LET’S SOBER HIM UP WITH THIS TWO LITER PLASTIC BOTTLE OF OLD OPEN SWITCH

8/29/18

In today’s brave new world of moral relativity, there might be good arguments for legalizing marijuana, expanding gambling, or shaking down corporations for being successful, but the revenue raising potential is not one of them.   As I put another way in this letter to the Chicago Tribune, giving politicians more money to spend is rarely, if ever, the solution to a public body’s fiscal problems.   Giving a politician more money is like giving an alcoholic an outsized gift card to the local liquor emporium.

The letter wasn’t published; like the Chicago Sun-Times, the Tribune doesn’t publish more than a few letters per day so the chances of getting any letter published are slim nowadays.

Here’s the letter:

8/19/18

The Emanuel administration has reached a $10.4 million settlement with Uber and Lyft over the ride sharing companies’ failure to perform adequate background checks of their drivers.  (“Chicago reaches settlement with ride-share companies,” 8/19/18, page 13)   The money will be spent on a youth mentoring program.

Leaving aside the merits of said youth mentoring program, the city of Chicago faces shortfalls, ranging from only slightly terrifying to absolutely horrific, in the pension programs of its workers.   These shortfalls have forced enormous property tax, phone tax, and water bill increases for the city’s residents with more surely to come after the election.  The city’s operating budget is precariously balanced and keeping it in rough balance will require even more “revenue enhancements” after the election.   The city’s bond rating is currently on the cusp of junk status while the bonds themselves trade at junk yields.   Given the fiscal nightmare that is the city of Chicago, did anybody in the Emanuel administration or the city council think that maybe, just maybe, the $10.4 million from the ride sharing settlement should go toward the pension shortfalls, or merely paying some of the city’s bills, rather than to a new program, however meritorious?  Of course not; as soon as new money finds its ways into the city’s, or virtually any public entity’s, coffers, the first thought that comes to the politicians’ febrile minds is how to spend it.    That is why providing politicians with more money, through tax increases, fee increases, gambling revenues, legalizing marijuana or the like, is rarely, if ever, a solution to the fiscal woes of public institutions.   Giving politicians more money is like giving a crack addict more crack.

Surely the politicians will respond that we’re talking about “only” $10 million.   Such a cavalier attitude toward other people’s money should remove any remaining mystery regarding the fiscal abomination that is the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and the federal government.

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. 

DOROTHY BROWN MAY BE IN THE MONEY, BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS

8/28/18

The point of writing the below missive to the Chicago Sun-Times was not to defend Dorothy Brown, but to stop the enthusiasm that various investigative agencies and the press may have for getting Ms. Brown from getting in the way of the exercise of common sense.   Did anybody stop and look at the numbers before going off half-cocked in their accusations against this, after all, quite ordinary politician?   The Sun-Times did not publish the letter by the way, which is not surprising given that they publish only two or three per day.

Now that we’re on the subject of Dorothy Brown, don’t count Ms. Brown out of the mayor’s race.   Yes, she has a reputation for being shady and she may (or may not) be one step ahead of various law enforcement agencies, but that didn’t stop her from a landslide victory in her last bid for re-election as Circuit Court Clerk.   Despite her, er, foibles, she has a quite dedicated following in the black community, especially among “church ladies” in that community, that has served her well throughout her career.   In a divided field of black candidates, none of whom is especially salient beyond newsrooms populated by people from ZIP codes far, at least sociologically, from the west and south sides of the city, she could come out of this scrum as Mayor Emanuel’s sole opponent in the run-off.   And if she has anything like the money, or the money raising ability, that has been ascribed to her, that moves things more forcefully in her favor.

Now don’t go around saying that Quinn is predicting a Brown/Emanuel run-off.  If I had to make a prediction today, and I don’t so I’m not, I’d say Mr. Emanuel is going to win in the first round.   I know that makes me sound crazy, but that’s what people called yours truly before what has become my most famous post, 11/4/16’s TRUMP WILL WIN, AND WIN BIG, ON TUESDAY.   And no, I’m not going to stop reminding people of that especially piquant display of prescience.

Here’s the missive…

8/1/18

While one is normally hesitant to defend the likes of Dorothy Brown, one should never be reluctant to defend common sense and dispassionate analysis.

The Sun-Times reports (“Affidavits allege county clerk collected payments of $10,000 per job,” Andy Grimm, p. 8, 8/2/18) that “Brown ‘personally hired’ each of the 2,300 employees under her command and collected payments of $10,000 per job through campaign contributions, business loans, and even a free trip to India, according to affidavits in an investigation of former Brown deputy Beena Patel.”

2,300 employees at $10,000 per head is $23 million.   If these affidavits are true, Ms. Brown either has a campaign war chest sufficiently huge to send even Rahm Emanuel scurrying for the hills or is basking in net worth so brobdingnagian that hiding it would be nearly a full-time job.   We know the former isn’t true.   While one should not discount the latter out of hand, $23 million is a number so enormous that even the most corrupt hustlers in Chicago’s long history of perfidious pols would be genuflecting in awe at the purloining prowess of Dorothy Brown.

Is Dorothy Brown guilty of anything illegal?   The courts will make that determination.    Has she shaken people down to the tune of $23 million?  Highly unlikely.

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.