Call It A Comeback
Steve Neal of the Sun-Times is running an excellent series of columns on the upcoming Aldermanic races. This is an excellent series and well done.
The columns on the 12th, 20th and 18th are probably the best in learning about Chicago politics and how it works.
Here it is. Segal has been targeted by the most aggressive federal prosecutor since Jim Thompson, and well, frankly, Patrick Fitzgerald is probably more aggressive than Thompson since it doesn’t appear Patrick Fitzgerald has any political goals in Illinois. Peter Fitzgerald is responsible for placing him, and it has produced excellent results.
While no single guy can clean up Northern Illinois, there are more active investigations of politicians and corruptions at one time than at any time I can remember, and these are the ones we know about.
Oh please, no. Poshard is thinking of getting in the Senate Race. Poshard is a nice guy and clearly a stand up guy, but he is too conservative and too old. One of the promising aspects of this race is that there are excellent young candidates running.
If he wants to be of service to the State of Illinois, take out Shimkus.
Sneed also calls into question some of the numbers in the DCFS missing kids problem. I’ve largely ignored the issue because the original reports made it sound mild. If Sneed is correct, the problem is quite significant.
Asks Slate.
They kind of let her off the hook and certainly don’t draw a conclusion.
The nearly five-year investigation did turn up some splurges, like a $4,000 tab at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui, but the agency declined to take legal action, citing a lack of resources. The Justice Department similarly turned down two requests from the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Moseley-Braun for criminal misappropriation of campaign funds.
Moseley-Braun seems to think she was vindicated. Not only was she not vindicated, she demonstrated incredibly bad judgment.
It looks like some operatives out there are trying to tie the Madigan line about indiscretions on the part of Blagojevich to an extramarital affair. The story hasn’t broke that I have seen and my guess is there isn’t anything to it. It is ugly politics though.
As I predicted in my Political State Report article on the death of Sis Daley, John Kass is pushing for the Chicago Cultural Center to be renamed for her again. He had pushed the idea previously, but she had called and asked him to not continue.
I agree with Kass and would hope that it becomes so.
Via Centerpoint–
Apparently there is speculation that three ships might contain Iraqi chemical or biological weapons. The ships have been sailing around in circles for months and even stranger they are maintaining radio silence.
What isn’t said in the article is what seems pretty clear to me–that before hostilities break out, those ships will have to be taken by the US and Great Britain. If, by chance, they do have biological or chemical weapons they could be used on ports in a terrorist attack.
Virginia Postrel points out the Weyrich letter to The New Republic isn’t even about an article in TNR and that it is weird. She is correct. Then again, Lind and Weyrich are pretty weird guys.
At the Political State Report
–Sis Daley
–New Gov Stumbles sort of
–Quick profile of IL Democratic Senate Candidate for 2004.
but he caught another problem with Lott’s work. Apparently the parabola does not fit, but one must not acquit…
Drip, drip, drip…
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