The Coalition of the Swilling

I moved out of the Chicago area in 1989, after living there for nearly 5 years. I lived in the suburbs, but worked in The Loop. The city has changed only on which frivilous issue to which it applies time and money.

I have never regretted leaving that region.

Just finished reading a "great" book about Chicago, and about the Indy 500, written by Brock Yates. It's about a Mobster named "Umbrella Mike" Boyle. He was the head of the IBEW - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union and scammed million off the Union, called wildcat strikes to extort money from major businesses and the City, and played nice with Al Capone. Chicago and Illinois was (has it changed?) thoroughly corrupt, from the City to the State-house level. The Governor was in the pocket of the Mob and pardoned over 8,000 mobsters, and if he didn't Mike greased the cops' palms and got 'em off. At the height of the Depression when money was incredibly tight he bought one then two Maseratis over from Italy and ran them in the Indy 500 - it was a way of washing and covering his financial tracks. He kept the race afloat at a time when it could well have all ended kaput-fini. Great book. Oh yeh, who's traditionally "run" Chicago? Democrats since time immemorial.

DirtCrashr, I got my first introduction to corrupt politics whilst in Chicago. Both in my civilian job (thankfully, I worked for a Federal agency) and the Illinois Army National Guard.

For example, the Chicago Housing Authority loved to get on TV and scream for more money, 'cuz people didn't have homes, and they needed more moolah to help the poor widdle victims. This at a time when apartments in CHA buildings were empty for YEARS. This stopped when, at one such press conference, the CHA chairdude started pointing his finger at audience members to emphasize his speech.....and a smart photographer snapped a zoom shot of the $5000 Rolex watch he was wearing. Oh, by the way, this was his only job.

I was there when Mayor Washington died in office (literally, he dropped dead at his desk), and the subsequent feeding frenzy for the position of acting Mayor was nauseating. Sheesh!

But one of the best examples of Chicago corruption that I ever saw was when one city Alderman was re-elected.....while serving a term in jail.

All this was a mere 20 years ago. I am by no means surprised at the antics of the goofballs running the city.

The mayor is the hand behind the puppet governing the state...

Nothing has changed.

It is pretty funny that a Daly is complaining about gangs!

It's what I figured, nothing much has changed.