On Political Machines

April 5th, 2011

The Boss

We received some amazing feedback from a former Chicagoan regarding our missive which compared Gov. Scott Walker's corruption to some of the old time Chicago political hooligans.

This reader shared a perspective on the late 1960's Richard J. Daley Machine you don't hear too often these days. Heads up, life within it sounds pretty damn good.

"Ah good old Chicago. I remember when my husband and I moved into our first apartment in the city, and the local ward heeler turned up -- a dear little man named Harry Jacobsen as I recall -- just to let us know that if we needed a job or any help with city services or anything at all, he was there for us.

There was no bribery -- no quid pro quo -- no overt or implicit corruption: just the kind of "constituent service" designed to keep the voters loyal. What Walker and the Kochs are doing is shamelessly, openly corrupt, and their habit of deflecting it with their usual "we didn't do it, what about those wicked liberals" crap doesn't change the facts.

It's a simple little illustration of the Chicago of the late 1960s. All that's gone, now, of course, but for a few generations it's how most of our cities thrived. The book and movie The Last Hurrah touch on this a little bit, the Boston version -- Boss Curley ran the same kind of operation as Mayor Daley.

The corruption was never in the neighborhoods (though the same cannot be said for things like bank deals and construction projects) -- instead, the GOTV model was to make sure nobody went hungry or jobless, that streets were clean and safe, and that widows and orphans were tended to." EMPHASES OURS

Bagman's Boy Bumped Down A Bit

April 5th, 2011

We posted yesterday about the wild nepotism in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkers administration. We also had a little fun comparing the Walker machine to some famous old-time Chicagoans. It's amazing what a little sunlight can do.  From The Journal Sentinel:

"Gov. Scott Walker abruptly reversed course today and demoted the son of a large campaign contributor to his former job with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing."

Translation - Walker got scared shitless when he discovered that in spite of his best efforts, we still live in the 21st Century.

"The move comes one day after the Journal Sentinel reported that Brian Deschane, 27, had landed an $81,500-a-year job in Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce. The promotion amounted to a raise of 26%. His father is Jerry Deschane, executive vice president and longtime lobbyist for the Madison-based Wisconsin Builders Association. The group's political action committee gave $29,000 to Walker and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, last year, making it one of the top five PAC donors to the governor's successful campaign. Members of the trade group also funneled more than $92,000 through its conduit to Walker's campaign over the past two years."

Translation - Yes, they rewarded the unqualified baby boy of a Bagman with a massive salary on the public dime while telling highly qualified professionals that they were greedy leaches for expecting half that much.

"The younger Deschane has no college degree, little management experience and two drunken driving convictions."

Translation - It is our humble speculation as to it being very unlikely anyone else would actually give the Bagman's Baby any job in this economy that does not have paper hats.

"Brian was moved to (the Department of) Commerce at the request of (Regulation and Licensing) Deputy Secretary John Scocos to head up a division that was eventually going to be moved to DRL," the statement said. "Deputy Secretary Scocos worked with Brian at DRL earlier this year and thought he could help with the transition of the Commerce division to DRL. "When Governor Walker learned of the details of this agency staffing decision, he directed his administration to move in another direction."

Translation - This is called covering your ass in an effort to protect the seedy, grimy inner-workings of your corrupt den of villainy.

"Walker chief of staff Keith Gilkes recommended Brian Deschane for a job with the Regulation and Licensing Department. In January, he became bureau director of board services, a position that paid $62,728 a year. His pay will return to the lower amount when he resumes duties Wednesday at the Department of Regulation and Licensing, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said."

Translation - Walker and his team still don't have a clue that it's wrong for the Bagman's Baby to have this position at all. Or that the salary is still way too fucking much.

Yeah, I Said Bagman

April 4th, 2011

An observation on the unfolding Wisconsin side show

by F. Grey Parker

Update 7:15pm CST 4/5/2011 The situation has changed, but it ain't over.

"Hinky Dink" & "Bathhouse"

The history of Chicago's political underbelly is something of a hobby of mine. Having grown up in it's shadows and in a house of a decidedly political timber, it just fascinated me. I can tell you amazing stories about the bad old days. It was once truly a city without peer in a nation without a whole lot of "sunlight." For a time, it even made "Boss" Tweed's Tammany Hall in New York look good. I hadn't thought about it much recently until a short time ago.

Yesterday, I posted about Gov. Scott Walker's (R-WI) doling out state money and an important position to the seemingly unqualified, legally challenged and not college degreed son of a major political backer. It's a stunning caper. I jived to a few pals that Walker's shenanigans would've made the average 1950s, cigar-chompin', Chicago-Machine hack blush. After some further thought, I have concluded that this was correct. No one in the first Daley Administration would ever have done anything this blatantly not on the level. 

