Alert! Chicago City Council To Discuss Supreme Court Handgun Ruling

Action Alert! A source within the Chicago Police Department sent this email to me today: "Tomorrow's City Hall meeting at 1:00 p.m. [on Tues., June 29] will address today's Supreme Court decision concerning Chicago' gun ordinance. There will be buses from Area 3 [police] headquarters, 2352 W. Belmont, by 11:45 a.m. to City Hall. Please attend." Chicago's City Hall is located at 121 N La Salle Street in the "Loop" (map). His Supreme Highness Richard Daley's office is on the fifth floor, by the way. He loves having voters stop in, so go up and say hi. It should be a good show. While you're there, notice that even as Mayor Daley speaks about the evil of guns, the City Hall chambers will be protected by people who have - you guessed it - guns. Daley's own bodyguards, positioned nearby, will be carrying guns. Aldermen are (were) excempted from the handgun ban, and so there's a good chance that a few of them will be packing heat, too.

CBS-2, BGA Investigation of Aldermanic "Menu" Spending

The Better Government Association (BGA) and CBS-2 Investigative Reporter Pam Zekman joined forces to expose the use of so-called aldermanic "Menu" expenditures. All fifty Chicago aldermen get $1.3 million per year to fund improvement projects for the wards. Most aldermen dutifully dole out the dough to finance street repairs, blue-light security cameras, speed bumps and road resurfacing, but the BGA and CBS-2 found that some aldermen have refused to fund projects that voters want and residents say they desperately need. Check out Pam Zekman's story at this link and below: http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/BGA.2.Investigators.2.1280133.html Check out your ward to see what your alderman is doing with the money: For 2007: http://llnw.static.cbslocal.com/station/wbbm/docs/2007Ward.pdf For 2008: http://llnw.static.cbslocal.com/station/wbbm/docs/2008Ward.pdf If you have information the public should know about this issue or any issue involving government at any level, contact the Better Government Association at info@bettergov.org. Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Now We Know Aldermen's Shit Don't Stink

Oh, to be a member of the Royal City Council of Chicago. But even Chicago royalty - and those who think they should be treated royally - are challenged now and then. Some of the 50 pompous asses on Chicago's City Council, also known as "crooks" or "aldermen," think they're too damned good for security checks. You know, the same security checks that their subjects must endure when entering many a public building. We've known for many years that most of them are elitist prisses, but their recent whining about being required to walk through a metal detector merely offers reconfirmation. The Chicago Sun-Times's Fran Spielman (a favorite) reported on this latest examle of pomposity on October 30: Chicago aldermen with their noses out of joint today demanded to know why they are searched along with the masses at the city’s central headquarters for administrative hearings. Spielman quotes one of the aldermen, an elitist prick who seems to feel that his gold badge magically proves to security guards that he is not bent on committing physical harm with a weapon: “Why am I searched as an alderman and as an attorney?…I don’t want to be searched going through a city building. There’s only 50 of us and we all have gold badges,” said Ald. Howard Brookins (21st). Oooooh, not only as an alderman, but as an attorney! With a gold frikking badge! Brookins, however, was not the only pompous ass in the room. Among the others was Her Royal Lowness Carrie Austin: Budget Committee Chair Carrie Austin (34th) was so “offended,” she warned Bruner what might happen if he fails to “take another look at your policy.” Pompous Ass Austin actually threatened to screw with somebody's budget just because she was being treated like anybody else entering the city’s central headquarters for administrative hearings. Elitist? Austin's abuse of power and position fits the definition. Hell, she is the definition. “It’s not a matter of giving anybody any preference. But us that are aldermen—we are the ones who set your budget. If we’re the ones setting your budget maybe we’ll take an adjustment” downward, if the policy is not rescinded, Austin warned. Full article at Chicago Sun-Times... In other words, bow down to me, commoner, kiss my ring or I shall punish you for your insolence. Well, screw you, Howard Brookins and Carrie Austin, and screw all the rest of the pantloads on the City Council who feel that they're above the law and deserve special treatment. Shove your gold badges up your gold-plated asses, with the pins well extended. Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Robert Sorich, Patronage and Aldermanic Assistants

