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It’s A High Ol’ Time In Rahm’s Old Stomping Grounds…

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on January 11, 2009 at 3:07 PM in Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Chicago politics, Corruption, Current Affairs, Illinois, Rahm Emanuel, Richard Daley

According to John Kass in this VERY good piece from January 9, Chickens Dancing, Roosting in 5th District (major H/T to KenoshaMarge via NH). I tell you, that is one courageous man given how so many of Obama’s critics, or people close to him, are silenced tout suite. But that as not stopped Kass. He has continued to speak “truth to power” no matter the risk, one of the very, very few in the MSM to do so. But speak Kass does, thank all the powers there are…

The most recent piece by Kass deals with an issue about which very few people are talking: Rahm Emanuel’s seat. Yeah, right? Hardly anyone is talking about who is going to fill his seat:

With the eyes of the nation on the saga of Tombstone Burris—and our Illinois politicians hopping predictably toward impeaching the governor like those dancing chickens at the state fair—don’t forget another vacant congressional seat of prime importance to the Obama White House.

Until last week, it belonged to U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak), now chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama, who ran on the platform of bringing reform to American politics.

With so many new readers from strange lands finally getting interested in how Chicago works—and by this I mean the editorial boards of many American newspapers—you might start by learning about Emanuel’s 5th District.

It is dominated by the shadow governor of Illinois, state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin’?), the state central Democratic committeeman, the fellow who’ll decide who gets slated by the party, the guy behind the guys.


Say, whaaaa? You mean there are more Chicago-style politics going on in the state even though good ol’ Blago has been charged with some shenanigans? Of course, you know that type of politics has NOTHING to do with Obama, or emanuel, or Emil Jones , or any other Chicago politician, right? Oh, sure:

Emanuel’s district runs from the historically mob-dominated town of Melrose Park on east, through Elmwood Park into the city, to Chicago’s Viagra Triangle along Rush Street. No, how you doin’?

Jimmy’s not talking to me these days. He didn’t like the columns about his luxury car leasing deals and those trips to the casino in Aruba with that other big risk-taker, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

Yeah, that Jesse White.

That is from the, “you can’t make this shit up” file. Kass continues:

Yet there is another expert on Emanuel’s political rise, the world’s foremost authority in the field:

Don Tomczak.

Unfortunately, Mr. Tomczak, a top political operative for that other famous reformer, Mayor Richard Daley, is indisposed.

Tomczak will be indisposed until July 3, 2010, when he is scheduled to get out of federal prison, where he was sent after pleading guilty to taking $400,000 in bribes for city trucking contracts in that department Daley still doesn’t know anything about.

“Mr. Tomczak was a gentleman of the old school,” his lawyer, Patrick Cotter, said the other day. “That was the only way he was ever taught to do things. That’s not an excuse, but it is an explanation.”

“A gentleman of the old school”? That’s a LEGAL defense these days?? Oh, no – just in Chicago, the very place in which Obama CHOSE to begin his political career. Hmmm – I wonder why:

Years ago, Daley put Tomczak in charge of an illegal political army of stooges on the city payroll who worked elections to get promotions and overtime to benefit Daley’s machine.

City Hall allowed Tomczak to bring the Democratic army out to Will County to elect his son Jeff as a Republican state’s attorney. But the important work was in the city, where Tomczak muscled for Emanuel in 2002.

There were hundreds of Tomczak/Daley stooges knocking on doors, manning precincts, passing literature for Emanuel to install him and knock out a true progressive local Democrat, Nancy Kaszak.

Tomczak testified to this at a federal trial of other convicted Daley patronage chiefs. The mayor was so upset that his mouthpiece, David Axelrod, felt compelled to write an op-ed piece in the Tribune that took the side of patronage and clout, saying it wasn’t all that bad, really.

Well, if AXELROD said it “wasn’t all that bad,” then surely, it wasn’t (cough, choke):

Simultaneously, Axelrod was massaging the message for Obama about transcending the old, corrupt politics and ushering in the sunshine of reform, a slogan that sent tingles up the legs of pundits.

