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 The great state of Illinois is known for many things. Okay, we're known for Chicago,  dead people voting  and general corruption (we're number 8!), 
and Barack Obama (suck it, Hawaii, he's lived here longer. That presidental library will be ours!)  Oh yeah, we have corn and soybeans, too, coming in at number two for corn production and number one for soybean production in 2013.  But you're not here to talk about the Great Corn Desert; you're here to talk politics. Our beloathed governor, Pat Quinn:  Pat's in a bit of trouble this year. He alienated all the (traditionally Democratic voting) state workers by trying to gut pensions, he alienated all the (traditionally Democratic voting) unions by cancelling contracts with AMFSCME and generally dicking them around with concession demands, he pissed off the Republicans by signing same-sex marriage bills into law and raising taxes on businesses and citizen taxpayers several times... pretty much nobody in the state likes him anymore, and he's up for reelection. Against a pro-choice Republican. Yeah. Oh did I mention he's also under investigation for some anti-violence initiative money laundering scandal or other? Fortunately or unfortunately, his Republican opponent is Bruce Rauner, billionaire. He owns (several) mansion(s) and a yacht.  To call him a bit of a cockmunch would be an understatement. I'll let My Imaginary GF fill you in on all the details, suffice to say he makes Mitt Romney look like Elizabeth Warren. Rumor has it that the unions specifically urged their members to cross over and vote for this guy in the Republican primary on the theory he'd be so odious people would have to vote for Quinn, who may be an rear end in a top hat, but he's an rear end in a top hat to which they can apply pressure. Time will tell if this move was brilliant or loving stupid. The comedy Green party option is Scott Summers  A no-poo poo Eagle Scout who graduated from NIU with a law degree and later got an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, he's served on several non-profit boards, was a trustee at a local college, is a Certified Financial Planner and a FINRA arbitrator and adult literacy volunteer and probably helps little old ladies cross the street and picks up litter in his spare time. He will not win because Illinois politics is not for good, kind people who care about playing by the rules. In an interesting side note, the Green Party got over 10% of the vote in the last election Rob Blagojevich ran in, because people were that disgusted by him, so he did do some good other than entertain us in that one reality show. If you're an Illinois resident, you can actually register to vote online here (you need a driver's license and SSN). The voter registration deadline is October 7, 2014. If you don't know if you're registered to vote in Illinois check here. 2014 Elections There are five ballot measures on the statewide ballot for 2014. You can find them here. They include a Right to Vote Amendment, a Crime Victim's Bill of Rights, and three non-binding advisory questions, about the Minimum Wage Increase, Birth Control in Prescription Drug Coverage, and a Millionaire Tax Increase. The Republicans in the Assembly have called these questions a transparent attempt to get out the Democratic vote and they're probably right but seriously, gently caress Bruce Rauner. In addition seats for the U.S. Senate, House, State Executives, State Senate and House, and various local ballot measures and school board elections are also on the agenda. Check them out here. U.S. Senate Race: One seat up for grabs. Candidates: Dick Durbin(Inc) (D) vs. Jim Oberweiss Prognosis: Durbin's held this seat for 31 years, he's there til he dies, retires or gets indicted. Oberweiss is a perennial Republican also-ran who makes good ice cream and bad political decisions. Winner: Durbin U.S. House Seats: All 18 district seats are up for grabs. 12 are held by Dems and 6 by Republicans. We can talk more about them in thread. Find out more here. Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Sec of State, Treasurer and Comptroller are also up for reelection. The only competitive races are for the top two and Treasurer; all the other ones are pretty much a lock. State Senate elections: Ballotpedia posted:"In 10 of the 19 districts up for election in 2014, there is only one major party candidate running for election. A total of four Democrats and six Republicans are guaranteed election in November barring unforeseen circumstances. State House elections: Ballotpedia posted:In 66 of the 118 districts up for election in 2014, there is only one major party candidate running for election. A total of 40 Democrats and 26 Republicans are guaranteed election in November barring unforeseen circumstances. Latest Scandals and Impropriety: Chicago Teachers vs. Rahm Emmanuel quote:Last September, Mayor Emanuel provoked a bitter nine-day strike by the CTU, one of the largest affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), by demanding that teachers' pay be tied to a "merit" system largely dependent on test scores rather than to a negotiated