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  #121  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2015, 7:15 PM
the urban politician the urban politician is offline
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
what? that's kinda random and weird. why would rahm even want daley's endorsement at this point in the campaign? a daley endorsement seems like it would only be a liability at this stage.
Emanuel, Daley in hush-hush meeting. Endorsement coming?

The speculation is that an endorsement may help Rahm in those outskirt areas of the city
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  #122  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2015, 8:39 PM
Vlajos Vlajos is offline
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Originally Posted by the urban politician View Post
Emanuel, Daley in hush-hush meeting. Endorsement coming?

The speculation is that an endorsement may help Rahm in those outskirt areas of the city
Also, there is a poll out today that didn't allow undecided as an answer. Rahm is over 50%, which is great.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-election-poll
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  #123  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2015, 9:25 PM
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Steely Dan Steely Dan is offline
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well, on top of working his way up the political ladder to the cook county board, it looks like Chuy Garcia was also able to raise a fine young man of a son.

and by "fine young man", i mean "piece-of-shit gangbanger".


Quote:
Garcia backed county deal with firm that gave son free legal defense
Posted: 02/08/2015, 08:33pm | Dan Mihalopoulos

In July 2012, the Cook County Board approved a $100 million bond deal, handing the job of bond counsel on the deal to the law firm Mayer Brown LLP.

As a member of the county board, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia co-sponsored the measure, which gave the plum job of representing the county in the deal to the politically connected Chicago law firm.

Garcia — who’s now one of four challengers seeking to unseat Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the Feb. 24 city election — supported Mayer Brown despite a personal connection to the firm involving his adult son Samuel Garcia. Court records show Samuel Garcia had been arrested in 2007 on a felony charge, accused of attacking two off-duty police officers on the South Side — and lawyers from the downtown law firm represented him in the criminal case for free.

Attorney Marc Kadish of Mayer Brown said he and two younger lawyers he supervised at the firm represented Samuel Garcia in the case for roughly three years, from shortly after his arrest through his trial in 2010. Kadish said he could not determine what it would have cost to pay for the legal services provided for free to Samuel Garcia.


[snip]



In the earlier case, Garcia and a second man were arrested on June 24, 2007, at 4218 W. Ogden, accused of aggravated assault with a gun, knife or other dangerous weapon and criminal damage to property.

According to a police report, Garcia, apparently referring to his street-gang affiliation, “shouted, ‘Two-Six motherf – - – - – -, we’re gonna f – - – you up,’ while holding a hammer.”

The police said Garcia then threw the steel-headed hammer and his co-defendant tossed an aluminum baseball bat at a car in which two off-duty officers sat.

Garcia “freely stated after he was read his rights, ‘I’m glad that car belonged to a cop. I wish I could have f – - – - – it up more,” according to court records.


[snip]



In the February 2013 case, he tried to crash into the car of an off-duty officer while flashing gang signs and yelling a racial slur, according to a police report that said he shouted, “F – - – you n – - – a king killa b – - – -.”

When the officer identified himself as a Chicago cop and unzipped his jacket to reveal his blue uniform, Garcia replied, “I don’t give a f – - – if you CPD. CPD killa n – - – a,” records show.

At one point in the confrontation, Garcia pulled over, exited his vehicle and threw a cup of an unidentified liquid at the officer before speeding away, according to the police, before eventually coming to “a sudden stop” at 3932 W. 31st, getting out of his car and placing his hand on his waistband, “motioning as [if] having a gun.”

“I don’t give a f – - – who you are. I’ll shoot your a – -!” he said, according to the police.