After Tomczak cooperated and testified, Emanuel defended Daley and denied any knowledge of the Tomczak army that elected him.

“I am not here to excuse any illegal acts or the violation of the public trust,” said Emanuel at a lunch at the City Club. “Corruption is corruption. It cannot be excused and it cannot be overlooked.”

But he did overlook it, saying Daley didn’t know what was going on at City Hall because the mayor “outsourced” his politics, and Rahm didn’t know who sent Tomczak and hundreds of knuckle-draggers to install him in Congress to do the people’s business.

And now this pause until we can all stop laughing. Rahm claims Daley didn’t know what was going on or that he was clueless about the legion of people out drumming up support on his behalf (wow, does THAT ever sound familiar). And that corruption cannot be tolerated???? Oh, hahahaha – that’s a good one, Rahm! You card, you!

Okay – now that we’ve wiped our eyes from laughing ’til we cried at this massive hooeyfication, get this:

“I guess when you have hundreds of city workers show up to help you on your campaign, you don’t ask any questions,” said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, in an interview Thursday.

“Rahm is one of the few people who defended the mayor in these corruption scandals. He’s a creature of Chicago politics. As Mayor Daley benefited from Tomczak’s efforts, so did Rahm Emanuel,” Stewart said.

I have a question. Do ANY of these people believe the crap that comes spewing out of their mouths? I mean, REALLY – any one of them? I’m just asking because I cannot imagine saying stuff like this and not crack up laughing, or feel compelled to TELL THE TRUTH, but that’s just me.

Meanwhile – Rahm defended Daley from all of the corruption scandals? For real? And now he’s Obama’s right-hand man? Wowie zowie:

Now that Emanuel is working to help Obama bring reform to the nation, 5th Congressional District candidates will eagerly rub up against Jimmy DeLeo, and the lucky one will get a kiss on the cheek. DeLeo is having a big meet soon at the Zam Zam Banquet Hall, and the neighborhood will be awash in the sound of puckering.

But do chickens really have lips?

In the meantime, Blagojevich will be impeached and his Senate appointee, Burris, will fill Obama’s seat.

Tombstone will ooze into the job the way lime Jell-O fills one of those terrifying fish-shaped molds your grandmother keeps in her cupboard. So no real surprises there.

But if you really want to see dancing chickens, watch what happens in the 5th Congressional District.

Emanuel will want someone to sit still and keep the eggs warm until he’s ready to reclaim his nest. And here’s my question.

Are they chickens, or are they just dancers?

jskass@tribune.com

I’m sorry, too – but it had to be done, don’t you think (and trust me when I tell you I found the shortest, best one!)?

I guess only time will tell for these Chicago-style politicians – both in IL and in DC…

  • http://Godhelpusall lee M

    This bit of information leads me to believe that all the broohaha about Blagojevich was started as a red-herring to keep attention away from the bigger fish.

    The tapes that Patrick Fitzgerald is holding should have been made accessible to Blagojevich’s attorney.
    They were not even given to the panel impeaching the governor. And why was the Chicago Tribune so impatient to go to print that they pulled the rug out from under Fitzpatrick before he was ready to go public? Or did they?

    This whole mess stinks to high heaven. I hope if Blagojevich knows where all the bodies are buried he sings to the skies (or Fitzpatrick) and enables the bodies to be disenterred and let the sun shine in. He is probably using his knowledge as an insurance policy and I’ll bet the whole thieving, conniving dirty bunch are lying awake at night, or if they’re sleeping they must be having nightmares.

    I don’t know anything about Roland Burris, but I hope he hangs in there and teaches Dirty Harry Reid and Sick Dick Durbin a lesson. They don’t own the United States Senate – The People of America do, and it’s time the people stood up and insisted on allegience to the Constitution.

    If everything we hear about Rahm Emanuel and Chicago is true (or even half of it) Gov.Blagojevech had better watch his back. He could go the way of Jimmy Hoffa.

    The pillaging of our country is at stake, and that’s no small potatoes.

