They're Baaaaaaaack!

Flossmoor's First Couple, Roger and Marcia Molski, are back from an extended "vacation." This being a month before the next election, Flossmoor can expect to see more of the two. They did this last time the mayor was on the ballot as well, Marcia spending time in the village to give the appearance that they still live here.

Voters in Flossmoor can be expected to vote on whether it is "good enough" to have an absentee mayor. No one can blame Roger for wanting to sleep in his own bed or return home to his wife each night. The problem is that they are in Chicago, not Flossmoor. So the question remains, should the mayor live here?

The issue with having an absentee mayor has been made crystal clear this winter. Flossmoor's mayor was absent from the village during the recent ice storm. He didn't endure local power outages because he was at home, in Chicago. Nor did he visit local businesses concerned about having power to open their doors. He simply wasn't here.

Molski was absent during our recent "blizzard," as well. Pictures were provided in a prior post of the Mayor's absence. Of course, the blizzard only made Molski's practice of going home (to Chicago) each night more obvious.

Because the mayor doesn't live here anymore, he's fairly disengaged from the community. So it is no surprise that the mayor has expressed little interest in helping Flossmoor benefit from federal stimulus dollars. While the city manager has done yeoman's work in trying to recover from the mayor's managerial weaknesses, the fact remains that Flossmoor would have greatly benefited from a mayor who was engaged in his community, who could have had an immediate response when the concept of stimulus dollars was becoming public.

The question of whether our mayor should live here really is a question about how invested the mayor should be in the community that he leads. Overnight power outages have no effect on the mayor because he doesn't sleep here. He can't look out his windows and see a community that is blacked-out. One suspects his condo in Chicago has its own backup generator, so he may very well be immune to local power outages there, as well. Must be nice.

The mayor's lack of investment in Flossmoor shows in the kinds of things he is doing to our community, as well. He brought blight to Flossmoor, helping an over-extended developer raze five active businesses on the tax rolls here and leaving a half-block long hole on Flossmoor's main street. What is he doing about it? When I asked, not a thing.

Instead, we come to find that the mayor is helping to bring in a store that will sell liquor and tobacco across the street from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Once again, Molski was instrumental in having our community standards waved in order to get one of his pet projects passed.

Would Roger Molski really have worked so hard to wave our community zoning requirements if he actually lived in Flossmoor? Probably not. If Molski was fully invested in our community, he would have been more likely to understand why residents would want to retain the look and feel of Flossmoor, why it is important to encourage businesses to adapt to our community standards, why selling liquor across the street from one of our community's main assets (its high school) isn't a good idea. No, our absentee mayor has discovered Chicago values and seeks to import them here, to Flossmoor. He's not fully invested in our community, and it shows.

So the question is, should the mayor live here? If you care about Flossmoor's community values, about its inherent charm and small town flavor, then the answer must be yes. If you want to turn Flossmoor into Chicago, then obviously the mayor is a great promoter for undermining Flossmoor's charm and standards. He's done it before and you can expect for him to do it again. Home is where the heart is, and it's clear that Roger Molski's heart is no longer in Flossmoor.

South Suburban "Shovel Ready" Projects

Stimulus Watch provides a breakdown of "shovel ready" projects eligible for federal stimulus dollars. These are defined as:

the "shovel-ready" projects the mayors of this state submitted in the 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors report.

The shocking thing about this report is not who is on it, but who is missing from it. There were no projects submitted for that report by the villages of Hazel Crest or Dolton, County Club Hills, Markham, Steger, Robbins or Flossmoor. Mayors in Illinois made a request totalling $3 billion, representing all the requests in the state listed in the report. But the villages of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were absent from these requests.

Ford Heights (pop: 3,227) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $20,031 (Illinois average was $54,124) according to the website city-data.com. Robbins (pop: 6,312) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $27,637. I suspect that these two villages (like Flossmoor) aren't members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Markham (pop: 12,190) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $47,608. Steger (pop: 10,458) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $49,534. All these villages were below the Illinois statewide average, and all of these could have easily benefited from stimulus dollars being used in their communities.

Dolton (pop: 24,032) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $54,965 (slightly more than the Illinois average of $54,124). Hazel Crest (pop: 14,164) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $57,891. Both of these villages have seen brighter days and suffer from neglect of existing infrastructure. Country Club Hills (pop: 16,764) is more fortunate, with an estimated median household income in 2007 of $66,047 and Flossmoor (pop: 9,353) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $107,850, but neither village had infrastructure projects in mind for the report.

