a famous star. As a lark, he founded the Rula Lenska Fan Club—and soon found that some 600 other people were ready to join the cult.
In London, "The Fair One," as she is known to her U.S. fans, confesses to be "stunned and astonished" by her unexpected fame but more preoccupied with the imminent birth of her first child. Lewis urged fans to "name the nipper." The winners: Octavia and Llewellyn.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920557,00.html#ixzz1aCK9sxop

Hey, How About That Property Tax Bill? Now, That's Progressive! Thank George, Paul and Daisy Soros.

Frannie Spielman of Sun Times reports on Mayor Rahm's vow to tussle with scofflaws - the Worker Bee, Helot, Breeders on the City teat! Call Andy Shaw! Naw, let Andy snooze.

Fran Spielman is a fine reporter on City Hall, but today seems to have copied the notes given by Rahm - in his order of importance. Has to do with numbers. City Workers who have not paid parking, speeding, moving violation tickets, or water bills, or assessments, or something. The breakdown of bad guys is a tad troubling, but consistent.

Let's do math on this fine Sun Times piece.

Now, Lookee here!

Of the 33,237 city employees, 2,380 of them, or 7.2 percent, collectively owe $882,366. Of the 67,864 employees at five sister agencies — the CTA, CHA, Park District, City Colleges and Board of Education — 5,883 or 8.7 percent together owe nearly $2.1 million.

The worst sister agency offender is the CTA, with a $714,544 debt shared by more than 20 percent of the mass transit agency’s employees.

The Chicago Police Department has 13,973 employees and 988 deadbeats who together owe $326,646. Of the Fire Department’s 4,983 employees, 285 scofflaws share $126,184 in debt. The Department of Streets and Sanitation’s 2,127 workforce includes 247 scofflaws who owe the city $104,816.

The City Council has 420 employees and 40 deadbeats who together owe $12,530.

This last one is a head scratcher.

If the CTA is the worst at 20%, why is it that the City Council does not follow CTA with almost 10% Deadbeats?

Cops have 13,973 employees with 988 owing revenue. So, that's 988 X 100 =98800 Divided by 13, 973 = 7.07 and change.

Firefighters have 4,983 and only 247 'scofflaws. So, that's 247 X 100 =24700; Divided by 4,983 = 4.95685 and change

City Council ( that's the Aldermen) with 40 scofflaws X 100 = 4000;Divided by 420 = 9.5283 and change

CTA owes the most at 20%

Cops owe 7.07 and change

Firemen owe 4.95 and change

ALDERPEOPLE owe 9.5 and change

I am confused. Why would the ranking be last? Should it not be

CTA -20%
ALDERPEOPLE -9.5%
Cops - 7.07
Firemen - 4.9

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Now, I might have err'd. I am human I err. I err all the time. But I ain't wrong.

This is all tied to Rahmalamadangdong's Grid Policy Initiative. He has a Case Book that he will toss to the City Council ( Alderpeople) and order them to vote the middle class out of Chicago.

The Chicago Media tosses us City Dogs and Worker Bees a bone in the form of some poor slob gaming the system. The banquet can be found in the policies that benefit the Forrest Claypools appointed to a big spot at the CTA, or a Gay Israeli Utility Player for the Chicago Police/Office of Emergency Management/Mayoral Chief of Staff/Chicago Public Schools/ and Chicago Transit Authroity.

The poor slob caught sleeping in a garbage truck goes to the guillotine. Claypools and Hubermans go up the food chain of the very systems they manage screw up by millions of wasted or policied tax-dollars.

Now, having read that bone to us mutts intended to get us to snarling and snapping, let's take a peek at yesterday's Second Installment of the Property Tax Bill from Maria Pappas.

Lookee h'yar

Why, the property value went down and the taxes went up!

Progressive! I wrote about the Progressive Plan to shrink Chicago's Worker Bee population and it is a plan.

A pal wrote to me in response to that post. He wrote, "A progressive passes a street person while en route to a commuter station (this happens in less than a minute) and boasts that he or she lives in a diverse neighborhood. In truth, they have no real interaction with such persons.

In order to facilitate that trendy neighborhood, Daley cleared out the subsidized CHA projects to speed up the pace of gentrification and handed the displaced residents Section 8 vouchers and sent them North, South and West (sometimes, including various suburbs under the auspices of the Cook County Housing Authority rather than the Chicago Housing Authority). Now, we are witnessing once stable, middle class enclaves beginning to decline on account of the new unassimilated Section 8 tenants. This is not fiction. It is a reality that I can testify to.

Adding insult to injury, the property tax bills arrived today. Property values have fallen, but the tax rates are much higher. The taxing bodies simply raised the rates to offset the decreased valuations."

You may say.

Yep. Here's the deal Ron Huberman, like our President was plucked and placed into our government a very long time ago. Why, because Soros said too.
Regular Democrats were told by their various Chinamen that the 'plucked' were really and truly great - Secret Formula Z-28 with Chrome! Why This Fiiiiiinnnnne Young Man is a Behemoth of Future Greatness and Was Found in the Weeds by a Beneficent Pharoh named of George Something' and they jumped into the game.