In the midst of a dust-up Walker has intentionally crafted to steamroll over his own state's nearly century long history of open government while giving the high hat to organized labor, he has put an apparent connected bum on the taxpayer's nickel to the tune of just over 80 thousand samolians. To find a guy this craven in Chicago's past, I can only come up with the infamous prohibition era bosses of the 1st Ward, Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin. 

At the height of the "Hinky Dink" and "Bathhouse" stranglehold on power in Chicago, a frustrated Mayor Carter Harrison questioned "Hinky Dink" about his quite eccentric and bent partner. The Mayor wanted to know if "Bathhouse" was using narcotics or might actually be certifiable. Kenna looked at Harrison. He suggested that it was not really explicable. "To tell you the God’s truth, Mayor, they ain’t found a name for it yet," he said.

When a 21st Century Midwestern Governor is reminiscent of either of these goofs, he can take his good government malarkey and scram. I begin to wonder if Walker might not be ossified. Maybe he's just a piker. This is only beginning to heat up, kids. I am pretty sure that it ain't goin' away.

Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) is awfully temperate in his response, if you ask me:

“Gov. Walker has repeatedly stated that all public employees must sacrifice, but it appears his political appointees are exempt from any sacrifice. Media accounts in the past few weeks have focused on two appointees with close Republican connections getting questionable appointments with excessive raises.


Gov. Walker’s budget adjustment bill that is tied up in court gave him 37 additional political appointees and recent revelations make that highly inadvisable. 

A governor cannot ask his employees to sacrifice while rewarding his political cronies and relatives of big donors. I call on the Legislature to halt any expansion of political appointments, no-bid contracts or gubernatorial power over rule-making in the future. This includes special session bill AB 8, which could come back to the Assembly as early as tomorrow.

If there is any shred of independence among legislative Republicans they will not allow the hiring of additional political cronies after the revelations of the past weeks. This is simply not how we do business in Wisconsin.”

Personally, I would've at least called Walker a spifflicated palooka. The guy keeps spoonin' the applesauce. He's tryin' to take the whole state and maybe even the country for a ride. He thinks we're all pushovers. 

He is wrong.

Scott Walker Rewards Bagman

April 4th, 2011
Update 7:15pm CST 4/5/2011 The situation has changed, but it ain't over.

In one of the most jaw-droppingly blatant acts of nepotism I have ever come across, Gov Scott Walker (R-WI) has given the bad-seed child of a major donor a spectacular job in his administration.

My condemnation of nepotism should carry some weight, dear reader. I grew up in Chicagoland.

Daniel Bice writes in The Journal Sentinel:

"Just in his mid-20s, Brian Deschane has no college degree, very little management experience and two drunken-driving convictions.

Yet he has landed an $81,500-per-year job in Gov. Scott Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce. Even though Walker says the state is broke and public employees are overpaid, Deschane already has earned a promotion and a 26% pay raise in just two months with the state.

How did Deschane score his plum assignment with the Walker team?

It's all in the family.

His father is Jerry Deschane, executive vice president and longtime lobbyist for the Madison-basedWisconsin Builders Association, which bet big on Walker during last year's governor's race.

The group's political action committee gave $29,000 to Walker and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, last year, making it one of the top five PAC donors to the governor's successful campaign. Even more impressive, members of the trade group funneled more than $92,000 through its conduit to Walker's campaign over the past two years.

Total donations: $121,652.

That's big-time backing from the homebuilders.

The younger Deschane didn't respond to questions about his job."

Read on...

rePUBLICan ENEMY #1, part 3

Jan 3rd, 2011

Rep. Darrell Issa is embroiled in some very recent allegations of financial impropriety out west. Perhaps even bribery...

"Last summer, Issa went on a property-buying spree. In the span of two months, he bought industrial complexes in Oceanside and Carlsbad and a condo overlooking Oceanside Bay. Even his son picked up a home in Vista. 




The Carlsbad complex, however, is at the center of a lawsuit playing out in Los Angeles County Superior Court. A bank lender in Ventura County is accusing a bank of selling Issa the building for at least $3 million less than it should have.

The property is a series of five brand-new buildings near McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. Currently, all but one unit is empty, but they can be rented through Greene Properties, a company that employs Issa’s wife and son. The project was dreamed up by Orange County “new urbanism” developer David Dirienzo, who defaulted on a $36-million construction loan in January 2009. 

The main lender, East West Bank, put the property up for auction but decided not to sell, instead filing a $12-million “credit bid” to hang onto it. Two weeks later, the bank sold the property to Issa’s company, DEI LLC, for $8.5 million"

Rep. Darrell Issa in Washington, D.C.

202-225-3906

Rep. Darrel Issa in Vista, CA.

760-599-5000