The arrest report in that case said Garcia “is a self-admitted member of the Two-Six street gang (Darkside faction)” — a Hispanic gang that is a rival of the Latin Kings.

full article: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chi...ree-legal-help
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Last edited by Steely Dan; Feb 9, 2015 at 9:57 PM.
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  #124  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2015, 9:41 PM
Vlajos Vlajos is offline
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
well, on top of working his way up the political ladder to the cook county board, it looks like Chuy Garcia was also able to raise a fine young man of a son.

and by "fine young man", i mean "piece-of-shit gangbanger".



full article: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chi...ree-legal-help
Holy crap.
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  #125  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 3:11 AM
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Chicago103 Chicago103 is offline
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Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright View Post
I'm sorry, but I can't take your post seriously given the above in bold. Did you pay attention to the last election? Rahm is anything, but machine. The machine people hate him. Chico was a machine candidate and lost, effectively beheading the machine for the first time in decades. Virtually his first move in office was to strip Ed Burke (a classic machine prince if there ever was one) of his cadre of on duty police officers. People who are long time machine supporters loathe him and with good reason.

Also, what makes you think Rahm would have any chance of losing a runoff? Chuy is going to get less than half as many votes as Rahm, it would take an absolute miracle for him to more than double his vote count. Rahm is going to dump money on his competitors in the next couple of weeks and push his numbers over. If you split the undecideds along the same lines as the results, Rahm beats the runoff by about 1%. That's also assuming that Rahm doesn't push that ratio up at all with his mountain of cash.
The reason that there is this debate is because we now live in an age where who is machine and who is not machine is nowhere near as black and white as it used to be. I can name you machine Aldermen/Ward Committemen who are backing Rahm right now (Alderman Quinn in the 13th ward who rose up working for Mike Madigan, I know because I live near there, know how the signs are put up and have some inside information) and machine Alderman who are sitting out of the Mayor's race (my Alderman Zalewski in the 23rd ward).

Frankly this whole "Rahm is as anti-machine as you can get" is frankly just pro-Rahm propaganda. Rahm is shades of grey, you can argue it either way and in some ways that is part of his genius, he can get some machine votes in addition to many people with a more reform sensibility. Also on the other side you have progressives who always say "Rahm is so machine because he worked for Daley, blah blah blah".

There is no "one all powerful machine that controls everything" anymore, there are mini-machines and machines within machines and odd coalitions of reformers and progressives, some who support Rahm and some who don't because again people can see him either way and do.

Chuy Garcia and Bob Fioretti, love them, hate them or indifferent to them are clearly non-machine (unless you count Chuy's Latino grassroots organizations going back to the Harold Washington days as a "machine", still there is a HUGE irony in anyone thinking a guy who got his start in the Washington days could possibly be machine or "old Chicago", credit to Rahm's spin doctors if they actually convince people of that). I mean dear lord I think I actually read someone argue on here that Karen Lewis is machine!

I say this as someone who has both machine and reform sensibilities myself, I understand the history of Chicago politics but to claim that it is as simple black and white as "Rahm is the most reform politician ever" is simply ludicrous and it undercuts any argument one can make about the good reforms Rahm has made.

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Originally Posted by the urban politician View Post
Emanuel crosses 50 percent mark in pre-election poll

Looks like the debates did make a difference.



I think Rahm's chance of willing a runoff is far higher than 50%. Rahm is doing fairly well with undecided, and would probably pick off at least some of the Fioretti or other peoples' votes, at least enough to get him past 50%. In addition, it looks like Daley is probably going to issue an endorsement for him soon.
As I suspected before even opening the link it is a poll where "undecided" is not an option so it is the wording of the survey being different and probably has little to do with the debates: "The new figures come from political polling firm Ogden & Fry, which has been doing surveys every week but this time also did a poll without "undecided" as an option.

Two surveys came out today. In the first, Emanuel had 41.2 percent, a smidge below last week's 41.7 percent. There were 20.9 percent undecided.

But in the second, "undecided" was not an option. In that one, Emanuel hit 51.3 percent—enough, if accurate, to avoid an April runoff but within the survey's error margin of 3.71 percent.

I'd caution that the poll didn't push undecided voters to make up their minds. Rather, voters just didn't have the option of "undecided." First poll, there were 969 respondents. Second poll, 727.