We waste our time on Tony Rezko and Bill Cellini and their misdoings, because they are the bones, like the poor Streets and San slob caught napping by BGA Mensa Man Andy Shaw.

Ron Huberman*, the son of poor Israeli immigrants, had his schooling paid for by Paul and Daisy Soros, kin to George who owns the DNC, the White House and the American Corporate Media. Patiently, and over the last decades the plucked and placeed have steered the likes of Daley, Quinn, and Rahm to the Progressive Policy Path.

Huberman, like Forrest 'Can't Catch a Vote' Claypool is a protected species of Policy. The genuine Boondoggles are not the victims tossed to the public in print by the players. The genuine Boondoggle begins and ends with same cast of charcters running 501(c) 3's stuffed with cash by Soros and his lesser lights. Public Policy has brought us our tax bills and the politicians who engineered them. The Progressive Public Policy that hides under the bones.

* Ron Huberman

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1971, Huberman is the son of Holocaust survivors. Huberman and his family moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee when his father, a cancer researcher, began working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He moved to the Chicago area for his high school years, where he came out as gay at age 15. Huberman later attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English. While working as a Chicago police officer, Huberman attended night classes at the University of Chicago and finished with master’s degrees in both Business Administration and Social Service Administration. Huberman was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and an Albert Schweitzer Fellow while at the University of Chicago.

Forrest Claypool

Forrest Claypool is an American politician and political operative. A former Democratic member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Claypool serves as president of the Chicago Transit Authority. In 2007-2008, Claypool served as a key member of Barack Obama campaign's media team, in his capacity as a longtime partner of David Axelrod. . . .On Tuesday, 19 April 2011, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel -- a longtime political ally of Claypool -- appointed him president of the Chicago Transit Authority

Wikipedia - it ain't the OED, but, for Progressives, it is washable.

CTA CEO Terry Peterson is not Black -He's Pure Gold! Remember Ald. Tom Murphy?

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Tom Murphy was the Alderman of the 18th Ward. The 18th Ward was remapped in order to make Tom Murphy 'demographically un-electable.' You see Tom Murphy was a real public servant - he was not a grand-standing blow-hard with an an on-going stool on the panels at WTTW.

As an Alderman, Tom Murphy represented his Ward and often found himself at odds with Mayor Daley. Murphy voted against property tax increases and raises for the City Council; can't have that.

The 18th Ward was re-mapped with many of the white precincts eliminated. The thoughts were that African American voters would only vote for an African American. Tom Murphy won in a landslide against four African American candidates. Then the City Council Black Caucus refused to allow Tom Murphy, who represented the African American families of the 18th Ward, to sit in the Black Caucus. The grand-standing blow-hards with on-going stools on the panels at WTTW played race against Tom Murphy.

This was one sweet bit of pure Tom Murphy from that campaign -

But Murphy said he doesn't believe the ward is split either racially or geographically. "I see it as a ward of 57,000 taxpayers," he said. "I see it as my job to treat everybody the same."

And he blames the media for reducing the ward's politics to a contest between black and white voters.

Today, grand-standing blow-hards with on-going stools on the panels at WTTW are beefing that the Emanuel Administration has no blacks at the top.

“For some black aldermen who must approve the appointments, it was another slap in the face. The only African-American member of Emanuel’s public safety team is former Chicago Police officer Felicia Davis, who will serve as deputy chief-of-staff for public safety.

Nobody is black at the top. At least Mayor Daley did have some African-Americans around him. It appears now that Mayor Emanuel has no blacks around him,” said Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee.

Reminded that newly-appointed Schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard is black, Austin said, “That’s not us. Even though that’s a sister agency of ours, that’s not in this City Hall.”

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) noted that Emanuel’s landslide victory was sealed by carrying every one of the city’s black wards.

“There is a dearth of African-American professionals evident in his current team,” Dowell said.

Another slap in the face! Man, is that one tired string of nonsense. Race-baiters need new rhetoric.

Get this.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) added, “I’ve heard in the community, even with respect to Mr. Brizard, that he’s not from here. He’s not [really] African-American. He was born in Haiti. We just hope that we would be able to get some local folks. … Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come — that it’s all outside people. But, we’ll see.”

Yeah, them Haitians look like Swedes, Howard.

Really? When did Terry Peterson get so pale?

Terry Peterson is, by the way an African American. More importantly, Terry Peterson is one of the best people in public service. Terry Peterson represented the 17th Ward at the same time that Tom Murphy represented the 18th Ward.

Terry Peterson ran the CHA. Terry Peterson ran Daley's re-election campaigns. Terry Peterson directed Rahm Emanuel's Campaign. Terry Peterson is CEO of the CTA.

Terry Peterson will see that career appointee Forest Claypool does not have too difficult a time as President of CTA. Voila!

Claypool replaces Richard Rodriguez, but Emanuel said he has asked Rodriguez to consider serving his administration in a different capacity.

Emanuel also announced that Terry Peterson, another longtime Daley loyalist, would continue as chairman of the CTA board.

But for his first transportation department commissioner, Emanuel looked beyond the city limits to tab Gabe Klein, a former Washington, D.C., official.

