I Don’t Know if You Ever Read Reader’s Comments but

Aesop last week commented on my review of the Sun-Times by reproducing one of his fables which was supposed to pertain to me. The one about the sour grapes. My response: if to suggest a Pulitzer for the entire newspaper, praise its news staff, particularly Fran Spielman, laud its ace cartoonist Jack Higgins,Washington Bureau chief Lynn Sweet, the column QT, the business coverage by Dan Miller, the entire sports pages and even a column by Debra Pickett is sour grapes, the paper should hope for similar harvests. I have criticized certain columnists: Marin, Falsani, Roeper but praised others, notably Sneed—and here’s another: Mark Brown whose offerings are uniformly excellent. But critiques of the paper should prompt Aesop to recall another of his fables—the one about the farmer who told his sons he had buried gold on his estate which would make them rich. In a frenzy, they dug up the entire yard but found none; yet the digging stirred the earth so that the roots of the fruit trees were invigorated which brought forth a bountiful harvest that produced wealth. Moral: don’t be disturbed when someone takes a dig at you, if it spurs the requisite energy to improve. But thanks anyhow, Aesop, and keep on reading this blog.

The Rally in Support of Cardinal George Accomplished its Objective...

...which was to show the media that a broad constituency of archdiocese Catholicism is behind the prelate, understanding that mistakes have been made but giving him the benefit of the doubt, as well as the benefit of understanding and support. To all who attended on very short notice, my personal thanks. To the chairman, John McCartney, our great thanks and debt plus appreciation for his timely remarks. And thanks to the enthusiastic delegations: the St. John Cantius one (my home parish) which marched all the way to the Cathedral with signs, banners and significant red ribbons…as well as the many parishes that joined in. We particularly thank the dedicated Filipino Catholics who were mis-led by a bureaucratic Cathedral functionary who ordered them to go into the auditorium on the purported order of the Cathedral rector and the Cardinal, possibly even from the Pope in Rome. It was then that your humble servant vetoed the move, told the orderly that she should bug off and the rally would begin and end on the Cathedral steps. The rally drew television and radio and the major newspapers to the discomfiture of the officious and gruffly sniffing Cathedral orderly. The Cardinal’s televised response of gratitude made it all worth while.

Russ Stewart and I vs. Rod McCullough: A Lively Show

At the end of last night’s program I had to admit that Rod McCullough could play rope-a-dope—for political analyst-lawyer Russ Stewart and I slugged him unmercifully for his assault on Joe Birkett, but the end product was a good show. The idea that Birkett indicted him because he worked for a candidate that Birkett beat handily doesn’t wash—but that’s Rod’s case and he’s stuck with it. Basically, though, he was a very good guest: controversial and exhibiting a street-smartness that helped the show roll along. My thanks to both for doing a great job.


o Both seemed to agree that Judy Baar Topinka is ahead not just in polling numbers but in actuality.


o Stewart, more than McCullough, was more positive about Topinka because, as he says, he wants a winner. On the other hand, Stewart felt that Topinka made a purposeful strategy of trying to glide through the Channel 2 debate without contributing much substance which, he felt, hurt her.


o Both feel that Edwin Eisendrath is on the lip of being a lost cause—as do I. The fact that the primary date is coming up and the candidate’s rich family hasn’t contributed much money is a deciding factor. Neither man understood the enigmatic posture of the family anent his campaign—nor do I.


o On the issue of how the governor made out by his appearance on the Jon Stewart show which ridiculed the morning-after pill controversy, both generally agreed. Russ Stewart thought the governor definitely didn’t help him. McCullough was more ambivalent. My view is that the pharmacist, Rep. Ron Stephens, may have benefited from the comic interrogator looking elitist for yukking it up on traditional values, especially in his own district.