According to Stimulus Watch, the report includes $49,865,000 in project requests from Blue Island for 25 projects. Click on the link will provide more information about those project requests. Richton Park has requested $48,047,000 for 9 projects. South Holland has made $29,911,340 in requests for 19 projects. Homewood has asked for $22,000,000 for its Water and Sewer Infrastructure Rehabilitation project in the neighbor by Walt's. Glenwood has requested $19,350,000 for 28 projects in its community.

Calumet City wants $12,504,000 for 7 projects. Olympia Fields has $12,200,000 worth of projects in 16 different areas. Chicago Heights is requesting $11,674,165 for 27 projects, according to the Conference of Mayors report. Chicago Heights has also asked for $30 million in federal stimulus dollars for its proposed wind farm at a dormant landfill. Tinley Park asked for $10,272,105 to fund 13 projects.

Rounding out the requests for the South Suburbs in the 2008 report, Harvey put in for $5,120,000 for 13 projects. Lynwood asked for $5,825,000 for 15 projects. Park Forest wants $3,757,000 for 5 projects. And Sauk Village requested $3,350,000 to fund 5 projects there.

While you could argue that no one could have foreseen the economic meltdown that has resulted in the federal stimulus package, that doesn't exactly explain why the communities of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were not included in the Conference of Mayors report. Most, if not all, communities have a list of projects that they would like federal help on, so you have to wonder why County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger weren't submitting projects in this routine request. I called the villages of Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest and Markham to ask why they were omitted from this report. I asked them for an explanation as to why their villages weren't included in the requests detailed by the 2008 Conference of Mayors report.

I talked to Joseph Bertrand and Robert Palmer, who is the Village Manager, from Hazel Crest, and they were surprised to hear that they didn't have any shovel-ready projects in the report. "There are a lot of reports out there," Palmer told me. He also told me that Hazel Crest submitted requests to the Mayors Caucus of Chicago about a month ago and that they had just had their transportation meeting on Tuesday where Hazel Crest had made requests for transportation dollars. He said he knew about the Stimulus Watch website, and didn't really have an explanation for why Hazel Crest wasn't on it. "We were told we had two weeks to get it back to South Suburban Mayors and Managers," Palmer said.

He guessed that they had about 8-10 projects ready to go (he didn't say ready to go, but that's what the stimulus funding requires). Palmer said there was a lot of creek stabilization and sewer lining in what they believed would be eligible for federal funding under the stimulus package.

I also talked to Bridget Wachtel, the City Manager for Flossmoor, who gave me a very simple explanation as to why Flossmoor wasn't included. Flossmoor is not a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, so it couldn't have been on this list. Nonetheless, we did talk about the steps the village was taking to receive stimulus dollars. "We are pursuing stimulus dollars," Wachtel told me. "We have begun to register programs through the recovery website," she said.

"You have to have a project that fits into an existing program and it has to be shovel ready," she explained. She expressed some frustration with the conflict between the definition of "shovel ready" and the need for a funding source for the village to take the project to the shovel ready stage. Flossmoor has a "slew of programs in a capitol plan," but that doesn't mean they are eligible or shovel ready.

Wachtel explained that Flossmoor was "struggling to find where we can fit in" with regards to this new source of federal funds. She mentioned the Illinois Public Energy Agency low interest loan program that helped fund the first three phases of Flossmoor's sanitary sewer rehab. "That's where the $27 surcharge on your water bill goes," she said. They are thinking that perhaps the fourth phase of the sewer rehab project could come under the stimulus package. That way, 50% of project would be funded through stimulus dollars, and -- of the remaining 50% -- half (or 25%) would be eligible for a no interest loan and the other half would be eligible for a low interest loan. But "can we meet the deadline? Can we logistically meet those deadlines?"

I spoke with the offices of the mayor in Markam and Dolton, but neither office had anything to say about this. They took a message; no one called back.

Roland Burris throws Pres. Obama 'under the bus'

It has long been obvious, at least to him, that Roland Burris is more important than President Obama. Now he's got someone to play along.

