Rahm Emanuel: C/D? (probably going to be a Chicago politics complaint thread too)

My whole childhood is a lie.

New poll: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/rahm-emanuel-chuy-garcia-chicago-poll-116051.html

I've read several articles that credit the change in polls to Rahm's onslaught of tv ads, which is perplexing to me. I can't imagine a universe where I would be swayed by a political ad. Are the undecided that impressionable?

Garcia is scheduled to hold a press conference this morning to give more specifics on his budget ideas.

Yes they are!
That is what Rahm counts on.

Garcia should come out against these pointless random bomb searches at CTA stations. Now that's some pandering I can get behind.

Now, Emanuel holds a 21-point lead among black voters, 52 percent to 31 percent. That’s equal to Emanuel’s advantage among white voters.

i don't get it! why??

http://fw.to/wSri63Z

Breakdown of both's budget plans.

I was at a newsstand/coffee shop in Portage Park, and an old-school Chicago guy showed me this video on his phone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZP-VP0fxs

Garcia should take whatever money he has left and run that in prime time.

i would donate to rahm if it meant never having to see that video ever again

http://newcity.com/2015/03/16/what-would-jesus-ride-a-conversation-with-mayoral-challenger-jesus-chuy-garcia-about-chicagos-transportation-challenges/

Lots of thoughts on his answers that I don't have time to articulate now.

First debate tonight, I may watch?

Missed the debate, because who in the hell can be home and settled in to watch something on tv by 6:00 PM? But debates are kind of worthless anyway.

retirees, the most dependable voting bloc

I was home but I didn't know it was on at 6! That's ridiculous.

Can't dare interfere with prime time television!

The next one is March 31st, but at 7:00 PM on Chicago Tonight.

That's better.

Although as I told Jeff yesterday, political debates fill me with a lethal combination of boredom and despair so I will gladly put the baby to bed that night so he can watch it without me moaning in emotional agony next to him on the couch.

I'd like a Check, Please! debate.

only if they bring back alpana for it

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/March-2015/Scott-Waguespack/

Good interview with Waguespack, touches on the possibility of running in 2019. Despite his RLC views and strange love of parking spaces, I'd vote for him.

http://www.illinoisobserver.net/2015/03/18/new-poll-confirms-big-emanuel-lead-garcia/

New poll, 51-36 Rahm.

Emanuel approaches Emanuel approaches $20 million raised for re-election bid0 million raised for re-election bid

haha oops

yikes, if garcia can't pull a larger % of votes than he did in the primary, that's kind of terrible

guilty lol @ rahm's beaker hair
http://assets.dnainfo.com/generated/chicago_photo/2015/02/rahm-chuy-1424829586.jpg/extralarge.jpg

like a lil wiry grey scrub brush

http://www.scribd.com/doc/259607193/Weekly-Mayoral-Poll-3-21-2015

Latest poll. Garcia drops 6 points from last Ogden Fry poll.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAtCUvXUwAEyr4S.jpghttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAtCUzzUsAAggbS.jpg

loooool
i hate what has become of this contest
how long has rahm emanuel even lived in chicago? what is his total tenure as a chicago resident?

Now, Emanuel holds a 21-point lead among black voters, 52 percent to 31 percent. That’s equal to Emanuel’s advantage among white voters.

i don't get it! why??

― he quipped with heat (amateurist

Isn't this in part loyalty to Obama?

Unless they get the crazy lefty money machine going nationally, it’s not going to matter that there’s a resurgent left,” said an adviser to Mr. Emanuel who did not want to speak publicly about strategy. “The liberals at Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park can think great thoughts and read poetry for Chuy, but nothing else will happen.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/us/chicago-mayors-race-is-cast-as-a-test-of-liberalism.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=2

remember when the cpd under rahm surveilled liberals at the heartland cafe

Good news for democracy, first day early voting is up in nearly every ward! Bad news for Garcia, the biggest gains have been in Northside lakefront wards so far, Rahm's stronghold.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/259732578/RO-EV-Day-1-Sort-by-Ward-and-Change-03-23-2015

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2015/03/25/moral-bankruptcy-of-chicagos-elites/

exactly why my wife and I plan to leave Chicago & could never raise a family here

:(

https://instagram.com/p/x4Y2QdtNG9/

Back story: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17789/rahm_emanuel_37_cent_tip

GQ for mayor.

rt'd by n/a

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBCGQV-WkAEwKi8.jpg

I wish I knew how to capture the deeply weary sigh I sighed upon reading that graphic.

https://medium.com/@munilass/how-chicago-has-used-financial-engineering-to-paper-over-its-massive-budget-gap-872d911dd363

Good read. Daley really fucked us financially.

Paying for the sins of the past. I'm dumb - who if anyone are considered 'reformers' that can legitimately get the city out of this mess? Good read - thanks for sharing.

Exactly. That's my problem with a populist candidate that says they will enact policies that the constituents support. No group is going to support what it will take to get out of this mess. Unions aren't going to waiver and everyone else doesn't want to pay more taxes or have services cuts. Compromise won't be sufficient.

Then with Rahm, you have someone willing to make really unpopular decisions, but is so self-interested and believes that giving corps all these tax breaks and sweetheart deals will bring people/jobs/industries to the city. That's not going to work either.

Lose/Lose.

http://chicagoist.com/2015/03/29/ald_bob_fioretti_set_to_endorse_rah.php

$lol$

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZYHreLBp4&feature=youtu.be

That was just a love tap.

Glad this all ends next week, kind of burned out on following it all.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/03/30/rahm-emanuel-hates-illinois-nazis

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/rahm-emanuel-reelection-chicago-mayor-20150327

Chicago is doomed says John B. Judis

Chicago's finances will continue to be imperiled. The day of reckoning will near, as pension bills increase. The city's social divide will likely continue to worsen. And whoever ends up serving as mayor will face a daunting set of challenges, with few clear solutions in sight.

Yup!

Yeah, that's the thing I keep coming back to when I see the ads or read more about the election, these guys are fighting over the right to have probably one of the most thankless jobs you can have during one of the most difficult times ever to hold said job.

Well here's part of our problem. http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150331/downtown/15-billion-unpaid-tickets-could-be-huge-cash-cow-for-chicago

ONE POINT FIVE BILLION.

I'm sure Chicago could find a good use for $1.5B but even still, accounting on the scale that a city does it is so much more complicated than "revenue in, expenditures out." I don't know a ton about Chicago's pension situation, for instance, but when people complained about Detroit in the same terms, one of the places the REAL big money had gone was into predatory and risky financial deals the city had cut with BANKS.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/why-detroit-broke-and-whos-being-asked-t

And "walkaways," in which banks foreclose on property owners and force them out, but then stall the process of actually taking possession of the property, and leave it empty and in limbo so the bank owes no property taxes and has no responsibility for the property.

From Wikipedia: The GAO found that in the period January 2008 to March 2010, mortgage servicers charged off 46,000 properties, with 60 percent of the charge-offs occurring before an initial foreclosure filing was made. In this period, Detroit, Michigan had the highest number of bank walkaways, with Chicago, Illinois being second.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_walkaway