Last weekend Christopher Kelly, an adviser and former fundraiser for impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, died suddenly at age 51 under mysterious circumstances. Kelly, who was convicted last month of tax fraud and was due to report to prison on September 18th, was expected to cooperate with authorities and tell them the full extent of the corruption in the Blagojevich administration. Whether or not this will hinder the feds' investigation remains to be seen; with overwhelming evidence against him, at this point it's not a question of whether Blagojevich will be found guility but how severe his sentence will be. Blago, on the other hand was nowhere near where Kelly's body was found; the former governor was in New York City, beginning another round of mugging to the cameras and stating his case to any media pundit that will listen to (but not necessarily tolerate) him. Kelly's testimony would've fueled the fire, but the government has plenty of lighters and oily rags to spare.
As one Illinois political scandal fades toward its inevitable conclusion, another might be unspooling as we speak. I'm not sure how much national media attention has been given towards Todd Stroger, the incumbent Cook County Board President, but he makes the news here in Chicago almost every night. Last week, it was announced that the Illinois Democratic Party would not endorse Stroger for another term and that there would be a party primary held in early 2010. Stroger's stint as county president has been one big botch job; thrust into office after his father suffered a massive stroke in 2006, "The Toddler" has benefited from nepotism and, like Blagojevich, has stridently defended his platforms despite decreasing public support and near-constant vilification in the local media. In his three years in office, his most notable achievements include hiking the county sales tax to 10.1% (the highest in the nation) and encouraging further nepotism and cronyism. Would anyone care to guess why Stroger has a 10% approval rating?
One last parting shot: have you noticed how Republicans don't want the public option in health care, yet they want it in their marriages? ;)
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And that 10% of Todd Stroger support comes from the rest of the Stroger family & friends on the payroll. Why is it that Chicago has the most ass-backwards Gov't in the country?? I would sincerely believe the people are just stupid in general, especially when the majority are Cubs fans. The people of Chicago & Cook Country have the wrong, lazy attitude, and that's why they keep relecting their bums year after year after year. If they re-elect Daley in 2011, then they are the stupidest city in the world.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Chicago makes news in other cities. Tho if it does, they're shaking their head at all of the corruption and stupidity. Don't you find it peculiar that DuPage & Cook are the two most extreme countries in the Midwest?? Polar opposites.
I hear about some of the stuff that goes on in Chicago on the news and I live in Arizona. But I still think New York is worse with that crap.
ReplyDeleteYou know Joe, I couldn't tell you if New York is worse, but I can tell you Chicago hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1931, and probably won't for another hundred years. The city is so Democrat it's insane. There are 50 wards and only like one is Republican. The city is stuck in a corrupt 1950s era of business, and a city that can't even handle its own parking meters wants to host the Olympics?? If they got the 2016 games, two things would happen: taxpayers will after all be on the hook, and the jobs will go to lots of special interest groups & inside jobs. Another is the work will end up really shoddy, and somebody will hire a family member whose a felon on the payroll as well. It's happened before. Last year they waited until Monday morning to plow a Friday night snow storm.
ReplyDeleteTo be quite frank, Chicago is "fucked in the head". The people there live in some kind of denial. And how big New York is, I'm surprised its as good as it is. Tho they had some real crooks behind those new Yankees & Mets stadiums.
I know its corrupt over there, New York seems more like it is filled with people who have no idea what the hell they are doing who just argue all the time, Chicago has people like Blago and the rest of the corrupt bastards.
ReplyDeleteMy dad told me he heard that some people that were killed by someone in charge of the city are buried in one of the Baseball stadiums, is that true?
I've never heard of that. Weeghman Park was built in 1913 and Comiskey Park was around 1910-1990, and is now the parking lot. Comiskey Park was built on top of an old garbage dump. And there is quite possibly a loose Comiskey Park brick stuck into the Wrigley exterior wall during construction.
ReplyDeleteYou could also email WTTW's Geoffrey Baer and ask him, he's a top-notch Chicago historian. Tho it's possible there's dead bodies buried all over the region, by the city and the mafia.
Not only are they buried all over the place, they're registered voters to boot. ;)
ReplyDeleteI read this morning that the Emmy's are coming up, which always seems to be a topic on your blogs, Stu. Say judging the ceremony by as a hard-core traditionalist on a scale of 1 to 100 as 100 being the best, how much importance do the Emmy's really have? Is it more of a yearly-type "flavor of the month" thing, a "everyone gets one eventually tho once in a while we'll make an example out of someone to fake the prestige", or "do the best truly win every year"?
ReplyDeleteTo me, the Emmy's seem like the NBA's All Star Game. Do you feel the achievement is watered down with too many categories, and/or unworthy noninations? Is the Emmy's really just blowing smoke up our asses and tricking us into believing what we're watching is actually worth watching? I would really like a serious answer because I read that somebody on a really bad show that is dead to me is hosting the Emmy's.
Did you watch tonight's Royals / Sox game, Stu? Catcher John Buck punched Gordon Beckham right in the dick on his follow-through throw to 2nd base. Everybody was laughing about it and Hawk kept laughing. Also saw a nun at the game. Never seen either before.
ReplyDeleteWow, the Bears won! Tho it took a pick deep in Steeler territory, and two close missed FG to make it happen. Wow, what a victory! Too bad it screws me in Pick 'Ems.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I got screwed too last night in the pick em thing I was in because I had the Patriots, Steelers, and Packers picked in the one I was in. But even though I screwed up, I'm glad all 3 of those teams lost.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good comeback for the Bears after how depressing last week was, seeing Kurt Warner complete 92.3% of his passes in that dominating win against the Jags and the Giants pissing all over Jerry Jones' new stadium made it a pretty good night.
Wow, I have a lot to catch up on...
ReplyDeleteI watched most of the Emmys, and while it was nice to see more fresh faces than usual, some of the award recipients were way off the mark (Jon Cryer? Cherry Jones?). Sarah Silverman's moustache was hilarious, though.
As for the Royals- we've won 10 of our last 13 games, so my only gripe right now is, where were these guys back in April? For some reason, catchers have a tendency to be real hotheads, though the Buck-Becks incident doesn't compare to anything AJ's ever done... yet.
As for the Bears- this is why my fantasy team is called "As Good as Gould." Maybe it was luck, but at least we know Pittsburgh has an achillies' heel.