What will Daley's 2016 Olympics bring to the suburbs?

Nearly half of Cook County’s residents are suburbanites who are treated like Cinderella by the mean old step-mother Mayor, Richard m. Daley.

In fact, if you actually correctly counted the population of Chicago, you would probably find that the census numbers are exaggerated. There are not 3 million citizens in Chicago. There are, maybe, 2.7 million.

The flight from Chicago started long ago and continues as people abandon Chicago fearing the rising crime, corruption and unstoppable taxation there.

A garbage can lid from one of the Democratic Machine Precinct Captains isn’t worth as much today as it was worth many years ago when it actually was the city’s symbol for real service delivery.

Chicago doesn’t deliver services any more. It delivers a bunch of exaggerated lies.

If the Census numbers in Chicago are stacked, as I suspect, in order to cover up the population hegira from corruption and taxation and crime, that means the population of the Cook County suburbs surrounding Kingdom Daley are actually higher than the 2.7 million and are probably over 3 million.

Yes. In fact, the population divide of Chicago and suburban Cook County is probably reversed with the suburbs burgeoning and the city fast wilting.

That means the suburbanites actually have the real clout. It’s Daley and his henchmen at City Hall, fueled by the millions in contract donations, corrupt favoritism, special airline flights, and wasteful government spending on their family, friends and cronies, who are the real minority in this region.

Daley doesn’t want the world to know that he has done a poor job when it comes to managing the city. Every day it’s a new corruption scandal. But the “buck” doesn’t stop at Daley’s desk. By the time it gets there, it’s only worth about 15 cents. Maybe.

Daley isn’t a great mayor, like his father, but he does know how to duck and dodge. He has the suburbanites convinced that they are worthless. And we just accept it.

So, when Daley brow beats the Illinois General Assembly into taking money meant to help the people and give it to his corruption government, they do it. They don’t know any better, either, because their boss is a Chicago Machine Captain, too.

Daley wants the region to pony up billions to back the 2016 Olympic Bid so that his name will reign forever, and so that his son, Patrick, will be crowned the next mayor.

And he doesn’t care that people in the suburbs will get NOTHING from the 2016 Olympics. Nothing except more taxation. More debt. More siphoning of suburban dollars through so-called lottery taxation for schools, casino taxation and more. Money for the crime-ridden CTA and the crime-ridden Chicago Loop.

They treat you like a second-class citizen when you try to visit the museums, which are funded by monies taken from the suburbs through the legislature, and a special non-resident tax and heaped upon our heads. And for what? The museums are falling apart and have more broken displays than Daley has scandals at City Hall.

Chicago is like a vampire sucking from the suburbs its money and will to survive.

But we have to stand up. And one way to do that is to break from Chicago’s control and divide Cook County into two counties, one to the East, Cook County that is drawn on the city’s borders. And a new county to the west called “Liberty County” or “Lincoln County.”

There is no Lincoln County in the state of Lincoln?

If ever we needed someone to lead us to emancipation from the oppression of Daley slavery, it is Lincoln County.

All we have to do in the suburbs of Cook County is stand up and take it.

--Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

This weeks column, comcast show and more

This week's print column in the Southwest News-Herald examines how the April 17 regional elections in Chicago and the suburbs might impact two upcoming congressional races. Cong. Luis Gutierrez is expected to retire this term, opening the door to a battle for his succession between Chicago Ald. Rick Munoz, the favorite, and Chicago Ald. Danny Solis. Solis is Mayor Daley's man in the Hispanic community and City Council. Solis backed Daley in the fight to reject the Big Box ordinance, and Munoz backed the ordinance which would have required big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target and others to slowly start paying a decent minimum wage to their employees.

The Mayor opposed the bill. Big labor backed the bill and fought aldermen who backed Daley. Big Labor won nearly a dozen of the run-off elections proving that Big Labor does speak for the grass roots voters. That gives Munoz a running lead in the congressional race.

In the neighboring 3rd Congressional District, I call "Sleepy Hollow" where mediocre passes for activism, Dan Lipinski, who was handpicked by his popular father, William Lipinski, to succeed him once Bill managed to win the primary and prevent other Democrats from contending. He waited to the last minute to step down so that even the Republicans couldn't plan a serious challenge.

Since being elected, Dan Lipinski has been quiet, addressing some staple district issues but not much more, and avoiding the controversial issues. Dan is a good person. Just not a very aggressive congressman like his dad who was adept at political maneuvering.

Dan Lipinski has faced some tough challenges and it is only going to get tougher for him, given his and his father's role int he mudslinging that took place in Oak Lawn's 1st District between Jerry Hurckes, Lipinski's chief of staff, and Kurt Madey, a progressive who offered new ideas and some fresh air. Madey backs reform mayor Dave Heilmann. Hurckes represents the old ways. Hurckes won with a 2 to 1 margin over the outspent Madey. And he did so using the precinct captains who work in the 23rd Ward and for Dan Lipinski. They were out there in force. I saw many of them crawling through the district like termites.

Although Hurckes won the district, a small area of Oak Lawn, that popularity doesn't extend to the rest of the village, which is a cornerstone of Lipinski's 3rd District. The animosity and ugliness of the race will only move more Oak Lawn voters to consider voting for someone else besides Lipinski when he runs for re-election in the Spring.

The congressional primaries will probably start in February 2008, rather than in March, under legislation introduced by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who is doing this to help give U.S. Senator Barack Obama an equal footing in the presidential primaries next year. But it means congressmen like Lipinski, who justfinished a grueling race this past November, has to quickly jump into campaign mode.

And with the anti-Lipinski movement growing, next year's race will be even tougher, unless he sharpens up and starts leading. Being independent, and proves to voters in Oak Lawn that he, not Hurckes, is the real power house in the 3rd District.

Of course, maybe Hurckes is the "King" of the 3rd District. If that's the case, he should just run for congress.

OTHER NEWS:

I taped a show on Comcast Cable with Ed McElroy, and McElroy called me to say the show would air Tuesday April 24 and Tuesday May 1. Well, it didn't air April 24. I heard from many readers who went there looking for the show and found something else. No problem. Comcast has had some issues over the past year and they have become very unreliable. Still, because there is no cable competition or open market, we don't have much choice for alternatives. That could change, hopefully, someday.

Here is a link to a web page promoting better cable TV service in Illinois:

www.WeWantChoice.com

# # #