Here’s the latest out of Madiganistan, as reported in the Chicago Tribune:
In a rare political move, President Barack Obama has inserted himself in a Democratic state legislative primary race in his home state, backing challenger Juliana Stratton over Rep. Ken Dunkin of Chicago.
In a TV and radio ad, Obama says he learned from his days in Chicago that “follow-through is everything.”
Why, you ask, is Obama getting involved in a race for the comparatively lowly office of state representative, and at the primary level, no less?
Stratton is the union-backed opponent challenging Dunkin, who has been getting campaign help from allies of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Dunkin has broken ranks with Democrats on several Illinois House votes, denying House Speaker Michael Madigan a 71-vote veto-proof majority.
Consequently, as an editorial today says, the race has become
a proxy war between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, whose allies are bankrolling incumbent Rep. Ken Dunkin, and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who’s trying to oust Dunkin for breaking ranks on key votes.
And, as John Kass points out in his column, Obama was “sold to America as a political reformer, sinless, pristine, rising above all that naughty Chicago grime” but, in the end, even after his uplifting speech about bipartisanship, he’s nothing more than a Chicago politician like all the others, following The Chicago Way and Boss Madigan’s orders, enforcing Madigan’s tight control over the Democrats in the legislature, ensuring that no one survives breaking ranks or voting independently.
Now, the current situation in Illinois disgusts me — neither side is willing to give an inch, neither side, both sides are willing to let others suffer (e.g., the impact on social service providers and universities, especially Chicago State University, is especially devastating) rather than concede anything. President Obama came in and preached cooperation, but affirmed his support of the Democrat’s refusal to compromise in this latest move.
And once again I’ll say this: big city corruption doesn’t surprise me. It’s par for the course. Routine. Remember that I grew up in the Detroit area, with Mayor Coleman Young as not exactly a paragon of civic virtue growing up. But statewide corruption, especially to the degree it takes place in Illinois? That’s something different altogether.
Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.
Image: Al Capone, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone; Public Domain (because I don’t want to dig into whether an image from The Godfather is useable or goes against copyright restrictions).
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