salary scale and by pushing provisions to weaken their job security. The union, with widespread support among parents, defeated him. The strike also became a fight over the privatization and school closure program, although under US law these are not issues for collective bargaining. Mayor Rahm wants to hamstring the teacher's union. He probably should've stuck with bullying Teamsters; they don't fight as hard. Union Leader Karen Lewis has been saying she wants to run against Rahm for mayor, and recent polling suggests she just might kick his rear end. Pat Quinn's Anti-Violence Initiative; A Political Slush Fund? Quinn started an anti-violence initiative in Chicago in 2010. Seeing as it included the trifecta of politics, money, and Chicago, some chicanery and misuse of funds went on. Huffington Post posted:Republicans, who see the gubernatorial election this year as a chance to win control of a Democratic-leaning state, have alleged Quinn used money from the $55 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative as a political slush fund to secure votes in predominantly minority neighborhoods of heavily Democratic Chicago in a tight race. Quinn has denied that claim and says he has "zero tolerance" for fraud or abuse. He's also defended the intent of the program, which provided mentorship, job training, counseling and other help for ex-convicts in Chicago's violence-plagued neighborhoods. I'm sure there's more, a few state senators got removed from office for taking bribes, for instance, though that's a bit of old news at the moment, there's the incredible number of shootings in Chicago this year, including 47 in one weekend in July (leaving 5 dead), though even downstate has seen a worrisome increase in gun violence. And what do we do? Allow concealed carry of course! Illinois also recently legalized medical marijuana. Some local political blogs: http://capitolfax.com/ Pretty popular news blog http://bigdebbieshouse.com/ appears to have gone private since last I looked, anyone got any scoop on that?
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Aug 6, 2014 22:54
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Oracle posted:
CapFax is where insiders post comments, and gently caress no I ain't say'n nothing about whether the unions goin for Rauner was worth it 'til after '16 [alternatively, until after '25].
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Aug 6, 2014 23:11
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walk into a Republican primary on a 
platform...
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I hope Rahm gets the boot, gently caress that slimy little worm. 
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Aug 6, 2014 23:15
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I think "living in Illinois" was part of the reason I decided to completely ignore my Poli-Sci degree after college. Joining in the chorus of 'gently caress Rahm'. Fucker wasn't even eligible to run for office in the first place, but then it's not like laws are ever treated as something politicians have to follow.
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Aug 6, 2014 23:24
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Last poll I saw had Rauner up double digits.
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Aug 6, 2014 23:26
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Stanos posted:I hope Rahm gets the boot, gently caress that slimy little worm. Please proceed, governor. gret posted:Last poll I saw had Rauner up double digits. Rauner founded a way to organize better than VAN
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Aug 6, 2014 23:30
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I'm probably not gonna even vote for governor. Quinn is poo poo, Rauner is poo poo and the Illinois Green Party are loving assholes who can go eat poo poo. My personal dislike of Quinn and Rauner might win over my party-level dislike for the Greens though and end up with me voting them anyways. Durbin is a very bleh "moderate" democrat, but Oberweiss is a racist who was drinking the Tea Party Flavor-Aid before the Tea Party was even a thing, so Durbin it is. Sadly I live in the corn desert so that's about the extent of my choices in the election.
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Aug 7, 2014 00:00
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I was surprised at Rauner actually putting up some ads around my area in Chicago. I dislike his positions more than Quinn's which is how I will end up voting if only to prevent some business-man/politician from having his day leading this state. The man wants to bring right-to-work into the state along with having held a stance of decreasing the minimum wage for years before flipping to appease the public recently. Also every time I see Quinn I remember a picture of him from his early career days(1980s) where he seemed energetic and with a head of hair, I wonder what happened to that man as all I see of him is a saddened man who is balding and does not seem to have a look of taking charge with the state.  Thanks for the thread! Always great to have a source for some basic information.
