So I’m reading this story about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “personal touch,” which involves threats that are literally inflammatory:
While lobbying this spring for lawmakers to support a change in pensions for city workers, Emanuel called Democratic state Rep. Greg Harris, a longtime acquaintance who represents Emanuel’s North Side neighborhood. Harris opposed the legislation, which never got traction in Springfield.
Emanuel pressed Harris to change his mind, and, according to several lawmakers who heard the story, began swearing at him and threatening to burn down his house if he didn’t.
Harris didn’t dispute the story but declined to provide details of the conversation.
When I came across this detail:
From the moment he was elected, Emanuel has not been shy about how much help — and money — he wants from a state government controlled by fellow Democrats. He lobbied lawmakers this spring for measures to give him more control of public schools and to legalize a city-owned casino. And with a fall session of the General Assembly looming, Emanuel has more on his wish list.
Wait — a city-owned casino? And this proposal hasn’t been laughed out of the state of Illinois, why?
I suppose it hasn’t been laughed out because it’s Chicago. We do already have state lotteries nearly everywhere, but governments running casinos take things to another level. Seriously, has our addiction to government spending become so acute that we’ll have cities creating their own gambling monopolies to levy what amounts to a tax on people who can’t do math or have a tendency toward addictive behavior? This just seems like a seriously bad idea to me.
For his part, Emanuel already has the money spent. And we all know that governments never end up diverting their gambling money. Nooo, never happens.
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