I am typing this post from a sidewalk restaurant opposite the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in LA (where it’s 73 and clear – eat your heart out). I am here because I may be serving on a jury. I am currently in the midst of the voir dire, so I cannot say yet whether I will serve. In the past my mystery writing has made the lawyers suspicious and I didn’t last long, but this is a civil case.
Anyway, it’s an appropriate spot to comment on Blagogate – or whatever it’s called. This is now going past what an obvious creep or even psycho the Illinois governor is to more important issues, such as how people like that come to serve. [Worked for Caligula.-ed. Yeah, but that was Rome. Well....?]
I recognize that the estimable cfbleachers and other smart commenters on here think that I went overboard in my criticism of Chicago, but, although I’ve always had great fun there and love the architecture, pizza, etc., there are reasons things happen in certain places, at least sometimes.
On the other hand, we are all Chicago. And beyond that is the deeper issue of what sorts of personalities are attracted to our politics. And then there’s the role of the media in all this, obviously ideologically biased in their coverage of politicians. The Chicago Trib, which is in the middle of this case, is to be praised for keeping their collective mouths shut, especially since that paper, as we all know, is in deep jeopardy.
But the media at large is a different matter. Having been so casual in the investigation of Obama’s background during the campaign, they must be holding their collective breaths, not mouths, this time. Shoes are starting to drop before the inauguration. What if a lot more drop. What a disgrace to our media. How shameful. They deserve to go out of business.
The media refused to vet Obama during the campaign, so I guess we’re going to have to do it now.
I’d make another comment – when I lived in Chicago during the ’70′s and ’80′s, Chicagoans were frequently willing to make the point that the “Chicago Way” worked – sure the city was tremendously corrupt, but the city functioned pretty well (if you ignored things like the public schools, which have always been terrible). There was much sneering comment directed at John Lindsey and Abe Beame-type governments in New York, as well as the closer example of Detroit as an example of a completely dysfunctional city, unlike Chicago.
Now, in Chicago the corruption has gotten even worse, the schools haven’t seemed to improve, crime has dropped almost everywhere in the United States except Chicago, taxes have risen, and it just seems that the “good government plus 10%” ethos of the first Mayor Daley has lost the “good government” part of the equation.
Part of the corruption has been moral – it is inconceivable that a person like William Ayres would have been embraced by the first Mayor Daley, as he has been by the second Mayor Daley. Without any hint of reform, it seems that Chicago has been in a long and slow decline.
Roger, I read your last post as targeted at a particular aspect of Chicago, and that it was quite fair. I grew up in Los Angeles, but lived in Chicago for 6 years, and I found city politics to be a great spectator sport precisely because of the rampant and obvious venality.
I recall that shortly after I returned to Los Angeles, City Councilman Robert Farrell got into some kind of hot water for putting his wife on the city payroll. I had to laugh, because something like that would be considered SOP in Chicago, barely worth anyone’s attention.
If the press had done its due diligence during the campaign, a lot of this would have come to light already, as Observer says. Now we’re stuck with what the election gave us.
Thanks, guys.
IIRC, it was one of the Chicago Boyz, in one of those x things you didn’t know about me posts, who mentioned meeting Blagojevich and noting that he was of subnormal intelligence. OK, it’s just gossip, but I don’t see any reason to doubt it at this time. I think it shows that normal, honest, and sensible people avoid politics which results in the corrupt ruling class we have.
I was born in Chicago, went to college in Chicago, married a Chicago girl. I have a certain undying fondness for the city.
However…I moved a thousand miles away for a reason. Decades ago I could see the place falling apart, and I was right to get out. (In fact, after I left my former landlady’s grandson became an alderman and was convicted of some sort of corruption.)
I used to think it was a grand city, and it remains a truly beautiful place with an unmatched lakefront and the prettiest girls on the planet, but good God, what a mess, and the rest of the state isn’t much better (do they still have more KKK members than any other state?). In terms of corruption, it’s like Louisiana moved to a colder climate.
Scott
P.S. Don’t tell me Obama knew nothing of this. “Politics ain’t beanbag,” but it shouldn’t be Grand Theft Auto, either.
…as well as the closer example of Detroit as an example of a completely dysfunctional city, unlike Chicago.
Working in Detroit, I can say the city has corruption (mayor in jail) and doesn’t function well. So corruption is certainly no guarantee of things working.
Please don’t get carried away with praise for the Chicago Tribune. Yes, they did take an extremely aggressive stance against Blagojevich, whom they sicced many reporters after. But their motivation was not completely pure.
First of all, the Wrigley Field business is of some minor import. Secondly, Blagojevich is a menace to the proper operation of certain politicians, not the least of which is Barack Obama. Blagojevich’s bad acting threatens the corona of Obama.