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Aug 7, 2014 00:15
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Some previous Rauner posts from another thread that I didn't want lost:My Imaginary GF posted:
And look, he drawed you a picture. Oracle fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 04:52
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Oracle posted:And look, he drawed you a picture. Warning: All of that should be taken as artistic opinion and not necessarily reflective of fact. At this point in time, please consider it conjecture. I'm still trying to look up re-insurance disclosure law, and would be very appreciative if anyone could talk more about it. If there are specific questions, I'd be happy to answer via PM. Further, Mr. Shah is of the highest moral character. Mr. Blagojevich is appealing his conviction. Mr. Rauner would never use his private interests for political gain.
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Aug 7, 2014 05:13
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As if that weren't bad enough Rauner also likes to kill little old ladies in his spare time.quote:Trans Health was created by Rauner and his fellow GTCR principles in 1998 for the sole purpose of acquiring nursing homes around the country, and Bennett's 2006 memo advised employees that Trans Health would remain majority-owned by Rauner's GTCR. Also is it just me or do his fellow Republicans not really like him all that much? (Or is this just primary vitriol and they'll rally 'round the flag come November?) There's also his amazing financial plan for the state.
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Aug 7, 2014 05:13
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My Imaginary GF posted:I'm still trying to look up re-insurance disclosure law, and would be very appreciative if anyone could talk more about it.
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Aug 7, 2014 05:14
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There's also this lovely matter: http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2014/Chicago-crime-rates/ quote:Chicago has learned that the city’s inspector general has questioned the accuracy of the police department’s crime statistics. A spokeswoman confirmed that the office recently finalized an audit of the police department’s 2012 crime data—though only for assault-related crimes so far—“to determine if CPD accurately classified [these categories of] crimes under its written guidelines and if it reported related crime statistics correctly.” (The audit found, among other things, that the department undercounted aggravated assaults and batteries by more than 24 percent, based on the sample cases reviewed.)
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Aug 7, 2014 05:20
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A Fancy 400 lbs posted:Sadly I live in the corn desert so that's about the extent of my choices in the election. quote:Davis is a member of the National Republican Campaign Committee's Patriot program.[6][7] According to a Washington Post article in December 2012, Davis is one of the 10 most vulnerable incumbents in 2014.[8]
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Aug 7, 2014 05:31
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quote:There's also this lovely matter:
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Aug 7, 2014 05:34
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Rahm is gonna be hizzoner for 30 years and then his son will be in charge for another 20, FYI.
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Aug 7, 2014 06:44
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He doesn't have the pull with the Chicago machine; Rahm's a carpetbagger in every sense of the word.
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Aug 7, 2014 14:27
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Pretty much everyone except his rich buddies in finance hate him and even before the whole "Cloudy With a Chance of Bullets" thing he was pretty disliked. When you gently caress with teachers and close schools so that you can replace them with your charter school buddies, you aren't going to generally engender much love. Mayor 1% isn't exactly an endearing nickname. I'll probably vote Green for governor as Quinn and Rauner are both horrible regressive shitbags. Nuclearmonkee fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 15:18
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Oracle posted:He doesn't have the pull with the Chicago machine; Rahm's a carpetbagger in every sense of the word. Madigan could've had it, if the internals hadn't made her back down.
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Aug 7, 2014 17:53
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My Imaginary GF posted:Madigan could've had it, if the internals hadn't made her back down. I read an opinion piece stating that A.G. Madigan's political prospects are severely hampered by her father's politicking. I don't know enough about the situation to know if this is true, but given every other awful thing about my state it sounds plausible.
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Aug 7, 2014 18:01
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Oracle posted:Au contraire mon frere. You can vote for the equally meh safe focus-group tested Ann Callas over Rodney Davis in the 13th House district. Nah, I'm in 16th. I'm stuck with Kinzinger. Uuuuugh.
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Aug 7, 2014 18:48
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SirPhoebos posted:I read an opinion piece stating that A.G. Madigan's political prospects are severely hampered by her father's politicking. Lots of interesting little tidbits and stories on Mike's wikipedia page. Gives a little microcosm of how politics in Illinois is done (pay attention to the section on the war between him and Blago).
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Aug 7, 2014 18:49
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Oracle posted:Mike Madigan is the most powerful politician in Illinois. He runs the Assembly (Speaker of the House) and is the Democratic Chair for the state party, and is responsible for drawing Fixed it like Madigan. Re:Kinzinger, he's quite the lovely shitbag when you look beyond his :iamafag: face. Literally. [Ask] me about manure run-off and stream die-off.