Tuesday’s announcement came a day after the mayor-elect presented Jean-Claude Brizard as his choice for CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Still on Emanuel’s to-do list before his May 16 inauguration is appointing a new police superintendent.

T'ain't no where near May 16, by my guesstimations. Still, the media need to get that slap in the face out there. Folks gotta be slug-nutty with them slaps in the face. Race matters. . . to boneheads and phonies.

Tom Murphy was a great alderman, black, white, lavender, or crimson. Terry Peterson is not black; he is gold.


http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c/Sidebars/d/White_Alderman_Counts_Black_Votes_in_18th_Ward

http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/emanuel-taps-forrest-claypool-to-head-chicago-transit-authority/

Why John O’Sullivan Backed Forrest Claypool

My State Representative and the Worth Township Democratic Committeeman, John O’Sullivan is backing Forrest Claypool for Cook County Assessor. He is doing so out of loyalty to the working people of our Legislative District – the hard working tax paying citizens of our community. John O’Sullivan honors commitments. Real politics is based upon the obligation of the man elected to the people who voted for him. To some people in and on the fringes of politics it is a parlor game.



Some people want to make everything a Race issue. It seems to me that the upcoming race for Cook County Assessor is more about property taxes than anything else and that, unless tax attorneys could be conceived to be a Race, this race is anything but racial –it is election of a person who will best serve the interests of Cook County home owners and tax payers. I am no demographer, but I must wonder - are there really a powerful number of black and Hispanic tax attorneys in Cook County? If not, then, perhaps, this election should only be about electing the person who would make the fairest Cook County Assessor. John O’Sullivan believes that Forrest Claypool would be that person.



John O'Sullivan is what he is -a 25 year union laborer from a family of union men and women. A Pro-Life Democrat, husband of an elementary school teacher and the father of 3 boys receiving Catholic educations at catholic schools, John has served as a volunteer youth wrestling, football and little league coach at his alma mater, parish and Park District respectively. John also serves as the Worth Township Democratic Committeeman and Illinois Representative from the 35th Legislative District - for both of these positions, O'Sullivan accepts no compensation. John is also a man who is not afraid to take stands, which made the subject of a recent Carol Marin article in the Sun Times



John O'Sullivan is backing Democrat tuned independent Forrest Claypool over Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor much to the chagrin of party bosses.



I ran into John O’Sullivan and asked him about his endorsement of Forrest Claypool for Cook County Assessor. Johnny O’s answer was very much the same as the one that he gave to Carol Marin and it struck the same notes that Mike Houlihan wrote about in the October issue of Irish American News. Mike Houlihan writes, “The old Democratic Party was hijacked over the last thirty years by eugenics, philosophers, and advocates of what Clarence Thomas called ‘social engineering.’” Instead, Johnny O’Sullivan concerned not with engineering society, but in backing the candidate best suited to make decisions that will help Cook County home-owners and tax-payers.

I asked O'Sullivan, who is also a staunch Governor Pat Quinn supporter, about his endorsement of Forrest Claypool and he stated, “I’m not taking aim at any machine. My responsibility is to the taxpayers. My loyalty is to my community. I'll be damned if I'm going to be intimidated by threats of retribution by those who seek to inject race into politics. I faced the same threats four years ago when I backed Forrest Claypool over John Stroger for Cook County Board President and, still, I was elected this year with a 75% majority for Worth Township Democratic Committeeman. The office of Cook County Assessor is an economic office and who we elect should not be based on racial or party politics. Joe Berrios is not a bad person but I am supporting Forrest Claypool because he has a strong record of standing up for the taxpayer. I also know many working and middle class Hispanics and African Americans who are also supporting Forrest Claypool for the same reason."



This is politics at its best. John O’Sullivan is meeting his obligation to the voters and to man he believes will best serve the home owners and tax payers of Cook County.



That is a solid answer from a very solid man.

Forrest Claypool -Our Rula Lenska for Assessor

Carol Felsenthal wrote a nice piece about the Rula Lenska ( the person who claimed and everyone believed to be 'Somebody') of Illinois - Forrest Claypool. Back in the 80's Rula Lenska was believed to be a celebrity - the commercials for hairspray said so; these days, Forrest Claypool is believed by similar folks to be a Reformer and political genius, because Carol and Walter and the editorial clown operas say so.

Carol Marin, Walter Jacobson (homeless street cred dude) and every other goof with a column or a 30 second TV Feed perch are loudly smearing Joe Berrios and blowing smooches to Forrest Lenska - the guy that John Stroger defeated while on life support.

Ms. Felsenthal and the redoubatble John Kass know that Forrest Claypool is a public relations manufactured product. So do voters.

So who is Forrest Claypool?

A native of Southern Illinois (St. Elmo, population 1,300) and son of a man in the oil-drilling business, he graduated from Southern Illinois University and then the University of Illinois Law School. He lives in Ravenswood and has three children, all of whom were educated in private schools.

Claypool twice served as chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley and ran the Chicago Park District in the ’90s. Like politicians at every level, he’s a mix of reformer and—Kass had it right—conventional party loyalist.

He’s in good company, as the record shows.