Most other surveys I'm familiar with find Emanuel at around 40 percent or slightly above, with a huge undecided figure. If those folks break heavily against him and actually vote, he's headed for a runoff. But if they stay home—as some undecided voters are wont to do—or if he captures at least a third of them, it's time for him to write his inaugural speech.


Solid analysis there, it is within the margin of error and it all depends on what the undecideds do, if they even end up voting. So this result is not surprising to me, my prediction was that it will be very close, maybe even recount to see whether or not there is a run-off. It also helps that both polls, one with undecided as an option and the other not an option, are done by the same pollster.

As far as what you said about the odds of Rahm surviving a runoff thanks for clarifying that you are of the camp his odds would be better than 50%. I have gotten into vehement disagreements with people who say that Rahm's chances of winning a runoff are less than 50% (albeit usually anti-Rahm people) so it is interesting to hear the other side of the argument. So I say 50/50 given arguments about his funding but also taking into account the large anti-Rahm sentiment out there.
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  #126  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 5:48 AM
LouisVanDerWright LouisVanDerWright is offline
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I mean dear lord I think I actually read someone argue on here that Karen Lewis is machine!
Karen Lewis is machine... The machine was defined by organizing union and minority/immigrant support in a political machine that essentially created a feedback loop where these special interests received special favor in exchange for votes. The CTU is very much a part of the machine and Karen Lewis also represents the remnants of the African American wing of the democratic machine to some extent as well. She's a classic fat-cat union boss who was, until her illness, building a machine style collation. Just look at the number of CTU backed alderman attacking Rahm-allied aldermen in the current election.

Rahm is not so secretly anti union (just look at his buddy Rauner's actions today below), he only won the AA vote in the last election because of Obama, not the machine, he doesn't have any of the organization infrastructure that defines the machine (precinct captains, union alliances, borderline patronage at all turns, etc). If he doesn't have the machine style organizational structure, then he's not machine.
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  #127  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 5:52 AM
LouisVanDerWright LouisVanDerWright is offline
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And Team Rahm unleashes the first wave of carpet bombing:
Quote:
Pro-Emanuel super PAC targets Waguespack and Arena

The $2 million super PAC created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and strengthen his City Council majority is taking aim at another member of the Progressive Caucus and a second shot at one of Emanuel’s strongest critics.

Aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd) and John Arena (45th) are the targets of Chicago Forward’s latest offensive, while their Progressive Caucus colleague Nick Sposato (36th) gets a pass as he attempts to triumph over the field of candidates running for an open seat in the Northwest Side’s 38th Ward.

Last month, Chicago Forward blanketed the 32nd Ward with a costly direct-mail piece targeting Waguespack for casting one of four “no” votes against a 2015 budget that raised the city’s parking tax again to generate $10 million needed to double the year-round army assigned to patch potholes and repair crumbling streets...

More here:http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-...guespack-arena
Quote:
Emanuel super PAC rides to the rescue of 17 incumbent aldermen

The $2 million super PAC created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and strengthen his City Council majority is coming to the rescue of 17 of the mayor’s most loyal supporters.

Chicago Forward is hoping to put the mayor’s City Council floor leader, two of his aldermanic appointees and 14 other incumbents over the top with spending in the “healthy six-figure range” on direct-mail, robocalls and “digital communication.”

Becky Carroll, the longtime mayoral ally now serving as chairman and CEO of Chicago Forward, said it’s the first of a “steady drumbeat” of spending on aldermanic races she plans to roll out in the three weeks that remain before the Feb. 24 election.

The direct-mail piece blanketing the 29th Ward states, “Chicagoans deserve a $13 minimum wage. Ald. Deborah Graham delivered.” Similar mailers will be going out in the other 16 wards.

Beneficiaries of the first wave are among Emanuel’s most loyal supporters. All of them find themselves in contested races. Some are in trouble. Others can just use a little boost.