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Aug 7, 2014 19:03
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Every Republican officeholder south of 80 is a lovely shitbag good ol' boy networked racist as hell sumbitch though, so that's not saying much. Speaking of which, what was the scuttlebutt around Tim Johnson's suddenly finding himself needing to spend time with his family a few years back? That seemed to have come out of the blue and yet things were strangely silent. Was someone going to break a story about certain bad habits? Oracle fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 19:07
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Oracle posted:Every Republican officeholder south of 80 is a lovely shitbag good ol' boy networked racist as hell sumbitch though, so that's not saying much. Not every Republican south of 80 stifles IEPA investigations while boasting when taking new superfund $. Some are even smart enough to join the right party. E: I'll go for low blow: He liked the Colts too much. Serious response, I can only guess Republican politics. Heard he wasn't supported by their side, haven't heard any rumors besides how he's 'weird' in the same way you'd use the term for Foster's personality. My Imaginary GF fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 19:10
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Sirota's got a nice lil investigative piece on Rahm's using TIF money to enrich his corporate buddies and campaign contributors. Run, Karen, run!
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Aug 7, 2014 19:58
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My Imaginary GF posted:E: I'll go for low blow: He liked the Colts too much. Serious response, I can only guess Republican politics. Heard he wasn't supported by their side, haven't heard any rumors besides how he's 'weird' in the same way you'd use the term for Foster's personality. Wait, you mean he cheered for the Colts over da burrs in Superbowl XLI?!? I'd rather vote for  !!
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Aug 8, 2014 15:27
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The rumor I heard from a friend of a friend who used to waitress at a local establishment near his office is that he was caught by another server in the bathroom of said local establishment in flagrante delicto with some white substance that was probably not powdered sugar. Granted this was a long time ago (probably like 8 years ago) and probably not the reason for his abrupt departure.
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Aug 8, 2014 17:40
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Perhaps he'd been hanging out with Palin too much, Oracle. Effortpost on deciding who to fund As the saying goes, 'All politics is local,' so lets discuss state demographics and targeting outreach and funding for party organizations. The D's run this state as a more a parliamentary coalition than the project of any one interest (Madigan has his men, Cullerton his). I say this, as Rauner has pretty much opened the spigot to unlimited funding for the R's as a vehicle for his personal ambition. If you can show a plan to him thats more cost-effective at GOTV with an eye towards 2016, I've heard you'll find a funding source soon enough. Now, this thread is prompted by a desire to explain why some judgeships and state/local parties get funded ahead of others. Simply put, its a matter of demographics, business, and return on investment. Now, lets compare between DeKalb, Champaign, and Will Counties. I use these three to stand in for examples rural, collar, and semi-rural party dynamics. DeKalb and Will are in Chicago's broadcast market for commercial rates, while Champaign is in Indianapolis'. Broadcast market is one of the most significant factors in examining the cost/benefit of funding local party infrastructure. Individuals tend to compare district maps with demographic composition; politicians tend to compare broadcast markets before drawing district maps. DeKalb has a population of 107k, with its namesake town holding around 40k and Sycamore 17k. The county is 80% white, 11% hispanic, 7% black, and 3% asian. Of this, 7% are foreign born, with a weighted distribution towards hispanic slightly above state average. So, of potential eligible voters, the county is 7% black, 3% asian, and 90% white. Note, weighting comes from combination VAN pull and Census estimates. Estimate includes exclusion for incarceration and non-eligible immigration status (which tends to disproportionately impact hispanic over asian demographics [depending upon nation of origination--the quick rule I use for Illinois is: philipinos more than vietnamese; vietnamese more than chinese; chinese more than indian; indian more than japanese: japanese more than korean; korean more than persian]). Now, you've got 1/5th of the county under-18, 166 persons per square mile, and the county is in the Chicago broadcast market. Note that the county is disproportionately representative of 19-24 year olds due to the presence of NIU. Roughly 80% of individuals retain residence at the same prpperty for over a year, a good proxy for 'college students registered to vote elsewhere.' Most registered voters attending NIU maintain permanent residence outside DeKalb County and are registered to vote elsewhere. State absentee ballot requests by county and municipality/voting precinct demonstrate this fact and highly correlate to percentage of county permanent residential registered voters. Tl;dr on DeKalb County's registered voters: Mostly white, aging demographics. The group factors which lean strongest D [black, social liberal, jewish, youth] have permanent residences in non-rural collar counties. With the county receiving Chicago ad buys, it is therefore cost-inefficient to finance local party infrastructure. Now compare those factors to Champaign County. 