August « 2011

21Aug/111

State of the City: Blithe Comments from Rahm

Let's see what Rahm Emmanuel has to say about his nascent mayorlty:

If Rahm Emanuel had known being mayor of Chicago was this much fun, he likes to joke that he would have “primaried” his political mentor four years ago.

“As I told Rich Daley, ‘You didn’t tell me the truth. You said it was gonna be a good job. It’s not a good job. It’s a great job.’ I tease him about that all the time,” Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview on his first 100 days in office.

“I’m having a blast. . . . [Wife] Amy and the kids [say], ‘Dad seems happy.’ If you want to see change and see what you’re doing impact people, this is one of the most dynamic and exciting opportunities of a lifetime. . . . It sure beats walking around with the world on your shoulders” as White House chief of staff.

Awwwww, how endearing.

Let's look at what he's been up to!

First, he's hired some consultants to cut city contracts to the bone:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday hired a private consulting firm to consolidate and overhaul city contracts and wring at least $25 million in savings out of $500 million in purchases.

The savings generated by Accenture are expected to come from renegotiating some contracts, rebidding others and combining purchases by individual city departments to get a cheaper bulk price.

The contract calls for the company to review $500 million in contracts and get 10 percent of the first $70 million in savings, with a smaller percentage after that. But Accenture will not get paid at all until Chicago taxpayers get their check.

Actually, that sounds good to me.

But there are harder cuts as well:

Of all the sad statistics related to the financial crisis at Chicago Public Schools, one of the most alarming is simply this: The school district is spending millions more every year to educate fewer children.

Into this mess steps Jean-Claude Brizard and a new leadership team pledging to rebuild the financial footing and repair the miserable academic performance of a school district that, by most measures, is struggling.

Brizard said Thursday that the previous leadership had only recently awakened to the bloated bureaucracy at CPS — trimming central office staff by 327 since 2009 — but that cuts should have been deeper.

"If we don't make these courageous decisions, we're going to be right back where we were — where past CEOs, past administrations, have faced problems and didn't do enough to actually correct it," Brizard said in a meeting with the Tribune's editorial board. "The very financial health of the system hinges on that."

Some of the decisions envisioned include:

•Closing schools, including charters, that aren't working or are underenrolled.

•Restructuring contracts with teachers, janitors, bus drivers and other pacts that have become burdensome.

•Consolidating jobs and departments within the central office.

•Laying off staff.

•Raising taxes when necessary.

•Creating a school system where the best-performing, not the longest-serving, principals and teachers earn the most money.

Previous administrations have made similar promises, only to see the problems get worse. But Brizard says this mandate for change comes from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Still, cutting fat is good.

But hey - what's this extra thing he wants to pay for?

Is Rahm nuts?

•

Mayor Rahm Emanuel today said the city has an obligation to pay for former Mayor Richard Daley’s legal defense if he is sued for alleged police brutality conspiracies that happened under former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

The city will not, however, run up unnecessary legal bills to defend Daley or Burge, Emanuel said.

“We’re not going to be reckless and let the meter run legally,” Emanuel said.

Really? Why don't we stop this one before it even starts then.

Who was Daley working for when all of this allegedly occurred? Does Rahm even remember Daley's title at the time?

•Cook County State's Attorney

Chicago wasn't employing him at the time, nor signing his checks. So what the hell is Rahm doing promising to pay for Daley's alleged actions?

To be sure, if it was when Daley was Cook County's State Attorney he has absolute immunity, and my understanding is that the civil complaint is based on when Daley was mayor.

But frankly, I don't see that with all this scrounging for spare change in Chicago's couches, that Rahm can make a great case that the less-than-pristine Daley should be defended with the tax dollars of Chicago.

But I guess he's hoping for the same courtesy when he's ex-mayor.

Thanks to reader TRB in pointing me to the Second City Cop blog -- other posts of interest:

Rahm finds another $20 million

2nd City Cop on the Accenture deal

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

13Aug/116

Chicago: Old Ghosts Coming for Daley

The former long-time mayor of Chicago has been dodging all sorts of reckoning over the years. It may finally be catching up with him in a civil lawsuit filed against various parties, related to long-running police brutality in Chicago that was tied to false confessions:

For the first time, a federal judge has ruled former Mayor Richard M. Daley can be sued as a defendant for his alleged role in what plaintiffs claim is a citywide conspiracy to cover up police torture.

And Daley could be deposed by lawyers representing alleged victims, all African American, who charge their abuse came at the hands of a small band of predominantly white police officers under the command of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

The Burge case has already cost Chicago taxpayers more than $43 million in settlements and outside legal fees. Burge is in federal prison.

Though Daley was questioned under oath by a court-appointed special prosecutor in 2006, it was widely criticized as an overly solicitous interview. This would likely be a more adversarial exchange.