Joining Graham are the following aldermen: Will Burns (4th), Natashia Holmes (7th), Anthony Beale (9th), John Pope (10th), Joann Thompson (16th), Lona Lane (18th), Howard Brookins (21st), Mike Zalewski (23rd), Danny Solis (25th), Roberto Maldonado (26th), Deb Mell (33rd), Emma Mitts (37th), Marge Laurino (39th), Pat O’Connor (40th), James Cappleman (46th) and Debra Silverstein (50th)...

More here: http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-...mbent-aldermen
Rahm's allies are going to thrash the "Progressive Caucus" with the leftover cash they don't use to sink gang banger patron Chuy... I'm sure that's just the first such tidbit of low blow secrets Rahm is sitting on to slam Chuy with in the coming weeks. The onslaught is just beginning...
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  #128  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 6:48 AM
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Chicago103 Chicago103 is offline
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Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright View Post
Karen Lewis is machine... The machine was defined by organizing union and minority/immigrant support in a political machine that essentially created a feedback loop where these special interests received special favor in exchange for votes. The CTU is very much a part of the machine and Karen Lewis also represents the remnants of the African American wing of the democratic machine to some extent as well. She's a classic fat-cat union boss who was, until her illness, building a machine style collation. Just look at the number of CTU backed alderman attacking Rahm-allied aldermen in the current election.

Rahm is not so secretly anti union (just look at his buddy Rauner's actions today below), he only won the AA vote in the last election because of Obama, not the machine, he doesn't have any of the organization infrastructure that defines the machine (precinct captains, union alliances, borderline patronage at all turns, etc). If he doesn't have the machine style organizational structure, then he's not machine.
It is ironic that your follow up post after your response to me was about Rahm's PAC because that was going to be the first thing I was going to say as evidence that Rahm is using machine like tactics and has machine infrastructure. Sure PAC's are not the normal historical way machines have operated but it is keeping up with the times and just because it is "new" does not make it non-machine. If what you argued about Karen Lewis is machine like then it is also fair game to argue that PAC's are machine like as well. The problem with this argument is that "machine" is kind of in the eye of the beholder and one can just define it however they want to try and make a point about good vs. bad, black vs. white and Rahm is very good at cleverly saying that whatever he is is somehow "not machine" and everything other than him is "machine" or more generally "old Chicago". If this is kept up we could just continue the argument until it is so reductio ad absurdum that we can just label any candidate with any type of significant power structure (money, unions, corporations, political bosses, etc.) as "machine" and then I guess William Doc Walls is the only non-machine candidate for mayor.

Also even looking at who his PAC is attacking and supporting it is not as simple as "reform-non-machine" vs. "machine-old Chicago". If so I guess that means Waguespack and Arena are "machine" and Deb Mell (daughter of long time Alderman Dick Mell and sister of Patti Blagojevich) is "reform/non-machine. Granted I support some of the candidates his PAC is supporting such as my own Alderman Mike Zalewski (23rd, who BTW is machine). Also you made no response to what I said about Alderman Quinn (13th) supporting Rahm, that guy rose up in the ranks of Mike Madigan's machine, yes Madigan machine forces are behind Rahm this time, as old school machine as you can get putting up Rahm yard signs with machine infrastructure and tactics. Not to mention the fact that Richard M. Daley himself just pretty much endorsed Rahm.

In 2011 BOTH Rahm Emanuel and Gery Chico were machine candidates who got different factions of the machine and some non-machine voters. Rahm Emanuel got machine support from parts of the north side in 2011 in addition to some north lakefront progressive, transplants and African Americans. Gery Chico got the Southwest side machine, some far northwest and southeast side machine support and a majority of the Hispanic vote. Also Daley behind closed doors pretty much endorsed Rahm in 2011.

