How the Chicago
Machine Works
“When the same man, or set of men,
holds the sword and the purse, there is an end of liberty.”
–George Mason
Unwritten Rules
The Chicago Machine relies on unwritten rules to recruit new members
and control existing ones. The machine’s unwritten rules are very similar to
those of organized crime families and street gangs. Machine recruiters don’t
hand new members a manual containing the rules. New machine members learn the
organization’s customs and norms through their elders or by trial and error.
The machine relies on peer and
social pressure to enforce its rules. The machine does not physically beat or
murder those who violate the rules. Nonetheless, the machine metes out
punishment including excommunication, loss of jobs, loss of contracts, public
humiliation, or inspections that lead to hefty fines and loss of income. People
who live in Chicago
know why you “don’t fight City Hall.” If you dare challenge City Hall, the
machine will apply its unlimited city resources to make you pay.
Machine members will tell you the
machine doesn’t exist. It’s in the best interest of the machine to make you
believe there is no such thing as a political machine. The machine doesn’t want
voters like you to know there is a political organization manipulating your
vote. The machine relies on votes from the unsuspecting public to manufacture
patronage jobs, political power, campaign contributions, and income for members
who make the machine’s candidates invincible at the polls.
When people join the Chicago political
machine, they aren’t photographed and issued an identification card. The
machine doesn’t require its members to periodically receive an updated
identification card that says, “Chicago Machine Member since 2003.” The machine
has no official dues, no official articles of incorporation, and no official
meetings. The closest the machine gets to anything official is the Cook County
and State of Illinois Democratic
Party. The machine camouflages itself under the false
pretense of a political party that exists to serve the public good.
The machine is strictly business.
The machine doesn’t sell drugs or weapons. Its stock and trade is political
influence and power. The machine has control of city, county, and state taxes
and often uses the money it collects as its own. At the very least, the
machine’s elected officials trade government services for campaign
contributions, which is why Jay Stone has sought a ban on political
contributions from companies and people who do business with the city.
Everything the machine does is
designed to get its members reelected so the machine can hold on to its
political power and control government jobs and the taxes it collects. The
machine is easy to get along with provided you play the machine’s game. If you
ask members of the machine for help with problems concerning city, county, or
state government, you can have it
provided you help enough influential political machine members get what
they want. Stone says you already pay your taxes and shouldn’t have to pay
again for city service.
Five Unwritten Rules of the Chicago Political Machine
1. The Machine Needs a Boss
The Chicago political machine has always been
strongest when it has a boss. Journalist Mike Ryko described the machine’s
leadership phenomenon in his book “Boss: Richard
J. Daley of Chicago.”
The first Mayor Daley reigned from 1955 to 1975. His son, the current Mayor Richard M. Daley, has been the
machine’s boss from 1989 to the present.
There are advantages in working
for the boss. The boss provides jobs, city contracts, protection, political
influence, and power in exchange for abject loyalty, campaign contributions,
and votes.
The perks for being the boss of Chicago are similar to
those of a mafia don. The boss always gets a piece of the action, and nobody
does anything without first receiving an OK from the boss. The underlings take
what boss Daley doesn’t want for himself.
From 1989 to the present Richard
M. Daley has been the boss of Chicago.
From 1983 to now, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has been the boss of
state government in Springfield.
And presently the Chicago machine has the
granddaddy of all bosses, Barrack Obama, reigning as the boss of the United States.
Obama first went to Daley for
Daley’s blessings to run for president. Once Obama had Daley’s support, Daley’s
political outfit and fund-raisers backed Obama. The same financial backers who
routinely back Daley donated heavily to Obama.
When Daley ran for reelection in
2007, five contributors who were on the Chicago Olympics bid committee donated
$570,000.00 in aggregate to Daley. When Barrack Obama ran for president, Obama
received $950,000.00 in aggregate from these same five Daley contributors. In
all, the 15 members of the Chicago Olympics bid committee donated at least $2
million to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Given Obama’s quick and easy $2
million haul from the Chicago Olympics bid committee members, is anyone
surprised that the president went to Copenhagen
to lobby on behalf of a Chicago Olympics?
Besides President Obama and First
Lady Michelle, the White House staff and cabinet includes other politicians
schooled by Daley. Michelle Obama
was a Daley advisor and Assistant Planning Commissioner. White House Chief of
Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House
advisors David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, and Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan all put substantial time into learning the ropes from boss Daley.