Burris' latest media strategy is to associate Rod Blagojevich with President Obama in the attempt to lessen the attention paid to the fact that he didn't do what he promised to do (disclosure fully and truthfully the contacts he had with the Blagojevich people before his appointment to the U.S. Senate). Burris' media consultant writes in a recent email (which was originally published on the Chatham/Avalon Park Community Council blog but the offending portion has since been removed -- undoubtedly due to its inflammatory nature):

The two biggest beneficiaries of Tony Rezko were Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama, so no one can afford to be self-righteous.

Now this is a line that you'd expect from Rush Limbaugh or even Michael Steele, but not from someone who claims to be a Democrat. While Roland is reduced to waving at the President and trying to get some of that Obama glow, Delmarie Cobb was setting up the conditions for Obama's defeat in 2012.

I've already been told in conversations with Southern Republicans that linking President Obama with William Jefferson and Roland Burris is their best chance at re-taking the White House next time. Clearly, Roland is eager to play along and they've got Delmarie Cobb singing their song.

For Roland Burris -- and Delmarie Cobb -- keeping a "black seat" in the U.S. Senate is clearly more important than re-electing Barack Obama. What are they thinking?

What Burris is thinking is obvious. This is all about him. Freddrenna Lyle makes that obvious:

Roland Burris wanted the Senatorial seat and talked to everyone who would listen once it became obvious that Sen. Obama had a chance to win the Presidency. In fact when he would hear discussions about possible replacements he would get upset when he did not hear himself mentioned.

Cobb continues the assault on the President:

Many black elected officials didn't like Barack, but they stayed quiet and got on board and they need to do the same for Roland.

Understand, Delmarie Cobb is undoubtedly talking about herself. Whether she can find "many" black elected officials who didn't like the president remains to be seen, but there is no question that *she* doesn't like him.

And now she seems eager to tear down the first African American elected to office. Cobb has never made a secret of the fact that she preferred Hillary Clinton over the first black president, but her argument that we have to protect the only black senator and be willing to sacrifice the only black president is more than a tautology. It defines hypocrisy. It is the perfect example of self-destruction.

That Roland Burris' public face is someone who is best known for her opposition of the president, someone eager to sow controversy, shows a lack of political judgment that will neither serve him -- or Illinois -- well. Delmarie Cobb may be eager to throw Barack Obama under the bus, but I haven't found a black voter who is willing to do so. By accepting this appointment from such a fatally flawed figure had already put Burris' political skills and judgment in doubt. Surrounding himself with people who clearly oppose this president only cements it. Roland Burris is too naive to be our senator.

Roland Burris needs to decide if he is standing with our new president or fighting against him. Delmarie Cobb's email suggests to me that she is using Burris as a means for tearing down Barack Obama. We have no indication that Burris is willing to stand with the president or his agenda, but we do have indicators that he and his campaign are eager to sacrifice Barack Obama for their own benefit. It seems to me that those very "black elected officials" who "stayed quiet and got on board" for Barack Obama are now basking in his limelight. Roland Burris faces an uphill battle to divide them from the president but it appears Delmarie Cobb is eager for the challenge. I'd say 'good luck with that,' but I don't really wish her luck. I -- and many others -- worked too hard to get Obama elected president to sacrifice him for Roland Burris. I'd much rather have a good man in the White House. I strongly suspect I'm not alone in that sentiment...

GOP Mayor likely to replace Democrat in the House

When State Rep. George Scully (D-Flossmoor) finally got his appointment to the bench, he opened up the pandora's box in the South Suburbs. Terry Matthews, the Bloom Township Democratic committeeman, will decide who replaces Scully, and Matthews' loyalty is hardly to the Democratic party.

So it should be no surprise when Matthews' choice for the seat is:

a man known to some as a Republican....

Chicago Heights Mayor Anthony DeLuca is said to be on Matthews' short list. The Bloom Township Republican organization endorsed DeLuca when he ran for mayor in 2003 and loaned $5,000 to his campaign.

His campaign that year was run by conservative political consultant and commentator Dan Proft, who then served as his chief of staff for 10 months until DeLuca asked him to leave after Proft ruffled the feathers of some aldermen.

Proft said DeLuca "was a Republican the entire time that I knew him." Indeed, he said he met DeLuca while the two were supporting Republican Flora Ciarlo, whom Scully defeated to win his first term in office.