I rather think the governor was disadvantaged by the slick double-entendres.

o As befits one who is the consultant for Sandy Wegman, McCullough feels that the Lieutenant Governor’s race is wide open. Stewart scoffed at the idea.


o On the Ozzie Guillen matter (the White Sox coach declining to go to the White House to be received by President Bush because Guillen is on vacation in the Dominican Republic, Stewart thought he was slightly harmed by the snub but McCullough, a Cubs fan, thought not.


o Both participants ridiculed Mayor Daley for renewing his call for a no-fly zone over Chicago, especially over the Loop, following Bush’s announcement of a foiled plot to crash into an L.A. tower. Stewart was particularly harsh, befitting his Northwest Side constituency.


o On the issue of Obama and McCain (McCain taking umbrage at Obama’s declining to work on a special bipartisan committee on lobby reform, both hit Obama, McCullough declaring that Obama has gotten away with murder by pretending he’s an independent but coming down as a partisan. I’m the only one who believes that the senseless tiff is more important than it seems—showing that McCain’s blow-torch temper is something to watch as his emotional fitness is considered for the presidency.


o And finally on the momentous issue of John Cox running for president—not president of a school board or of anything local but President of the United States, McCullough observed that he knew Cox when—when he ran for Congress with McCullough as consultant, the first election he lost of many to follow.

One More Reminder

Catholics for the Cardinal, headed by the great John McCartney, former teacher, selfless volunteer who teaches the underprivileged at Midtown (valiant Korean vet, survivor of Chosin, honored pro-life hero who has spent years in this vineyard) will host the rally in behalf of Francis Cardinal George on Sunday, 3 p.m., on the steps of Holy Name Cathedral. This rally started just yesterday and it’s catching on. Will SNAP crash it? Be there!

The Sun-Times: Where it Succeeds and Where it Fails

Where it succeeds, nobly, is in its straight news reporting. Earlier I mentioned Fran Spielman who writes the most important City Hall news all by herself. Nothing more than a one-line identification but over the years it has been identified with sterling quality. Then there’s Frank Main and Annie Sweeney, Steve Patterson plus Chris Fusco and Dave McKinney.

More listed another time.

Another department where it’s not only superb but the one of the best in the nation, it’s top-flight cartoonist Jack Higgins who regularly hits pay-dirt with his droll commentaries which occasionally varies from the paper’s editorial policy. The Business pages: outstanding, edited by a real pro who’s as articulate on radio and TV as when he writes business news, the former chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, Dan Miller.

Once I used to criticize the paper because of its political non-objectivity—but that was before I recognized the importance of newspapers returning to old-style partisanship in political reporting. When I was young, I read the Tribune to get the Republican slant from the ferociously conservative Col. Robert R. McCormick and then walked around the corner to the out-of-town newsstand at State and Washington to pick up a copy of the New York Post, owned by a ferociously liberal Dorothy Schiff. The politics of both newspapers were covered superbly from right and left slants. Reflecting on it, I am sorry I once criticized Lynn Sweet for being biased. How stupid I was. Of course she is! But she is reporting political news on the slant in line with traditional, hallowed advocacy journalism which dates back to Greeley’s (Horace not Andy) New York Tribune. I later realized that she is excellent on the basis of the political partisanship she and the paper so passionately share. .

Where the paper fails –and lamentably—is in its columnists. The style there is to present hip journalism but it is often stale and sophomoric. You may think I’m picking on them but remember, these columnists make their living skewing; so it’s surprising that when someone skews them they’re so thin skinned. Cathleen Falsani, the Religion Editor who loves to quote her lefty buddies assaulting George W. Bush because he’s a bad guy. She’s girlishly gushing and popping her bubble gum because she just discovered the Song of Solomon on DVD. Just in time for Valentine’s Day. We get comic book religion but no depth, no feeling for religious news. She reports it with the same wafer-thin lack of perspective as she would a traffic accident.

