Comments on: Chicago Mayor Seeking Bailout Money for $15 Billion Airport Albatross

By: john galtis the man

john galtis the man — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:38:28 +0000

This look suspiciously a lot like Comrade Kerry and Kennedys “big Dig” in Boston. If Comrade Daley has his way that 15 Bill will double in 5 yrs as he pays off the JACKASS FAMILY and the rest of the bunch to shut up and take your cut. This scumbag would do AL CAPONE proud. Well , it figures. After all ,BLAGO WAS ONE OF THEM. Even as governor, BLAGO spent more time in Chicago than the state capitol of Springfield. Daley spends more time wondering how next to rip off the taxpayers so him and his pals(and dont kid yourself, the JACKASS crowd IS in Daleys corner). Until the idiot voters of Chicago wake up and realize what this scumsucker is, they will continue to suffer self-inflicted wounds.

By: Rad

Rad — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:47:40 +0000

Now, the “bridge to nowhere” looks like a bargain — oh, wait, it was a bridge to an airport!

By: Rajbir D

Rajbir D — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:49:31 +0000

I don’t believe in bailouts. It’s taking hard earned cash and giving it back to the rich. If you read the news, sometimes they talk about what these corporations are doing with the cash. Buying private jets, all-inclusive party for thousands of ‘top-sellers’ that cost millions, etc. All with bailout money.

By: Steve White

Steve White — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:56:13 +0000

I have lived in the Chicago area for decades and now live near where the Peotone airport would be built, if it’s ever built, … which it won’t.

This article captures most of the issue about O’Hare and Rich ‘short-shanks’ Daley except one that is critical to Daley’s continued success — the patronage. Daley the Elder had a massive patronage army on the city payrolls. But that payroll is challenged these days, and the federales are always watching. And the ‘Shackman Decree’, a federal court ruling, forces most city hiring to be (gasp) honest. Or semi-honest at least.

Daley the Younger has a massive patronage army, but not on the city payrolls. Where does he hide them? On the payrolls of the all the people who get no-bid city contracts, that’s where. And the mother lode of those contracts is found at O’Hare. You can hide lots of workers, patronage, contracts and pay-offs at an airport with an annual budget in the hundreds of millions, and that’s just what Daley does. It’s modern politics, and nobody does modern urban politics better than Rich Daley.

By: john from cinncinatti

john from cinncinatti — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:01:51 +0000

the pigs are lining up to the federal trough! thats all folks. once these clowns get ahold of the cash they will bend to the will of the people and cancel the project,and then with some creative accounting, the dollar he is holding in his hand will magically disappear.
the Obama great giveaway has started, get in line folks there’s enough for everyone.

By: Ozzie

Ozzie — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:29:10 +0000

How wonderful is Chicago? last year during a road trip from South dakota to the east coast of Virginia, we drove south to Missouri then east. It took an extra day, but it was worth avoiding Chicgo and DC entirely. It’s the final American vote that counts, as California is learning: vote with your feet and your cash.

By: Willis

Willis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:07:43 +0000

O’Hare is the goose that laid the golden egg for the Daley family:

{“Mayor Richard Daley adamantly denied on Tuesday that influence and strong connections with City Hall helped Jeremiah Joyce, a longtime mayoral ally and trusted political strategist, land lucrative concession contracts at O’Hare International Airport.

“I don’t know what part of the action he has,” Daley told reporters at a CTA ribbon-cutting ceremony on the South Side. ” I don’t know and I don’t care.”

A Tribune investigation published on Monday revealed that Joyce won handsome compensation when McDonald’s Corp. and a national operator of duty-free shops were awarded contracts worth millions of dollars at O’Hare shortly after the companies signed Joyce to an employment agreement.

Joyce, a former state senator who played a critical role in Daley’s 1989 election campaign, received $1.8 million last year stemming from his involvement with the two companies, according to the Tribune report.”

By: Saltherring

Saltherring — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:06:30 +0000

Flew coast-to-coast approx. once per month 1992-2007 for business reasons. Swapped planes at O’Hare the first trip and NEVER made that mistake again. There are many decent airport hubs (Pittsburgh is my personal favorite…by far) and I’d prefer any (even Atlanta or Philadelphia) of them over O’Hare. As a taxpayer, I wouldn’t throw a federal dime into that overburdened O’Hare hell-hole.

By: J. Rockford

J. Rockford — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:10:52 +0000

Daley shut down Meigs Airport in Chicago a few years ago — just sent bulldozers in at night and did it. They ought to cut off all funding for O’Hare and all other Chicago airports. Punish the corrupt mayor.

By: Marc Malone

Marc Malone — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:56:31 +0000

Chicago: the gift that keeps on giving. I guess I can’t complain too much; it gave the world… me! But, I hereby throw it under the bus. It’s the Chicago way after all.

#5 ashok – Of course you haven’t seen it anywhere. It’s “only” $15B. Chump change these days.