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2005-09-09 Home Front: Economy

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Posted by anonymous5089 2005-09-09 10:25|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 To paraphrase - Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The Great Chicago machine vs. the snow 1979 -

"In three short months, much had changed. Bilandic was responsible for his own fall as Mayor of Chicago and leader of the powerful Chicago Democratic Machine. But a record-setting snowfall that pounded the city with more than 78 inches of snow from its first big fall on New Year's Eve all the way up until the sun shined bright on Primary Election Day, on February 27, made the implausible Bilandic defeat a certainty.

Shaken by the first snowfall of 22 inches on New Year's Eve, Bilandic moved to "take charge," announcing plans to clear streets and warning residents to relocate their cars to nearby school parking lots he said had been cleared of snow.

When Bilandic said he had cleared the school lots, everyone in the media believed him and only a vigilant night editor at the Chicago Tribune had decided to send reporters to check the plan. The Tribune discovered that the lots, three days later, were still buried deep in snow mounds.

Bilandic's aides believed the problem was with the media coverage, not growing voter anger at the sudden burst of incompetence. A series of columns by Mike Royko that touted Byrne, had later been credited with giving Byrne a 35,000 vote edge to her campaign. Chief of Staff Tom Donovan arranged for Bilandic to tour the snow-smothered city by helicopter. He extended a private invitation to the fulltime City Hall reporters to meet with Bilandic "informally" in his office without all the TV cameras and non-beat press.

As we walked into the mayor's private inner office on the 5th floor, we had to restrain our laughter. Sitting under a portrait of the Boss, Bilandic wore a dark blue knit cap on his head, not fully pulled over his cranium, but bunched up and tilting to one side, like he was one of Spanky's Gang. He also wore a long sleeved undershirt pulled over his heavily starched white shirt and blue patterned tie. The beige, bubbled cotton winter shirt appeared too tight, forcing his gold-cuffed linked shirt sleeves to hang out the ends.

"You know," Bilandic began, "we tried but it's not our faults. It's the way they are making car locks. You can't get in there with a wire and unlock the locks so we couldn't move the cars. They don't make cars the way they used too."

He looked right at Golden and began, "You know, Harry Ã¢â¬Â¦ "

Golden nodded as if to get every word down. But I looked at Golden's narrow yellow notepad and saw he was simply sliding his pen back and forth creating dark lines. This went on for an hour. And as we rushed back to our desks, Golden blurted out loud, "I think that Janie Byrnes has driven him nuts. Aaaargh! Aaaargh! Aaaargh!"

For seven weeks, controversy followed controversy.

News that Bilandic had given his former pal and deputy Mayor Ken Sain a $90,000 contract to write a snow removal report that no one could find, rocked his administration. Trying to appease the city's white voters, Bilandic ordered CTA trains and buses to by-pass inner-city stops for outlying city neighborhoods and the suburbs. Blacks, Hispanics and other residents left standing on the CTA platforms watched helplessly as the trains rushed past.

As the snow brought the world's busiest airport to its knees, Bilandic had his socialite wife Heather filming campaign commercials that touted O'Hare Airport's national awards. Meanwhile, passengers remained stranded and their luggage piled up in the airport lobbies like mounds of unplowed snow.

Bilandic refused to believe polling that showed his popularity dropping and Byrne's popularity rising.

At a luncheon for his top precinct captains, Bilandic explained his troubles by comparing himself to Jesus Christ and the Shah of Iran in a rambling speech that left his supporters dumbfounded."

http://www.hanania.com/byrne/byrne1.htm

Damn that sounds familiar.

Posted by Phineck Whimble2173 2005-09-09 11:25|| 2005-09-09 11:25|| Front Page Top

#2 The LA politicians are about to learn what both Mayors Daley knew and Bilandic forgot - Americans will tolerate corruption, but inefficient corruption gets tossed out on its ear fast.

Posted by VAMark 2005-09-09 12:42|| 2005-09-09 12:42|| Front Page Top

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