Claypool’s loyalist side comes out in the race for Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat. I interviewed him just hours after the feds took over Broadway Bank. He told me that he backs Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias, Broadway’s former VP and senior loan officer, and has done so from the start—even after the squeaky-clean Inspector General David Hoffman entered the primary.

In the Democratic primary for county board president, Claypool did not endorse Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, the candidate with whom the good-government types were most comfortable. He offers a lofty explanation: he was not persuaded that Preckwinkle or any of her opponents would repeal “the hated [Todd] Stroger sales tax.” (Claypool didn’t endorse any candidate in that race.) He now says that he’ll support her in the general election.

Preckwinkle has said publicly that she’s supporting Berrios, a man Claypool describes as “exhibit A of how the insider culture works, where the people who have clout make out and the rest of us get higher taxes.” Claypool told me that he made his decision to run after the primary, when Berrios defeated Raymond Figueroa—a former alderman “who has independent ties that go back to Harold Washington.” When asked if he considered supporting the Republican candidate, former Evanston assessor Sharon Storbeck-Eckersall, he said, “No, no. I don’t really know enough about her, but I do think [Cook County assessor] is a very, very big job.”

Claypool has known Rahm Emanuel for 30 years and is close friends with David Axelrod, and he has visited the White House several times—most recently on March 28, according to visitor logs. He also claims a friendship with the President—he was chairman of then-Senator Obama’s transition committee in 2004-05—and, during those White House visits, he “chatted” with the President in the Oval Office.

In 2006, Claypool lost in the primary for county board president to incumbent Democrat John Stroger—after Stroger had already suffered a debilitating stroke. Obama—then a senator—didn’t endorse Claypool. “Why?” I asked. “You’ll have to ask [the President],” Claypool said. I already knew the answer: Obama, for all his idealism, is a politician.

Why, Carol, Forrest Claypool is Rula Lenska!


Forrest Claypool is as genuine as Rula Lenska. Complete Rules available wherever this fine product is sold -WTTW, CBS-2 and Chicago Sun Times.

Carol Marin - Send a Mess-enger to be Campaign Manager of Forrest Claypool?

Yesterday, Eric Zorn Chicago Tribune's Voice of the Tofu and Whey Political Progressives demanded that we Lower the Bar - void the petitions ( or allow Millions to Pay-to-Play)for Independents, Bullmooses, and Loyal Order of Racoon Candidates in Illinois. I blog a few giggles Eric Zorn's way and noted that his cover on this issue is all for Forrest Claypool against Joe Berrios. I also mentioned that, in no time at all, Carol Marin would gin-up a collage for Claypool!

Voila! Here 'Tis -

What does matter, way down the ballot, is who is Cook County assessor.

Until a few weeks ago, Joe Berrios was considered the odds-on favorite.

Berrios is the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and Madigan's political pal. A guy with a lot of sympathy for Madigan's law firm clients in search of property tax reductions.

With nominal Republican opposition, Berrios was coasting, until another -- and proven -- independent, retiring County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, announced an independent run.

If voters want to send a message to Madigan and Springfield, this is the race in which to do it.

The Corporate Media ( editorial boards and iconic columnists) gave us our political landscape - Fight the Power of the Machine; Scoop Taxes to Every Bug-eyed Mob of T-Shirted Shouters; however, they blame the 'stupid voters' for Todd Stroger and Scott Lee, when they themselves are the puffed-up watchdogs of the life political. Our gutless, or just dumb as dirt elected officials play ball these Blue Light Beauties.

I get my politics from people who have slowly and carefully 'put skin in the game.' Politics is an Art. Sometimes the Artist does not tell all about his craft -that makes it art. Carol, Eric and Mark Brown do not like Rembrandt Mike Madigan or any skilled elected official. They like street mimes like Forrest Claypool, Shelia Simon and Chris Kennedy. They are cute.

Carol Marin smiles at these same people all the time. That should give anyone with a lick of sense a very long pause.

Tough Times Ahead for Forrest Claypool - Just Like Romeo and Juliet -Hey,Hey, Hey!

Let me not to marriage of two-timers admit . . .I was with him . . .I was with her ... I think you're swell well you can go to Hell.

Shucks, Forrest Claypool a career political appointee is running as an Independent.

Seems to me he called in the compliant corporate media ( today, I played in Eric Zorn's sand box for giggles - I was up early and later waiting for a confirmation on a grant) and Eric Zorn provided a thick porridge of tofu and whey about the UnFairness of the Petitions Needed by Independents in Illinois. I think its swell. Makes for a muscular Grassroots Army of the Willing! Builds Character and what-not.

You see, Forrest is running against Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor and Joe Berrios happens to be a grand guy and genuine political servant. Forrest Claypool pops up when a spot opens, or gets appointed. He can be seen almost nightly chatting up Cheshire-Grinnin' Why Ain't Forrest Winnin' Carol Marin on WTTW. The last few elections Forrest got all timid and loped off to the woodland glades and glens. Forrest Claypool has miles to go before he sweeps . . .any votes. He needs scads of signatures and that requires folks armed with clipboards and pens. No Fair. Tough.

