Two Patronage Workers Fired in Cook County

Here's the story from the Sun Times.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was sending a message to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan when he recently fired two of Madigan's top political operatives from their high-paying county jobs, county sources said.

Madigan, like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, has not made an endorsement in the county president race and isn't expected to do so, the speaker's spokesman, Steve Brown, said.

But some of Madigan's Southwest Side foot soldiers have circulated nominating petitions and are actively backing Stroger's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination - Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District boss Terrence O'Brien, county insiders said.

Last week when I interviewed Tom Tresser, I didn't mention this but I should have. These two folks were making a total of $230,000 yearly. We, as the tax payers, not only pay for their salaries but their pensions. Thousands of patronage workers' salaries are paid by the County but so are their pensions once they retire.

The story in the Sun Times today is of patronage work used as bare knuckles politics. These two are supporters of Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House. They were fired, presumably, because Madigan has yet to support Stroger. The real story is the number of patronage workers the County has. These folks are hired based on clout and connections and not based on qualifications.

Attempted Hijacking Called Terrorism

An attempted hijacking today is being called an attempted act of terror.

A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida's instructions, set off an explosive device Friday in a failed terrorist attack on the plane as it was landing in Detroit, federal officials said.

Flight 253 with 278 passengers aboard was 20 minutes from the airport when it sounded like a firecracker had exploded, witnesses said. One passenger jumped over others and tried to subdue the man. Shortly afterward, the suspect was taken to a front row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned.

The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel, but were not specified.

As always in such a situation, it remains fluid.

Video, Quote and Word of the Day

booboisie

a group of people regarded as stupid

Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.

Kenyan Proverb

Council Winners

The Council winners are up.

Council Submissions
First place with 2 points! – Bookworm Room - The Communist Cat is out of the Climate Change Bag
Second place with 1 2/3 points – (Tie*) – Wolf Howling - The Democrats’ Assault On Deliberative Democracy
Second place with 1 2/3 points – (Tie*) –The Glittering Eye - The Healthcare Reform House of Cards
Third place with 1 1/3 point – American Digest - What’s bad for America is good for the Obama gang
Fourth place with 1 point – Soccer Dad - Iran’s Cats Paw
Fifth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) – Joshuapundit - Jimmy Carter Apologizes To Jews !!##!?!
Fifth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) – The Razor - Democrats Gripping the Disemboweling Knife
Fifth place with 2/3 point –(Tie*) – Right Truth - Hundreds of British schoolgirls facing genital mutilation
Non-Council Submissions
First place with 2 1/3 points! – Michael Yon - Arghandab & The Battle for Kandahar
Second place with 2 points – The Doctor is In - Our Gnostic Masters
Third place with 1 1/3 points– Reason - The State’s Failed Experiments
Fourth place with 1 point – (Tie*) – Totus - ATTACK: Washington D.C. Nuked
Fourth place with 1 point (Tie*) – Chronicle of Higher Education - Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students
Fifth place with 2/3 points – To Which I Replied - 40 Reasons To Ban Guns
Fifth place with 1/3 point(Tie*) – Gay Patriot - Will Obamacare Passage Lead to Inverse Cloward-Piven?
Fifth place with 1/3 point(Tie*) – In Context - Ban Champagne

Health Care Reform and the 24 Hour News Cycle

Ben Nelson of Nebraska was bribed for his vote. So to was Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Bernie Sanders also received special treatment for his state. Senator Lieberman received a grant for the University of Connecticut. In fact, no less than 13 Senators have asked for carve outs for their states to exempt them from parts of the health care bill.

There's many reasons why health care reform is so unpopular. At the top of the list is the fact that the bill is a monstrosity. That said, the ugly so called sausage making process of legislating this bill from one committee to another to the full vote to the backrooms has played out like a soap opera right in front of us on the 24 hour news cycle.

For days, Neil Cavuto had small screen within a screen on his show that showed the locked door. Inside that door, a small group of Representatives and the Senators met to hammer out health care reform. It was the constant visual representation of just how non transparent the process was. As Cavuto interviewed the likes of Jon Cornyn and other Republican leaders he never missed an opportunity to ask them rhetorically if they could enter the room. Cavuto would often ask

what if you had a pizza for them

to the Republican. Cavuto spent a lot of time discussing the non transparency of the process.

The twenty four hour news cycle was tailor made for health care reform. Personally, I lost interest months ago. There are plenty, however, that can't get enough of the debate. So, to them, they can't get enough of cable news and the 24 hour news cycle. The 24 hour news cycle has not analyzed, but hyper analyzed, each and every twist and turn in this debate.

I'm not sure that every legislative process is this ugly but they are all somewhat ugly. After all, horse trading isn't new. Votes have been bought before. What's new is that each and every trade is brought into our living rooms 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Each and every ugly moment is magnified for the public at large.

Cable news has spent the last few days hyperanalyzing the vote that was bribed to Senator Ben Nelson. No wonder, he's seen his popularity fall so quickly. He's not the first to trade their vote for something for their state. He's the first to face the full fury of the 24 hour news cycle when doing it.

The exhaustion I feel, and the repulsion most people feel, toward the health care bill comes from the 24 hour news cycle's hyperanalysis of it. Almost nothing could hold up under that much scrutiny. With a bill as awful as this one, it's no wonder it's lost nearly all popularity in the face of the 24 hour news cycle.

Video, Quote and Word of the Day

senescent

growing old

"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help."

Epicurus

Another Dem in the Crosshairs?

Politico reports that the Republicans sent out John McCain to try and woo another Democrat to cross over.

Democratic Rep. Chris Carney received a phone call Wednesday from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asking him to consider becoming a Republican, a top GOP official told POLITICO.

Carney's office at first did not comment other than to acknowledge the call, but Carney released a statement Wednesday night saying, in part, "I appreciate the Republican Party's outreach, but I have no plans to change parties."

DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen spoke to Carney Wednesday and received assurance that the Pennsylvanian was not switching, according to a senior Democratic aide.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aides talked to Carney staffers, as well, and received the same assurance.

This is nothing if not ironic. McCain was wooed by John Kerry to be his running mate in 2004. The Democrats also wooed McCain earlier through Tom Daschle to switch parties.

Whoever leaked this (the "GOP source") to Politico needs to be fired. This is not something you leak to the press. It does show a renewed vigor and confidence on behalf of the GOP in taking advantage of the veritable mess created by the Democrats.