7/4/18
A relatively consequential story in Chicago politics this
Independence Week is the $200 grand that Chicago
Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz
has donated, directly or indirectly, to the campaign of mayoral challenger Paul Vallas. (See my 5/25/18 post RAHM EMANUEL TO GOD: PLEASE, LORD, IF I HAVE TO GO TO A RUN-OFF, LET IT BE AGAINST RICHARD M. DALEY, ER, SORRY…PAUL VALLAS for more
illumination concerning Mr. Vallas’s prospects.) The well-founded speculation is that Mr.
Wirtz is contributing these hefty helpings of spondulicks to Mr. Vallas because
he is upset with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s
increasing the amusement tax on large venues to 9% from 5%, refusing to extend
a property tax break on Chicago Stadium,
and lending hefty public support to the Wintrust
Arena, which Mr. Wirtz contends, however unconvincingly, competes with Chicago
Stadium for concerts and the like. The
substance of the arguments on either side, however interesting, is
inconsequential for purposes of this post; if this story somehow remains alive,
yours truly may visit it again in the future.
For now, consider that when the increase in the amusements tax was first
proposed, Mr. Wirtz and his partner in the Chicago Stadium, Jerry Reinsdorf, directed Mr. Emanuel
and his staff to a study, financed by a group of similarly positioned professional
sports big-wigs, that showed that increasing such taxes actually reduces
revenue by forcing events into more lightly taxed jurisdictions. Mr. Emanuel replied “We have run ours (studies)
as well and we make money.”
Hmm…
I have long told my students that I have the ability to tell
them the conclusion of any study without reading so much as the executive
summary. When they ask how I acquired such
powers, I tell them that they, too, have such powers within their grasps; all
one has to know to learn the outcome of any study is who paid for the study. While the competing studies of Messrs.
Reinsdorf/Wirtz and Mr. Emanuel do not prove this long-held contention of yours
truly, this exercise in dueling studies provides further compelling evidence of
this eternal truth, a truth that I sincerely hope my students retain for the
rest of their lives.
To this truth…
In the same edition of the Chicago Sun-Times that
contained the aforementioned story, the paper reported that Ron Burke, the executive director of
something called the Active Transportation
Alliance, is proposing more speed cameras near Chicago parks and
schools. Mr. Burke argues
“All around the world and in the United States, all (emphasis by yours truly) of the
research shows that, when speed cameras are deployed properly and used to
really improve safety and not just to generate revenue, they work. They really do work. They save lives.”
While it seems that Mr. Burke doth protest too much, the
substance of his argument is not the issue here. What is relevant to this post is that Mr.
Burke is surely wrong when he argues that all
of the research shows that speed cameras save lives. Surely some of the research on this topic
was paid for by people who are against speed cameras and, consequently, shows that
speed cameras do NOT save lives. What
can be said confidently on this topic is that all the research financed by companies in the speed camera business
shows that speed cameras do indeed save lives.
Glorious Independence Day, everybody.
See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of
Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge,
A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on
how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics.
