Politics and In-Kind Catering

Dining with the politicians

Writing about 49th Ward politicians and ethics is a strange endeavor. It’s a bit like writing about dogs and table manners. Dogs have no dining etiquette, really. During a bout of canine mastication, there are no rules of engagement. Bad manners or good, by human standards, simply don’t apply. For a human to apply human ideals of using a fork or chopsticks to the dog is folly. The dog would pay no attention to any such attempts, and would be unable to comprehend them. Even if the dog listened in earnest, Fido would be unable to hold the eating utensils. (Note to Liberals: This would be due to the fact that dogs are actually not people, and therefore have no hands.)

So it is with Chicago politicians in general, 49th Ward politicians in particular, and 49th Ward Liberals especially. Oh, they have hands, alright, unlike our dog friends. Problem is, their damned hands are always reaching into our pockets. Sometimes it takes the form of higher taxation. Sometimes it’s less straightforward and involves writing a grant, which is nothing more than a long note begging Uncle to please send money.

That is how the Ginderske Gang “built” a new medical clinic in the 49th Ward recently. They asked Uncle Sam to send some of your tax dollars their way, which they then passed on to the clinic. To claim that they “built” the clinic is a bit like the 16th Century Spaniards claiming to have mined all of their gold in the northern mountains of Spain.

Sometimes, it takes the form of catering, literally, to an aldermanic candidate. Let’s kick a dead horse and see what happens, as we peek into the D-2s of Jim Ginderske, failed aldermanic candidate in the 49th Ward cum Alderman Joe Moore’s errand boy.

In the “Ginderske 2007 D-2 Final Report 1/1/2007 to 6/30/2007,” there are eight itemized in-kind contributions totaling $47,640.00. That’s a lot of money.

But first, a brief definition of “in-kind” contributions:

An in-kind contribution is a non-cash input which can be given a cash value.

Examples
Here are some examples of in-kind contributions:
• A local community “loans” a school or a church to a literacy program for classroom space.
• A government agency donates some paper to print books.
• A consultant donates his time to your program.
• A taxi company donates the use of its taxis at no cost or at a cost below market.

Got it? So, let’s say I’m Terry Feingold and I own a catering company called Gold-n-Pear Catering. Let’s say that I hooked up with Jim Ginderske’s campaign, became the financial guy for the campaign, and I had lots of good recipes to share because I just love to feed people.

I also love curry. No, not the spice, although I like that, too. The kind of curry I refer to here is the kind as in “currying favor” with a politician. So what do you, as Terry Feingold do? Why, you bring the occasional tureen of corn chowder or split pea soup over to the Ginderske Campaign Office at 6970 N. Sheridan Rd., Unit C. Now and then some finger sandwiches. Never anything elaborate, of course, because there’s never more than a dozen or so people gathered there at once.

According to Ginderske’s D-2 Final Report, Terry Feingold gave $15,800.00 of in-kind contributions to Ginderske in the form of “Consulting Catering.” (There was a separate $4,000 in-kind item for “consulting.”)

That’s a hell of a lot of catering. Keep in mind, I was there folks, an embedded citizen journalist, right up to and for a short while after Ginderske lost in late February, 2007. I was at most of the Feingold catered events, and unless he prices a bowl of corn chowder somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 a bowl, with finger sandwiches priced around $10 each, I am bewildered as to just what that $15,800.00 involves.

Even if you factor in the Election Night party at Morseland, it makes no sense. Feingold did not prepare that food. As I recall, the Morseland kitchen did it all (and nicely). Did Feingold “consult” with the Morseland kitchen about the evening’s menu? Rather doubtful, particularly because the D-2 dates the $15,800 on 12/31/2006, two months before Ginderske’s Election Night party.

I’m not saying that anything illegal was done by Feingold or Ginderske. But the amount boggles the mind and challenges reason. Would somebody from either the defunct Ginderske campaign, or from Gold-n-Pear Catering, please give us an itemized accounting of that $15,800 in-kind donation? We’d really like to know, just in case we decide to have our next big party catered by Gold-n-Pear.