204k population with county seat in Urbana. Split between 2 Congressional districts: 2 R's in one Lean D, one Strong R. Hosts UIUC and is in Indianapolis' media market. Comparable initial demographic composition to DeKalb county: roughly 75% white, 13% black, 10% asian and 6% hispanic. Only 70% of individuals in the county maintain the same residence for over a year. Roughly 201 persons per square mile. Of this, Champaign has 82k and Urbana 41k residents, for a total of 123k/204k county residents. Doing a quick VAN pull of registered voters, about 37k maintain registration outside the county. While the county has 12% foreign born residents, asian issues have more weight in registered voters than hispanic. Now to compare cost-effectiveness: Indianapolis media buys impact primarily within the state of Indiana, and Champaign certainly isn't Indiana. What gets someone to vote D in Illinois may reduce D voter turnout in Indiana. So, to avoid loving with your national party efforts, your party's regional coordinator tends to ensure that the greatest return on investment is produced for these interstate media buys. There is less national funding for media buys in the Indianapolis market designed to impact Champaign County, which means that the primary turnout mechanism must be accomplished through...non-media buys. Or, as I put in the USPol thread, My Imaginary GF posted:This is whats been done in Illinois and how I got into politics. The really successful sub-state candidates are the ones who throw the best 4th of July BBQs, best labor day beer tents and free food, send Thanksgiving turkeys and annual Christmas cards, invite folks to a New Year's Gala ($100 starting ask, minimum $15 hard), and fund a few kegs on Memorial Day. Even then, all the kegs in the world can't save you from extreme events like the Tea Party wave in 2010; however, they will get you an appointment should you lose your seat. Now, Will County. Inner collar county of Chicago, connected to the loop via four Metra corridors and 4 interstates (:shh: 5 and 5 :shh:). 680k population, 65% white, 16% hispanic, 12% black, 5% asian. Population distribution over wide area: 810 persons per square mile, concentrated in several dense transit corridors. Split up between 6 Congressional districts: 2R, 4D, four solid D, one Solid R, one genuine swing (weak candidate+incumbency bonus makes it look Strong R on the outside). Note that the 2R Congressionals are shared with DeKalb County. County seat in Joliet, pop. 150k. Joliet is the fastest growing city in Illinois, with a good third of its population of hispanic ethnicity. Will also contains parts of Aurora, Naperville, and several of the X-Park south suburbs like Tinley and Orland. Will is firmly in the Chicago media market; issues impacting D voters in Chicago positively impact D voter turnout in the 6 congressional districts of Will, so there is national will for synergistic media buys. There is also a well-organized (read: well funded and impactful) Democratic party at the county level in Will. Several factors for this: the county board is firmly in D control, 8 Canadian energy pipelines meet in the county, township-level D parties are able to self-fund the majority of their events and rely upon synergistic effects to enhance turnout. Therefore, funding the county-party in Will turns out 3-4 D points for state and national elections which would not have been achieved without party infrastructure. During low-turnout years, this produces a difference between 25,000 and 40,000 D ballots, and is one of the fundamental reasons why Quinn was re-elected. Local organizing: a product of demographics, media market rates, and railroads.
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Aug 11, 2014 04:52
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Speaking of railroads, where's my goddamn high-speed rail already?
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Aug 11, 2014 06:24
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Is the Anti-Violence money laundering investigation looking like it's going to be enough to put Quinn into federal prison? If not, Illinois should reelect him and give him enough rope to hang himself with. Gotta keep this hot streak of felon governors going. Is the rest of Illinois as terrible as the Greater St. Louis part of the state?
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Aug 11, 2014 12:35
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Thanks for the thread, I should probably care more about state and local politics. So what's wrong with our Green party?
