The state of Illinois has sent more governors to prison than murderers (percentage wise) and this past Friday had our impeached governor indicted by the Federal Government. In Chicago, the retired head of our Streets and Sanitation Department, Al Sanchez, was just found guilty in a case where he used the Hispanic Democrat Organization (HDO) as a hiring agency for the city. Mr. Sanchez may not have been a politician but he was certainly working for a political faction and to the benefit of the correct mayor, Richard M. Daley.
A die hard Sox fan wearing a
Cubs hat? Typi
cal Chicago politician
cal Chicago politicianTo fix the problem that is Chicago politics we need to eradicate our local government of career politicians. It is time we issue term limits on our aldermen and mayors. Throughout their years of 'service' one thing becomes more and more important to the incumbent, the continuation of their 'service'. So career politicians do any and everything they can to minimize the competition. Then once faced with an opponent(s) these pols call in a few favors to help ensure that come election day the polls reflect favorably upon their campaign. Does this sound like the actions that are to be taken by an individual who is a representative for the community they reside in?
No. And I hope you are not that jaded to the political process to have agreed with that. A politician must not be afraid to take a stand and make a controversial vote. Our interests must be of the utmost importance to them and their office. By eliminating the potential to serve for years on end we can accomplish this. No longer will our politicians be acting in self perseverance, instead they may now act truly to what they are being paid to do and represent the people in their community.
Just take the recent leasing of the city's parking meters for example. Had our alderman not feared facing the ire of Mayor Daley, I am willing to bet that more than three of them would have voted against the 75 year lease. Now it was not his wrath in the short term that the aldermen feared rather they knew they would potentially be working with the mayor for years and may need to be on his good side for the duration of their work relationship. Term limitations eliminate this problem.
Now term limitations surely are not the only solution to stomping corruption out of politics, especially in Chicago. But it without a doubt would be a giant and great first step in the right direction. Think about it Buse Nation.
2 comments:
The problem that is seen by you're politicians is a problem very common to Albany. Everyone knows about Eliot Spitzer's troubles, no one wants David Patterson to run for governor, the leadership in the state assembly and senate runs everything, no rank and file members have say. The situation is so polluted and the Daily News showed us at least 20 guys, Democrats and Republicans, who have been indicted and/or jailed.
To a certain degree, I agree with Beans on this one.....but to tell you the truth, despite how bad things have been lately, Daley has done a hell of a job running this city. The recent foul ups with snow removal and the parking meter fiasco are due largely in part to a city facing an economic crisis. When Chicago is the economic center of the state that has the largest deficit among the 50 states in the US, it's not that difficult to see why Daley made the decisions he's made.
For the majority of his tenure as mayor, Daley, despite his being calous, unprofessional, and perhaps corrupt at times, has done a good job in representing the people of Chicago. The fact of the matter is, Chicago politics are different and I'm not going to hate the player, (Daley) or the game(unlimited terms) on this one. Because when the economy was great, and the murder rate dipped in the late 90s and early 2000s and Chicago had not heard of the hired truck scandal or other unfair hires at City Hall, no one was complaining. If it ain't broke don't fix it. And I'll give you an example.
In 1999, after daley successfully threw his weight around in Springfield to make municipal elections non-partisan...which eliminated mayoral primaries, thus making it easier for incumbents to win....Bobby Rush ran against him in what many people thought was a great year to defeat Daley given his questionable acts in Springfield.....Rush ran on a platform of fixing growing problems of homelessness and poverty,...accomodating the growing Latino poulation, and expanding public transportation. But when it came down to it, a black candidate running in a city that was 40% black and 10% latino at the time still voted overwhelmingly for Daley.
Why? Some was because Rush's grandstanding and constant protests did not go over well, but it was mostly because ppl in Chicago, even minorities were fine as long as Daley was hard on crime, and got the snow up come January. I'm not saying Rush got hosed, but it was a landslide victory that was reflective of Daley's tremendous approval rating.
It wasn't broke so we didnt fix it. As far as aldermen go, they are representatives of too small a population to limit their terms. When you start talking about the people who live in a ward and the things an alderman is responsible for, term limits would be a liability as the values and goals of a small community do not change every 4 years, thus if they elect someone who represents them correctly....that person should be able to make a career out of fighting for his/her ward.
If the most important issue in my ward is gentrification, and I want my alderman to make sure that landlords practice ethics and enforcing equal opportunity renting, then the alderman that proves they can do that should be able to serve my ward until I feel they are no longer successful. I would hate to force a good alderman out because their term is up, and see the next alderman come in and allow gentrification to happen...thus whether I vote for him again or not, my neighborhood/ward has been changed forever.
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