It is said that Tom Westgard is the interior region of a horse's ass. Far be it from me to attempt to dissuade people from their beliefs. I would question such biased slander of the horse – a noble creature. It is said that Tom Westgard will eventually collapse of his own failed actions. Given that they appear to be many, I could not honestly disagree.
Many say he runs with hypocrites, he works with hypocrites, he supports hypocrites as he himself is one. I will ask around. As a public figure he has been called a turncoat, an opportunist and a bold faced unashamed liar.
A cursory inspection of the record of the last aldermanic election would tent to prove such a statement out. Tom Westgard tells us all that he knows how we should behave, who's politics is correct and who’s politics is incorrect, who's morality is righteous and who's morality is flawed, who is racist or bigoted and who is not.
Still, many feel he is one of Rogers Park's premier misogynist woman haters, liars and blackguards. Ask his ex-wife. She should know. Ask his ex-girlfriends. They would be happy to support this view.
An acquaintance of mine claimed that his word is as worthless as his memory is short. That would make his word pretty worthless, if my friend is, as he usually is, correct in such matters.
I dispute the rumor that he has been known to have sex with animals. It was speculated that one hundred and fifty years ago it was the Tom Westgards of the world that were signing land deals with American Indians and selling shares of railroads that went to nowhere. Well, he is a lawyer – after a fashion.
My lawyer says he is a FRUSTRATED ambulance chaser with a reputation to match. That must make him frustrated indeed. Listening to people around the neighborhood, one might conclude that to inspect Tom Westgard’s life is to look at a person living in chaotic disregard for any decent code of ethics, honesty, fairness or sense of consistency. Reputations tend to have a basis in fact.
Rumor has it that he has left a trail of broken homes, under-supported children, broken leases and unpaid financial obligations behind him as he flits from one failure to another. That after a time, one comes to realize Tom Westgard is simply dancing through life cloaked from reality behind his megalomaniac belief that he and he alone is the arbiter of all that is right and wrong in a community to which he is only a very late comer. It appears he dreams of being a judge, yet he is clearly at best a diminished and marginal lawyer.
A friend said “He walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and has at times dressed like a duck”. Must be true – I saw the picture.
That is the last I will ever say about this pathetic impotent footnote of a human being.
RogersParkBooster (retired)
22 comments:
For the record, I spent many a time talking with Tom's ex - Amy before she moved out of the neighborhood. Heck, I even took her out dancing one evening. She didn't have many good things to say about Tommy, that's for sure. (Oops, should I have said that?)
For my new readers, here's a sad story where Tommy takes credit for something he never did.
Read the comment from his ex-wife.
Really makes you see what a true loser Westgard is, in every sense of the word.
That does it, I want Rogers Park Booster on my team in the dodge ball tournament.
Um-
This isn't very classy of you, Craig. Implying bestiality, deadbeat status, and other claims based in nothing but your seething anger.
Get back to reporting about the stuff that matters: Joe lying and the thugs doing their thug stuff...
Damn, I'd like to read that. Could you break it up into *paragraphs*? It hurts the eyes.
Craig:
Re: Your second post @ 6:34pm. I'd like to read it, but for some reason (on IE 7.0, Vista), it appears in a popup that I cant then resize. Could you just setup the comments page to be full size like it was before?
Thanks,
Mark
Goodmorning Mark, I changed the comment format back to the old way - and broke the RP Booster comment into paragraphs. I hope that's better.
Craig, thanks for reformatting the comments back to the old way.
As for rogergsparkbooster's rant against TW, I wish I hadn't read it here on your blog. If he has his own blog, fine let him post it there.
Rogersparkbooster was definately not in his best form with this one. It came across as banal and sophomoric at best and simply mean-spirited at worst. Worse yet, it wasn't particularly funny.
I am not trying to tell you what to post and what not to post on your site, I'm just giving you my feedback.
- PEACE -
Christopher- you see that Craig did not write this piece right? Yes, he published it, but he didn't write it.
I won't defend the piece, but I like to read a good rant now and again. Tom has done his share of mudslinging back at Craig and others so this is kind of tit for tat. I just hope it doesn't get any worse than this.
The barely concealed venom Jocelyn is famous for. Not suprised you enjoy dodgeball. They don't play that game anymore, I was really proud that as a child I knew that was an evil game, I even spoke up as a little kid and I'll be doggone if years later they removed it from schools.
Anyway, I can just picture you sitting in your parlor with a cup of tea and your little lap dogs, eyes flashing, and your tongue waggling through your snarly teeth while you delight over the latest juicy slander.
Oh the veneer of polite society...
Thomas's satire was amusing, this spectacle is just sick!
I was KIDDING. You have no sense of humour.
Only bullies like dodge ball and I am in no way a bully. You are so off base it's a joke.