    • tek

      LeeM: I think there may well be something in what you say. It does seem odd that Fitzpatrick would break all this crap just before the inauguration unless it’s covering up something even worse. And who could doubt it? With the way Obama got on the ticket and the cess pool politics he hatched out of, there’s probably so much dirt to cover up they’ll be at it from now on.

      I don’t want to see the country fail, but I would love to see Obama outed for what he really is.

  • Strawberrybitch

    Why?

  • http://ezinearticles.com/?Three-Basic-Parenting-Styles&id=744499 Northwest rain

    They are gearing up to steal the whole US treasury — by practicing the art of misdirection.

    I will have no sympathy for the zombie Obots — when they get ready to retire they’d best be prepared to eat grass and sleep in trees.

    • tek

      Northwest Rain: there is no “whole U. S. Treasury.” Bush emptied it 7 years ago.

  • http://deleted Buzz Latte LaRue

    Oh, it’s entirely possible to believe that Obama is woven in and around all of the Blago and Rezko illegalities and that Fitzgerald has more than enough to torpedo both Obama and his ever lovely (gag) wife. Obama and his wife may indeed be the bigger fish.

    This all becomes an issue of timing and lighting. When will it be the right time to bring Obama’s complicity to light?

    Rahm Emanuel is just another cog in the Chicago combine. Why does Obama need to keep Emanuel so close to him?

    Does anyone else see the resemblance between the lego people and Blagojevich in the You-tube clip? LOL!

    • http://baddemocrat08.wordpress.com obamastolemyboyfriend

      Do you really think Fitz will go after the Obamas? I’d like to believe that, but then why let Obama become POTUS in the first place. If anyone could have stopped it it was Fitz and the Rezko trial, but no, someone made sure it was off the radar nationally. Most bots don’t even know what Rezko means!

    • CentralMass

      I think it is more likely that Fitzgerald won’t even issue a traffic citation that will stick.

  • Screw-The-DNC

    I am not shocked by ANYTHING that leaks out about the bowels of Chicago politics. And I use the word bowels very intentionally because most of the Chicago politicians I know of are full of shit!

  • Diana L. C.

    I, too, am not surprised. But somehow, I feel the whole DNC is IN on all of this and has already arranged a cover up of great magnitude–thus the recent move by Pelosi. It’s amazing how much I now distrust the Dems the way I always distrusted the Repubs (and still do).

    I have no hope that any of this will ultimately matter to our new “Messiah’s” current path into sainthood. (gag!) I certainly put no faith in any of the people who voted for The One.

    No matter how many times I tried to explain my disgust for the Chicago politial machine and its connection to The One, every one of my mostly pretty highly educated friends said basically the same thing: “So? All politicians are corrupt, so we just vote the issues: stem cells, aborthion, stopping the war, etc.” (I was just always flabbergasted that they didn’t seem bothered by corruption any more.)

    And as of now, most of them have not yet voiced to me any concern about O’s inability to stick to the positions he ran on, even any of the many positions on the same issues.

    They are just blindly sure that everything is now oool with the Dems in charge. I believe the Repubs are remaining fairly quiet because they know, given their Rovian-style track record, none of O’s followers will believe them either. I think they are just hoping against hope that somehow, some way another Deep Throat-type uncovering of the crimes will occur.

    I have lost hope and have just started to make myself do mind games–you know all the “what ifs”–to save myself and my family from the consequenes of everything that may occur.

  • jwrjr

    Sounds like Mr. Kass will have a difficult time buying Life Insurance.

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Lol – good one, jwrjr!!

      And Diana, I know just what you mean. I simply cannot understand my Obot family members who shrug off all of the negatives abt Obama, his flip flopping (read: downright reversals of positions), or how he got where he is today because he is just so DREAMY. So there’s that…

      But that the Dems are acting WORSE than the Repubs just sickens me. I cannot, absolutely cannot, believe this is the party to which I had been so loyal, and defended, for years and years. What Pelosi and Reid have done/are doing is just shocking. Truly, it is the tyranny of the majority. They forget that they will not always be IN the majority. Payback is a bitch. (Remember when we were screaming abt filibusters and how the Reps couldn’t take that possibility away? Then Pelosi comes along and does something even WORSE with striking the Fairness Rule. Whaaaaa????)