Now, I confess: to one I’m been unjust to because I didn’t fully appreciate the need for a return to old-time partisan political analysis. Now that I have a better understanding of what she does (a reincarnation of Dorothy Schiff journalism) I find that whatever she writes, analysis of straight news, Sweet is excellent because she gives us the straight applejack 90 proof Democratic flavor, undiluted. Of course she takes Obama’s side in the controversy with McCain. May she prosper forever.

I must say Roger Ebert’s views of films leaves much to be desired because as a political-writer wannabe he is viscerally liberal but doesn’t know the territory as he does film. His critique of “Goodnight and Good Luck” about Murrow should have mentioned that the historical context of the times was not portrayed. But Ebert may not know the historical context; besides, he was so enthused about the liberal politics. Now that’s o.k. for a liberal Democratic writer like Sweet, but Ebert could have written that sadly the film didn’t portray the proper background of McCarthyism. He didn’t.

For a hip newspaper, Roeper is supposed to be au currant, sucking up to the kids. But he’s now a 40sh kid who never grew up, who writes like one and one of these days will not be able to keep up because the fads will catch him between the switches. The cleverest columnist hands down is QT. Sneed is the first thing I read. Even Debra Pickett is starting to pick up with an outstanding column on the genius she lunched with. I give Mitchell a B-, basis her willingness to criticize the amen corner for politicizing the Coretta King funeral.

Carol Marin, ostensibly hired to write a local political column, doesn’t. She writes as an outraged moralist. As one with few conventional religious absolutes, she makes up for it by adopting secular ones. The crusade to keep Jerry Springer off Channel 5 is old but made her the reputation she savors; now the Iraq War stinks, Bush is rewarding the rich with tax cuts, go to Brokeback Mountain: you know, the gripping intellectual issues of our time. In parsing her secular absolutes, she becomes everyone’s high rectitude Mother Superior. Everyone who’s been caught napping or derelict in some fashion, gets a severe rebuke from Carol., All except Joe Cari, the Democratic pol who’s a longtime friend. Then, strange for her, you could read the restricted sobs of remorse for poor Joe in her stuff.

Rather than write politics, she gives advice. Months ago she urged George Ryan to throw in the towel because of the suffering he’s bringing to his family. That’s more than being a naïf; it was wretchedly bad advice. Ryan at 71 has the free services of Winston & Strawn and the best criminal defense lawyer in the country so why the hell would he not make a run for freedom? Incidentally, why is Jim Thompson spending so much of the firm’s assets to get his pal George to beat the rap? Is Thompson another Mother Teresa? Is his feeling for stodgy, grumpy old George altruistic? I think not.

Now Marin began one column asking Rod Blagojevich why he hasn’t announced for reelection yet but before the piece is over she figures it out: “In truth, if I were running the Blagojevich (non) campaign I’d probably do the same thing.” Superb reasoning, Carol, you’re learning as your earning which might pay off as you do gigs on Channel 11, too along with the paper’s sex therapist. Now suppose you go to Lew Manilow, the multi-multi millionaire step-father of Edwin Eisendrath and ask why he hasn’t seen fit to contribute a sizable bankroll to help his step-son. Here was Manilow at the City Club the other day, nudging his partners at the table proudly: that’s my kid. Well why don’t you have enough faith in your kid to give him a few bucks, Lew?

All things being equal, the paper is good, deserves a Pulitzer for uncovering Daley scandals and Hired Trucks. But it can be better. Much better. To those columnists criticized, don’t sulk, now. Every day you rip someone a new aperture. Take it and come up smiling. That’s good.

Supporters of Jesse Jackson, Jr. for Mayor Study a Black-Brown Base Coalition.

Note: Since these details have not been released before, I’d appreciate it if major news media, bloggers or others who wish to comment on it give credit to the following: www.tomroeser.com. Seeking to call around to get your own copy so as to circumvent credit would not be ethical. Thanks.