There is stuff I know that I can't document (maybe you can google it and find something) but as someone who was active in the 2011 campaign and lives and is active in southwest side politics I knew what was going on in the final weeks of that campaign. In Bridgeport the Daley forces endorsed Rahm at a meeting and there was almost open revolt among the 11th ward Democratic precinct captains and regulars between the Rahm and Chico forces. So as much as some people want to believe this revisionist history fairy tale that 2011 was about "reform" Rahm and machine Chico and everyone else I know that the truth is in reality 2011 was really about machine infighting over who gets to control post Richard M Daley Chicago. In fact if you combine Rahm Emanuel's and Gery Chico's vote count than 80% of the vote went for machine candidates in 2011.
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Last edited by Chicago103; Feb 10, 2015 at 7:08 AM.
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  #129  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 7:29 AM
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I guess my last point is that I really don't care if someone loves Rahm and thinks he is a wonderful mayor and hates Chuy and thinks he would be terrible but don't go around saying stuff like Rahm is reform and Chuy is machine, that is just laughable to anyone who has studied Chicago political history.

Anyone who thinks so needs to open up a book and read about Harold Washington and the council wars of the 1980's. Chuy was elected alderman as a Harold Washington ally in 1986 to counteract a pact of 29 machine Alderman. Harold Washington is still to this day considered the epitome of reform politics in Chicago and Chuy got his start in that era. While it is unfair to try and equate Rahm with the politics of the 1980's it is clear that he is more aligned with the remaining political descendants of the 29 machine anti-Washington Aldermen than any reformers from that era. In fact I can connect the dots for you, Rahm's PAC is supporting Deb Mell who who is the daughter of former Alderman Dick Mell who was a member of that 29 bloc of Alderman who for lack of a better word filibustered anything Washington did, in fact there is famous picture of Dick Mell standing on top of a desk and yelling during a city council meeting trying to appoint Harold Washington's successor after he died.

What is Rahm going to say next? Harold Washington was machine, Rahm invented the very notion of reform as an idea in politics for the human race that has been 100% dominated by machine forces since the dawn of mankind?!
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  #130  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 10:35 PM
LouisVanDerWright LouisVanDerWright is offline
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No, Rahm is using national level tactics on a local level. He is basically running a presidential campaign against these fishbait challengers. That is why he is not going to see a runoff. As far as knocking out alderman being a machine like tactic, it's not. That's just how the government of Chicago works. The Mayor has no real power by himself, maybe slightly more than any individual alderman, but he has the power to pit aldermen against each other and uses that power to build a coalition and control city council. That part of Chicago's government works very well.

Machine like tactics are street organizing entire neighborhoods to the point of intimidation and then handing out patronage to your best ward or precinct captains. That applies as well to organizing labor and then using it to force entire workforces to vote one way or another...
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  #131  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2015, 2:55 AM
bnk bnk is offline
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Ok enough kidding around kids



Rham has got this line BHO had slick HRC's

Balls in a swing



The BHO visit will siphon - 20 % of the hood that all rham needed anyway to not go to a run off



If rham did need a runoff



99%


He would win and if any punk did not think so ill k
Take your silly crap money as easily as stealing from a dead person





That said I want money from those that think rham has a 50/50






I will bet 2 k if it goes to it if you only pay $ 200



That's 10 to one odds against me


I will take all serious offers





Anyone that does not pay up in 90 days should be banned





Nothing Other to say
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  #132  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2015, 6:23 AM
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ardecila ardecila is offline
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Originally Posted by Chicago103 View Post
In fact I can connect the dots for you, Rahm's PAC is supporting Deb Mell who who is the daughter of former Alderman Dick Mell
You mean the same Deb Mell that is openly lesbian and recently directed Streets and San to start removing dibs? Not exactly old-school - it's a brave new world.

On the other hand, she's also Patti Blagojevich's sister, so maybe not.
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  #133  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2015, 7:04 PM
LouisVanDerWright LouisVanDerWright is offline
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
You mean the same Deb Mell that is openly lesbian and recently directed Streets and San to start removing dibs? Not exactly old-school - it's a brave new world.

