Mark Thompson lobs election mud over, and over, and over again at Gorman

I never heard of Mark Thompson until he announced his candidacy for commissioner in the 17th District. His web site describes him this way:

"Mark Thompson has 8 years of experience as a Municipal Chief Executive as he was elected and re-elected Maine Township Supervisor for two 4-year terms (1993-2001).  He has experience as an Attorney and former Prosecutor.  Mark served for 10 years as Chief Deputy Director under then-Secretary of State Jim Edgar.  Additionally, Mark is a former member of the Northwest Municipal Conference and was elected to two terms as Secretary of that body."

 His goal is to beat Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman who is the incumbent in the 17th District. Gorman has her critics in the Republican Party, mainly those associated with ostracized Commissioner Tony Peraica, a decent person who works hard at making every enemy a worse enemy and every friend an enemy, too. Peraica can't seem to work with anyone.  He seems obsessed not with his own re-election, or defending the rights of residents in his own district, where he will likely face-off (if he is fortunate to beat his Republican challenger Western Springs trustee Brian Sloan)  in November with Democratic challenger Jeff Tobolski in the November election, but rather he is focused on hating Gorman.


Is Thompson a Peraica disciple?


I can't connect all the dots, and I don't think it matters, but there is no doubt that they sure share the same kind of profile. Because Thompson REALLY hates Gorman.


In the past six weeks, all I have received from the Thompson campaign, which claims on his web site at MarkThompson2010.com that his foe is "Todd Stroger," are negative mud-slung garbage that has nothing to do with the issues facing the district and have everything to do, every time, with bashing, name-calling and slander against Gorman. Gorman's web site is www.LizGorman.com.


Where is the 10 point plan to defend the rights of taxpayers in the 17th District that stretches like a bowling alley from Orland Park in the South to Wheeling in the north?


Where are the plans to confront the Stroger Sales tax -- something that Gorman has done brilliantly and effectively over the past two years. In fact, if Thompson says his fight is against Stroger, why hasn't Thompson released a press release detailing how he would roll-back the remaining 1/2 percent sales tax hike that Stroger imposed? 


More importantly, why is Thompson focusing all of his attacks against Gorman, the one member of the Cook County Board who didn't flip-flop on the sales tax issue and singlehandedly helped build the coalition of Republicans, Democrats and Independents who have forced the roll-back of the first 1.2 percent of the sales tax.


It was Gorman's persistence that has kept the battle to roll back the sales tax alive until it finally succeeded after four major votes. Might I remind everyone that nine (9) commissioner originally voted to approve the sales tax? That one of those, had he not voted to support it and now opposes the sales tax, could have stopped the whole issue with one correct vote but failed int he first place?


Gorman did not fail in her fight against Stroger. She's been all over it. The roll-back was the result of a coalition finally coming together and standing firm with 12 votes to support rollback, and, with the help of the Legislature -- which legislative members said they were motivated by Gorman's persistence and refusal to give up -- voted to lower the number of votes needed to override Stroger's headlock on the corruption plague Cook County Government that he heads.


Peraica tried, too, to roll back the sales tax. But he couldn't get one of the other 17 commissioners to "second" or support his motions so they could even be considered. Is that what Thompson is promising too? More reckless lone-gunmen style politics where personality clashes prevent a good commissioner from defending the needs of taxpayers?


Part of this battle is about the needs of the taxpayers. But a large part of the battle, as I discovered in sitting through a press briefing that Gorman conducted at her offices with United Republican Fund activist and columnist Fran Eaton (She writes for the Southtown and the Illinois Review which is a great resource on conservative politics), is that there are some Republicans who are not happy with candidates who have been slated for office in Orland Township. (Click here for the link to the interview session.)


Gorman talked about her achievements and what she plans to do when she returns to the Cook County Board. Gorman didn't initiate any attacks against Thompson, although Gorman DID respond to questions posed about assertions and claims and name-calling Thompson has made.


She was the sole voice in challenging giving Cook County money to Stroger pal Dr. Charles Flowers who Gorman repeatedly warned the Cook County board for a year was not managing his finances properly as regional schools superintendent (Why do we even have that job in the first place). Here's a story from WBBM TV (Click HERE for the YouTube video) detailing how Gorman opened the County Board's eyes to Flower's alleged mismanagement of his office's finances.