Supporters of Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. for mayor of Chicago in 2007 have engaged a comprehensive ballot strategy for building what they call a “Black-Brown Base Coalition” which would weld African American and Hispanic voters into a democratic striking force that would (a) link the two groups similar to how they were during the Harold Washington era to pursue unified goals and (b) enhance ethnic solidarity within the city that would improve the climate for civic, social and economic polity.

To do so, the strategy calls for a joint cooperation from leaders of both groups on the campaign to elect Joy Cunningham for Appellate Court Justice in 2006. Cunningham is an African-American woman, married with one child, currently senior vice president and general counsel for Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She is a former Cook county Circuit Judge, assistant state Attorney General and Appellate Court Clerk. Despite these outstanding credentials, she was not slated by the Democratic party slate-making mechanism headed by Alderman Edward Burke.

The ballot strategy test points out that “major issue of concern to Chicagoans, the desire for change in City Hall and the most likely agents for that change are all brought to bear in the Cunningham campaign. Support of Rep. Jackson, Rep. [Luis} Gutierrez and Sen. [James] Meeks brings mayoral speculation into play.” Cunningham is running against three white candidates which in itself is a microcosm of the 1983 mayor campaign won by Harold Washington. The strategy paper sets as a test the question: “Can Cunningham win by uniting African-Americans and Hispanics? If so, can she win a majority or just a plurality as Washington did?”

Proposed billboards have been prepared showing Cunningham joined by Rep. Jackson and Rep. Gutierrez and Rep. Jackson and Sen. Meeks with the slogan Joy Virginia CUNNINGHAM for Appellate Court: Honesty and Integrity – Fairness and Experience www.JoyCunningham.org

The rationale in the strategy paper says that U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Rep. Jackson and Rep. Gutierrez “are talking about corruption. No white elected officials in Chicago have talked about corruption. Jackson and Gutierrez have emerged as potential mayoral challengers in 2007.

“There is not a single white mayoral hopeful who has emerged or been suggested publicly. In 1983 Harold Washilngton won the mayoralty by uniting African-Americans and Hispanics in a Black-Brown coalition.

“Election laws in 1983 only required a plurality for victory—Washington won with 37 percent, [Mayor Jane] Byrne got 33 percent and [Richard] Daley had 30 percent.

“Today a majority is needed to win the mayoralty. A runoff would have been forced in 1983. Byrne and Daley supporters would have united and defeated Washington’s coalition. Similar dynamics exist today.”

The strategy says, “Blacks and whites have similar numbers in Chicago. If blacks and whites coalesce in opposition to one another, Hispanics become the swing vote. The top three issues to Chicago voters are education and schools, corruption and waste and crime and drugs.

“Mayor Daley is very strong but vulnerable.”

The document contains a breakdown of ethnic voting strength and other observations.

A “Catholics for the Cardinal” Rally next Sunday, 3 p.m. at Holy Name

Important: Some of the accusations on the priest-pedophile issue have been twisted to become a personal assault on Francis Cardinal George. His acceptance of responsibility and his forthright regret have not been accepted in some quarters, with the result that he is undergoing, in some aspects, a brutal verbal and media beating, including severe rebukes by at least one priest who should know better and who should have exercised Christian charity.

Consequently, a group of people, unorganized and unaffiliated with any particular group, have mobilized to show their support of the Cardinal by staging a rally in his behalf under the aegis of “Catholics for the Cardinal”—in front of Holy Name Cathedral at 3 p.m. this Sunday. I am not an organizer but have been asked to spread the word--which I am doing here. I do think it’s important to show respect and solidarity with one who has manifested tolerance, understanding, compassion and good will.

Thoughts While Shaving

The latest Chicago Tribune poll has a ho-hum quality to it: Judy Baar Topinka at 38, Jim Oberweis 17, Ron Gidwitz 11, Bill Brady 8 and undecided 25. Why ho-hum? The Tribune poll, especially for primaries, has been totally useless. Remember the poll that showed, until the very end, Bob Kustra winning the primary over Al Salvi who was hardly more than a blip on the screen? Remember the poll that showed George Ryan getting 28 percent of the black vote? He got about 7. The fact that Topinka is ahead is no shocker. Topinka has campaigned statewide for many years. Ever since I first met the Market Share people I’ve had the idea—I can’t prove it but—that they shade the outcome to please the client.

