Election Today!! (and some random thoughts)

Aldermanic and mayoral elections are today, 6am-7pm. Find out where your polling place is HERE. Seriously, find out right now.


On a completely unrelated note, I found a 20 minute Q & A with David Simon, creator of HBO's the Wire. The video was taken from Loyola University (the one in Maryland). If you're wondering why The Wire is probably, without hyperbole, the best television show in history, one of the biggest reasons is that it came straight from this guy's noggin.



That's part 2 of a 3 part series on YouTube.

The basic idea is that the manufacturing fallout in this country, beginning in the 70s and nearly complete today, has created an existential crisis for an entire generation of people. There's no longer any demand for the kind of unskilled labor that many urban blacks and rural and small town whites used to depend on for a living. No legitimate demand at least. Thanks to some Columbian and Nicaraguan entrepeneurs, there is a huge black market demand for unskilled labor in the underground drug market. So when we ask people in the inner cities to "say no to drugs", we're asking them, in Simon's words, to say no to "the only viable economic engine in their community"-- and doing so without giving them an alternative to which they can say "yes". Not only that, but the "war" against this drug market has created entrenched institutional problems in the police force, giving them less incentive to solve "real" crimes (against people), and the downward cycle of the inner city continues. Simon used to be a reporter on the crime beat in Baltimore, so he knows what he's talking about here*. And he says it better than I have in any case, so I'd encourage you to check out the full 3-part discussion on YouTube.

Oh, and in case you don't believe me about The Wire being the best thing on TV, here's a clip of Snoop (an enforcer for a local gang) stopping by Hope Depot for a new nail gun. The nail gun's for boarding up old row houses that they've been using to hide bodies. It's a classic meeting of the two Americas that Simon's talking about above.



And on that note.... Happy Voting, Mothaf#%#$@!

*I originally said, mistakenly, that Simon was a narcotics police in Baltimore. In fact, that was the other co-creator of The Wire, Ed Burns. No, not that Ed Burns. This Ed Burns.

Last Day for Early Voting

You can vote early in the 49th Ward's aldermanic election, at least until this afternoon.

Polls are open till 5pm at Pottawattomie Park, on Ridge Ave. just west of Clark.

"Is you is, or is you ain't my constituency?"*

Sticking to the issue of campaign contributions, there's no shortage of interesting stuff to be found in Adams' D-2s.

Like this:

Searle, Gideon and Nandy Occupation: President Employer: Serafin Group

92 Woodley Rd. Winnetka, IL 60093

$2,500.00 9/14/2006

Individual Contribution Friends of Chris Adams

Mr. Searle, of Winnetka, is on the board of trustees for American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy (AEI). AEI is a right wing conservative group, largely funded by Exxon Mobil. The group made recent headlines for offering climatologists $10,000 de facto bribes to publicly come out against the UN's latest IPCC report, which said humans were responsible for global warming trends.

Mr Seale, and the Serafin Group (also listed in certain places as "Seratin Group") have been active contributors to political campaigns in the past. Unsuprisingly, all previous donations-- prior to Mr Adams-- have gone to true-blue (red?) Republicans. Namely, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin's 1st district, and Richard Keller of Florida's 8th district.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, per se. Adams is probably the most conservative candidate running in the 49th this year, and he's bound to get support from Republicans. I don't think it's very representative of the people of this ward, though-- which perhaps explains why so many of Adams' big donors live elsewhere.

Speaking of which... holy ----!:

Herro, David

65 E. Goethe St. Chicago, IL 60610

$15,000.00 2/10/2007

1A Friends of Chris Adams

That's not an in-kind donation, so far as I can tell. That's 15 large, cash money. Why Mr. Gerro, an investment broker from the Gold Coast, is so generous in an election outside of his ward is a mystery to me. Unless I put my cynical hat on, in which case it's a little more clear, but a lot more depressing.

*Title and picture shamelessly ripped off from this great movie.

Don Gordon's four year plan: "Corruption free by 2011!"

Talk from would-be politicians is cheap. Any sap can, and does, offer up countless statements like, "If I'm elected Alderman, I'll do X"-- the only cost being whatever energy it takes to move his lips (and maybe make a few sweeping arm gestures). Of course, smart voters can catalog these statements and compare them the candidate's actions once elected. But by the time he or she is in office, accountability has to wait-- in the case of alderman, another 4 years. This is an unavoidable feature of our political system, and the only thing voters can do is make a judgement on whether a candidate is trustworthy on a certain issue, and then have a steel trap for a memory.

The great thing about campaign financing, though, is that it's one of the only issues on which a candidate can show their bonafides before they're elected. There's no need for cheap promises on how you fund your campaign-- if you're running for office and taking contributions, you've already got a record by which voters can judge you. Unless you're Don Gordon:

"And most importantly I have pledged to accept no campaign contributions from anyone as long as I’m alderman. With no financial conflicts of interest, I’ll be accountable to 49th Ward voters."

I'll give it to Gordon, it's a very clever way to phrase things. He won't accept campaign contributions "as long as he's alderman". Conveniently enough for his current campaign, he's not alderman right now. So he has and will continue to take the same kind of developer money that he's been blasting Moore about. Here's a link to his D-2's, with all the sad sordid details.

Gordon is a challenger with no previous political experience, so he's understandably making his fair share of "Once I'm elected..." type promises. Unfortunately, on the one issue that gives him a chance to actually step up to the plate right now, he's decided to stick with the cheap promises and easy money.

Note: When he says "with no financial conflicts of interest [next election], I'll be acountable to 49th Ward voters", does that mean that this election cycle, while he's raking it in, he's not accountable?

Note 2: I posted something along these lines on Craig's blog-- perfectly polite and disclosing my volunteer work for Ginderske-- and he deleted it within the hour. Ready to give up the pretense that you're impartial yet, Craig?