It's really YOUR OWN prejudices that are showing here whoever you are. You are a twisted individual who has no understanding of irony.
I am not a bully, but I've always enjoyed the game of dodgeball.
Jocelyn-
I'm aware that this is RPBooster's rant just as I was aware the Assyrian article was from an 'anonymous reader' and so on. Even though Craig didn't pen the words, he is helping distribute them. Seeing as he isn't a news service, it is a fair assumption that such redistribution implies agreement.
If Craig truly desires becoming a positive force in Rogers Park, then he needs to rise above this mudslinging. Defend yourself from critics with reason, perhaps attack opponents with facts and logic, but leave the ad hominem slanderous digs to the simple minded and ineffective.
I've said it before but feel I have to continually explain my stance: I appreciate the good Craig does but loathe the bad. I'm sad to see so many of my neighboors celebrating the bad, as well.
Hey Chris,
Do you call EVERYONE on their misdeeds or just Craig? Are you saying Craig should censor all comments that are gossip or mean spirited? Every blog has a different tone. I don't always like the bile that comes up here, but it's part of the deal.
I just think you are wasting your time tryig to tell Craig how to administrate his blog. My advice is to take what you like and leae the rest, which sounds like what you are doing.
I think if you attended community meetings for a few years, you might understand Craig's stance a bit better too. Have you done that yet?
Peace
Dearest Jocelyn-
I'll call anyone on what I figure
are misdeeds, as you call them. I've told Paradise when I think she's being racist, I've told Westgard when I think he's being an overzealous anti-Gordonite, and I've told you when I think you are being a mindless drone of Craig's.
Craig is the only Rogers Park blogger I've found (so far) that puts such questionable content up on his site _on a regular basis_. That's why I comment on it.
You need to learn to stop putting words in others' mouths. The straw man is SO easy to knock down; at no point did I mention anything to do with Craig's forum postings, only the content he decides to post himself (therefore definitively coming from HIM).
I agree with you in part: I shouldn't bother voicing my opinions when Craig goes astray. It gets me nowhere (but banned). You must admit it damages his cause to post the bathwater along with the baby.
I have not attended any community meetings, but it is hard to fault me. Any outside observer can imagine that those meetings must be as cheap and petty as the flame wars here in the RP blogosphere. Craig even mentions that nothing positive comes from them, so why should I bother going? Unlike the RP bloggers who seem to have unlimited time, I only have about an hour a day to allow for reading and posting here let alone coming to unproductive meetings.
My new concern is that you equate community meeting attendance with the right to distribute trash. Your last statement implies that we can forgive the aforementioned bile simply because Craig goes to the community meetings. I don't seem to be able to follow that leap of faith in your logic...
i don't think that craig posts things because he necessarily believes/agrees with them, but to bring topics up for discussion. that's just my understanding of it.
hey paradise,
they have dodgeball leagues now that adults play. it is part for the fun of the game and i am sure for nostalgia reasons too.
do some research next time.
Okay, so not just bullies like Dodge Ball. I was annoyed, so sorry about that. I guess someone didn't see the movie Dodge Ball either...
I used to live in the so-called Glenwood Avenue Arts District, right next to the Cocoabean. I moved there right around the time the Cocoabean first opened, under its original owners. I don't know who Craig is, but I did know Tom Westgard, and Amy too. Leave the divorce out of it. It's not relevant and it really undermines any legitimacy in the articles. Of course Amy would not have anything good to say about Tom, how many good things do you say about your ex? I certainly have nothing good to say about mine!
I was shocked when I stumbled onto this page from a link from Wikipedia. But on further reading, I couldn't find any evidence of the evil ascribed to him--just a dead link and a lot of anger. Tom may not have lived in Rogers Park all his life, but I always found him civic-minded and respectful. And I don't see where he took credit for anything in your "sad story."
Regarding that story, take it from one who was there, the Curious Theater was a poor, bitter, insular neighbor. They gave me the stinkeye plenty of times, even though I had previously helped. Shame, that.
Anyway, I'm not going to defend Tom's actions as I haven't seen him or Rogers Park in three years, but I would defend his character. I noticed there was one post from him on this site that was removed by a moderator, so I don't know what was said. I can only imagine that it was full of vitriol which was justified by the needless character attacks and mudslinging present here.
I lived in Rogers Park for five years. "Personal issues" had me leave Chicago altogether. But I love Rogers Park, and I loved my three years in that building on Glenwood, providing a crazy, creative, drug-free (albeit loud) venue for young people. My business was more successful than I ever planned, and a boatload of fun! It makes me sad that the first floor now (seems to be?) empty and useless.
evan,
As far as I can tell, those "Art District" storefronts are now empty and useless.
Plain shades and sheets now cover all of the windows, all the way down the street. completely.
There no art being displayed here.
It's nice to hear from you again !
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