Anyhow: Oberweis is about where he should be before any media surge. Gidwitz’s rise is due to the big bucks he’s spent on TV advertising. Brady is still stuck on 8 and not moving (although now that Rauschenberger isn’t running for gov, downstate senators are moving to Brady: an important development the media haven’t caught up with yet).

If we give the poll any credibility at all, what it means is that Jim Oberweis has to go negative on a certain prematurely-orange-haired accordionist—but go negative in an adult, not juvenile, way. Simply use her record against her: her attempted deal on what was the Renaissance hotel in Springfield in order to get big donor Bill Cellini off the hook, with the opposing decision nixing the deal by then Attorney General Jim Ryan. Let Jim Ryan’s statement of the time do most of the work. That’s first.

Second—and I’m sure the Oberweis people will do this—find the clip of JBT doing the polka with Gov. George Ryan while the wording carries the message that she has been in the hybrid for a long, long time i.e. her not saying a peep during the big spending years of George Ryan. Third, they will go easy on her gay-rights stuff and her participation in the gay rights parades but allude to it in subdued fashion. You don’t have to hit people over the head with a dead fish in order to get the idea across. Fourth, they will with a little more definitude her flip-flop on abortion, from when she was a pro-life legislator to her more recent pronouncements.

Fifth, they will go into a little history. A few years ago, Jim Nalepa was a sure-fire winner over Bill Lipinski and the only thing that prevented that victory was Riverside Committeeman Topinka sending out a mass mailing for Democrat Lipinski. I’m sure they’ll show the sample ballot from Riverside. Sixth—and this is a big one—the name Peter Fitzgerald is now golden because he’s not running, became a sort of martyr by paying the price for naming Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) as U.S. District Attorney whereupon he indicted George Ryan. Peter Fitzgerald also saved the Lincoln museum from being turned into a patronage dump by G. Ryan and his boys. While Peter was considering whether or not to run again, Judy was state Republican chairman. She refused to endorse him for reelection: imagine, the state GOP chairman refusing to endorse the Republican U.S. Senator for reelection! On a 50,000-watt station. It is the litmus test of belonging to the hybrid. Then after the show she denies she refused to endorse him.

The key would be to produce hard-hitting but deft commercials, stressing her stands but not demonizing her. Would there be a backlash, to Brady, for instance if the commercials are tough? Sure, there’s a chance of that but I don’t think Brady has the financial ammunition for the long haul. He’ll be in there until the end when, if he’s lucky, Oberweis will be nominated and bygones will be bygones…and if he’s not, Topinka will be nominated and nobody will forget that Bill Brady was the spoiler.

*****

For us oldsters who remember the early days of the civil rights movement when vigorous speakers made rhymes and got the crowd swaying, the politicized funeral of Coretta Scott King was a blast from the past. Here was Joseph Lowery of the SCLC, 87, who hasn’t been on TV since Selma finally mustering up a string of firecrackers in old-time Baptist style to link, in mushy, emotional fashion, the billions spent on Iraq and billions not spent “for the poor.” How nostalgic.

And out trots Jimmy Carter, who assuredly was the worst president of the 20th century—far worse than the fictional “worst”—Warren Harding (who really accomplished things by cutting taxes, sending the economy spurting)…that Jimmy Carter who accomplished what few did before: build high inflation and high unemployment plus botching a recovery of Iranian-held hostages where three helicopters went bust in the desert, aborting a raid on Teheran. Yes, that Jimmy Carter, sour, unrelenting. And what does he say? He says that Katrina killed more blacks than whites (when in a proportionate sense, fewer blacks died than whites, given New Orleans’ population ratio). Also: Martin Luther King was wire-taped without his knowing it. That was supposed to be a zing at Bush? Who wire-taped King: the royal Democratic family of the Kennedys, JFK the president, his brother Bobby the AG and later LBJ through help of his aide Bill Moyers. But it was a fun time, even though it took 6 hours: the biggest Democratic boomerang rally since the one held in Minneapolis for Paul Wellstone.