That is why there are farm teams in baseball and amateur flying clubs. Independents demand that be treated like Boys of October when they have not yet hefted a wiffle ball bat and Ace Jet Jockeys because they para-sailed. Politics is an art and not finger painting. Sad, to be sure. Tragic?

Well, Romeo and Juliet had their troubles but they were a beautiful couple. Forrest Claypool is the man he is today thanks to his long and lucrative association with the Regular Democratic Party Organization of Chicago and Cook County.

Joe Berrios can get signatures . . .Oh, that's right. He does not need them.

John Kass? Dithering Dick Durbin - Alexi's Zorba the Creep!

Just when WTTW had a golden opportunity to fight the power ( Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan- the only adult in Illinois Government) and allow Carol Marin to smugly snark-out Bosses, Bossism and Boss malapropisms weaving a purple toga ( that's a Roman thing) for Forrest Claypool - the panjandrum ( always appointed rarely elected) Zelig of Reform, John Kass of the Chicago Tribune hosed on the Greek Fire!

Oprah!

Just when will Claypool allow his buddies in the Obama White House to persuade the toxic Alexi Giannoulias to drop out and draft Claypool for a run against Republican Mark Kirk for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois?

"Excuse me?" Claypool asked, as if he hadn't thought of it. "I have no interest in running for the Senate. I'm running to be the next Cook County assessor."

Claypool, the liberal Democrat, is indeed campaigning as an independent for assessor against Democratic Party warhorse Joe Berrios, D-Madigan.

"I'm not considering the Senate," he told me.

But he must have considered it, at least fleetingly, even as he's trying to gather 25,000 petition signatures to get himself on the November ballot.

And so have Democrats and Republicans who want to look past the latest sound bite and the next Claypool suck-up session. I'm sure President Barack Obama and his City Hall guys have thought of it.

Roasted Lamb, by the beard of Zeus! Kass, where's Illinois Senior Senator Dithering Dick Durbin? Boutsokefalos Durbin has been the Greek Mentor to Alexi Giannoulias and took the boy to fabled Hellas for a walk among the ruins and imparted his sage counsel on all things melon, lemon and felon!

Remember? Last Spring - 2009. The Odyssey of Durbin? What wisdoms did he impart to the young Treasurer? What pearls? What skata was Dithering Dick Talkin'?


"I believe he(Alexi) will be more forthcoming. There are some things we do know and should acknowledge. He (Alexi) has not been involved with his family bank for four years.The current portfolio of that bank, only 9 % of those loans reflect loans that were on the books when he(Alexi) left the bank 4 years ago, so the loan package out there now at that bank is substantially different. I think he should come forward. He's talked to me about it what happened there, he's very proud his father started this bank and built it up from nothing. The controversy there whether it reflects on Alexi himself personally or the banking practices remains to be seen, but I've encouraged him to answer all the questions." Senator Dithering Dick Durbin

IOANNES (Ιωαννης) Kass! While our anger is often aimed at the obvious man in power, or the most skilled or the most successful, it is not always the Great Man who is the puppetmaster, but often the Iago, or the Catesby, or the Bacon. Just because Senator Durbin presents himself as a hapless dope, does not mean that he is without his ability to seed folly and influence a young man. Remember what Aristotle said in Rhetoric -

Anger may be defined as an impulse, accompanied by pain, to a conspicuous revenge for a conspicuous slight directed without justification towards what concerns oneself or towards what concerns one's friends. If this is a proper definition of anger, it must always be felt towards some particular individual, e.g. Cleon, and not "man" in general. It must be felt because the other has done or intended to do something to him or one of his friends. It must always be attended by a certain pleasure -- that which arises from the expectation of revenge. For since nobody aims at what he thinks he cannot attain, the angry man is aiming at what he can attain, and the belief that you will attain your aim is pleasant. Hence it has been well said about wrath,

Sweeter it is by far than the honeycomb dripping with sweetness,
And spreads through the hearts of men.

Stay angry, John Kass - IOANNES ( Ιωαννης)!!!!!! NOW!!!! I MUST Dance!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get the Context from Dan Kelley in the Joe Berrios Brawl

Chicago Daily Observer columnist and attorney Dan Kelley presents the best analysis of the Cook County Assessor Race coming soon to voters near you!

Dan Kelley presents the context for this race being papered over by the dimwitted corporate media - especially the ever fatuous icon Carol Marin. I like Joe Berrios and Carol Marin does not. That is usually Okay by me.

For the real deal dig here and find the gold.

Thus:

Berrios might have been vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2008, but the only opponent to emerge was Jay Paul Deratany, a lawyer with ties to US Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) and her husband, the former felon, Robert Cremer. Deratany enjoyed financial support from the gay community, but his campaign money could not buy him love from the primary electors. A stronger opponent might have caused Berrios some sleepless nights, but the leftist Shakowsky endorsed a Board of Review candidate who could not play to the voters in the bungalow belt. Had a more conventional opponent filed against Berrios in 2008, he may have been retired already.

If Claypool qualifies for the November ballot, this may be the most interesting local contest in more than a decade. Claypool has a political resume that is enviable when contrasted with that of Berrios. For the time being, voters will have to wait and see what develops.