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Aug 11, 2014 13:24
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Jagchosis posted:Is the rest of Illinois as terrible as the Greater St. Louis part of the state? Its a political investigation. In this state, its more important to look at what agencies don't get investigated to determine the real corruption. The ones who do get investigated aren't corrupt. Like Metra. Or IDOT. Or Chicago's TIF approval committee. Or the Lincoln museum board. Or U of I trustees. Or CTA's board. You won't see anyone run against them, publicly. No, most politicians understand the game and don't want to end up in a bridge. Some understand, try to win, and end up slumped over a pizza. The rest of Illinois works. Your area is like a suburb of Detroit: You exist because people fled from St. Louis. If you want more money from the state, join the party and turn out regularly. Your area doesn't even get a multimodal stop on the Amtrak from downtown to St. Louis. Compare that with Bloomington-Normal, or Champaign, or even Joliet, or hell, Carbondale. Even Carbondale's Amtrak station is technically a multi-modal transit center. There is, legally, a taxicab depot within a block, opening up some very good federal funding streams. Soonmot posted:Thanks for the thread, I should probably care more about state and local politics. So what's wrong with our Green party? Anti-nuclear. E: Also, don't you Greens have your highest elected official in the state right now? Or did you forget Simon? 
My Imaginary GF fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 17:43
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Well the dems aren't exactly pro-nuclear either, so that's really a non issue for me until they get their poo poo together. Again, I haven't followed local stuff very closely at all, so please correct me, but the Greens are socially progressive and anti-corporate, right? If I'm golf to throw my vote away, I want to make sure it's going to the party that I'm closer in alignment with.
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Aug 12, 2014 00:02
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This seems like a good place to ask a question I've been stewing over which is tangentially related to the state of education in Illinois and some of the political issues going on in Chicago and the state at large. I live in northern Illinois a short distance from Iowa and am going to graduate from college with a degree in education soon, I'm planning on getting a license to teach in both Iowa and Illinois since it will allow me to apply to more places. However there is a second reason that I am getting two licenses, and that is the big kerfuffle going on over state employee pensions. Is there good reason to be a little bit paranoid about having a pension pulled out from under my rear end after 10 or 20 years if I teach in Illinois?
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Aug 12, 2014 04:49
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I lived in Chicago for most of my life until about 6 months ago when I moved for a new job. Rahm is scum, the absolute worst Democrat that there is. His school and pension cuts are disgusting enough but at the same time he is preserving all his corporate buddies subsidies and his own personal slush fund. He looks like the perfect picture of a slimy dirtbag to boot. I really hope somebody can beat him. Republicans are garbage but voting for one would be tempting if they were running against Rahm.
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Aug 12, 2014 04:58
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My Imaginary GF posted:The rest of Illinois works. Your area is like a suburb of Detroit: You exist because people fled from St. Louis. If you want more money from the state, join the party and turn out regularly. Your area doesn't even get a multimodal stop on the Amtrak from downtown to St. Louis. Compare that with Bloomington-Normal, or Champaign, or even Joliet, or hell, Carbondale. Even Carbondale's Amtrak station is technically a multi-modal transit center. There is, legally, a taxicab depot within a block, opening up some very good federal funding streams. Oh good lord I need to clarify; I am not from the Illinois part, I lived in St. Louis and had to frequently go to Illinois side St. Louis and its suburbs, and, my God. Just one of the worst places I've been. I mostly follow Illinois politics because I think corruption is awesome. Dave Weigel said that Rahm is likely to be extremely well funded this primary season. Is being a complete sack of poo poo really enough to undo him in Chicago? As I understand it, the last mayor before him had to quit because he pissed people off by selling out the parking system (among other dumb poo poo), but has Rahm committed any high crimes or misdemeanors as grand as that? That seems to be what is needed to lose what has historically been somewhat of a Rule for Life position such as mayor of Chicago.
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Aug 12, 2014 11:53
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Jagchosis posted:Dave Weigel said that Rahm is likely to be extremely well funded this primary season. Is being a complete sack of poo poo really enough to undo him in Chicago? As I understand it, the last mayor before him had to quit because he pissed people off by selling out the parking system (among other dumb poo poo), but has Rahm committed any high crimes or misdemeanors as grand as that? That seems to be what is needed to lose what has historically been somewhat of a Rule for Life position such as mayor of Chicago. There's potential for him to lose if someone known actually stands to run against him. Maybe he's more of a Blandic than a Daley. Daley seemed to have a way to have people come around to him, but Rahm just has pissed off everyone, and there's no way he'll pick up nearly as many votes as he did the first time around given all the loving with schools and mental health clinics he's done. Maybe we'll get a runoff.
