The Kingdom of Illinois

Hizzoner (His Honor) Mayor Richard J. Daley

 

Just like a Monarchy is ruled by people from the same bloodline, doesn’t mean they all get along. England’s history is riddled with takeovers of the throne from blood relatives and inner strife. The same is true for Chicago’s history over the past 50 years. It is a Monarchy ruled by the same family.

 

 

Richard J. Daley served as Mayor of Chicago for 21 years. He served as Mayor from 1955 through 1976. I’ll never forget when Daley died. He had just left the Dr. office and died on his way out. It was right around Christmas time when he died (December 20, 1976). Although I am an American & always lived in Chicagoland area, it was like a Monarch had died. The Mayor’s dead, long live the Mayor.

 

After Richard J. Daley’s death, there were several mayors who served. Including Michael Bilandic, who lost the Mayoral election to Jane Byrne after the Blizzard of 1979. Bilandic did not get the snow plows out in time & it cost him the election.

 

Jane Byrne won the election from Bilandic & became Mayor of Chicago. During this time, Richard M. Daley was serving as Federal Prosecutor in Chicago. Just like England’s Monarchy, while the Father serves as King, his Son’s as Princes serve as Knights or control land regions on behalf of the King.

 

After Jane Byrne, Harold Washington became Mayor after a 3-way vote split the white vote & brought Washington to office. Once Washington took office, Council Wars ensued. Chicago Council Wars pitted 29 out of the 50 City Council Members led by Ed Vrdolyak and Ed Burke against Washington’s allies. This went on for 3 years. The 29 Council Members thwarted Washington’s every move. This could be compared to England’s Civil War. Remember we are talking about people from the same party.

 

Harold Washington died suddenly in 1987, and Richard M. Daley then eventually became Mayor. The current Daley has been in office now since 1989. When this current term ends, he’ll have been in office longer than his Father. Daley has a stranglehold on the Chicago City Council. Just like during the time of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, the Parliament rubber stamps her decisions, and the Chicago City Council rubber stamps Daley’s decisions.

 

No one stands against him from his own party. And Republicans cannot find a strong enough candidate to run more than a token resistance upon election. Just like a Monarchy where the Ruler rules the entire land, Daley has huge influence across the entire State.

 

Chicago is the largest City in Illinois and is the major economic engine outside of agriculture. Just like the Monarchs in England ruled from the Tower of London, Daley rules from City Hall. Daley has major allies in the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois State Senate in Springfield.

 

Michael Madigan, the current Illinois Speaker of the House is a major Ally of Mayor Daley and has stood with Daley against Rod Blagojevich. One of Daley’s biggest Allies in the Chicago City Council is Alderman Dick Mel. Dick Mel is one of the most powerful Councilmen in Chicago. Dick Mel’s Daughter, Patty married Rod Blagojevich. Rod was an up & coming prosecutor who used his Father-In-Law’s influence to get him elected first as Congressman, then to become Governor. Dick Mel & Blagojevich no longer talk to each other.

 

Just like Royalty who enter into marriage to solidify their power influence and Kingdom, Rod Blagojevich did just that.

 

If you have been to Chicago, you’ve probably been to Millennium Park, it has a giant reflective bean, interactive water fountains, a café, ice rink, and outdoor theater. Construction for this park ran way over budget and way behind schedule. In the end, the project totaled $500 Million. Daley was able to raise taxes to pay for the cost over-runs even though he promised private donations would pay for the whole project.

 

Meigs Field was a small airport right on the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. The airport was convenient for lawmakers to fly between Chicago & Springfield. Executives for companies in rural Illinois were also able to fly in and out of Chicago. Many small plane pilots had their planes there as well.

 

Daley was never a fan of Meigs Field. Daley claimed that it was a National Security issues to have a downtown airport after 9/11. Never mind that the largest plane that could land there would be a Learjet, Daley insisted that Meigs be shut down.

 

One night (after Midnight), a fleet of construction vehicles drove onto Miegs Field and carved giant “X” ‘s up and down the runway preventing any plane from landing there.

 

Daley was trying to get the airport shutdown and there was a Federal lawsuit against him to prevent the airport from being closed. Somehow, by getting the runway carved up, Daley was able to get his way despite the Federal Lawsuit. Daley eventually had the terminal torn down and now it is a concert venue called “Northerly Island.”

 

This type of action could not be done without absolute power.

 

So in the National Media, when they talk about Chicago being Socialist, don’t you believe it. It is a Monarchy. The entire State is run by Daley who rules from City Hall in Chicago and heavily influences the State Legislature.

In Illinois, Corruption Kills – Literally

The previous Illinois Governor, George Ryan (R.) is currently serving 6.5 years in a Federal Prison for corruption. The deaths of 6 children of a Preacher, Reverend Willis and his wife are dead because of Illinois corruption. The Willis’s were on the highway when they ran over a broken taillight that came off an Illinois truck. The broken taillight punctured the gas tank of the minivan of the Willis family. Fire ripped through the van killing all six of their children and seriously injuring the Reverence Willis.

Upon investigation, it was found out that the driver of the truck that had the faulty taillight that fell off had gotten his Illinois Truck Driver License from a cash bribe at the DMV. This lead all the way to the Governor’s Office. George Ryan was the Illinois Secretary of State before he became Illinois Governor and the investigation found that bribes for licenses had been going on since the time Ryan was Illinois Secretary of State.

