Chicago - I was walking down the street today and just about jumped out of my boots when I saw the lovely photo (right) of Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (7th District) giving me that evil clown grin. It was so unexpected, and - I swear this is true - I spotted it in a trash can. I was waiting for the light to change, and the can was next to me. (Yes, we'll get into substance, but first indulge me.) Laying on top of the rest of the trash was the latest Steans flyer, literally staring up at me. I jumped back, stared at it, poked it with a stick, then plucked it out. I took it home, scanned it, then burned it.
Tip: Click on images to enlarge them.
I used to love messing with photos of Steans just to make her look goofy. After looking at this flyer, however, I think I'll give that up. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and the real Heather looks goofier than anything I could come up with in manipulation.
Okay, Some Substantive Criticism...
Yes, yes, the above was childish. All in fun, but this is a serious state senate race. Let's look at the substance of this flyer. Steans is running against a bright young lawyer named Jim Madigan in the Democrat primary, February 2. Madigan is untainted by the political Machine. He has not taken big money, as Steans has. Steans gives us the same old crap in this flyer.
On the cover, just above the evil clown grin, Steans demonstrates that she is completely unaware of current events and of how pissed off most Americans are about the nonsense in Washington. "I support President Obama's efforts to reform health care. But we can't wait for Congress to act." Perhaps she is aware of the national mood and she's simply as stupid as I've always suspected.
The voters of Massachusettes recently elected Scott Brown (R) over Martha Coakley (D) to fill the seat held by the late Ted Kennedy. Why? Because the people do NOT support Obama's efforts to "reform" health care, as did Martha Coakley, as does Heather Steans. Another reason: The people, the voters, were sick of having "reform" shoved down their throats with virtually no transparency. In short, they wanted Congress to wait. Ah, but Heather Steans says hurry up, we can't wait for Congress to act.
Newsflash: Massachusetts didn't wait either, having passed their own "reform" under Governor Mitt Romney.
The results of that rushed "reform" in Massachusetts, ironically, contributed heavily to the defeat of Coakley because the "reform" in Massachusetts did not control rising costs. To add irony to irony, the citizens of Massachusetts had what Washington called "Cadillac" quality coverage, which meant that they would have been taxed through their catheter tubes had "Obamacare" passed as written. Massachusetts voters said, in effect, if you don't like our health care mess, you'll hate the version that Congress has in mind. Even in Washington, it was a bipolar situation until the Brown win: The reform bill produced by Pelosi's House did not meld with Reid's Senate version. So Heather Steans lobs mindless platitudes like "we can't wait" without considering the fact that many Democrat leaders, including Howard Dean, are urging just that and more. Scrap both the House and Senate versions, they say, start over, but first concentrate on fixing the economy. Steans seems oblivious to this harsh reality.
The inside spread of the expensive flyer (money is no object to Steans), she continues with her health care chant. "Heather Steans fought to expand health care in Illinois," it says. And how is that working out for you? "She took on the big insurance companies..." blah, blah, blah. Really? How hard did she take on Humana Health Insurance to get that $1,500 contribution via Human PAC? As opponent Jim Madigan asked, "I wonder what reform was left on the table in order to ensure that the campaign cash would keep flowing from insurance companies?" Steans also notes that she has a "100% Pro-Choice Record" but does not qualify that: Does she also support the live-birth abortions that Barack Obama supported during his time in Springfield?
The back page of the flyer shows Steans strolling down a street talking with a constituent. I gotta say, I've never seen Steans walking down the street and I live in the 7th District, but she wants us to believe that she's out patrolling the byways and talking to everyone all day. Uh huh. "Heather Steans is working with police and community leaders," the flyer says, "to keep our families safe from crime and gun violence" and that "Heather believes it's time to move past talking about curbing violence. She's doing something about it." Oh?
Steans has done nothing more than make token gestures and giving a few unconvincing "public safety meetings." The results have been insignificant, if that much. After a July, 2008 meeting, Heather Steans said that her "positive loitering" initiatives had made several areas of Uptown "crime free." Crime "free" means no crime. Not a reduction, but an elimination of crime. "Free," not "reduced."
When the audience was allowed to ask questions at another public safety meeting on May 12, 2009, I asked Steans to name the specific areas or corners that she had made "crime free," and to tell us if they are still "crime free today." She hemmed and hawed for a moment, then admitted that she should not have said "crime free." Steans was ready to not specify the locations, however, so I called out to her to do so. She mentioned a strip "near" a park, but couldn't be more specific. She couldn't even name the park. Meanwhile, violent crime continues in Uptown and throughout Chicago. Just get a police scanner and turn it on any day or night, and you'll hear the horrific, bloody non-results of Steans and her self-proclaimed efforts to "do something about it."
Lies, half truths, exaggerations. Taken together, that's the most frightening aspect of this Steans flyer - and all of her flyers. It's even more frightening than her evil clown smile.
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