If You See Something, Say Something, And Get $10,000

By Scott Smith in News on Jul 27, 2005 11:30AM

Have you ever been around a bratty little kid that was so desperate for attention that he or she would say the most outlandish thing possible just to make people turn quickly and his or her direction and exclaim “Tell me I did not just hear those words come out of your mouth!”

Yesterday that bratty child was the Cook County Republican Party when it announced a $10,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with evidence that leads to the indictment and conviction of Mayor Daley for violations of the Shakman Decree (the Encyclopedia of Chicago gives you the lowdown on the Shakman Decrees here). It was a little much when they unveiled their 312-WHISTLE phone number so Chicagoans would have an easy way to report corruption in case they couldn’t find John Kass’s e-mail address at the Tribune. But this is just pure genius masquerading as insanity. Or possibly vice versa. At the very least you have to admire the showmanship as well as the CCGOP’S strategy of substituting outlandish behavior for positions on the issues (somebody must have found an old playbook of Alan Keyes’s lying around somewhere).

The Trib’s Charlie Madigan thinks the GOP’s whole problem is that they’re nothing but a bunch of cheapskates while Mayor Daley's press secretary called the move "ridiculous, politically motivated and undeserving of further comment." Daley's promises to turn city hiring over to an independent commission are pretty surprising considering his previous feelings on the ol' Shakman Decree. Overall, we think it sounds like nothing more than a whole lot of kettles and a whole lot of pots calling each other black.