Mayor’s Row……….by Ned Mitchell
Just about the time we got over the primary election the next one has already started, on television at least. The reformer/unreformer governor has continued a barrage of commercials and has now stepped up the pace. It is smart politics to say the least and the reformer/unreformer governor is using a tried and true method of destruction. Former Governor Jim Edgar blasted his democratic opponent Dawn Clark Netsch immediately after the primary was over and actually Edgar had the election in the bag within 30 days of the primary. Former President Bill Clinton applied the same strategy to his opponent Bob Dole and it worked like a charm. So it has been done with success many times before and it will remain to be seen if it works this time. The governor has ripped into his opponent Judy Barr Topinka on subjects from raising the minimum wage to gun control and is trying to paint her as being opposed to everything from mom to apple pie.
There are some huge flaws in this strategy though for the reformer/unreformer governor. One of the commercials claims Topinka did not lift a finger when accusations surrounded former Governor George Ryan. While that is true, Blagojevich has a selective memory. While he was serving as a State Representative in Chicago a few years ago his Congressman Dan Rostenkowski was indicted for misdeeds in Washington involving his office. Not only did Blagojevich not lift a finger to point out this breach of trust, he actually I am told, endorsed Rostenkowski. Of course he eventually went to Congress in Rostenkowski’s place so I don’t know if there was a connection to the endorsement and subsequent replacement or not. You will have to fill in the blanks on that one. It is not a good thing though to have such a selective memory.
Another one of the commercials touts a town hall meeting where Blagojevich answers questions from the public on a variety of subjects that are mainly focused on bashing Topinka. The only trouble with this is there was no town hall meeting. The public was not invited and the media was left out. This was a staged commercial shoot involving about 50 people that were invited and was held on a Saturday in a school that was closed for the day. The school was a few blocks from Blagojevich’s Chicago home. Of course all the reformer/unreformer’s spokespeople are scrambling to put the proper spin on this latest gaff of their leader. They promise, however, to do better and invite the public and the media to the next town hall meeting. Mighty nice of them I say!
A couple of the other shots involve Topinka’s opposition to a gun control bill and raising the minimum wage by another dollar an hour. I question the wisdom of running that gun control commercial in downstate where Blagojevich’s poll numbers are in the tank really bad, but who am I to question? Concerning the minimum wage increase that strictly comes down to which side of the argument you are on. If you are struggling to raise a family on the minimum wage you would rightfully want a raise in pay. Most everyone enjoys a little bump in the salary from time to time. If you are a business person you might take the argument that you will in fact have to lay off employees to be able to increase the wage for others. So that idea cuts both ways and I can see the point in both sides of the argument to a certain extent.
The main thing I don’t understand though is this. Democrats control the Governor’s office, the House of Representatives and the State Senate. If they are really serious about promoting more gun control and higher minimum wage all they have to do is propose legislation and vote to pass it. The Governor will sign the legislation and it will become law. The reformer/unreformer should take the lead and propose these types of things if he really believes in them. His fellow democrats should then vote and pass these types of bills if they believe in him. If you have control of everything, why wait for an election, just throw the bills out there and pass them. I know I have a way of simplifying things sometimes, but if these two ideas are truly important to him he should not hesitate to put forth his ideas and those in the legislature should not hesitate to pass them. Of course that won’t happen because both the reformer/unreformer and his fellow democrats would rather talk about the other side being opposed to ideas than they would pass them alone. Save us the rhetoric Governor say what you mean and mean what you say. I’m not casting judgment on either proposal, I am saying you have the majority and we elected you to lead so take the lead and lets get these ideas approved. Why wait on the republicans, we don’t need them, we control everything so I say get er done!
Keep an eye on the Reverend James Meeks a Chicago minister who is also an Illinois State Senator. Rev. Meeks is exploring the idea of a run for governor as an independent candidate this fall. Rev/Sen. Meeks is a phenomenal man according to what I have read and can find out about him. He took a few people about 20 years ago and started a church that today has over 22,000 members. That’s right, 22,000 members making it the largest church in Illinois. As a democrat he is rare indeed. He is pro-life and anti gay marriage. What did I just say? Rev/Sen. Meeks is pro-life and anti gay marriage. This caught my attention to say the least. As I have said many times before I am not really happy with the direction the democratic party has taken on many subjects. We seem to be more concerned with promoting the supposed right to have an abortion, even if it concerns a 12 year old girl, or late term pregnancy abortions, or allowing gay people to become married. We have gotten off the path in my opinion in areas that are out of the main stream and are not in sync with the average Joe. Democrats are not only out of the middle of the road, they are driving in the ditch! I have talked to Rev/Sen Meeks a couple of times and he is a breath of fresh air as far as I am concerned for the democrats and he will be attractive to democrats who believe the party has strayed from their mission and also to conservative republicans and independents. I’m told by people close to him that he will be a candidate and he might just be the person who is raised up to lead this state back to the greatness it once was. Stay tuned on this one!
Modern Woodmen Camp 8850 is sponsoring a fund raiser Trivia Contest to help pay for the new fence to be installed on the north side of Maple Hill Cemetery. The event will be held on Friday June 2 beginning at 7:00 pm. Individual tickets are $15.00 or you can sponsor a team for $100.00. Valente’s Terrace will host the event. We expect it will cost about $7,500.00 to complete this project not counting our labor. Modern Woodmen will match the money raised up to $2,500.00. We need your help!
I don’t know the condition of Sesser resident Kay Styve or where she is at right now but I do know she has serious medical problems and needs our thoughts and prayers. A card to Kay to her house would be a great thing to do.
Special birthday wishes go out this week to Hazel Robinson who celebrates 84 years on Friday, the 28th. I asked Hazel if she minded if I revealed her age and in typical Hazel fashion she quickly informed me she did not care. Some folks don’t want others to know how old or for that matter, how young they really are. We wish Hazel a very special day and if you get a chance give her a call or send a card.
If you need us give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write to nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org . We’ll be glad to hear from you!
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