Reward offered for information to convict Chicago mayor
The arrogance of Richard Daley is appalling. We hope this reward will inspire someone with critical knowledge to come forward.
- Cook County GOP Chairman Gary Skoien
Just when I’d begun to think that Republicans had hit rock bottom, that they couldn’t possibly sink any low, they come up with this. Chicago’s Cook County Republican Party is now offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an indictment and conviction of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who, not surprisingly, is a Democrat.
Having failed to defeat Mayor Daley at the ballot box, Cook County’s Republicans are now resorting to muck-racking and bounty hunting. Before Republicans go accusing Daley or anyone else of arrogance, they might want to take a good, long look in the mirror. What they’re trying to do is nothing less than corrupting the political process (Gee; corruption in Chicago…whoathunkit??) by buying information to use to remove a Democratic Mayor they cannot stomach. Having failed to achieve their goal at the ballot box, Republicans are now openly displaying their craven disregard for the democratic process.
What was it that Republicans said when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry? Oh, yeah…I remember now. It was something along the lines of, “Get over it. We won, you lost, stop your whining.” Yeah, well…it doesn’t feel so good when the tables are turned, does it?
Daley’s press secretary, Jacqueline Heard, scoffed at the reward. “This is ridiculous, politically motivated and undeserving of any further comment,” she said in a statement.
The reward follows last week’s announcement by federal prosecutors that they had charged two City Hall officials with rigging the city’s hiring system to get around a court order that bars officials from hiring employees for political reasons.
The mayor, who has not been charged, reacted to the charges by proposing that municipal hiring be turned over to an independent commission.
Last week’s indictments were an outgrowth of an ongoing federal investigation of bribes being given in return for jobs in a $38 million program in which the city outsourced hauling work. Twenty-one people have pleaded guilty, including some former high-ranking city officials.
Nice little double standard y’all have going there, guys. If Democrats were the one offering the reward, Republicans would be having paroxysms of righteous indignation (Oh, the humanity! Oh, the injustice! Oh, the arrogant disregard for democratic principles! Oh, shut the $&#@ up….). Why, then, is the reverse acceptable? If y’all want to decry arrogance and corruption, trying looking at yourselves first.
The Chicago political machine is difficult to defend, but it was democratically elected. If Republicans want to effect political change, they can get to work on doing it the old-fashioned way- at the ballot box. It’s a lot of work, and perhaps that’s the problem. Perhaps Cook County Republicans are simply too lazy to put in the work necessary. Perhaps they figure they can buy an indictment and a conviction, and then they can have what they clearly feel is rightfully theirs without actually having to break a sweat or expend any shoe leather.
If this doesn’t demonstrate that arrogance is and remains a quintessentially Republican character flaw, I don’t know what will.
Site Navigation