Mayor Daley’s “Business Roundtable”
So, Mayor Daley today convened Chicago business leaders for a “roundtable discussion” of how to improve the local economy.
No doubt Hizzoner will spend at least some time drumming up support for his “Runway to Nowhere” O’Hare expansion debacle.
But we wonder if the business leaders in attendance will speak truth to power in urging the mayor to ease up on the fee increases that seem to be hitting Chicago workers and residents left and right … and to pressure Todd Stroger and his allies on the county board to repeal the massive sales taxes enacted last year.
If local tax relief - especially something as harmful to local businesses as sales taxes - isn’t on the agenda, then the roundtable is useless.
In reality, however, Daley is just using this roundtable as an example of his thoughtfulness before pressuring his friend (the President) to send big federal funds his way so he can dole them out in nice contracts to friends, cronies and politically-connected contracts.
Headline of the Year
This headline about sums up Illinois politics:
Obama sworn in, Blagojevich fingerprinted
A Day of ‘Change’ … but not in Cook County
So many thousands of our fellow Cook County citizens will watch with pride today as Barack Obama is sworn in as our Nation’s 44th President. Though we have fundamental policy disagreements with President-elect Obama, the country’s success depends upon his success, and so we hope and pray that he is able to lead our country through these trying times.
And, while tens of millions of voters across this country voted for “change” in the last election, we are, unfortunately, getting more of the same here in Cook County.
In what has become an annual January “county budget tradition” - the political insiders are once again pushing to protect the jobs of political patronage workers while sacking the taxpayers with more debt and higher taxes ($740 million in new bonds.)
Don’t be fooled by today’s festivities…here in Cook County, the more things “change”, the more they stay the same.
Can Burris Avoid the Blagojevich Taint?
In today’s press conference in which it was announced Rod Blagojevich would be appointing him to the U.S. Senate seat, Roland Burris brushed off media questions about whether his appointment would be “tainted” by the indictment of the governor.
Of course, the governor highlighted Burris’ supposed independence by noting they were opponents in the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
What what’s happened since that election?
Well, for one thing, Burris has been a pretty hefty contributor to the governor. In fact, state campaign finance reports shows that he’s a pretty regular $1,000 contributor to Blagojevich’s campaign coffers - including a $1,000 contribution as recently as June of this year.
He also a contributor to much-maligned and machine-supported Cook County Board President Todd Stroger - and Burris’ lobbying firm (in which he is a partner) has contributed to Stroger’s 8th Ward Regular Democratic Organization.
And, as we noted in this post, Burris’ business partner, Fred Lebed, is a longtime Cook County political insider who once served as Cook County Board President John Stroger’s top lieutenant.
Further, in a post entitled, Burris’ Pay-to-Play Political History, the editor at Illinois Review highlights some of Burris’ more “interesting” lobbying clients.
Bottom line: there is a reason Blagojevich tapped Burris for this seat. He called Burris. Burris answered the call and said “yes” to his political friend, Rod Blagojevich.
Roland Burris is not an independent voice for this U.S. Senate seat. He has close ties to the Cook County political machine and is a major contributor to Rod Blagojevich.
Let’s hope the media does their work on this and bets Burris properly. In the end, due to judicial precedent, it might not matter. But the voters of Illinois deserve an honest vetting of this potential U.S. Senator - and a spotlight shined on the contined dubious activities of our machine politicians.
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