I suspect all of this not only involves Peraica, but also another Gorman nemesis, Patrick Maher, who also spends a lot of time attacking Gorman even though he is in a tough race on the Democratic side Feb. 2 being challenged by popular candidate Dr. Victor Forys. Forys and Maher are running in the Democratic primary race and Gorman and Thompson are in the Republican primary, both Feb. 2. Maher is the son of Orland Park village clerk David Maher. And is anyone surprised that another Maher is also trying to unseat Gorman as Orland Township Committeeman, Gerald Maher?


When everyone gangs up against a candidate, and a woman, by the way in a field of only a few women candidates, and they are all hammering her and attacking her and calling her names and slandering her family and avoiding talking about the issues like the fact that Gorman has helped save the taxpayers millions over the years, you have to wonder what's going on.


I think the taxpayers and the voters are smart enough to figure this all out. A bunch of arrogant men in politics -- isn't that always the case? -- want to take control of the 17th District and they don't like a woman who has the chutzpah to kick ass and take names when it comes to defending the rights of taxpayers.


I've been upfront in this column repeatedly. I think Gorman is doing a great job when it comes to defending the rights of the taxpayer sand voters. I haven't seen anything from Thompson or the Maher-twins either about what they would do to really put the brakes to Stroger's mismanagement of Cook County and Stroger's abusive taxation policies, other than their vicious attacks against Gorman.


I think voters see that, too.


-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Riddles Comedy Club returning, in Alsip on 111th Street

When I first got into comedy (the way I always do everything, with a bang and lots of controversy), Riddles Comedy Club was the first place that reached out to me to give me support. The Orland Park club supporting an Orland Parker was great.

I did my first three ever comedy open mics at Riddles Comedy Club beginning in November 2001 just putting together material and trying to figure out how to make American Arab comedy work. And then the owner at Zanies heard about me and scooped me up and put me on stage where I did thirty shows and then booked for a full week in August/September 2002 over the Labor Day Weekend. Just before the show, Jackie Mason announced a new Broadway play and he wanted to come through Chicago to practice and ready for New York and Zanies asked me to set aside three of my nine shows so Jackie could headline. Did I have a problem, they asked? No. But make sure to tell Mason I am Palestinian, I said. The owner and manager laughed saying the Middle East conflict had "no place" on a comedy stage.

Of course, I had sold out the nine shows to friends, family and news media. And the night of the show, Mason discovered I wasn't just an Arab -- gasp! -- I was Palestinian. And he told Zanies I could not perform with him "because I was Palestinian." Sure enough, that decision exploded in headlines and a five-day tsunami of controversy erupted. I think I did the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS morning News, Donahue, Hannity & Colmes (Hannity is such an ass), ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS network news interviews, CNN and MSNBC and even interviews remotely in London, Paris, Moscow, Beirut, Jerusalem ... hey, doesn't everyone know Palestinians and Israelis don't seem to get along, and it's not really about the Hummus.

But that weekend when I was canned from Zanies -- and then decided to cancel the remaining six shows after I started receiving death threats (it was after Sept. 11, 2001 and I am an Arab who everyone thinks is Muslim and related to Bin Laden of course) at Zanies, Ken Stevens at Riddles reached out and invited me to do some sets on his stage not just for the publicity but because he cares about the comedy industry. He gave me tips, pointers and I still sucked! But hey, who cares? It was fun and the audiences loved it. I think I have some of the old Riddles shows on Youtube or Google video. Now I do standup all over the world (London, Dublin, Toronto, New York, LA with the Israeli Palestinian Comedy tour www.IPComedyTour.com). I have a performance this Sunday for Hadassah in Morton Grove and bookings through the coming year.

I really owe my comedy career to Bin Laden, my overall insane career in journalism, but most especially to Riddles Comedy Club which really gave me my first start.

Last night, I was performing at St. Xavier for 100 screaming little old ladies and seniors and that was a blast, too. And as I drove home on 111th Street I happened to see Riddles Sign back up on a club storefront.

Riddles is reopening at 5055 W. 111th Street in Alsip. The grand opening is this weekend, Nov. 20. Here's their web page www.MyRiddlesComedyClub.com. Check it out. The place closed in Orland a number of months back, maybe even longer. It had changed hands and Ken had left. But Ken is back and professional comedy is returning to the Southwest Suburbs, finally. There isn't a better club around.