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Aug 12, 2014 15:39
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Clouseau posted:There's potential for him to lose if someone known actually stands to run against him. Maybe he's more of a Blandic than a Daley. Daley seemed to have a way to have people come around to him, but Rahm just has pissed off everyone, and there's no way he'll pick up nearly as many votes as he did the first time around given all the loving with schools and mental health clinics he's done. Maybe we'll get a runoff. Rahm is king of the backroom. He's under enormous pressure to privitize all the city's pensions, and his refusal to do so is partly a driving factor for Rauner's run. There's also bond issues, with Rahm and Durbin the most effective at stopping further reinsurance rate increases. Daley wasn't out because of the parking deal. The parking deal got so much publicity because it was time for Daley to get out. Maggie's hwalth decline was a huge contributing factor in this. Everyone in the loop knows how much of an rear end in a top hat Daley can be. Hell, he stopped a needed grand bridge, designed as an architectural crown jewel, solely because it'd stand between his view of the lake from his dentist's office. Downtown ain't happy bout that, its bad for business, bad for optics. That parking contract getting that much play? Its a signal that the backroom wasn't holding back the editors from Daley any more. Anyone with a little clout knows the free parking in the loop; private meters don't impact the downtown crowd or their staff. For comparison, take a look at the Metra 'corruption' investigation. If you want to look at real patronage there, see who's kids get hired for Metra's 'Summer Internship' program. Look at fuel delivery rates. Look at how homicides get classified by railway police and whom they're reported to. On second thought, don't look too deep unless you wanna end up in a bridge. People ask when they're gonna get high-speed rail. I tell 'em to ask Buffet. He's got a good answer (read: gently caress Japan). Jagchosis posted:Oh good lord I need to clarify; I am not from the Illinois part, I lived in St. Louis and had to frequently go to Illinois side St. Louis and its suburbs, and, my God. Just one of the worst places I've been. I mostly follow Illinois politics because I think corruption is awesome. The folks funding the race know that Rahm is the only thing between them and Council Wars Episode 2: A New Hope. Chicago can be run by a black business insider, but an angry black woman contorting with labor? We know what happened the last time a mayor tried to clean up the city. He was dead soon after. When I hear the same general outline from a billionaire, a millionaire, a made man, a political scientist, and a former cabinet member on how it went down, I tend to give the rumor credit. Especially after looking into the coroner's family connections and contracts. I don't doubt that Rahm is the best of all the worst choices to be Hizzonah right now, and money knows just how true and hosed over it'd be otherwise. No, Daley was out for 2 reasons: Maggie was dying and Obama wanted Rahm gone without a dose of the fallout that reshuffling during healthcare reform would've been spun as. Rahm is more an LBJ figure than anyone openly credits. Just ask him about certain hallachik issues at temple, they're a good proxy for his personal positions on healthcare and taxes. Regarding the IL side of StL: when I lived in Missourah, I used to go predawn jogging evrry morning at Cahokia. Its a true world wonder and I highly recommend taking a day to visit and walk the grounds. Illinois is a railroad state, and railroad states are built on corruption. Without Lincoln's 'less than legal' land deals, he'd never been elected President. Honest graft is what keeps Illinois from becoming Missourah. Missourah seems to have forgotten that lesson, and the riots speak just how much so.
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Aug 12, 2014 19:34
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My Imaginary GF posted:We know what happened the last time a mayor tried to clean up the city. He was dead soon after. When I hear the same general outline from a billionaire, a millionaire, a made man, a political scientist, and a former cabinet member on how it went down, I tend to give the rumor credit. Especially after looking into the coroner's family connections and contracts. Are you talking about Harold Washington? Cause if the Political Scientist is who Im thinking of, after taking his class and reading his books his death was due to stress of being the first black (and technically 'anti-machine' aswell) mayor of the city and not due to foul play.
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Aug 12, 2014 20:11
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