Royal treatment for all -- except voters
Royal treatment for all -- except voters
Copyright by The Chicago Sun times
July 2, 2006
BY CAROL MARIN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Like a lot of politicians, I want to help my own kid get a great job. Problem is my boy Josh, at 20, is already a touch too old to be a city building inspector. Nineteen-year-old sons of Carpenters Union bosses, we have learned, are more likely candidates for that position.
Still, my boy deserves whatever help and muscle I can supply. So today I'm notifying my editors at the Chicago Sun-Times that when I become too addled, infirm or uninterested to do this job any longer, I'm giving it to Josh.
That's right. Josh will inherit my position as the paper's political columnist. He'll get my office, phone, files, salary, and the giant jar of Tootsie Rolls I keep on my desk for colleagues who come in to chat.
What experience does Josh have?
C'mon. He's my son. By sheer osmosis, he's absorbed quite a bit about the work I do. Though he is a more avid reader of the paper's car section than my columns, I'm confident his interest in politics will grow.
What will my bosses think?
Who cares?
I'm telling them, not asking them.
And I have the Stroger and Beavers clans to thank for showing me the way on this. They have been nothing short of inspirational when it comes to reminding us that consultation with one's so-called "bosses" is vastly overrated. In their case, those bosses, of course, are the voters.
When 77-year-old Cook County Board President John Stroger was felled by a massive stroke in March, it was the president's son, 8th Ward Ald. Todd Stroger along with 7th Ward Ald. Bill Beavers who closed ranks, controlled the flow of information, and kept the public, press and voters in the dark about his true condition. Still, sympathy for John Stroger carried the day in the March primary. Stroger defeated county commissioner Forrest Claypool from his hospital bed.
Now the Stroger and Beavers forces are helping us see the future. Who better to replace an ailing father than his loyal son? Todd Stroger assures us his dad has anointed him to run in November for president. And wants his old pal Beavers to quit his aldermanic job and run for John's county commissioner seat. In dividing up the elder Stroger's double duties, Bill can baby-sit Todd. Beavers, in turn, will bequeath his aldermanic seat to his 46-year-old daughter, Darcel.
Makes you want to break into a rollicking Sister Sledge rendition of "We Are Family," doesn't it?
That's what this is all about, after all. And it's heart-warming in its way. What do families do better than protect their own? That's why no matter when John Stroger formally withdraws from the November election, it will be well after the deadline had passed for independent candidates to register to run. No need to clutter the ballot with unnecessary competition.
Between now and November, three things will happen.
One: County Commissioner John Daley, royal child of Chicago's most important political dynasty, is expected to sit in for John Stroger as interim County Board president.
Two: John Stroger, too sick to stay on the ballot or be president anymore, is apparently not too sick to relinquish the county commissioner part of his job and so the talk last week was he would keep collecting his six-figure salary while not offering his bosses -- the voters -- any verifiable account of his true condition.
Three: Eighty ward committeemen from the city and county are posed to rubber-stamp the deals that have already been cut behind closed doors putting Todd and Bill on the ballot.
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, the Republican candidate for board president, is asking voters, ''Have you had enough?''
Doubtful. Let's pause to remember what happened two short years ago.
In the summer of 2004, Congressman Bill Lipinski suddenly remembered what he forgot to mention to voters in the primary months earlier: that he really didn't want to be a congressman anymore. But that his kid Dan did. And oops, the deadline for any independent to file had just passed. Plus, Bill had already recruited a ringer on the Republican side of the ballot, Ryan Chlada, to pretend to run against Dan.
In short, Bill made sure Dan had won the election before a single vote was cast.
Ward bosses like John (son-and-brother-of-mayors) Daley, Tom (former-assessor-father-of-state-comptroller-son-Dan) Hynes, and Mike (House-Speaker-father-of-attorney-general-daughter-Lisa) Madigan, all kept straight faces as they ''voted'' to nominate Lipinski's kid.
Real voters, if they were outraged, sure haven't shown it
This March Dan Lipinski won his first primary. And since his Republican opponent in November is perennial candidate Ray "Spanky the Clown" Wardingley, consider Dan re-elected.
I've learned my lesson.
Bosses, meaning employers, meaning voters, they mean nothing. Ward bosses, that's a different story. As those politicians love to tell us, kids are our future.
So, Josh: Don't worry about your resume, hon.