"He was elected, I would say, on a small-government, entrepreneurship, classic Republican philosophy," Proft said. "I did the messaging. I ought to know."

This is causing a number of headaches among Democrats in the Southland. 80 is a solidly Democratic seat, and the only way a Republican could gain the seat is through a maneuver like this.

I've asked several activists who know DeLuca if he would pledge to remain a Democrat once he was selected to the seat, but no one seems to know. however:

Nonetheless, DeLuca said: "My philosophy has never changed. I am who I am. The candidates I have chosen to support in the primaries may have changed."

He declined to call himself a Democrat, saying it would be inappropriate for him to declare he is a member of a party given that Chicago Heights municipal races are nonpartisan. But, "If I am appointed to a Democratic seat, I am a Democrat," he said.

Can Matthews appoint someone with a "classic Republican philosophy" in a solidly Democratic district? Of course he can. Such are the vulgarities of Illinois politics.

Normally, one would celebrate the switching of an elected official from the Republican party to the Democratic party. But DeLuca is noticeably opaque about his loyalties. And there may be a reason for that.

South Suburban Democrats are upset not only because of DeLuca's history as a Republican (and his unwillingness to say that he has switched parties). They are also afraid that some of the things that have historically tainted the local Republican party will begin to filter into South Suburban Democrats. And DeLuca is thought likely to retain his mayor's seat in Chicago Heights (just as Al Riley has retained his supervisor position in Rich township). Concern is growing over elected officials with multiple and divided loyalties who make it very confusing for residents to understand where the conflicts of interest lie.

Will DeLuca vote with the speaker? Who knows. Matthews could hardly be punished if his protege wondered off the reservation, as the speaker is thought to crave Bloom Democratic support for his daughter's race. That puts Matthews in the catbird's seat -- for the second time this year. Democrats in the 80 district may be steamed that a Republican will be their representative in Springfield, but there is nothing to be done about it.

Until February 2010. As one local Dem told me today: "Thankfully, they haven't changed the primary (date)."

Rep. Debbie Halvorson Opens a New Office in Joliet

On Tuesday, freshman Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson officially opened her new district office in Joliet. The first sign that something was happening was on I-80. On the crowded stretch between Orland and Joliet, we all seemed to be going to the same place. There were green "Halvorson" stickers on many of the cars. If you eliminated the trucks who shared the road with us, we'd have legitimately been called a caravan.

Following the internet mapping programs only work if all the roads are marked. So I almost missed the road perpendicular to the Joliet baseball stadium. But I was familiar enough with the area to know that the next road (Clinton) was a road too far. Thank god for a tight turning radius.

Parking was the next issue. Everyone was looking for a parking spot ten minutes before the open house was supposed to begin. Thankfully, I noticed a spot back from whence I came and (again) turned around. As I did so, I noticed that Halvorson's district office manager was putting up the ribbon. So I had timed everything just right.

As I set up the camera (in the cold -- brrrr), dozens of people slipped inside to go to the fourth floor office of the new Congresswoman. Lots of familiar faces, lots of anticipation on them. The previous Congressman was known more for his time in Guatemala than in the district, and it showed.

About 20 minutes later, the crowded descended on the stairs. The staff readied the flags and ribbon and then Debbie Halvorson appeared. This video starts then.

What we saw was a Congresswoman adjusting to her new schedule, where her life was no longer her own -- and finding a place in it. She smiles as she talks about "Congress on the corners," where she gets to reconnect with the people in the district. But Halvorson was also realistic in explaining that her staff was really her connection to people's concerns, and inviting her guests to reach out to them and deal with them as if they were dealing with her.

This kind of outreach is exactly what is required to defend Democrats in Republican areas. Tip O'Neill may have believed that all politics is local, but that was 30 years ago. This is the internet age, and now all politics is personal. Debbie Halvorson is bridging that divide in her large Congressional District.

You can contribute to this Frontline Democrat here.

Flossmoor's Missing Mayor

I had previously posed the question, shouldn't the mayor live here? Flossmoor's mayor, Roger Molski, uses Flossmoor as a second home; in essence, a place where he can escape the people whenever he's in the village.

Which isn't at night. Once again, it snowed, and I could get visual proof that the mayor (and his wife) were at their (primary) residence downtown. They certainly weren't here in Flossmoor.