Click my post title for Dan Kelley's Chicago Daily Observer piece

More Photos of John O'Sullivan Worth Township Democratic Committeeman at Bourbon Street -01/04/2010

Here are some photos for the crowd and the excitement generated in support of the candidacy of John O'Sullivan for Worth Township Democratic Committeeman at Bourbon Street on January 4th 2010.

Worth Democratic Committeman Candidate John O'Sullivan Draws Governor and Hundreds to Bourbon Street

This top-down was the only opportunity I had to take Governor Quinn's photo and for that I apologize - The Governor is a Class Act!


Governor Pat Quinn was welcomed to the southwest side like a Heavyweight Champion by Boxing Announcer Jack "Killer" Kilmartin! The Governor was a Champion for John O'Sullivan and offered a stirring endorsement of our candidate for Worth Township Democratic Committeeman.

Forrest Claypool travelled from the far North to introduce John O'Sullivan as a battler for honest and hard working government. Mr. Claypool noted that few Committeeman Candidates anywhere could inspire the confidence that drew hundreds of men and women to Bourbon Street, including Democratic Party Heavyweights.

My State Senator Ed Maloney was working the crowd hard for Johnny O'Sullivan and a real gentleman Joe Berrios, Cook County Commissioner and Candidate for Cook County Assessor talked with high school wrestling legendary coach Ron Oglesby and hundreds of other south side luminaries.

Kathy Meany of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District represented Terry O'Brien, who came out to the neighborhood on Friday and Saturday to help John and Patty O'Sullivan.

Hundreds of Union People, School Teachers loudly applauded this great show of why the Democratic Party remains the force that the GOP never will understand.

People doing for other People. I almost never hear, " Hey I'm busy." Helots and "Underlings" are always willing to help their neighbors. Governor Pat Quinn proved that the bigger they are - the nicer they truly happen to be.

Thanks

Tom Dart Should be County Board President - Why He Would Want It?

Sheriff Tom Dart is the best qualified person to be President of of Cook County Board. Tom Dart is a brilliant young man and a good guy to the bargain. He is collegial, tough, courteous but no push-over.

Like Speaker Madigan, and any true public servant, Tom Dart plays things close to the vest.

Tom Dart has slowly climbed the Chicago political gradus and has developed the skills to allow him to be effective.

Tom Dart was President Obama's roommate and colleague in Springfield while working to reform the looming pay-day-loan catastrophe that is now Tsunami'd into a National Storm of Debt. Dart's Bi-Partisan efforts were smothered by political self-interests. The Zip-code was declared Racist by Rev. Jess Jackson and the hand -wringers went along on the disaster train. Tom Dart warned of this impending crisis ten years ago.

Tom Dart is Cook County Sheriff - the most thankless and ugly job on the planet.

However, the source of the sewer is the Cook County Board. A Sheriff is needed so the next Sheriff can avoid having the same clowns who killed phony pay-day-loan legislation undermine that job.

Tom Dart's predecessor had these clowns and their lawyers, and think tanks and journalist stooges bed-bugging his efforts to improve Cook County Law Enforcement twenty-four hours a day.

I love Paul Vallas, but he gave the job a duck. God Bless Him! Forrest Claypool passed on it. Forrest will be fine. He's always fine. Toni Preckwinkle could not find a Chinaman on 22nd Street, but so wants to sit in Todd's Chair. Todd Stoger . . .ah, Jaysus, the poor thing.

Cook County could use someone who took the time to learn how to lead. That is Tom Dart. Tom Dart could fix the Cook County Mess. There will still be greedy, back-stabbing oppotunists buzzing around him, like President Obama's Late Mr. Fly, but the skilled, honest and professional Mr. Dart can handle them - and PETA as well.

Dart began his career in public service as an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney, where he prosecuted hundreds of felony crimes during his five years with the office. As part of his duties he was assigned to prosecute crimes in the South Suburbs, where he helped initiate a massive investigation of corruption in the town of Ford Height’s Police Department, leading to the indictment of the chief and several of the towns police officers. Coincidentally in 2008, Sheriff Dart’s took over police protection in Ford Heights because of ongoing problems with the town’s police department.

By 1991, Dart had moved to the Illinois General Assembly when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the State Senate. The next year, he ran for elected office for the first time and won a seat in the Illinois House, representing a diverse district on Chicago’s South Side that included communities like Roseland, Pullman, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood, Calumet Park, and portions of Blue Island.In Springfield, Dart quickly developed a reputation as a reform minded legislator who was willing to take on the state bureaucracy.

He served as chief sponsor of more than a dozen new child welfare laws that helped restructure the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. And, as an indication of things to come, Dart turned his attention to matters related to law enforcement. As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he sponsored Mayor Daley’s Safe Neighborhood Act and authored several state laws designed to crackdown on child sex offenders, including a statute that targeted child predators who use the Internet to lure young victims. He also wrote the Sexually Violent Predators Commitment Act, a groundbreaking law that enable judges to deny freedom to sexual predators and detain them in state mental health facilities if they were deemed likely to commit new sex crimes after being released from prison.