Mom's got you covered.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun times
July 2, 2006
BY CAROL MARIN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Like a lot of politicians, I want to help my own kid get a great job. Problem is my boy Josh, at 20, is already a touch too old to be a city building inspector. Nineteen-year-old sons of Carpenters Union bosses, we have learned, are more likely candidates for that position.
Still, my boy deserves whatever help and muscle I can supply. So today I'm notifying my editors at the Chicago Sun-Times that when I become too addled, infirm or uninterested to do this job any longer, I'm giving it to Josh.
That's right. Josh will inherit my position as the paper's political columnist. He'll get my office, phone, files, salary, and the giant jar of Tootsie Rolls I keep on my desk for colleagues who come in to chat.
What experience does Josh have?
C'mon. He's my son. By sheer osmosis, he's absorbed quite a bit about the work I do. Though he is a more avid reader of the paper's car section than my columns, I'm confident his interest in politics will grow.
What will my bosses think?
Who cares?
I'm telling them, not asking them.
And I have the Stroger and Beavers clans to thank for showing me the way on this. They have been nothing short of inspirational when it comes to reminding us that consultation with one's so-called "bosses" is vastly overrated. In their case, those bosses, of course, are the voters.
When 77-year-old Cook County Board President John Stroger was felled by a massive stroke in March, it was the president's son, 8th Ward Ald. Todd Stroger along with 7th Ward Ald. Bill Beavers who closed ranks, controlled the flow of information, and kept the public, press and voters in the dark about his true condition. Still, sympathy for John Stroger carried the day in the March primary. Stroger defeated county commissioner Forrest Claypool from his hospital bed.
Now the Stroger and Beavers forces are helping us see the future. Who better to replace an ailing father than his loyal son? Todd Stroger assures us his dad has anointed him to run in November for president. And wants his old pal Beavers to quit his aldermanic job and run for John's county commissioner seat. In dividing up the elder Stroger's double duties, Bill can baby-sit Todd. Beavers, in turn, will bequeath his aldermanic seat to his 46-year-old daughter, Darcel.
Makes you want to break into a rollicking Sister Sledge rendition of "We Are Family," doesn't it?
That's what this is all about, after all. And it's heart-warming in its way. What do families do better than protect their own? That's why no matter when John Stroger formally withdraws from the November election, it will be well after the deadline had passed for independent candidates to register to run. No need to clutter the ballot with unnecessary competition.
Between now and November, three things will happen.
One: County Commissioner John Daley, royal child of Chicago's most important political dynasty, is expected to sit in for John Stroger as interim County Board president.
Two: John Stroger, too sick to stay on the ballot or be president anymore, is apparently not too sick to relinquish the county commissioner part of his job and so the talk last week was he would keep collecting his six-figure salary while not offering his bosses -- the voters -- any verifiable account of his true condition.
Three: Eighty ward committeemen from the city and county are posed to rubber-stamp the deals that have already been cut behind closed doors putting Todd and Bill on the ballot.
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, the Republican candidate for board president, is asking voters, ''Have you had enough?''
Doubtful. Let's pause to remember what happened two short years ago.
In the summer of 2004, Congressman Bill Lipinski suddenly remembered what he forgot to mention to voters in the primary months earlier: that he really didn't want to be a congressman anymore. But that his kid Dan did. And oops, the deadline for any independent to file had just passed. Plus, Bill had already recruited a ringer on the Republican side of the ballot, Ryan Chlada, to pretend to run against Dan.
In short, Bill made sure Dan had won the election before a single vote was cast.
Ward bosses like John (son-and-brother-of-mayors) Daley, Tom (former-assessor-father-of-state-comptroller-son-Dan) Hynes, and Mike (House-Speaker-father-of-attorney-general-daughter-Lisa) Madigan, all kept straight faces as they ''voted'' to nominate Lipinski's kid.
Real voters, if they were outraged, sure haven't shown it
This March Dan Lipinski won his first primary. And since his Republican opponent in November is perennial candidate Ray "Spanky the Clown" Wardingley, consider Dan re-elected.
I've learned my lesson.
Bosses, meaning employers, meaning voters, they mean nothing. Ward bosses, that's a different story. As those politicians love to tell us, kids are our future.
So, Josh: Don't worry about your resume, hon.
Mom's got you covered.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:29 AM
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