Break a leg Ken (and whatever else you can -- I love the fact that comedy is so full of violence!) I look forward to seeing you soon. (Check the Radio Chicagoland web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com. Im working on getting Ken and some of Riddles' great comedians on the show soon.)

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Local restaurant review and the meaning of "all you can eat"

My wife hates my blogging. Not because she disagrees with everything I write. She does! And so does everyone else, I think. But because every time we find something great, I have to share it. "Why are you going to tell the world about this vacation resort?" ... "Why are you going to tell the world about this great restaurant?

"Well, dat's vat I do wit da writin and stuff!" I shrug in my Chica-ga accent that I can't shake with a Louisville Slugger. (I know, you're asking yourself, "Who learned you English?")

Anyway, Alison told me about this great sushi restaurant and I am figuring, what's so great about a sushi restaurant? They serve a chunk of rice with a sliver of raw fish on it and sell it for 5 times the cost. Kind of like the American Auto industry trying to get me to unload one junk lemon and pay $10,000 more to buy another junk lemon with a "energy efficient" label slapped on its fat, sluggish and unreliable ass.

Worse, I was in the middle of my freakin diet. I've been on the Atkins diet for 8 weeks and my arteries have turned into stone. But I have lost 22 pounds on that diet and I am within the strike zone. Well, I'm 206 and I want to be 195, which is kind of like saying that the Chicago Cubs will make the World Series. They get close and I guess that's good enough in Chicago-ese.

So we decided to kill my diet and she takes me to the Big Tuna sushi restaurant at 13137 S. LaGrange Road. I've been watching with amazement how some developer is building this exclusive, gated home and condo and town house community, with an Aldi at the front entrance. Why not just go all the way and put Cub Foods there and a Wal-Mart? But I did notice two new restaurants popping up. One called "It's Greek to Me," which sounds intriguing and the other called "Big Tuna."

Now, tuna is on the Atkins Diet so I don't say "no" right away. But then that hunger for carbs is eating away at my inside like a politician for a campaign donation, I'm ready to compromise my diet ethics faster that a Cook County Commissioner protecting the casino industry, and I yelp "Yea Baby! Let 'er rip."

Hey, I can also follow Bridget Gainer's lead on the county board and explain away $2,000 in donations from two casino interests trying to squash the video gaming machine legislation by saying "I met the restaurant at a social gathering of Atkins dieters. I didn't know that the restaurant served carbs. I thought they just liked me!" (Come to think of it, I think some members of the Cook County Board have replaced the Chicago motto "Where's Mine" with a new one, "All-you-can-eat ... in donations.")

So we drive to Big Tuna in the Big Lincoln Clunker for a Big Day of Big Meal.

Hey, $20 to stuff my face. That's not bad. And I have a face that is craving eight weeks of badly needed carbohydrates. My hunger is roaring, and it's not even Saturday so I can't eat a pizza. The "all-you-can-eat" option is only good for lunch between the hours of 11:30 am and 2 pm, not a minute past, my wife explains making me wonder how often has she been to the all-you-can-eat sushi trough? So we get there at exactly 11:31 am.

And, I wave to the waiter and tell him I want a nice booth by the window, but he points out (again like a U.S. Attorney laying out the indictment for a Chicago alderman) that no, the rule says we have to eat at the restaurant's bar. Okay. Fine. We'll eat at the restaurant's bar. We're the first ones there and every stool is empty. So we plop down on two seats. Not just anywhere though. I'm one of those OCB people who plans all seating in movie theaters and counts the seats. Have to be an even number group. Can't be next to the wall or the corner. Two seats away from the wall in the next two seats. Right here honey!

Normally, Alison would be rolling her eyes but she's thinking "all-you-can-eat" sushi so I can get away with a lot of crap at this point. "Hey look at that hot babe honey. What a set of mellons, huh? Don't you think?" Her response at this point with the sushi she loves staring her in the face would be a simple, "Yea sure, honey. Go ahead. Jump all over it." At which point my internal neurons start to overload and I go into cardiac arrest.

But we are at Big Tuna and I'm ready to jump all over their sushi. I am craving a hunger like no other hunger in my life. And for $20. That's the kind of patriotic American spirit President Obama is talking about when he says we have to do a service to our country and help the needy because I am needy for carbs at this point.

We sit down and the waiter brings us out Miso Soup and a salad. I take the seaweed salad because, well it tastes like Gummy Bears without the sugar. And it's sprinkled with sesame seeds and that's the secret to any Ay-rab's heart.