Barrack Obama is the
most articulate, charismatic, charming, and intelligent face the Chicago machine has ever had, but in spite of Obama’s vast
talents and abilities, he still represents everything wrong about Chicago politics. What
Obama has learned from Chicago politics and the Chicago politicians with
whom he surrounds himself in the White House has been detrimental to him in
governing our country. Unfortunately for America,
Obama is running the country like a political boss of Chicago
instead of acting like the president of the United States.
2. A Political Sponsor is
Necessary to Join the Machine
Each new member of the machine
needs an established member to vouch for him or her. This requirement of a
political sponsor allows the older machine member to indoctrinate the new
member into the machine’s culture and unwritten rules.
Political sponsors are also
responsible for the conduct of new members whom they bring into the machine.
Political sponsors keep their political proteges in line. The machine’s
indoctrination process of having established members groom new members is the
same method gangs and organized crime families use. To learn more about how the
machine recruits and trains new members, read Milton L. Rakove’s eloquent book
“We Don’t Want Nobody Nobody Sent.”
3. Don’t Snitch or Whistle-Blow
The machine relies on a code of
silence to keep its secrets and prevent law enforcement investigations. Machine
members hate snitches and whistle-blowers more than anyone and anything else.
The machine has a rule against snitching and whistle-blowing because
information from these sources can lead to convictions, loss of power, loss of
influence, loss of jobs, and loss of money.
Since snitches and whistle-blowers
trigger most investigations, they are the biggest threat to the machine. The
machine wants to maintain a clean public image, but snitches and
whistle-blowers expose the machine’s seedier side. Snitches and whistle-blowers
are bad for business. How can the machine’s candidates win elections if voters
know what the machine is really doing?
The machine’s unwritten rule of
punishing snitches and whistle-blowers is akin to how street gangs and
organized crime families punish their so-called traitors. Prisoners behind bars
consider a snitch the low life of a prison. How ironic that Chicago politicians hold the same belief as
convicted felons. And how ironic that Chicago
politicians use the same peer pressure as inmates in a prison to keep snitches
from talking.
When former Deputy Water
Commissioner Donald Tomczak pled guilty and cooperated with the FBI, Daley
publicly held Tomczak in contempt. When Daley’s patronage chief Robert Sorich
was convicted and kept his insider’s knowledge of Chicago corruption to himself, Daley called
Sorich “a fine young lad.” Daley’s vile reaction to the man who cooperated with
the FBI compared to Daley’s praise of the man who maintained his silence is
more than enough evidence to prove the machine’s unwritten rule against
snitching.
To learn more about how the
machine uses peer and social pressure to keep its members from spilling
secrets, read Milton L. Rakove’s book “Don’t Make No Waves––Don’t Back Losers;
An Insider’s Analysis of the Daley Machine.”
4. Punish Snitches and Those Who
Don’t Remain Loyal
What good is it for the machine to
have rules without any punishment for violating the rules? It’s easy for the
machine to punish city employees for a lack of loyalty, blowing the whistle, or
snitching. For example, twenty-seven-year water department employee Frank
Coconate lost his job, pension, and health benefits for his family after he
appeared on TV wearing a Jesse Jackson, Jr., for Mayor button. Like Stone, the
federal court deemed Coconate a civil rights victim and awarded him financial
compensation. Coconate lost his job for exercising his right to free speech.
Daley not only punishes dissenting
employees; Daley also punishes opposition journalists. When “Chicago Reporter”
journalist Mick Dumke asked Daley a question about the efficacy of Daley’s
gun-control policy, Daley threatened him with, “If I put this up your butt,
you’ll find out how effective this is! If I put a round up your …” What made
Daley’s comment to Dumke more demeaning was Daley’s smirking laughter that
accompanied his threat.
Daley and his flunky aldermen
punished a TV news reporter for an unflattering story. When Andy Shaw, who
currently is the Better Government Association Director, was an ABC-TV news
reporter, he did a particularly hard-hitting story on City Hall corruption. The
mayor and aldermen got their revenge against Andy. They passed a bed and
breakfast law purposely to inconvenience and cause financial hardship to Andy
and his wife’s bed and breakfast business. Never mind that many other Chicago bed and
breakfasts were adversely affected by the law that was intended to punish Shaw.