Now I understand the mayor's desire to be with his wife, to sleep in his own bed, to have his dog around. And I understand that the real estate market is tight -- probably even tighter for the mayor's condo, since he had our neighbor's torn down and all that remains is an ugly empty lot that no one appreciates. What I don't understand is why he would run for mayor in a place that he's basically abandoned.

The sparkling lights of the big city must be seductive. But if Molski really wants to be mayor, why doesn't he run in Chicago? Where he lives.

South Suburban Democratic machine confronts Team Obama

I don't know about you, but I've had enough of the corrupt politics that plagues Illinois. I am aware of the patronage and pay-to-play aspects that defines Democratic politics in the South Suburbs, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Barack Obama's message of Hope and Change stimulated many of us here in the South Suburbs to get involved -- many for the first time ever. The fact is that the corrupt politics that defines Illinois politics represses democracy and participation by the average person. Quite frankly, that's the way the political machine likes it.

So it should be no surprise that I am suddently getting some very curious feedback about our OFA group, Team Obama. The first hint was when Hazel Crest mayor, Robert Donaldson, sent an email to his fellow candidate Joseph Bertrand about our Team Obama meeting. The email was forwarded to me:

For your information. We should discuss these false, misinformational and misleading statements from these two individuals. Please distribute to interested parties.

Note that the mayor does not dispute the fact that he pushed through the village council a massive pay raise for himself -- and in these tough economic times! Nor does he challenge the public perception that he conducts village business in secret, or that he has engaged in the age-old practice of patronage. Rather, the mayor has apparently plotted to destroy Team Obama. Just because.

As followup, I got email from a machine hack who tries to convince me that we are choosing amongst Democrats "who supported President Obama." Of course, the truth is that the village races in Hazel Crest are nonpartisan. I have no idea whether the mayor (or Joseph Bertrand) are Democrats, although it is probably safe to assume that they are. Instead, as I mentioned in the previous post, we invited people who were involved in helping to elect President Obama to come speak to us. I'm unclear why I should have investigated these candidates' opponents before inviting them to pitch their candidacy before a group of people who lived in their community. Of course, the logic of machine pols probably escapes me anyway.

President Obama challenged us to get involved in our communities and work towards positive change. That does not mean that there won't be other people, Democrats to boot, who won't resist Change in our communities. Illinois has previously resisted the involvement of the national party in the state, and it is clear that they are resisting change again. Barack Obama may have come from Illinois, but the party leadership, both local and state, have every intention of resisting his Agenda for Change and his interest in seeing people get involved in their communities. The status quo in this area are Democrats. It just so happens that the forces for Change in the area are Democrats, as well...

Team Obama rises in the South Suburbs

On Tuesday, February 3rd, former volunteers and supporters of Barack Obama's presidential campaign -- christened "Team Obama" after the volunteers who conceived the term in the Ohio Democratic primary last year -- met at the Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery.

Team Obama grew out of the "Thank You" party for the South Suburban volunteers held in Park Forest in November. There was a very broad consensus that the former volunteers active in the Indiana effort (and other primary states) wanted to stay together, stay active in our communities and stay involved in local politics -- in expectation that we would be needed again in the 2012 presidential contest.

In January, the Obama campaign evolved into Organizing for America, being folded into the Democratic National Committee. Both were expected, at least on my part. The people involved in facilitating "Team Obama" believed that our goals and OFA's goals were similar, and adopted the OFA goal of supporting President Obama's Agenda for Change.

Our program was fairly simple, driven more by the approach of local elections than anything else:

Program

7:00 Introduction/Survey
7:15 Rep. Will Davis
7:30 OFA/Economic Recovery Suggestions

Candidates for Local Office:
8:00 Vernard Alsberry
8:10 Diane Williams
8:20 Susan Pate
8:30 Brace Clement

8:40 Wrap-Up/Open Discussion

On the advice of one of our participants, Rep. Will Davis was invited and talked (briefly) about Blagojevich's impeachment before talking at length about the stimulus package and the need for Economic Recovery in the South Suburbs.

You can download the video for Rep. Davis' talk here for offline viewing.

Rep. Davis' talk led nicely into our Economic Recovery session. Comments, stories and suggestions from that segment were forwarded to Organizing for America, or Obama 2.0. We are committed to working towards President Obama's Agenda for Change.