Then the big question. What would we like to order? "All-you-can-eat?" Yes sir the waiter smiles back. After all, I'm only on my first order. Turns out, he explains, there are some rules. You can order only three items at one time. But he doesn't tell me that right away. Being polite I order two sushi roles. Spicy Tuna and a California Roll with avocado.

It takes seconds to gobble those down and I sit there staring like a Chicago County Commissioner at a campaign donation in a contributor's hands. Not moving. Like a statue. Waiting patiently because I don't want to give away the vast emptiness of my internal hunger's abyss.

Finally, the waiter gets the hint and comes back and says can I get you another order? Sure, I say, "King Crag Avocado Roll and a Dragon Roll." Those are the top dogs when it comes to sushi. Alison puts in her order, too. We're each paying $20 for "all-you-can-eat."

I noticed that the waiter's smile seems to be twitching and I mention my observation to Alison. "Honey. He flinched when I ordered." She tells me I'm just seeing things as she waits for the second round of food to arrive.

By this time, the bar area is getting jammed packed with cheap-assed customers like me. I think they wandered in from the Aldi. Or maybe they came from the Cub Foods at 159th Street and Harlem, which is a long way to smell a good deal.

The waiter brings the food. Beautiful. As he puts the food down, he says "No Waste the food." I'm oblivious to what he says, of course, because I am hungry. It's great tasting. And gone in 90 seconds flat. And I go into statue mode again when I am done consuming. I want my sushi the way my dog wants his chew-bone every time he comes in from going outside to poop. I even try scratching my paw on the counter-top the way my dog tells me he wants to go outside to get the waiter's attention. It doesn't work.

Finally, and I mean finally, he comes back and asks if we are "done." Done? Done? Are you kidding? This is America, buddy. And Americans are NEVER done when it is "all-you-can-eat." So, I politely say "No" and then ask if I can order more. After all, we've only been here 25 minutes starving to death and we have two more hours for the "all-you-can-eat" period to end. Right?

So I ask if I can order "three" sushis this time. He did say three at a time per order, right?

And I swear, the waiter looked like he went into cardiac arrest. He stared at me like I violated some kind of Geisha Code or something. "More?" Yes more, I'm thinking. But I am too polite to tell the waiter what I really think so I purr out, "Yes, please?"

He pulls out his pen and pad and I ask, "Can I have three?"

Get the defibrillator for the guy. "All-you-can-eat" sir means "all-you-can-eat," even in Arabic, buddy, I'm thinking. "Yes, three. Is that okay?" I purr in response.

"Yes. But no waste. No waste." He looks at my wife's plate and she has four asparagus sushis on her plate and hasn't eaten them. (Who eats asparagus sushi?) "Ma'am," he says, "you must pay extra if you leave four pieces on your plate." So I quickly reach over with my chop sticks and grab two at the same time and swallow them like a Chicago Cook County Commissioner pocketing a campaign donation. And I smile. Broadly.

I order three. And he says agin, "You must eat them all."

Sieg Heil! We must succeed. We cannot fail. Failure will not be tolerated. Four sushis and I wack your dinky. (Okay, that's a comedy term from the 1960s. I like sushi but I am not Gay.)

I could feel the pressure. All of the restaurant's staff's eyes were on me. If they had a spotlight on the ceiling it would have been shining on me. Smiles with internal scowls, if you know what I mean. Like I violated a "goes-without-saying" agreement or something. Sure, we offer "all-you-can-eat" but we don't really mean it. We're just trying to get people into the restaurant and get them addicted so they come back when we whack them with the $10 dollar charge per sushi roll! We are going to make lots of money in this country from these stupid Americans! Yea baby!

So now, I am slowly eating my 5th, 6th and 7th rolls and they are huge. And they are all looking at me wondering is this a-hole customer (me) going to order more? It's not even 12:15. We're at the start of the "all-you-can-eat" strike zone. It's like being the Chicago Bears at the one yard line with 90 minutes left on the clock and I can't jump over Big Tuna's defensive scowls and order more?

"More?" the waiter asks. It's not a question but it sounds more like a statement to me. My wife jabs me with her elbow.

"No. Thanks, though. Just the bill," I reply.