The deposition date is set for early September.

For more info on the cases surrounding Jon Burge, the entry at wikipedia is rather comprehensive. I'll set you down at "torture methods". This may shock you, but Daley had a primary challenger in 1991 who brought up this issue... and Daley, of course, won.

But here's a twist: Daley had been county prosecutor during the time of the most notorious torture cases - the 1980s. He was able to escape civil liability due to his position then.... but he became mayor in 1989. And they're going after him for that time period, as he resisted investigation of the issue.

I bet with regards to any civil award, it will be the city of Chicago paying, not Daley's personal wealth. But what Daley could be paying is his reputation.

And it's about damn time for that to start.

So.... what is Rahm Emmanuel's connection to the Daley machine? Does he owe the old man anything? Is it in his interest to settle this quickly & quietly, or would he like the full deposition to go on?

I could see Rahm letting this fester, so he can blame the current problems of Chicago (crumbling finances, the violent flash mob activity along the Magnificent Mile) on Daley (and he would have a point), and just so that he can look like the good-government guy (snort).

Emmanuel has been doing all sorts of stuff in Chicago that has local unionists up in arms, by the way. Have you heard about it in the national news, like Gov. Walker's cuts?

Meep

Filed under: Politicas Desnudas! 6 Comments

12Aug/110

Birth of a Neocon

I don't suppose my story is really all that unique; raised in a household loyal to the Democratic Party. "Loyal" may be an understatement, perhaps "devoted" is a more accurate term. I was at least a 4th generation Democrat, starting at least as far back as my great grand father during the Great Depression; judging from the stories my Grandmother tells of her Daddy. Her husband, my grandfather for whom I was named, was a union leader at his John Deere plant. My father started working there a few years before my Grandpa retired, and my younger brother has been there for more than 10 years now. Union politics run in my family, so I was raised to believe that Republicans were evil, intolerant hypocrites who hated poor people and kicked puppies in their spare time.

I read stories of conservative students attending colleges dominated by liberals, but I had the opposite experience, which only served to reinforce the beliefs of a stubborn 18 year old kid. At a small college that was, roughly 90% GOP, I reveled in being a Christian Democrat among friends who didn't understand how that was even possible. I may as well have shown them a round triangle. So voting for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 came natural, as did voting for Tom Vilsack in 1998.

By this time, however, I was deeply involved in listserv discussions with newfound internet friends across the country, and I was slowly discovering that these Republicans didn't hate poor people and they weren't just trying to hoard their money. They honestly believed government was getting in the way, and that if that trend could be reversed, the lower class would have access to more and better jobs.

At the same time, Monica Lewinsky hit the headlines, along with all of his defenders on the left. All those powerful women on the left, who championed the cause of feminism, were all falling in line defending a man who, at the very least, had abused his position as the most powerful man in the world for personal gratification. That shattered my idealism, I no longer believed my political heroes (ie Tom Harkin) were so true to their beliefs, so I started questioning their beliefs. This led to me questioning everything.

If Democrats weren't the stallwarts of Truth, Justice, and the American Way, as I'd beileved, perhaps Republicans really weren't the living embodiments of Lex Luthor. As I started rethinking things, the 2000 election was approaching and I started, for whatever reason, to think of Bush as a Republican I could actually vote for. I also started realizing that I was, in a lot of respects, already conservative. Aside from the social conservatism I'd been raised with, I was coming to grips with the fact that government programs, high taxes, and arbitrary regulation were all hinderances on the economy, and thus job killers.

When my daughter was born in 2000, and we were considering daycare and other job-related expenses for my wife, I finally understood how the costs of working (and risk) would reduce the incentive to actually engage in financial risks that are inherently necessary for economic growth. Finally, Al Gore made it easier and easier to vote Republican that year, and Tom Harkin's disingenuous attacks on Dick Cheney's lack of a military record pushed me over the edge. At that time, I not only decided to vote for Bush, but vowed never to vote for Harkin again. Then there was 9-11, and my decision was confirmed in my mind, as the thought that Al Gore could have been president for that scared me.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

Filed under: Invincible Ignorance, Politicas Desnudas! No Comments

8Aug/115

Palin Unloads On Obama…Again !

In her latest Facebook post titled: Conquering the Storm. The subject, of course, is economics. Specifically our overwhelming debt, the S&P downgrade, and the abject failure of Obamanomics. It's definitely a must-read. Here's a taste:

In the coming days we’ll sort through the repercussions of S&P’s downgrade of our credit rating, including concerns about the impact a potential interest rate increase would have on our ability to service our suffocating $14.5 trillion debt.