And, you may recall, there is no limit to what the Trib has done to preserve, protect, and promote their very own President.
What’s more, the Blagojevich story, while in reality fairly trivial as corruption goes here, also presents a danger to the Olympics 2016 movement, of which the Tribune is a proponent. Do not underestimate the importance of the Olympics to the urban elite.
Sadly, it’s hard to properly convey the real depth of the corruption here. It’s not like New York or Boston. It’s so deep in the culture it’s expected. When my late father in law, in his Chicago Police uniform and on the clock, helped throw Republican ballots in the trash in November 1960, it was the same thing that occurred to Blagojevich when he demanded compensation for his favors.
It’s just the way things are.
Observers of the Machine just break out laughing hearing the Obamists tout their One. He’s a guy Daley sent, just like Moseley Braun, Blagojevich, and next, Lisa Madigan.
You say more than you intend, Roger. Yes, we are all Chicago. Obama’s election last month was the beginning of turning the whole damned country into Chicago.
This is an email that I wrote to my friend earlier today. It is directly on topic, so I hope you don’t mind if I simply cut and paste it here:
When dealing with Chicago politicians, the presumption is “guilty until proven innocent.” The standard of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Obama may be innocent of this particular scandal. The logical assumption is that he is, in fact, innocent — now that he’s won the election, he’s got a great deal to lose, and next to nothing to gain, by getting involved with something petty like this. He therefore has every reason to stay out of it. However, as you will note from the wiretap transcripts, Chicago politicians are mighty brazen, and they can be mighty stupid. There is therefore a slim chance that Obama is caught up in this one. If I had to place a bet, I’d bet that he’s not caught up in this one.
But the real question to me is whether Obama, a product of the crooked Chicago machine, is corrupt. The answer to that question is “of course.” Everyone in Chicago politics is corrupt. And I mean REALLY corrupt. We’re not talking about no-bid contracts to Haliburton and the appointment of unqualified political hacks to prominent positions. (See, e.g. Bush’s first FEMA director.) Chicago politicians do those things, too, of course — but they do a whole lot more on top of that. I’m talking about suitcases full of cash, links to the Mafia, and the sale of official positions. (Like Obama’s US Senate seat, for example.) Again, this isn’t a partisan thing. Blago’s predecessor, Gov. George Ryan, was a Republican, and he is in prison.
There is no chance — zero, zip, nada — that Obama would have been allowed to rise so quickly through the ranks of Chicago politics if he wasn’t corrupt. Those guys LOVE him. They EMBRACE him. He’s never been known as a “reformer” or “standoffish,” and he’s never had a “difficult relationship” with Da Boys. Nope, they consider him a solid citizen, a real team player. That means he’s rotten — to the core.
On another note, I sometimes think that you see the corruption in Chicago as a sort of “more extreme” version of politics as usual. That is an intellectually valid argument — I mean, “honest” politicians may not take bribes, but they take money from campaign contributors and often become lobbyists themselves after leaving office. Also, you probably believe that since the corruption is accepted by the citizens, it must mean that, in a perverse and crude way, that the Machine IS responsive to the wishes of the citizens — that phrase Da Boys love to use to describe Chicago, the “city that works” — is in some sense accurate. It’s not pretty, but in the end it’s responsive to needs of the citizen in its own perverse way.
That’s a reasonable view, but it’s wrong. That’s not what Chicago-style politics is really like. A Chicago-style system is like a Third World system. The government is a parasitical enemy of the average person. The system only “works” for the benefit of the politicians and their wealthy backers. The needs and wants of the average citizen are mostly irrelevant — the politicians don’t concern themselves with serving the average citizen or improving his lot, they concern themselves with making sure that the average citizen doesn’t get too angry at them.
And even when the system does “work,” the corruption taints everything and demeans everyone. It’s just wrong to pay bribes to elected officials. It’s immoral for the payor, the payee, and the payee’s supervisors who take a percentage. The same is true for other stuff that goes on in Chicago — it’s just wrong.
And the corruption taints everything else, too. You should see a “press conference” with Mayor Daley. It’s like something from Eastern Europe in the days of Communism. The guy has never been asked a tough question in his life. The “Republican” Chicago Tribune might as well rename itself Pravda, and the “Democratic” Sun-Times might as well call itself Itar-TASS. The reporters don’t act like a pack of rabid dogs, like they do everywhere else — the questions are always like, “Mr. Mayor, how many homeless children has the city helped this year?” It’s really sickening to watch because it’s not real or normal — it’s a show press conference, it’s totally corrupt.