Suddenly, the place breaks out like it's Christmas time. Everyone is happy. Two of us only $43 including the tax. I leave a $6 tip because 15 percent of the dollar amount is 15 percent, even if "all-you-can'-eat" isn't really "all-you-can-eat." They should call it "All-you-can-get-away-with-eating." Or, "how much can you eat while we stare at you in disbelief, you fat gorging pig of an obese-assed customer?"

I'm going back. And this time I'll be there by myself. And they won't be able to pull me out of there with a Chicago police tow truck. I'll be a fixture there for the whole "all-you-can-eat" time period, eating all I can eat!

Check it out. Big Tuna is loads of fun. All kidding aside, the food is great. And, check out my restaurant review page where I post more of my out-to-eat experiences. Click here to go to the Restaurant Review page.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Pundits say Gorman has trouble but I don't believe it

Going in to every election, incumbents always look vulnerable. There's a lot of big talk and big ambition by officeholders who dream of becoming the next political "phenom" like Barack Obama, who went from relative unknown to president of the United States in less than six years.

The candidates are already dreaming and some of those dreamers have set their sights on one incumbent in the Southwest Suburbs, 17th District Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman.

Gorman is not the darling of the downtown news media which analyzes everything in terms of either Mayor Daley or the Chicago Loop. Most major media, with some exceptions, ignore the suburbs and pretty much follow the pack when deciding who is or isn't vulnerable in elections. So bright stars in the suburbs often are overlooked.

There have been a few exceptions like Media darling Forrest Claypool, who every writer pretty much ordained would become the slayer of the evil tax lord, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. But Claypool discovered in his polling that he could neither raise the money nor could he count on real Democratic Party support. He would have lost to Stroger.

Then there is the other darling of the news media, Mike Quigley. Unlike Claypool, Quigley is made of much more genuine substance. He's more personable and less arrogant. He actually talks to people. Quigley was smart enough to throw his hat into the crowded Democratic primary battle to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress. It wasn't that Quigley was a phenom like Obama, but rather that the race for the congressional seat was more like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Some people would luck out and make it through to the end of the race without getting gored, and a few unlucky ones would get gored.

Quigley got lucky. He has but two years to prove himself and he's working hard at showing he can handle the job, now that he was lucky enough to win.

Gorman is off the major media radar screen, except when the negative steamrollers come in to rehash all that deadweight about Ed Vrdolyak. Yes "Fast Eddie" will never leave the news. Ed happened to be friends with Gorman's husband, Gerry. They were business partners, too. But there isn't one politician Ed Vrdolyak hasn't helped, worked with or has not considered to be a friend. And he's done business with a lot of others, incuding a few who are among those being hailed by pundits as possible Gorman challengers.

The least known of the presumptive candidates to challenger Liz Gorman is in fact the front-runner, Pat Maher. President of the controversy-plagued Orland Fire Protection District (in two years its political legal spending went from nothing to hundreds of thousands) Maher is the son of a long time Orland Park village clerk, Dave Maher. Pat Maher has one brother who quietly and unsuccessfully ran for a village trustee post in nearby Lemont. In any other lifetime, the Mahers would be just an ordinary, bland suburban political family. Fat frogs sitting high on lilly pods in small pools. But this Maher family has ties to the powerful family of Tom Hynes, father of Comptroller Dan Hynes, who hail from the legendary 19th Ward where the the 19th Ward Machine stands ready at their beck and call.

Yet Pat Maher is not the name that everyone is talking about when it comes to the 17th District challenge to Liz Gorman. Take this paragraph from a recent column by my friend and capable columnist Russ Stewart (July 23) who looked at the county races from top to bottom:

17th District (Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, then south in a narrow corridor to Lemont, Orland Park and Tinley Park): Incumbent [Liz] Gorman’s husband was a business partner of Ed Vrdolyak, and there is some negative fallout attaching to her. She was first elected unopposed in 2002, and re-elected in 2006 with 55.6 percent. She is the Orland Township Republican committeeman, was briefly the Republican county chairman, and has been feuding with Peraica.

A likely 2010 Democratic candidate for the seat is Dr. Victor Forys, a Polish-American who garnered 11.7 percent of the vote in the 2009 Democratic congressional primary in the 5th District. If Forys can assemble both a geographic (north versus south) and ethnic coalition, he could win. Other candidates include Orland Park trustee Jim Dodge and RTA Board member Dennis Cook. But well-known Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin is also a possibility, and would be favored in a primary. The outlook: Gorman has huge problems.