Back in December 2010, I wrote: “If the European debt crisis teaches us anything, it’s that tomorrow always comes. Sooner or later, the markets will expect us to settle the bill for the enormous Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending binge. We’ve already been warned by the credit ratings agency Moody’s that unless we get serious about reducing our deficit, we may face a downgrade of our credit rating.” And again in January, in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address I wrote: “With credit ratings agency Moody’s warning us that the federal government must reverse the rapid growth of national debt or face losing our triple-A rating, keep in mind that a nation doesn’t look so ‘great’ when its credit rating is in tatters.”

One doesn’t need a Harvard Law degree to figure this out! Just look across the pond at Europe. European nations with less debt and smaller deficits than ours and with real “austerity” plans in place to deal with them have had their ratings downgraded. By what magical thinking did we figure we could run up perpetual trillion dollar deficits and still somehow avoid the unforgiving mathematics of a downgrade? Nothing is ever “too big to fail.” And there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Didn’t we all learn that in our micro and macro econ classes? I did at the University of Idaho. How could Obama skip through Columbia and Harvard without learning that?
[emphasis-ed]

She goes on to talk about strong policy prescriptions for turning the US economy around, getting us back on track, and restoring prosperity through cutting spending, shrinking government, and drastically changing Obama's stifling energy policy. Serious proposals for serious times...

Then she wraps it all up with a strong finish, tellin' it like it is; Sarahcuda style:

Be wary of the efforts President Obama makes to “fix” the debt problem. The more he tries to “fix” things, the worse they get because his “solutions” always involve spending more, taxing more, growing government, and increasing debt. This debt problem is the greatest challenge facing our country today. Obviously, President Obama doesn’t have a plan or even a notion of how to deal with it. His press conference today was just a rehash of his old talking points and finger-pointing. That’s why he can’t be re-elected in 2012.

Our economic news is disheartening and the task before us can seem daunting, but we must not lose our sense of optimism. People look around today and may see only the negative. They see a culture and a nation in decline, but that’s not who we are! America must regain its optimistic pioneering spirit again. Our founders declared that “we were born the heirs of freedom.” We are the heirs of those who froze with Washington at Valley Forge, who held the line at Gettysburg, who freed the slaves, carved a nation out of the wilderness, and allowed reward for work ethic. We are the sons and daughters of that Greatest Generation who stormed the beaches of Normandy, raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. By God, we will not squander what has been given us!

I've said it before, but I'll reprise now; she sounds positively Reagan-esque, in tone and content...

And while many here may not exactly count themselves among Palin's supporters, if she throws down a, "There they go again...", in an affable reply to an oft-repeated, tiresome, progressive talking point; y'all might as well toss me a life preserver, because I'll be completely in the tank.

What do you think, kind reader? Both of her post and of her, broadly speaking of course.

[Cross Posted at The Conservatory]

Rocketman

Tagged as: Burden of government debt, Obama's failed economic policies, Palin, S&P downgrade, The epic failure of Obamanomics 5 Comments

2Aug/111

Play the Chicago Game and Avoid Taxes

What's so special about Lollapalooza (that thing is still going on? Jeez, it started when I was in high school...but it looks it has much fewer venues now) that it gets a $1-million-holiday from taxes?

Oh, I'm sure it's just coincidence they had hired one of Daley's nephews:

And if Lollapalooza wasn’t already enough of a financial bonanza for its promoters, who grossed more than $21 million last year, City Hall and Cook County government officials are doing their part to boost the festival’s bottom line, even as they struggle with their own budget crises, which threaten to result in layoffs of city and county workers.

For a seventh straight year, the city and county are exempting Lollapalooza from paying the amusement taxes normally imposed on arts and athletic performances and even movies.

That will save the promoters — Austin, Texas-based C3 Presents LLC — more than $1 million in taxes on the 270,000 tickets sold for this years’s festival, which opens Friday.

Lollapalooza got its latest waiver from the city’s 5 percent amusement tax in the waning days of the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose nephew Mark Vanecko has been a lobbyist and lawyer for the festival promoters, helping to negotiate their current 10-year contract with the Chicago Park District.

Just business as usual, guys. Nothing to see here.

I liked this detail:

Also, the contract says C3 has to comply with the park district’s affirmative-action goals — which call for subcontracting 25 percent of work to minority-owned businesses and 5 percent to women-owned companies. The park district says 14 of the 57 Lollapalooza vendors are owned by minorities or women. It won’t identify them. Nor will the district or the foundation provide any records to show how much work Lollapalooza gives to minority- or women-owned companies.

I love it when old school white nepotism runs into "diversity" goals. Their problem is that they didn't marry enough different ethnicities. Only if Daley had a black or hispanic nephew...

By the way, this Vanecko nephew isn't the same one involved in a homicide case where police files were "lost".

I can imagine the Daley family reunions are so much fun. In mine, we're just comparing kid videos...the Daleys must compare who got away with the most.