Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
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Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
At Wednesday's first meeting of the newly installed Cook County Board, Todd Stroger kept his first promise of the new term — moving to appoint a tougher, more independent inspector general. Under a bill introduced by Commisioners Mike Quigley and John Daley, a new inspector general will soon have broader powers of oversight across all county offices. Assumed to be retired Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki, thanks to an agreement between the county and attorney Michael Shakman and approved by a federal judge, the county escapes a potential lawsuit.
Besides taking the easy step of beginning the process to appoint the new IG, this move frees the county of the requirements of the Shakman Decree by 2009. And the Cook County Board President's office can maintain the IG under the executive. While this IG may be tougher and more independent, there is no guarantee that future monitors will be as responsive. Stroger also dodged another campaign promise (and, in Chicagoist's opinion, one that is far more important) — firing J.W. Fairman, the director of the juvenile detention center that Stroger vowed to fire (along with all other supervisors) back in October.
The Cook County state's attorney's office also announced on Wednesday that they have determined that Stroger will only have the power to vote on the Board in cases where a tie-breaker is needed. Not that it matters, as William Beavers made abundantly clear: "He don't need to vote; I'm his vote.... So why does he need to vote? The only time the mayor of the city of Chicago votes is when it's a tie." While Beavers was making a point about how parliamentary procedures work in other parts of local government (we think), his statement certainly alludes to a suspicion that we have had all along — that the Daley Machine is systemically linked to the 7th and 8th Wards, and therefore the county board.
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You've got to hand it to Beavers ... he is so arrogant that he just comes right out and says what's on his mind. When Stroger beat out Peraica, he beamed and declared that the machine had delivered.
As Mary Mitchell so aptly put it, "These elected officials aren’t even pretending to be interested in public service."
um, does anyone else want to join me in jumping over to the republican side? maybe it won't be so scary if there are a few of us. anyone? huh? they can't be that bad, can they? they certainly can't be any worse than the dumbocrats. i mean, they are the party of nelson rockefeller, barry goldwater, andrew sullivan, william weld and peter fitzgerald...
whaddaya think? is it a date?
Andrew Sullivan is supposed to make me feel like it's okay to change to the GOP? Please, he's one of the largest hypocrites on the Republican tip.
define 'hypocrite' in this case.
This is not a party problem, it is a problem of representatives who do not have to do anything for people they represent to get re-elected.
Democrats and Republicans both should be ashamed of themselves for gerrymandering districts to the point 80-90% of districts are all but guaranteed. Imagine, politicians that had to do something for people in order to win re-election.
Andrew Sullivan is NOT a Republican. I read his site daily. He is a "conservative of doubt" as he likes to say. More libertarian than anything else.
He is NOT a "conservative of certainty" which many Repubs claim to be. "Certainty" meaning the "religious right"........
if 'republican' means someone who has no fiscal responsibility, lives for big government and adheres more to the fables in the bible than the U.S. Constitution, then i guess yeah, sullivan isn't a republican. and neither was goldwater or reagan.