Dart received dozens of honors for his work in the legislature, including the Illinois State Bar Association’s President’s Commendation and “Legislator of the Year Awards” from several groups, including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois State Crime Commission, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Chicago Sun Times columnist Steve Neal referred to Dart as an “impact player” during his decade of service in the Illinois House.

Dart left the legislature in 2003 after an unsuccessful campaign for Illinois State Treasurer and was appointed to serve as Chief of Staff Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan. In 2006 Dart was elected to a four-year term as the new Sheriff of Cook County after Sheahan retired.

As Sheriff, Dart has enacted a variety of new policy initiatives. Among the many changes are an institution of psychological testing for entry level recruits, installing new technology in the Cook County Jail and court facilities throughout Cook County, and the creation of a weapons free committee to target the widespread use of homemade knives and shanks in the jail.
Under Dart’s directive, the Sheriff’s Police have initiated a variety of stings, crackdowns, and investigations of criminal activity. He has been in the forefront in breaking up dog fighting rings and presided over the arrests of prostitution rings that use the internet as their advertising arm.

Dart holds a J.D. from Loyola University and a Bachelor’s Degree in History and General Social Studies from Providence College. He and his wife Patricia reside in Chicago and are the proud parents of four children.

Quigley and Claypool - Southern Illinois University - Early Eighties - with a Sears Catalog

An imaginative fictive turn* of the lives of the Self-absorbed:

Roosevelt University student Mike Quigley visited Forrest Claypool of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for the summer where both worked as fry cooks for Dave's 'Every Picture Tells a Story -Donut!'

Both chaps were engaged in the study of Government and how government can best separate the wallets from citizens. They learned well. Nevertheless, the ardent Progressive scholars busied their days at Dave's dropping dough - the flour, egg and soda variety.

Their evenings were spent in mutual salvos of political tactics and strategies, and in the wistful exercises of jejune male fantasies.

The Sears Catlog arrived at the trailer Claypool.

FC- "Mike did you see how beautiful these models are in the Sears Catalog?"

MQ - " I did, Forrest, and they are not all that expensive!"

FC- "It says, 'Immediate Delivery' - Let's Order, today!"

The winsome youths pooled their coppers and silver and Rushed a Money Order to Sears Roebuck & Company Headquartered in Mike's hometown of Chicago - at the newly opened Sears Tower.

Days passed and quality Donuts were scooped from the bubbling cauldron in Dave's 'Every Picture Tells A Story -Donut' and nights melted in dreamy expectation.

Mike Quigley worked the late shift and received a Call from his buddy landlord -"Packages Here!"

After work Mike stumped his way to the Rolling Cloud Trailer Park outside of Carbondale on the road to Cobden.

Moist with anticipation, the future Cook County Board Pit Bull and U.S. Congressman shouted to his equally ambitious and horny pal, " Are the Girls Here, Yet?"

The tall and stylishly attired Progressive Cub Scout replied, " No Mike, but they should be here soon! Their clothes arrived!"

. . .and Illinois was the better for these earnest youths!

* Many thanks to Max Weissmann of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas! Also, click my post title for other ripping yarns.

The People Who Get into Public Service - John Daley Showed the Way and So Did Forrest Claypool!

Conclusion: We can all whine about Stroger and the board and taxes until our skin is wrinkled and we're ready for diapers and the old folks home.

If you don't like the direction of your government, run for office and change it. K. McQueary

Kristen McQueary in today's (click my post title) Southtown Star gives a blunt summary to all the beefing about our political Straw-Persons in public life, be it Blago, Burris, or Todd Stoger.

Doing something for other people, whether you are a nurse, cop, firefighter, teacher, priest, rabbi, soldier, or government official puts a target on your back. Hell, you get the same troubles in the private sector, but public service folks get the infamy of Media second-guessers and stooges with barrels of ink.

There truly is no good deed that goes unpunished. However, the only option is to turn-up the music, drink more, sedate yourself, golf, play X-Box and expect a paycheck.

In public life the majority works hard. In public life cheats, bullies, clowns, thieves, sexual predators, and morons blend in because they too are the public.

Policy often dictates that we suffer the useless gladly even when they are stealing, preying on people, screwing up the works, or just collecting a paycheck. They are the reason for Political Action Committees. The stronger the policy the more cover for the dopes.

Getting the job done requires more work these days because of false tickling Policy.

He/She/It are a mandated quota numbers; cousins need work too; the odd clouted prince or princess; and the all too human 'What are going to do? Sure they can not read a spreadsheet or a blueprint or draft a lesson plan but they are dues paying members. We must follow policy and policy requires seven written notices and severance package.'

To stick your neck out and seek the vote to genuinely make things happen takes a special click in the heart.

John Daley sparked this challenge by confronting Todd Stroger! The members of the County Board ( politically ambitious and also drifters) challenged poor Todd to do something. That is the glory of our Republic. People elected by us are doing exactly what we bid them to do.

I can criticize Forrest Claypool but I must admire his courage to take his fight into the public arena. God Bless Him!

Kris McQueary gave us a nice sound byte. Teddy Roosevelt draws blood:

Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier."

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html

John Daley Tries to Talk Sense to Todd Stroger -Good Luck With That

I always liked John Daley. I still do. John Daley is a gentleman. John Daley is loyal. John Daley is a very, very, very smart man.