*****

Political Shootout Sunday should be ve-e-r-y interesting. On the Republican side, Rod McCollough, a consultant for Sandy Wegman for Lieutenant Governor who wants to “clear up things” concerning Joe Birkett’s indictment of him for falsifying candidate petitions. I’ve promised him only a few minutes on that topic. On the journalistic side, our old friend Russ Stewart, lawyer, political analyst for Nadig Newspapers. Should be good: that’s Sunday night at 8 on WLS.

The House Republican Leader: Not Ideal but O. K.

Sorry to be dilatory with this. Election of Ohio’s John Boehner as House Majority Leader is o.k. Republicans could have done far worse by electing Roy Blunt. The ideal choice would have been John Shadegg but his entrance into the race was late. Saving grace: by removing himself, he gets credit for electing Boehner, and will have, presumably, some influence to wield. Boehner is not an idealistic as Shadegg, but has strong convictions including on social issues. The fact that he has not been noted for bringing home the pork is exemplary. That everlasting tan comes from German genes (so-called “black German looks”). He comes across better on TV than DeLay although grammar is a problem as with some working-class (“Sure,” he said, “I took it serious”). Darkly good looking, he’s has been called “Dean Martin gone to Congress” which scares me a bit. He’s a two-pack a day smoker and still has enough of the non-Boy Scout image to quell regulars who feared the GOP would be run like a Campfire Girls picnic. Perhaps because I was a lobbyist for so long, I never saw anything wrong as such with Tom DeLay’s desire to build a constituency on K Street by convincing them to hire Republicans and pension off the old Dem guys. Those of us who remember the era of Tip O’Neill knew that K Street was overwhelmingly in his pocket and nobody complained. It was the deals that came after, born of DeLay’s desire to take overseas junkets that turned into golfing trips and the twisting of so-called 501(c) (3) foundations that caused trouble. That and rascals like Abramoff playing around with Indian tribes and writing speeches for the Congressional Record that Congressmen didn’t give.

Eisendrath’s “Debate” to the City Club Yesterday

It was good, with a misty sense of idealism ala JFK. Eisendrath gives the appearance of being a shade more conservative than Blagojevich, yet orthodox on all the Democratic positions and not a creature of image. The house was full of Eisendrath supporters (regular Democrats who normally should be supporting Blagojevich) including one half-billionaire lady, the daughter of a fabulously wealthy developer who sat next to me. A table away was presided over by Lew Manilow, the philanthropist, son of another developer magnate who is in the hundreds of millions of dollars himself, who is Eisendrath’s step-father. Now I can say that the lady next to me has been known for her liberal fervor but not necessarily losing he head and throwing away a lot of money on risky causes, like a candidate running against a governor with tons of money in the bank. But what about Lew? I caught up with him outside the hall and said, “Lew, when are you going to let loose with the dough for this guy?” The answer: ha-ha, I’ve been around a long time; well, not as long as you—but.

Huh? What does that mean? Earlier when Eisendrath came over to shake hands, I said “where’s the beef? [money] for your campaign? When will your step-pop pop?” He said, pointing to Blagojevich’s portrait on the wall, “he has enough advantages and I don’t want to tell him when we get it.” I suppose that has something to do with filing dates—but that worry’s weird. If money doesn’t come in soon, Eisendrath will have to be content with playing to houses with fawning liberals who wish him well, blow him kisses but that’s all. If I were Blagojevich, with Eisendrath’s rich people holding back for disclosure purposes, I wouldn’t stay awake at night worrying.