      So now we have Obama pictured as a Superhero on Ms. Mag’s cover, and soon, on Spiderman. WHAT has this man EVER done that merits this glorification?? What??? NOTHING but good PR.

      Oh – one last thing – all the same people who screamed abt Bush’s costumes abd strutting abt have no problem with Obama creating his own seal, or his own OFFICE of the President Elect. Isn’t that astonishing?

      • Ani

        And now this pause until we can all stop laughing.

        Rev. Amy,

        You rock, Miss Thing. What else can I say. Thanks for this piece.

        Yes, Kass is courageous indeed and I hope he doesn’t stop.

        I too am having a tough time reconciling how I was so loyal to the Democratic Party all these years when I see how they are behaving now. I just have to remind myself that it is the current horrid leadership and hoi polloi surrounding them (and him), and not every one in the bunch.

        • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

          Thanks, Ani – I appreciate that! Good point, too…

          Thanks everyone for all of the good comments!

  • ritamary

    The only conclusion I can come to: for most Democrats political corruption matters only when the politician has an R behind his/her name. Dems are out to scrounge up whatever crumbs the Republicans have left behind after eight years.

  • TeakwoodKite

    A tough hood creates all kinds of friendships.

    What will happen next?

    They never had green lego trees when I was growing up… :)

  • avwrobel

    I’ll admit it all does make for fun reading though. The only people who seem to really care about the country are the centrist independents and blue-dog Democrats. But this will all be a sideshow when Obama is declared ineligible for the office of President by the Supremes when they FINALLY get to the fact that he was born in Kenya. I’m trying to figure out WHY Obama ran for office KNOWING (he studied the Constitution as a lawyer) he was ineligible. I’m beginning to believe that when he started out he didn’t really think he would beat Hillary, and that his campaign would just help him accumulate more power and position him as THE leader of black America. But the ball got rolling and he won, and now he’s hoping that SOMEHOW the issue will go away. Even though the MSM is refusing to report this issue so far, its not going anywhere. The sooner Obambi is sent packing back to Chicago, the better. Then we can all get down to the business of fixing our problems.

  • ILBlue

    From the moment Obama gave that speech in 2004 at the Dem Convention It was clear he intended to run for POTUS.

    With his connections and ACORN HE KNEW IT WAS IN THE bag .

    He behaved as if he already was POTUS from the very beginning of his campaign.

    He never wanted to be Senator, that was just a stepping stone.

    As one from IL. he began to campaign nationwide the moment he won the Senate seat . He was always traveling for Photo shoots- magazine interviews and Selling his books.

    Don’t forget the first day or two he sat in a meeting at the Senate he wrote a note saying “Just Shoot Me Now.” And his record of showing up at Committe meetings was very poor, as I remember reading well over a year ago, and he didn’t stay more than 15 minutes most times.

    Obama wasn’t interested in anything to do with the Senate unless there was MSM around I remember reading as well.

    • Ani

      How I wish that his atttiude had been made clear to the American public a long time ago — it would have been so nice had the press corps done their jobs and exposed this on a broad basis when it counted for something.

      A day late and a dollar short, now.

      Thanks, ILBlue for posting.

  • ILBlue

    I’m sorry but forgot to mention good post.

    I find John Cass as refreshing to say the least. First heard him on the local Chicago Radio on talk radio.

    It nice to see a Journalist who does’t pant after that ‘ONE” .

    He is really funny as well. :)

  • http://Godhelpusall lee M

    To avwrobel:

    Obama ran for POTUS knowing that he was ineligible because he had been assured by his backers with the big money and power that it could be arranged and no one would dare question his qualificaations. Big Money and Power can do many things. Even buy a presidency with no questions asked.

    Don’t expect any interference from SCOTUS. This was a done deal 4 years ago.

    • avwrobel

      I hope you’re wrong. Justice Roberts is set to hear the case Jan 23rd. I wonder what Obama and his lawyers are cooking up between Jan 20th and the 23rd.