The first thing you notice is that focus is not on Liz Gorman, who has come out swinging this past year with some major legislative initiatives. Rather, the focus is on her husband, Gerry, a businessman whose family is involved in politics. It's a funny thing. I'd heard a lot about Gerry Gorman that made him out to be some kind of behind-the-scenes T-Rex. Then I had a chance to meet him. Turns out he's just like any other family man who takes his kids to little league practice and spends a lot of time with his wife.

The second thing you notice in Russ Stewart's analysis is the absence of any recognition of Pat Maher. The focus instead is on: Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin; Jim Dodge, who Gorman appointed to the METRA Board; Dennis Cook, a member of the RTA board with the Illinois Federation of Young Republicans. And perennial candidate Victor Forys.

Now, I'm not knocking anyone but I can tell you this:

Dan McLaughlin may covet higher office, possibly lieutenant governor in the Democratic race for Governor in 2010, as the rmor mill is now swirling. But Dan has a big job with the Chicago Plumbers Union that pays well and takes up much of his time. Being president of a village with a great reputation and a high-paid village manager is a second job that pays some money but offers great rewards. Give that up for the undistinguished arena of the Cook County board? I don't think so. Maybe for statewide office, yes!

Dodge, the former Orland Township GOP Committeeman, has ambitions. But in a fight with an incumbent Republican, he'd have a difficult battle. A nice guy, what has he done on the METRA Board and how would the public even know him? Could he raise the money you'd need to run in this fight? And would you backstab someone who went to bat for you when you needed it?

Dennis Cook may want to enter the race simply to give himself higher name recognition because he just ain't too well known with the voters. A nice guy according to Republican insiders who I know. He has a future.

But Orland Park based challengers really have a disadvantage. The 17th District is shaped like the Via Dolorosa, the cobble-stone path that winds its way through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, where Jesus carried his cross before being crucified. In addition to including Orland Township, where Maher may do well, the 17th District runs all the way north to include many areas where names like Maher, McLaughlin, Cook, Dodge and others might not mean so much. Places where building name recognition is not easy like in Park Ridge, Des Plaines, and Mt. Prospect, just to name a few.

I give Liz Gorman credit. She's fearless. I wasn't her biggest fan several years back when she headed the Cook County Republican Organization. I thought she could have done more. But since leaving that party leadership post for others, she has done much. The truth is I don't think any Republican could have done much better with the county or with the state. Illinois House Speaker Mike J. Madigan has the legislature in a vice grip, and despite numerous opportunities to break through the Democratic headlock, Republican leaders have fallen short. The disarray at the state level only gets worse in many prominent Republican bastions. So maybe she did as well as anyone else might have done.

It takes more than party identity. It takes action, someone willing to stand up and fight the fight for the taxpayers. And boy do the taxpayers desperately need someone to standup and fight on their behalf as everyone seems to tripping up all over. Everyone that is, except Liz Gorman.

In the past year, I have seen Liz Gorman stand up and fight, and fight hard for the rights of taxpayers not just in the 17th District, but in Cook County, too. She was the driving force behind the battle to force Todd Stroger to repeal the oppressive 1 percent sales tax hike. If it wasn't for her, the repeal battle might not have been fought. That it was fought has given the county board ambition to push even harder and there is a chance that next week, a compromise will pass that forces Stroger to cut the sales tax by half.

And while everyone else was hissing last year, Liz Gorman was the only county commissioner who stood up and asked why the board was going to give a $190,000 taxpayer funded loan to the regional schools superintendent, Charles Flowers. She fought hard trying to convince everyone that Flowers' office was drowning in mismanagement and wasteful spending. No one listened.

Turns out Liz Gorman was right on the money, where it counts for taxpayers. Gorman protested and last month, a state Audit concluded that Flowers had charged thousands of dollars worth of personal expenses on the taxpayers' credit card. And he couldn't provide receipts for more than 70 percent of those purchases. he also gave thousands of dollars in cash advances to his employees, including to one who is his sister.

Believe it or not, there are politicians like Flowers who think the public trough is their personal ATM machine where they can borrow money whenever they want.

Liz Gorman was the scissor who chopped up Flower's taxpayer funded Debit Card.

Two major initiatives defending the rights of the taxpayers just in the past two months. That has to make even the most seasoned of political challengers a bit wary wondering if Liz Gorman is really worth trying to unseat.

