Comparing the 49th Ward with the wards and communities further south along the lakefront is difficult at best, because Alderman Joe Moore and 49th ward committeeman David Fagus have done their best to turn the ward into a "rotten borough," with as small a voter base as possible. Their primary goal is to keep voter registration and participation down and voter turnover high, so that Moore only has to bamzoozle a relative handful of voters to stay in office.
The less than ideal commercial areas of East Rogers Park are apparently part of the overall scheme
Moore, Fagus and their lackeys make grandiose projections about the future of the community (the Gateway Project on Howard Street, which at best stumbled and struggled along, is a perfect example). When the rosy claims turn sour, it is easier for disheartened residents to move out of the ward than stay and fight. They are replaced by others who are willing to swallow Moore's bogus reformer credentials.
When you realize that due to the presence of Loyola University (with its built-in turnover of the student population), the growing immigrant population in the ward and the still significant senior citizen and nursing home population, it has been all too easy for Moore and Fagus to keep the 49th Ward down at the bottom in terms of votes cast at each election and Democratic votes cast.
This isn't a case of ranting about them... these are facts that election statistics have shown time and time again over the past decade. The 49th Ward has been at the bottom in terms of votes cast in North Side wards.
Until Moore and Fagus are removed from the political scene, the problems previously mentioned will continue.
However, there is hope.
The pending sentencing of Cong. Jan Schakowsky's husband, Bob Creamer, on December 21 means that we may see Creamer sing like a canary to keep from getting a lengthy jail sentence! Other than possibly implicating his Congressional spouse, Creamer's best source of leverage may well be Moore.
All one has to do is to go back and look at Moore's campaign disclosure report for the last half of 1998. There you will find repeated instances of thousands of dollars being shuffled back and forth between Moore's campaign committee and Creamer's Citizen Action. All Creamer ended up doing is giving Moore's committee a few extra dollars (like it was a bank ATM fee), but on paper it was made to look like Moore had raised about $30,000 in his campaign warchest. That was a campaign trick that might have made the old-time ward bosses blush with envy.
Hopefully the U.S. Attorney's office will soon stop treating Moore and other sleazy aldermen like little guppies that should be thrown back because they are not big enough.
In the meantime, let's start supporting some true reform candidates.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
shermanrandall@hotmail.com
10 comments:
> ... this group, whoever they are ...
um, RANDALL SHERMAN?
>This group ... is little more than a political action committee
Exactly. It is nothing more than a PAC. You can look it up.
Illinois State Board of Elections
> ... by endorsing specific candidates ...
They are allowed.
> ... covert operations ...
The post is the opposite of covert.
> ... non-partisan appearance ...
???
gawd, I wish I had a buck for every time some apologist trotted out the everyone's doing it excuse, if it's so wrong how come no one gets arrested
>Karl Rowe is in Rogers Park.
>I try to promote my community not bring it down with mudsling but with facts.
is that a fact?
> ... this post does by requiring us to hunt down relevant facts to obtain very substantial relevant information.
Well, it's kind of thought provoking, isn't it? I know it makes me very curious about trends in local voter registration and turn-out during the last 14 years, as well as about Moore's 1998 campaign financing.
>This group, by endorsing specific candidates, is little more than a political action committee
Yes, they are a duly-registered PAC, and they endorse political candidates.
Let's contrast this with Creamer's Citizen Action, which in 2003 endorsed candidates including Moore and Schakowski without bothering to register with the Illinois Board of Elections as a PAC. At the time Moore was a member of their Board of Directors and still is.
me-does-not-have-a-clue said......> "Hugh, I respect your opinion but were do you live is this a fact are carpetbeggers a fact or what.
Let me try to clear this post up. I am guessing you are saying, " Hugh doesn't live in the ward so what does his opinion mean"?
Ask Alderman Moore THIS SAME QUESTION.
Ask him about his campaign hinchman- Leo Fontana. Ask him where he sends the checks for Mr. Fontanas services?
Where does Mr. Fontana live?
You are playing in the big leagues now, remember?
David Fagus is required to say this. That's why they pay Creamer.
Creamer is The Official Political Consultant of the 49th Ward
Democratic Party of the 49th Ward to Strategic Consulting
$490.23 on 3/15/2004, Purpose: devlopment production & delivery of mail
$16,922.00 on 3/9/2004, Purpose: devlopment production & delivery of mail
$7,542.00 on 2/24/2004, Purpose: development production and delivery of mail
$8,425.00 on 2/13/2004, Purpose: development production delivery of campaign mail
$2,813.00 on 1/19/2004, Purpose: Consultant
$3,620.00 on 11/16/2003, Purpose: consulting
Strategic Consulting made a series of interest-free, short-term loans of at least $25,000.00 to Citizens for Joe Moore since 1999, even though Moore did not run for any office in 2001:
Strategic Consulting to Citizens for Joe Moore
$6,000.00 loaned 6/12/2002, repaid 6/20/2002
$5,000.00 loaned 1/26/2001, repaid 11/9/2001
$4,000.00 loaned 1/22/2001, repaid 5/4/2001
$10,000.00 loaned 11/4/1999, repaid 12/31/1999
Explain these very short term loans David.
That was a very costly race for committeman, a non-paid position.
Craig: Nice job. That probably sounds weird coming from me, but props when they are due. Keep it up.
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