Robert Sorich was a "patronage chief" for Mayor Richard M. Daley. Sorich was convicted in 2006 of going around certain laws that make political hiring in Chicago illegal. The US Supreme Court today refused undo Sorich's conviction. Okay, fine, but the patronage continues, and it continues in plain sight (examples below). Patronage hiring can be dirty stuff. Basically, it is the hiring of people who are often not qualified for the jobs they get, but are put on the public payroll solely because of their usefulness in a political capacity. It is "the distribution of jobs and favors on a political basis, as to those who have supported one's party or political campaign." (Source) Today, CBS2 Chicago report the Sorich-Supreme Court story: Mayor Richard M. Daley's former patronage chief and two other former city officials have failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to consider setting aside their fraud convictions. The justices, in an order Monday, are letting stand former patronage chief Robert Sorich's July 2006 conviction and 46-month prison term. He was found guilty of skirting laws that ban political city hiring, along with former Department of Streets and Sanitation official Patrick Slattery, and former Sorich aide Timothy McCarthy. Fine, but this post is not about Sorich. It's about the continuing and blatantly open patronage hiring in Chicago. The following people are just a few examples. They are on the city's payroll. They are paid by you, the taxpayers, to staff the offices of city council members. From the Better Government Association website, they are listed below by First Name/Last Name/Title/City Department/Salary/Employer: Frazier, Wayne - Aldermanic Aide - City Council - $34,632 - City of Chicago Vandercook, Elizabeth - Asst To The Alderman - City Council - $63,804 - City of Chicago Land, Michael - Staff Asst To The Alderman - City Council - $51,024 - City of Chicago Lopez, Alicia - Staff Asst To The Alderman - City Council - $51,024 - City of Chicago (Source: http://www.bettergov.org/Research/Employees.aspx) "The Alderman" referred to above is Joe Moore, 49th Ward. Moore is not the only alderman who staffs his office with people paid by the city. This is disturbing because the publicy-paid staff assistants and aides, in many cases, openly campaign for the aldermen in whose offices they work. In other words, people on the city's payroll are paid, in effect, to help re-elect sitting aldermen. Remember: They are legally not employed by the aldermen, they are employed by the City of Chicago. That's you, Chicago resident and taxpayer. Not all of the people working in an alderman's office are public employees. One example, again from Joe Moore's office, is Anne M. Sullivan, "49th Ward Staff Assistant." She is paid out of Ald. Moore's campaign funds, not public tax money. How ethical is it for employees of the City of Chicago to work as office in aldermen's offices? There's probably no problem as long as the only thing they do is shuffle papers and help address the concerns of the aldermen's constituents. However, we have to question the ethics of those public payroll persons being allowed to engage in plainly political purposes. For an alderman to choose a friend and/or political ally to work in his or her office as an aide, on the public's dime, seems to qualify as patronage to us. Just because it's public information doesn't mean it's not wrong. CNB RSS Feed

Feds Target Chicago Alderman Carothers

Former Chicago Alderman Arenda Troutman (Democrat) was just sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. This morning, we noted that Troutman is just one more "long parade of Illinois and Chicago politicians" (as American Thinker put it) who have shamed Chicago and Illinois. The parade of clowns continues with 29th Ward Ald. Isaac Carothers, and his act promises to be even more entertaining than Troutman's. From today's Chicago Sun-Times (emphasis added): Last year, the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed that federal investigators had requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Carothers. He had received campaign contributions from two of the businesses seeking the changes. Now, a 2007 federal subpoena -- released in response to a Freedom of Information request -- reveals a demand for documents including seven years worth of aldermanic expense records; 29th Ward zoning changes; ordinances introduced by Carothers, and correspondence between Carothers and the mayor's office regarding zoning changes. This will be interesting to watch. In the meantime, when will Mr. Fitzpatrick please consider investigating 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore for similar alleged offenses? CNB RSS Feed