Afterwards, we heard from four local candidates who have embraced the President's Agenda for Change. The candidates for office that spoke before the group were people who were involved in helping to elect President Obama. Susan Pate, specifically, had asked me how to get literature to Democrats in Mississippi. We heard from:

* Vernard Alsberry is a candidate for President of Hazel Crest this April. You is talk can download the video of Vernard Alsberry here.

* Diane Williams is a candidate for re-election to the Flossmoor Board of Trustees. Her talk can be downloaded here.

* Susan Pate is a candidate for Trustee in Hazel Crest. Her talk is available here.

* Brace Clement is a candidate for School Board in 227. His talk can be found here.

All in all, a productive meeting attended by ~90 people who are interested in helping enact President Obama's Agenda for Change.

Shouldn't the Mayor Live Here?

For the last year or so, not long after Roger Molski's wife found a place in the city, the Mayor of Flossmoor has been an absentee mayor. I discovered this as I repeatedly watched him drive into the parking lot early in the morning (~5am or so).

I was actually surprised to learn that he intended to run for re-election. I would bet that if the market hadn't tanked, he'd have his condo in Flossmoor up for sale, and join his wife in their *real* home. But the market tanked -- and not only because Molski was singularly responsible for the replacement of 5 taxpaying businesses for the unsightly empty lot now at 2500 Flossmoor Rd! Why he would choose to run for re-election is a mystery.

Yesterday was one of the worse storms we've had in years. Elsewhere, mayors were out supervising the clearing of streets or the reconnection of downed power lines. Not in Flossmoor. I'm sure the mayor was somewhere cozy, staying warm. What was happening in Flossmoor probably didn't occur to him. He certainly was nowhere to be found.

The pictures in this post are of the mayor's two parking spots at his condo. You will notice that there is no evidence that either of their cars were here overnight, or at the beginning of this heavy snowstorm. In fact, those parking spots remained empty throughout the day. I'd bet the road conditions were such that it wasn't safe for the mayor to come all the way out here -- especially since we know he wouldn't have spent the night.

Shouldn't the mayor live where he runs? You would think so. But this is Illinois, as Rich Miller is fond of saying, and corruption, pay to play, and abuse of power are pretty much the norm. The mayor is certainly not out of the norm for Illinois. Even in the village's moment of crisis, it is warmer at home. Home -- for our mayor -- just isn't Flossmoor, anymore.

We deserve better. Someday, I hope, we will get better...

Indicted IL Governor pairs another 1000 Jobs in Southland

Four years ago, it was Barack Obama who led a hearing in the Southland on the (indicted) Governor's effort to close the Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Howe Developmental Center. When Barack came out of that meeting, he remarked (per memory): "We'll have to take it easy on the Governor now. We've whacked him enough today."

Yesterday, it was the people of the Southland who came out to take a few whacks at the Governor's proposal to close the southside and south suburbs' only public providers of intensive, in-patient care for individuals with severe mental illness and profound developmental disabilities. Boy, did they come.

Among the first people I met at this hearing of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability were active Obama volunteers in our efforts in Indiana. I wouldn't venture a guess as to how many people showed up without knowing the capacity of the room, but the parking lot was full and the space fairly full. 2000?

One of the Governor's officials started the proceedings by saying that they needed to shut down these facilities because they wanted to replace them with new facilities. What a crock! Did the Chicago Bears stop playing when we replaced Soldier Field with the spaceship? Did the Sox stop playing when they replaced Comisky Park? Hell, no! They built the new facilities first before they moved out of the old ones.

But this isn't what the Governor is proposing to do. He will shut down Tinley Park/Howe, shave a thousand jobs off the government payroll and build new facilities when the budget is under control. Which, in Illinois, means never.

If you're wondering if this has anything to do with the (indicted) Governor's proclivity towards "pay to play," you might have a point. The thousand workers who will lose their jobs can't afford to contribute to the Governor's extravagant lifestyle. And I doubt you will see any builder in the Southland stepping forward to "pay up" to build the new facilities. With lines of credit frozen everywhere, what bank is going to want to help out here? Nope, these thousand jobs will be lost to Illinois' practice of corruption. The people, both workers and clients, will be sacrificed so that the Governor and his political cronies can continue in the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed.

We voted for real change at the federal level. Probably time to vote for change at the state and local level, as well. How many more jobs can we afford to lose here?