For the taxpayers, right now, the answer is Liz Gorman should remain in office.

I think if Pat Maher breaks from his father's shadow and starts to clean up the mess at the Orland Fire Protection District, he could make a name for himself as a champion for the taxpayer's too. And when Dan McLaughlin retires -- he's been in office a long time -- or moves on up the ladder as some are rumoring he will do in another bid for state wide office, Maher may want to try to run for village president.

And if he can do it without the help or meddling of the foreigners from the 19th ward, he just might make a great mayor. Someday.

By the way, there is one rumor that is worth looking at closely. Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy, the hero who took a bullet for President Ronald Reagan in the assassination attempt in the 1970s, is being rumored to be a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate seat on the Democratic side. McCarthy is a titan. he ran for statewide office once before but with two statewide candidates coming from the same village, it made it tough to win. With Illinois Attorney general Lisa Madigan out of the race, why not McCarthy.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Beautiful Irish Setter, seen at 151st and Windsor Dr Friday

A beautiful Irish Setter, with two collars but no dog tags, was at 151st and Windsor Drive at around 9:45 PM Friday night, May 29 in Orland Park.

I was able to get close to it. It was very friendly, but spooked a bit. There were no dog tags. I didn't try to restrain it because it was frightened and clearly lost. Unsure of where it was.

The dog ran north and crossed 151st Street to Sheehy's Funeral Home. I called the police at 349-4111 to report the dog just in case someone had reported it lost or missing.

Unfortunately, there is no central place to quickly report lost dog sightings. Sadly, it didn't have a dog tag with any numbers on it either. I wish there was a place online where people can quickly access to report lost dogs and lost dog sightings. Maybe even post a photograph.

The Orland Park police did say they would search for it. Hopefully they found it and hopefully, the dog will find its way back to its home.

A dog like that could easily run for miles. It didn't look familiar.

Which is better, Orland Park or Naperville? Does it matter?

A few years back when I wrote that Naperville had one of the best summer festivals in the county -- the annual Naperville RibFest which this year runs July 2 - 5 --and that Orland Park's "Orland Days" was fast falling to the wayside I was pilloried.

Afterall, I live in Orland Park, not Naperville. So why was I being "disloyal?"

Well, I love Orland Park. I think the Orland Days festival has been declining over the years and I think the Naperville RibFest is one of the best, trailed close-behind in second place by the Frankfort Festival that is held every year around Labor Day weekend.

"Orland Days" will be held after Memorial Day Weekend. I criticized it last year and everyone said I was disloyal. Why is it an issue of loyalty to say that as a citizen of Orland Park, I want something better? I know the Orland Days volunteers do it for free. It's not easy. They carry the load. But the food stinks. Really. The past few years the food has been terrible, like they just threw the food together so they could say they had food. The parade is okay but that could be better, too. And the rides are a glorified carny-fest.

The Taste of Orland Park is a different story altogether, though. It is run and funded by the village. I understand. The village has more money than the Lions Club which sponsors Orland Days. But the food at Taste of Orland is tremendous; although the entertainment is always the same -- a lot of Irish singing and a few rock bands, but nothing that reflects the true diversity of the village.

Naperville has Huey Lewis & the News, and Blue Osyter Cult. Hmmm. And we have in Orland Park? (Clout?)

So why do I long for Naperville's RibFest?

Because Orland Park is GREAT and we deserve THE BEST. We deserve the best, not whatever we can manage. We deserve greatness, not whatever we can scrape together with volunteers who get over-sensitive to criticism and take everything personally.

Yes, you do a good job. And the king is wearing new clothes, too. If that's what you want to hear, fine. But I want to hear more. I want people in Orland Park when asked what they hope to see Orland Park become, answer with this answer: "We want Orland Park to be better than it is." I don't want to keep hearing Orland Park residents respond to the question by saying, "We want to be like Naperville."

If I wanted to live in Naperville, I'd move there. I like Orland Park, and have lived in orland Park longer than most of my neighbors.

Orland Park recently asked village residents what they would like tos ee to make Orland Park a better community. How about thicker skins from our elected officials and community cheerleaders and boasters? How about village employees who stop playing their petty politics and start doing their jobs?

The Orland Park-Naperville rivalry is a rivalry because some in orland Park want more and they are not getting it.

I hope we do.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/