The same is true for appearing before judges over there. How would you like if 95% of the state court judges were semi-literate, cared nothing about the law. In other words, a place where every single judge has the work habits and intellectual acumen of Manny Real, if not the temperament — that’s Chicago. A place where they often don’t bother to read your papers — not that they’d understand them if they had? A place where there are plenty of judges, but it still takes SEVEN YEARS for a case to go to trial, basically because no one gives a shit? You’d say that was a state court system with serious problems. Well, that’s the Chicago system.
This is why I never, ever got involved in Chicago politics. My dad was a bagman for the Machine, and I worked for a politically-connected law firm so I knew all of the players. But I myself never participated. I didn’t start volunteering until I came to California. There is a reason for that — I hate the Chicago system.
Sometimes I laugh at Da Boys because, let’s face it, they are entertaining. And the Chicago’s particular form of corruption can be compared favorably to other corrupt jurisdictions — unlike a lot of East Coast cities (Newark, Baltimore) Da Boys are careful not to bleed big business too much, so Chicago’s economy is still fairly healthy. And at least Da Boys don’t tolerate aristocrats, like they do in Boston.
But the Chicago system is rotten and disgusting to the core. There is nothing good about it. They should just turn every single government building in the state into a jail and throw away the key.
But of course, they’re not going to do that — Da Boys are moving to Washington.
Joe Schmoe: wow!
Roger:
If you have the time, read the columns of John Kass. He’s the Tribune reporter who has been a thorn in the side of Da Boys for years. He gave warnings about Obama’s connections to the corrupt players.
BTW, Thanks to the Tribune’s obsession with opening sealed divorce and child custody records, Obama’s competition in the primary and general elections were pretty much destroyed. That gave him clear sailing to become US Senator.
Mr. Simon,
I’ve appreciated your comments about my fair city. To add to the mix, here’s a part of what I have posted at my blog Critical Thoughts (http://criticalthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/):
A great deal has already been said and written about the antics of Illinois Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich, much of it laced with surprise and outrage. The behavior is outrageous indeed, but hardly surprising. Corruption is to Chicago and Illinois politics as mosquitoes are to summer.
Legendary columnist Mike Royko, consummate Chicago guy and veteran observer of the political scene, wrote this in the Chicago Tribune in 1989:
Every time Chicago politicians go on trial for bribe-taking, I marvel at how stupid they are. Not because they were greedy and dishonest. Just as fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, they gotta grab whatever goes by. Their stupidity is in getting caught. And that’s because they don’t know the difference between dumb graft and smart graft. This distinction separates the politicians who chow down in a prison hall from those who take two-hour lunches at Eli’s while favor-seekers pause at their table and kiss their rings. Dumb graft is… when you babble your gratitude for a wad of cash from someone who has a stereo system hidden in his underwear. Smart graft is money that flows to you because you are a political heavyweight [think here of another politician from Chicago’s north side, Hillary Clinton].
In many other cities and states [corrupt politicians] would be booted out of office. But in Chicago we have a more tolerant attitude. If they don’t get indicted, they’re okay.
So outrage, yes, surprise, no. This story is an old one, and the plot line hasn’t changed, yet. As legendary Chicago Democrat 43rd ward alderman and saloonkeeper Paddy Bauler said in 1955 after the young Richard J. Daley defeated the sitting “reform” mayor who had been cleaning up a scandal-ridden city hall, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform yet.” Still not yet.
Just a little OT: According to this Wikipedia article on Blogojevich, Rezko is a former fundraiser for Blogo, and that Mrs. Blogo was Rezko’s business partner for a decade:
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Mrs. Blogo was Rezko’s agent for the house transaction he had with Obama?
Roger:
Ever try the Pitfire Pizza, across from the old St. Vibiana’s?
Wow,Roger..I’m a native of Louisiana,the traditional sewer of American politics(along with NJ,of course)…but Illinois takes the cake
The CYA media are already circling the wagons around Obamessiah
‘“Politics ain’t beanbag,” but it shouldn’t be Grand Theft Auto, either’
Great, Scott!
Yeah,Gary…can’t wait to see what journalism’s premier brown nose,E.J Dionne,has to say.
Here’s a recent example of Chicago’s total corruption: Daley just sold the parking meter rights in Chicago for $1.2B in ready money, costing the taxpayer around $3B in lost revenue over the long haul. Citizens are just sheep to be shorn; to hell with them.
> But the media at large is a different matter. Having been so casual in the investigation of Obama’s background during the campaign, they must be holding their collective breaths, not mouths, this time. Shoes are starting to drop before the inauguration. What if a lot more drop. What a disgrace to our media. How shameful. They deserve to go out of business.
I am taking a great deal of pleasure watching newspapers and news magazines go out of business or make significant layoffs. Just today one of the Drudge headlines was “Who Will Mourn Local Newspaper”. I believe the MSM is largely to blame for the decline — probably irreversible at this point — of this country. Other than the WSJ, IBD and Washington Times, I hope they ALL go out of business for what they have done.