Yesterday, he tried to talk sense to County Board President Todd Stroger who is the best friend Forrest Claypool has in the world, now that Quigley is in D.C. and out of his way.

Claypool has friends in WTTW,NPR and the Chicago Media.

That is about it. Forrest Claypool is friends with folks who can appoint him to a government spot, or manage to get others to build votes for him.

He pretty much shot his wad. Now, with all Progressive forces dancing the Dionysian jig no one is paying Forrest much attention. Vallas is coming back. Peraica won a Pyrrhic victory in the Repeal. That is as good as it will get Tony.

John Daley tried to talk sense to Todd -do not challenge the vote and give Forrest his wiggle room - 'We can not all be Elizabeth Brackett for Crissakes.'

Welp, Todd don't hear so good. Forrest will gump it up on Public TV and Airwaves. The tin-foil hat crowd will get all knit cap and soul-patch hot for Forrest.

He will lose, mind you, but we will have Claypool white-noise for the next few months.

Thanks Todd.

You tried John Daley. My God how you tried.

John Daley sparred with Stroger during a debate that turned angry at times, telling the president he "might want to listen for a change." Daley said a Stroger veto "would be a mistake, because of the strong vote of the board."

The Daley family backed Stroger in his 2006 run for the spot once held by his father, John, but Daley on Tuesday said Stroger has "been wounded" and might not get his support for his anticipated re-election effort.

In changing his stance, Daley cited the lousy economy and said the county had "to make adjustments." At least one commissioner, however, clearly acknowledged a desire to distance himself from a tax vote that was widely panned by civic groups, editorial pages and suburban leaders. "We've been getting beaten up, and I'm tired of it," said Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (D-Chicago), who voted for the tax hike but supported the effort to repeal.

Paul Vallas Calls for Front-Loading Political Accountability

The Progressive Think Tank!

Paul Vallas will be a great County Board President - you can be sure of it by this sign - all the goofs are lining up against him! To Nuance Old Jackie Swift.

"In the absence of a viable two-party system, the only accountability you have rests in the U.S. attorney's office. That's accountability at the back end," Vallas said. "No one is ever held politically accountable."

'Accountable? Accountable, Sir?!! Why I am an elected Official in the Land of Lincoln and Should be for life!'

Accountable. Yep. Meant something back in the day - even with political jobs. A guy would reach out and seek help to get a job and then his clout, or Chinaman, or Rabbi was held accountable for his work ethic and value to commonweal. It was up and down.

Then, along came the Whistleblower Culture. A goof could not or would not fulfill his vocational obligations and got in the jackpot with his supervisor - Voila! Pam Zekman appears and questions get asked like . . .'Mr. Polecatz, why was Mergatroyd Fuzzdyke required to sell Ward tickets?' Mergatroyd spent the previous twenty four months sleeping off hangovers in a nice, quiet cemetery, during his work hours for which he was handsomely paid, but failed to bring that to Pam's attention. The bigger the skunk shooting the eau d'cologne the better the 'Investigative Journalist' embraces the tale.

Accountability is a chimera.

Now Paul Vallas comes up from the Swamps and Bayous to the Cess-pool that is Cook County and brings back that old world notion of Accountability - People Actually doing the work for which they are paid.

Believe it or not . . .some kind soul who listens to Zanfir CDs? . . .please wake Forrest Claypool up . . .County Supervisers and most workers actually work hard.

It is the doughy dreamboats like Forrest, who was appointed to 90% of the jobs he has held in government, who get the Camera Face-time and play Atticus Finch for the nit-wits in the political audience who stir up the cess that has killed Accountability.

True facts. Old School Accountability in County and, yes Muriel, City government as well, rows hard against the Progressive currents, roiled by the oars of Reform Coyotes like Claypool and Preckwinkle and the now Congressional Quigley.

I needed some County work done to help kids here in Auburn Gresham at Leo High School and went to the right guy, and he introduced me to the righter guy, who had just the right guys and things got done - no quid pro dough; for which no moolah or services were exchanged; no grease; no trouble and I ain't sayin' nothin'!

I did not seek the help of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. Please. The Wee Lad is busy enough with Kin. I would have reached out to his Pop. That gent was a master of grace and accountability. Guys that Stroger Pere trusted? You bet. I explained what was needed and with three conversations and follow-up. Things are moving.

Ask the help of a goof like Claypool and he would trot out the swell study done for Mike Quigley at the University of Chicago. Nope go to the hard-working people in government who actually perform and always seem to be the first people smeared by Pam Zekmans or have their jobs cut by the people doing the real stealing in the name of Reform.

That is Accountability. Not a Press Conference, or a WTTW Gush Glamorama with Phil Ponce by a self-absorbed flannel mouth who never does one thing to make government do anything for anyone. If the poor kids at Leo needed anything to make their lives better, safer, or more accountable, the last person one should ever see is a Reform goof like Claypool at County or Progressive Pirate like Preckwinkle.

Paul Vallas has it right front-load accountability. Paul Vallas ( GOP or Dem) is the right guy for the Cook County Presidency, because he is always accountable. Everything Old is New Again!