If candidates run for office
against one of Daley’s puppets, as Jay Stone did, non-machine-backed candidates
and their supporters face every kind of punishment imaginable. Businesses who
donate campaign contributions or display campaign signs for independent reform
candidates must watch out. Punitive city inspectors may descend upon them and
their businesses.
For example, when Stone ran for
alderman, a store owner put one of Stone’s campaign signs in the store’s front
window. The day after the election, the ward superintendent came to the store
and issued the owner two tickets for displaying products on the sidewalk. The
store owner said, “I have had products on the sidewalk in front of my store for
seven years. Why are you issuing me tickets now?” The ward superintendent
replied, “You should have thought about that before you put Stone’s sign in
your window.”
Daley also metes out punishment to
keep aldermen in line. In 2006 Alderman Joe Moore (49th) sponsored and passed a
big box ordinance that stopped Wal-mart from building stores in Chicago. Alderman Moore
also sponsored the foie gras ban that passed the city council with a 49 to 0
vote. One week after Moore’s
big box ordinance passed, Mayor Daley and the city council repealed the foie
gras ban by a vote of 37 to 6. The repeal of Moore’s
ordinance had little to do with people in Chicago
eating a delicacy. The foie gras ban had everything to do with sending a
message to Moore
and other aldermen. If you oppose Daley, you are going to pay one way or
another.
5. Ward Bosses Control Their Wards
Like Daley Controls the City
As with the mafia, which has one
boss in charge of other, smaller bosses, the machine has a similar hierarchy
and structure. The big boss is Daley who has a number of other smaller bosses
working for him. Daley is the shot-caller for the entire city.
Each of Chicago’s 50 wards has an alderman and a ward
committeeman (one person is allowed to hold both jobs simultaneously), both
calling the shots in his or her own ward. The alderman’s ward is his or her
turf. The aldermen defend their turf with no less vigor than street gangs
defend theirs. Each alderman does not dare interfere with what goes on inside
another alderman’s ward. There is no written law that states that an alderman
must not involve him or herself in another alderman’s business. The custom of
an alderman not getting involved with the internal politics of another ward is
another one of those unwritten rules.
The existence of small
shot-callers is very evident in rezoning cases. The tradition that each
alderman is the final arbiter of rezoning in his ward dates back to the days of
Prohibition. Aldermen keep their hands off of other aldermen’s rezoning
decisions because that has been the tradition
for almost one hundred years. Aldermanic voting to approve rezoning in
the 14-member Zoning Committee and 50-member City Council is redundant and
unnecessary because rezoning is fait accompli as determined by the alderman who
has the final say on rezoning in his or her ward.
In addition to rezoning, Daley and
the machine delegate power to the alderman boss and shot-caller over virtually
everything else that occurs within the ward that he or she represents.
By letting an alderman call the
shots in his or her own ward, it makes it easier for Boss Daley to control the
entire city. Instead of Daley controlling every man, woman, or decision in each
ward, all Daley has to do is control the alderman. If there is a political
skirmish in a particular ward, Daley only has to tell the ward’s alderman to fix
the problem.
It’s a lot easier for Daley to
rely on one person to put out political fires in a particular ward than it is
to rely on many. Daley gives each alderman the rights to his or her turf, and
in return for their fiefdom, the legislators abdicate their duty to check and
balance Daley’s executive branch of government.
Chicago
Machine
Richard
J. Daley was the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and his sons are Richard M. Daley
& William M. Daley.
Note: City of Chicago
Find Your Ward and Alderman
Click here to see
Ward Map Showing Boundaries for all 50 Wards Richard M. Daley
was the Chicago (IL) mayor, Michelle Obama was his staffer, and Valerie B. Jarrett was his deputy chief
of staff, his father was Richard J.
Daley, is William M. Daley’s
brother, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is the Chicago (IL) mayor,
a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Valerie B. Jarrett
was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s deputy
chief of staff, is a friend of Michelle
Obama, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
William
M. Daley was the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration, is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley’s brother, and Richard J. Daley was his father.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Sidley Austin
LLP was the lobby firm for General
Motors (GM).