The trial of George Ryan found him guilty and he was sentenced to 6.5 years. During the trial, his sentencing and until this week, Ryan was defiant and unapologetic. At one point Rev. Willis approached former Gov Ryan and forgave him. Gov. Ryan told The Rev to get away from him.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) has stepped in on behalf of convicted Ryan and has asked George Bush to pardon Ryan. This is unusual that a Dem would step in on behalf of a Republican. Durbin says that he met with Mrs. Ryan and she has been enduring financial hardship. The Illinois Legislature passed a bill that stopped all State pension money going to Ryan. He now has no income coming in.

Former Governor Jim Thompson (R.), you may remember him as one of the 911 Commission Members works for heavy hitting law firm Winston & Strawn. Gov. Thompson is petitioning the Bush Administration to pardon Ryan.

Let me make this clear to all of you how are not from Illinois, nobody in Illinois wants Ryan to be pardoned. A majority of Illinois citizens want Ryan to serve his time.

This week, just days after the Blagojevich arrest, after 18 months in prison, former Gov Ryan issued an apology read by Gov Jim Thompson. In this letter, Ryan apologizes to the Willis family and Illinois citizens. It is a blatant and obvious attempt to try to get out of prison. Most Republicans in Illinois do not want Ryan pardoned either.

Bush should pardon the two border agents and let Ryan serve his time. 6.5 years in prison is just a little over a years for each dead Willis child.

So in Illinois, we have one Governor possibly heading to prison, while another is trying to manipulate his release.

Pay to Play

Pay to Play

I Told You So. But of course with this audience, I’m preaching to the choir. I don’t have any magical insight, except that I live in Illinois and pay attention to what is going on. I wonder how many RPM’s Lincoln is spinning right now. Even thought Lincoln was a Republican and this Governor was a Democrat.

This is what happens when you have 1 party rule for decades.

On my previous posts, I told you that there are more FBI Agents in Illinois investigating corruption than any other State. Now you know why.

Of the past 5 Illinois Governors, 2 have served jail time, 1 has just been arrested, and 2 were clean. The 2 clean Governors were Republicans, and Jim Edgar was and remains highly respected. Under Edgar’s reign, Illinois was the cleanest in terms of corruption, and Government honesty.

Governor Blagojevich (D) was not popular in Illinois to begin with. He won his reelection based on the Democratic population of Chicago. He is the 2^nd Governor in a row in Illinois to be taken down by corruption. It crosses party lines here. When it comes to the machine in Chicago and Illinois, Republicans who are part of the machine are Republicans in name only.

In listening to local talk radio, many of the politicians say they new there was corruption but were surprised how blatant, and extreme it was.

There is a major political shift beginning to occur in Illinois. Obama is a Democrat brought up through the Democratic machine, but the citizens here have turned angry and a major party shift will bring in a wave of Republicans at the next election. The entire Democratic contingent in the Illinois House and Illinois Senate are now at major risk and this will be used as a bludgeon against them at the next election.

Many of the Republican candidates tried to tie Illinois House and Senate candidates to Blagojevich, and were not successful. This time, the Illinois Citizenry will move the other way. Nationally we are moving to the left, while in Illinois we are going to be moving to the right. Of course there are a few years until the next election, but we will not forget. If Blagojevich goes to trial rather than plead, the proceedings should last quite a while, reminding us here in Illinois on a daily basis who we voted for. Should it go to trial it will only cement the will of the Illinois people to vote out 1 party rule.

Blagojevich is not the only one, Mayor Daley and Todd Stroger are also under investigation. All are Democrats.

Everyone knew for a long time that Blagojevich is was not ethical, he has been under investigation for almost 4 years. There is no provision in the Illinois Constitution to recall a Governor like they did in California. To remove an Illinois Governor, he would have to be impeached. Until yesterday, there wasn’t enough to impeach him.

During the recent election, there was a ballot initiative to have an Illinois Constitutional Convention. The reason was to change the Constitution to allow a recall of the Governor. However, having a Constitutional Convention opens it up to other things that might be added or changed. The measure was defeated.

Based on my last posting, I’d like to review again for you who the players are and where they stand. This will become more important for you when the National news and pundits try to interpret what is going on. For starters, Blagojevich was unpopular among his own party. Obama had distanced himself from the Governor a long time ago. Michael Madigan is the Democratic Illinois Speaker of the House. Madigan and Blagojevich have been at odds for years. Last year, Madigan refused to show up to budget meetings with the Governor. Michael’s daughter, Lisa Madigan is the Illinois State’s Attorney. She was rumored to be a possible candidate to replace Obama in the Senate only to get her off of Blagojevich’s back.

Illinois Senate President, Emil Jones was a staunch ally of Blagojevich and was also Obama’s mentor. Tony Rezko was Blagojevich’s money-man as well as doing real estate deals with Obama. But this doesn’t mean that Blagojevich was liked or respected.

Mayor Daley has been at odds with Blagojevich for years as well. Budget shortfalls have plagued this State for years. When there was a public transportation shortfall, Blagojevich decided there should be free rides for Seniors. Daley pushed back asking how this should be paid for.

I had assumed in my last post that Jesse Jackson Jr. would be appointed to replace Obama. Obama has recently indicated he’d like to see an African-American named as his replacement as right now there are no African-Americans in the US Senate. We now know that Blagojevich was trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. There is a Candidate #5, and there is strong speculation of who it might be. The day before Blagojevich was charged, The Rev. Jesse Jackson was interviewed about the Senate prospects of his son. To the surprise of many, The Rev. Jackson did not have any comment about it. One of the rare occasions.

The Republic Windows and Doors sit-in is located in Chicago, and many Chicago and Illinois politicians took it as an opportunity to pile on. Many of these politicians came with food for the workers such as turkeys. Blagojevich also came. But he brought rice cakes and water. While at the sit-in, Blagojevich compared himself to Nixon and dared those investigating him to tape him and that he had nothing to hide. The very next day, he was arrested.