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

every time we come close to moving back to chicago and are forced to push the date i'm disappointed but also i don't know what the hell i am or would be getting myself into with this asshole running things, and i presume he will win another couple terms before he decides to quit or before there's a candidate who can take him down.

oh, most places have assholes running things, no? chicago is just a very big place.

l.a. is run by very ineffective assholes, mostly, though i guess eric garcetti is a bit of a minor emanuel in a lot of ways. rahm just seems like a very, very effective and deeply entrenched asshole.

I had dinner with some of my former state govt colleagues who had insider info on how Rauner is running things. Short answer: the same exact cronyism as every previous governor (specific example: appointing all of his people to the key political patronage jobs with a 40% raise while giving speeches about eliminating govt waste) but he's also working on getting rid of the union from the inside by telling employees they could have merit bonuses if it weren't for that darn union.

Tribune endorsed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-mayor-endorsement-rahm-emanuel-edit-0208-20150206-story.html#page=1

reducing the political process to sighs and lols doesn't really work for me, but here is a lol to balance it out
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150206/downtown/mayoral-candidate-willie-wilsons-city-club-speech-was-stuff-of-legends

i like "scrootened" as an abbreviation of "scrutinized"

this kinds of reminds me of rick santorum's "blah people" --remember that?

"blah people" says the wet mayor

That's a defensive word.

Well this is straight up pandering: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/363086/rahm-emanuel-jrw-title-little-league-international

I'm still undecided in this mayoral election. Leaning towards just leaving it blank.

please vote and try to force a runoff
please?

Good Zirin piece on JRW here:

I reached out to Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey who said to me, “Mayor Rahm closed half a dozen schools in Jackie Robinson West’s part of the city, and tried to close the school, Marcus Garvey, where the founder of JRW—Joe Haley—worked. Then Chicago Public Schools cut funding for high school freshman sports, laid off a thousand teachers. CPS put 40 kids in physical education classes and doesn’t even put a librarian in most of the school libraries in [the South Side district of] Auburn Gresham.”

Yeah, I think a runoff is very possible and it would be great and so voting is important.

Still haven't paid too much attention to the candidates, but garcia seems pretty good?

I found out some bummer garcia news this weekend - firm where I work represented his son in some sort of criminal proceeding and there may have been a conflict of interest (I'm being purposely vague - feel free to giggle that on the intertubes). But - probably still going to vote for him, b/c he seems least slimy and most likely to do the job well - anyone but rahmbo for me.

vote for chuy, i would if i could

is there a good rundown of aldermanic candidates' positions anywhere?

Sign up for the aldertrack newsletter. Best source for local politics news I've found. http://www.aldertrack.com/archives/

thanks. i also found this: http://www.suntimescandidates.com/ which seems helpful altho i definitely don't trust the sun-times's endorsements

Yeah, skeptical of all endorsements basically. Even the Chicago Defender endorsed Rahm.

A little light, but there is this too. http://bit.ly/1zOOIAm

please vote and try to force a runoff
please?

― groundless round (La Lechera), Thursday, February 12, 2015 9:30 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're right. I'm just intrigued enough with Garcia to want to know more that an additional two months of campaigning would probably bring out. I'm not sure I would vote for him over Rahm in April, but a run off would be better for everyone. Well except for Rahm, but he'll get over it.

He'll get over it alright. I heard a story about the Chicago superpac on the radio the other day and they are all about the sleazy mailers -- that's totally a Rahm tactic.

Jeff! Chuy is a marathoner! I just learned this and thought you might find that interesting. He has completed ~three~ marathons, apparently.

Yeah, I saw that. Rahm is just a stupid triathlete. Screw triathletes.

Anyway, mailed my ballot today, voting for Garcia. but I will be very surprised if rahm doesn't get 50%.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150218/BLOGS02/150219820/city-transit-hospitals-could-be-targeted-in-rauners-first-budget

If this passes, the RTA cut is going to suck.

"For transit, the Regional Transportation Authority would get a roughly $110 million cut, other sources say. Half or a bit more would come from the Chicago Transit Authority, the rest from Metra and Pace. The CTA has an overall operating budget of about $1 billlion, so something is going to pinch."

does the red line still run all night?

Yah

i can see that being a victim of the cuts :(

Moving back in a month, y'all are getting me a little worried.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/alderman-race-elections-2015-aldermania-city-council/Content?oid=16577750

The 11th ward favorite, DALEY Thompson, is so smarmy I can't handle it.

I'd like to run for alderman one day, but I'm sure I have an offensive tweet or ilx post somewhere that would do me in. But my ward would have the best crosswalks in all the land.

you could take over for ameya pawar when he becomes mayor, his office is right next to half acre so there's half your demographic right there

I would totally vote Pawar for mayor if he's able to bring back the Lincoln bus.

I wonder if Waguespack will ever run. He's be rumored to have interest, seems like he'd be ready to go in 2019. From the progressive Caucasus alderman, seems like he'd be a much stronger candidate than Fioretti is this year.

Waguesp@ck is under attack by the Rahm-fueled superpac acc to the radio interview I heard from the guy who followed the campaign $$

Yes, including funding his opponent. Which is still find bizarre, because she has absolutely zero chance of winning. Wags is too popular in this ward. I'd be surprised if he got any less than 75% of the vote.

http://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/2wr8m8/im_bob_fioretti_candidate_for_mayor_ama_about_my/

Read Bob copy and paste stuff off his website to answer questions.

Classic Rahm. So predictable!!

Lots of good links in today's aldertrack email: http://eepurl.com/be8r3f

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site?CMP=share_btn_tw

Whoa.

what?
how does the guardian get this sort of scoop i wonder

idk, from the article it seems like all this information was already really out there. It's just that the guardian gives enough of a shit to publish it?

like i genuinely wonder -- not being flippant
and this is published on mayoral election day?!

Looks like the author has published several stories on police abuse in the city and even connections to Gitmo.

wow, I'm pretty speechless.

idk, from the article it seems like all this information was already really out there. It's just that the guardian gives enough of a shit to publish it?

Or they are far enough removed from any political consequences.

http://baytechlabel.com/photos/7148_small.jpg