Arenda Troutman, Clown in a Long Parade

No "Get Out of Jail Free" card for Alderwhore Arenda Troutman (Democrat). The former member of Chicago's City Clowncil, Troutman was sentenced on Feb. 17, 2009 to a well-deserved four-year prison term for mail fraud and tax fraud. She "admitted that for several years she had solicited cash from developers to back their projects in her South Side ward." (Source) Troutman is just another corrupt Democrat who has brought shame to Chicago and to Illinois. We're a laughing stock around the world, folks, thanks to the political party that so very many of you blindly continue to vote into office. Don't blame Troutman. Don't blame Blago. Don't blame Burris. Blame the Voters of Illinois, one of the dumbest class of human beings on the planet. American Thinker has the best line about Troutman and the continuing Democrat Embarassment: Ho hum! Another day, another Chicago politician sentenced to prison , this time for mail and tax fraud. No, not former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D). Or recently appointed President Barack Hussein Obama's (D) replacement senator, Roland Burris. (D). Oh maybe they'll eventually join the long parade of Illinois and Chicago politicians marching off to the Big House but this was a more common occurrence. Full Column at American Thinker... Yep, a "long parade of Illinois and Chicago politicians...off to the Big House," and the overwhelming vast majority of them are Democrats. But that won't stop idiot voters in Illinois from refusing to bring real change to state and local government, though. "Change?" Illinois voters are afraid of change. They will continue to put their blindfolds on, pinch their noses and vote Democratic. Masochists. CNB RSS Feed

The Shiller Killer

Ding dong, the witch is bad. And this searing commentary about Chicago Alderman Helen Shiller proves it. Shiller is the Democrat councilwoman in Chicago's betroubled 46th Ward in the Uptown Neighborhood.

Another Chicago Tax Increase?

With all the fuss about the SuperBowl, today's big elections, and the usual array of Britney Spears coverage, the fact that your alderman may be about to vote in a big fat tax increase has gone largely unnoticed. So, notice it already. Aldermen mull CTA tax package Chi-Town Daily News, IL - Chicago real estate agents today railed against a proposed tax increase on home transfers to pay for a transit bailout. Committee wants strings attached before agreeing on real estate ... Chicago Sun-Times - The transfer tax increase is the Council’s end of a political deal that raised the regional sales tax to stave off massive CTA fare hikes and service cuts.

KNOW YOUR ALDERPIMP

Jam packed with dirt, this article at the Chicago Tribune hits home with a lot of us. The hardest hit, happily, are the dirty politicians. 49th Ward blogger Craig Gernhardt comments, "Joe Moore in the 49th Ward with 73 up-zones. In the calendar year of 2007 alone, Joe Moore has raised over $500,000 dollars in campaign contributions. Most of this money came from people wanting up-zoning changes or development favors." And he's got the best headline of the week: "Joe Moore Pimps Out Neighborhood While Padding His Political Pocketbook."

They Hang People For This Kind Of Thing

Theft is still punishable by death in some parts of the world. In others, they just get their hands lopped off. Here Chicago, we reelect thieves over and over again. A must read from Toni Duncan today about Chicago's city council members reaching into your wallet to give themselves more personal enrichment: "In all the hubbub of holiday activities last week, family, friends, food, and football, you may have missed the most recent recurrence of an auspicious annual event in Chicago:The Annual Automatic Aldermanic Salary Increase!" FULL POST at North of Howard Watchers...

Updated: Alderman Robbed at Knife Point

Chicago Alderman Tunney was robbed yesterday in his own ward. Remember, all you aldermen, crime is down. Suspects charged in Tunney holdup attempt Two juveniles are charged with armed robbery Sunday morning for the attempted robbery of Alderman Tom Tunney with a weapon on the North Side within one block of his 44th Ward office Saturday afternoon. Full Story at Chicago Sun-Times...