On the other hand, she's also Patti Blagojevich's sister, so maybe not.
Yeah, just being friends with someone who has old school roots does not make you a machine politician. If that were the case, then every single politician in Chicagoland would be machine because there is literally no way to completely avoid these people. That's like saying John McCain is a Democrat simply because he has supported a few Democrats...
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  #134  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2015, 7:04 PM
the urban politician the urban politician is offline
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Originally Posted by bnk View Post
Ok enough kidding around kids



Rham has got this line BHO had slick HRC's

Balls in a swing



The BHO visit will siphon - 20 % of the hood that all rham needed anyway to not go to a run off



If rham did need a runoff



99%


He would win and if any punk did not think so ill k
Take your silly crap money as easily as stealing from a dead person





That said I want money from those that think rham has a 50/50






I will bet 2 k if it goes to it if you only pay $ 200



That's 10 to one odds against me


I will take all serious offers





Anyone that does not pay up in 90 days should be banned





Nothing Other to say
Another one of Bnk's drunken ramblings?
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  #135  
Old Posted Feb 13, 2015, 5:40 PM
SamInTheLoop SamInTheLoop is offline
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Who and What are Machine these days vs Who/What are not??

Interesting discussion above on who/what is and isn't machine these days.

It can always devolve into mere definitions and semantics, however I have to same I'm much more with Chicago103.

I still have trouble thinking anyone is arguing in good faith if they are presenting Rahm as any sort of outsider, reformer, or not fully part of the true inner spirit of good 'ole fashioned Chicagaww machine style politics. It just isn't so - at his core, that is not at all what he is about. If you actually believe that, it means he's likely pulled one over on you.

Think about it: If he's brought the machine into his fold, ie 90% or whatever of old fashioned machine politicians support him and work for him, etc - he hasn't changed the machine, and brought it over to his side - rather, he now is the machine (actually though, he never 'left' it)

Pinstripe patronage is still patronage. In an age where many are deluded into thinking corporations and hedge funds are people, and money is speech, those strategies - advancing policies and/or awarding contracts that your benefactors explicitly or implicitly want/expect in exchange for their campaign contributions - is in fact fully "machine". It's not at all about labor causes = machine, corporatism policies = not machine. That's not only a crude analysis, but a wrong one. Rahm is definitely a full-fledged member of the machine. Just because one may like some pro-business policies that he may (or actually may not) have, and one dislikes traditoinal, corrupt Chicagaww machine politics, does not in fact make Rahm not machine. Also, to try to make a case that Karen Lewis is more machine than Rahm is borders on laughable. She is definitely more of a legitimate 'outsider'.......
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  #136  
Old Posted Feb 13, 2015, 11:43 PM
bnk bnk is offline
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Another one of Bnk's ....truisms?
Just the truth. Rahm has this.

:micdropandout:



If you don't agree than try to

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  #137  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2015, 7:18 AM
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I don't think Rahm's behavior indicates he is a machine politician so much as just a politician in general. Rahm has embraced or at least co-opted many reformers like Forrest Claypool, while picking away at traditional Machine patronage sucks like Streets and San, CPS, and City Colleges. His tactics are those of a shrewd politician but not particularly old-school Chicago.
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  #138  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2015, 5:14 PM
LouisVanDerWright LouisVanDerWright is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop View Post
Interesting discussion above on who/what is and isn't machine these days.

It can always devolve into mere definitions and semantics, however I have to same I'm much more with Chicago103.

I still have trouble thinking anyone is arguing in good faith if they are presenting Rahm as any sort of outsider, reformer, or not fully part of the true inner spirit of good 'ole fashioned Chicagaww machine style politics. It just isn't so - at his core, that is not at all what he is about. If you actually believe that, it means he's likely pulled one over on you.