Michelle Obama to Host New GM CEO, Dem Donor Mary Barra at
SOTU (Past Research)
Robert
S. Osborne was a group VP for General Motors, and is a member of the
Commercial Club of Chicago.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Harold Washington
was the Chicago (IL) mayor, and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. was his adviser.
Jeremiah A.
Wright Jr. was Mayor Harold
Washington’s adviser, gave the Audacity
of Hope sermon, and is the senior pastor for the Trinity United
Church of Christ (Chicago).
Barack
Obama is the author of Audacity of
Hope, and was a parishioner at the Trinity United
Church of Christ (Chicago).
Trumpeter
Newsmagazine is a publication for the Trinity United
Church of Christ (Chicago).
Louis Farrakhan
was awarded the 2007 Jeremiah Wright Jr.
Trumpeter award from the Trumpeter
Newsmagazine, the organizer for the Million
Man March, and the acting head for the Nation
of Islam.
Nation of Islam
Criticism
The first book analyzing the
Nation of Islam was The Black Muslims in America (1961) by C. Eric Lincoln. Lincoln describes the use
of doctrines during religious services.
Often the minister reads passages
from well-known historical, sociological, or anthropological works, and finds
in them inconspicuous references to the black man's true history in the
world.... Occasionally the minister chides the audience for its skepticism:
"I know you don't believe me because I happen to be a black man. Well, you
can look it up in a book I’m going to tell you about that was written by a
white man." He then reads off references that his hearers are challenged
to check.
In recent years, the embrace of
Dianetics under Farrakhan has drawn much criticism that the Nation of Islam is
becoming too close to the Church
of Scientology and the
ideas of its founder L. Ron Hubbard, whom Farrakhan has said he respects.
Farrakhan has praised Hubbard, saying he was "exceedingly valuable to
every Caucasian person on this Earth". Of followers of Scientology, he
stated "You can still be a Christian; you just won't be a devil Christian.
You'll still be a Jew, but you won't be a satanic Jew!".[19][20][37]
Antisemitism
Main article: Nation of Islam and
antisemitism
The Nation of Islam has
repeatedly denied charges of anti-Semitism.[38] Farrakhan has stated, "The
ADL ... uses the term 'anti-Semitism' to stifle all criticism of Zionism and
the Zionist policies of the State of Israel and also to stifle all legitimate
criticism of the errant behavior of some Jewish people toward the non-Jewish
population of the earth."[39] However, he has also stated:
Jews have been conclusively
linked to the greatest criminal endeavor ever undertaken against an entire race
of people ... the black African Holocaust.[6]
Who are the slumlords in the
Black community? The so-called Jews ... Who is it sucking our blood in the
Black community? A white imposter Arab and a white imposter Jew.[6]
These false Jews promote the
filth of Hollywood
that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing
you down in moral strength. ... It's the wicked Jews, the false Jews, that are
promoting lesbianism, homosexuality.[6]
Hitler was a very great man ...
he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat Now
I'm not proud of Hitler's evil toward Jewish people, but that's a matter of
record. Well, in a sense you could say there is a similarity in that we are
rising our people up from nothing.[40][41]
Professor David W. Leinweber of Emory University
asserts that the Nation of Islam has engaged in revisionist and antisemitic
interpretations of the Holocaust and that they exaggerate the role of Jews in
the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Leinweber and others use the original
statements of Farrakhan and others as the basis for their evaluation.[42] NOI
Health Minister Abdul Alim Muhammad has accused Jewish doctors of injecting
Blacks with the AIDS virus.[43][44]
Jeffery Muhammad, the Nation of
Islam's longtime leader in Dallas,
stated:
They [Asian-American merchants in
black neighborhoods] are just the latest in a long line of people who have come
to this country—like Jews, Italians, Indians and now Asians—who have sucked the
blood of and exploited the black community.[45]
Jude Wanniski, late associate
editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote, "I've met dozens of men and
women who belong to the Nation of Islam, attended many of their conferences,
and prayed with them in their Chicago
mosque to the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. I've concluded beyond
any reasonable doubt that there is not an ounce of anti-Semitism or bigotry in
Farrakhan."[46]
Rabbi David Weiss of the
anti-Zionist[47][48] Neturei Karta, defended Farrakhan, stating "The media
widely reported that the Minister had referred to Judaism as a 'gutter
religion'. This error (or distortion) was deeply troubling to the Nation of
Islam."
No comments:
Post a Comment