As the blogosphere matures you will see the old arrangements get burned away. Life is going to be painful for a lot of people.
Of course this crap has to surface AFTER we elect the possibly-corrupt guy President. But I’m not sure it’s only the MSM’s fault. I read some comments on the blogs about Obama being a Chicago-style politician, but most of the ranting seemed to be about Obama being a radical, a socialist, a closet Muslim, or not really an American citizen. Turns out the Chicago connection might have been more important than the Ayers connection or the Wright connection.
For the country’s sake, I hope Obama isn’t too tainted by the place where he served his political apprenticeship. Obviously, I don’t think we should just ignore any questionable things in his past. But I’d rather not go through another distracting, divisive OIC investigation/scandal for the next four years. We have enough to worry about with the economy, wars and terrorism. I hope impeachment doesn’t become our new national priority.
And now the Washington Post is reporting that Rezko is singing to the feds. Given that Rezko is as dirty as they come, and that he and Obama had a business relationship for years, it’s only a matter of time before Obama is connected to something felonious.
We’re lucky this crap was ever given any MSM exposure. It’s not like they didn’t have any idea of how corrupt Illinois and Chicago politicians are.
They just couldn’t face the fact that their selection for POTUS was just another Chicago politician (As noted by Obama’s own pastor Rev Wright). They could’ve spent at least one afternoon with John Kass or other veteran Chicago political reporters to get the background on Obama. But no, they wanted to protect and help Obama succeed, like Chrissy (I want to be Senator from Pennsyvania and Obama will be my ticket) Matthews.
It was far more important to go dumpster diving in Alaska, than going to the back issues of the Tribune for the truth about Obama’s lack of interest regarding ‘Change’ in his own (and below-market priced) backyard.
When we speak of Chicago politics, I think it’s important to sort out who are the:
1)players
2)vendors
3)spectators
4)umpires
The average Chicagoan has limited access or influence over the dealings at City Hall or in the governor’s mansion. They are no more responsible for 100 years of cronyism, graft, greed and corruption than they are for the 100 years of Cubs futility in winning a World Series. They are spectators, perhaps with a view into a bloody Roman arena, but still merely paying stiffs for the most part.
The vendors are “a little pregnant” for some and “plying the second oldest trade” for others. The myriad of contractors in virtually every conceivable endeavor have been historically asked to ante up, if they want to get in the game. Again, historically…you couldn’t find a seat at the table otherwise. Whether that was via working to get votes or “returning the favor” by giving someone a job or finding a way for something to “fall off a truck”, you knew that someday, somehow, you might be asked….if not upfront.
The umpires were supposed to come from the media. And every once in a while, you would get an independent cuss who would kick up dust and find dirt with some regularity. By and large, though…as the game began to take on a more liberal flavor…their was a bit of cognitive dissonance in “turning on the home team”.
Much as we see in national politics, the snuggling and providing of cover for “the right message” trumps all other issues, with rare exceptions.
And the players…well, certain companies, certain individuals, certain law firms, certain insurance firms, certain contractors, were virtually assured of their share of the pie year after year. Nobody…and I mean NOBODY…who played in that arena for any length of time…could avoid the game.
At some level, anyone who was a player…played. You couldn’t be in the game, if you didn’t.
Nobody…and I mean NOBODY…who played in that arena for any length of time…could avoid the game.
At some level, anyone who was a player…played. You couldn’t be in the game, if you didn’t.
Yes. And it’s not like the clues weren’t there already, out in the open. Cronyism, quid pro quo, the enrichment of the inner circle … while
the “little people” get the shaft.
Government of the players, by the players, for the players.
But the lure of 63 million Americans’ feeling good about themselves was a more compelling narrative than raw sewage spilling across apartment floors.
Like the old saying goes, there are none so blind as those who will not see.
“Turns out the Chicago connection might have been more important than the Ayers connection or the Wright connection.”
Absolutely. Going after Wright or Ayers, even if justified, was dicey for several reasons. But McCain really should have layed into BO’s Chicago political connections. Exposing the truth here would have undermined all that “hope and change” baloney.
“The governor’s wife, Patricia Blagojevich, was a business partner of Rezko’s for at least a decade. In 2004, she received over $38,000 in real estate commissions from him…”
From listening to her on those tapes (or reading the transcripts, at least), it sounds like she might be the power behind the throne. A Lady MacBlag, of sorts.
JoeSchmoe is at least 90% right.
ahem obviously has never heard of “net present value.” It’s $3B as a 75-year gross revenue stream, reduced to a 1-time payment at closing, doofus.
Illinois, Louisiana, take your pick, it’s either 1-2 or 2-1 or tied for #1
Fantasy zone forever.
lol