Think about it: If he's brought the machine into his fold, ie 90% or whatever of old fashioned machine politicians support him and work for him, etc - he hasn't changed the machine, and brought it over to his side - rather, he now is the machine (actually though, he never 'left' it)

Pinstripe patronage is still patronage. In an age where many are deluded into thinking corporations and hedge funds are people, and money is speech, those strategies - advancing policies and/or awarding contracts that your benefactors explicitly or implicitly want/expect in exchange for their campaign contributions - is in fact fully "machine". It's not at all about labor causes = machine, corporatism policies = not machine. That's not only a crude analysis, but a wrong one. Rahm is definitely a full-fledged member of the machine. Just because one may like some pro-business policies that he may (or actually may not) have, and one dislikes traditoinal, corrupt Chicagaww machine politics, does not in fact make Rahm not machine. Also, to try to make a case that Karen Lewis is more machine than Rahm is borders on laughable. She is definitely more of a legitimate 'outsider'.......
By your logic the entire Federal government is a part of the Chicago machine. The tactics he is using are the same as those used in nearly every federal race. The fact is that if you can't define who is machine and who is not anymore, then the machine has simply ceased to exist. The base of power for the Chicago machine was in the African American community and the unions, two groups that loathe Rahm for the most part. The machine was an organization of these groups to mobilize every last possible voter block by block, house by house, and completely bury any potential competition. Please show me where Rahm's network of block captains, precinct captains, union stooges, etc. is.

You can't because it doesn't exist. If he is winning a race by dumping 1%er money on his enemies that's literally the opposite of the bottom up approach the machine took. Rahm is going top down, he has the support of the elite and they are funding his propaganda campaign. That's how Federal races are won. The classic Chicago machine tactic was to win a campaign by getting mass support from huge sections of the population through a system of patronage, pay to play, and intimidation. It was, as I say above, a block by block, house by house, method. Please let me know when someone you know from your block comes to your door and tells you (they don't ask, they tell) to vote for Rahm. Please let me know when your union boss tells you that you won't get out of the union hall for any jobs if you don't vote for Rahm.

Rahm doesn't use those old school methods because he doesn't have to. When you really look at it, machine style politics are simply outdated in today's world. Rahm is running a campaign based on data and analytic. He has some very very smart people running his campaign who know how to take his pile of cash and use it in the right places at the right time to get the numbers he needs to win. He's going to avoid a runoff by maybe 5%. Why? Because he doesn't need any more than that. He could probably run up the tally into the 60's if he really wanted, but why do that? It would be a waste of money. If you don't think he doesn't know exactly where the numbers are right now you are crazy. The goal is to spend the minimum amount needed to win and then use the rest to consolidate power.

The only way you can call him machine is if you completely change the definition of the term. This is a 21st century campaign and it is being run by the same group of people who got Obama into office. This is an entirely new way of doing things. I know a lot of these people, it's all science at this point.
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  #139  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2015, 5:26 PM
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ardecila ardecila is offline
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Can I give the cutest candidate award to Alyx Pattison, 2nd Ward hopeful? I believe she is in a close race, so if elected she would certainly be the best-looking in Council.

Hard to see where she stands on development, the proof is usually in the pudding. On the other hand, she hasn't taken a crazy anti-developer stance at this point, which is good.

I think I like her opponent Brian Hopkins a little more as a candidate - dude worked with VOA to create his own plan for the upcoming Lake Shore Drive re-do, he's an avid cyclist, and I believe he has been involved with Gail Spreen and SOAR, possibly the most level-headed, pro-development neighborhood group in the city.

I think we can all agree that either candidate would be an upgrade over Fioretti.

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  #140  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2015, 2:02 AM
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Chicago103 Chicago103 is offline
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Might Rahm avoid a runoff? Sure, of course, but I think some of you are a bit overconfident about it.

http://www.ogdenfry.com/polls/2015Mayoral1.pdf

Poll without an undecided option February 14, 2015:

Rahm Emanuel 49.2%
Chuy Garcia 23.0%
Willie Wilson 14.4%
Bob Fioretti 8.6%
William Walls 4.9%
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