the chicago dog and pony show.

[mopinko]

first let me say what a pleasure it was to see jack blaine, ceo of sequoia usa, squirm in his seat, and be made fun of in the chicago city hall chambers last friday. the actual ownership, directorship, and control of the company was the source of the most pointed questions. including pointing out that all the directors of the parent corporate shell listed the same 2br boca raton house as their residence when they incorporated in delaware. blaine pretended ignorance so many times that one alderwoman said she thought he belonged to "the secret brotherhood of i don't know." he was under oath, and he lied his ass off.

second, let us all give a round of applause, as we politely did in the chamber, for alderman bernie stone, longest serving member of the council (iirc), who blasted the debacle of a primary, and said "we should go back to pencil and paper. i have seen some very long ballots, including the infamous 'bed sheet ballot' (me-'68? '72? something like that) which was counted by hand, and finished by 1 am. the more technical they make the process, the more cumbersome it becomes. i say, just go back to pencil and paper." go bernie.

other than that, tho. there is not too much good to say. i think it is one of the first rules of politics that if you are serious about a hearing, you do not schedule it on friday. this is doubly true in chicago, where our alderman are technically only part time, and if they are at work on friday, it is usually in their home offices. nonetheless, about a dozen were there for at least part of the proceedings. only 3 stuck around until testimony from citizens at the end, 2 being the chairs of the committees that called the meeting. thank you to danny soliz, the one who stuck it out, and seemed to have some grip of what the problem is.

alderman told many tales of precincts STILL not reported, all were upset about having to stay up so late on election night. all heard many horror stories of machine malfunction, paper jams, all the usual complaints. 14% of precincts in the city did not report on election day. there was a lot of finger pointing, and blame on "human error" and "lack of training" bull crap.
blaine, especially, insisted that the machine were fine, it was lack of training.

really, the bottom line, tho, is this- this was about the city embarrassing/punishing the county. all politics is local, and in cook county, it goes like this- the city of chicago makes up the bulk of cook county. the city has a boe, which runs city elections, and is headed by langdon neal. the county clerk runs county elections. neal also testifies, and was raked over the coals for cooperating with the county. he explained the situation that they were in re hava. he said he was nostalgic for the days of pregnant chads, and had fought to keep the punch cards. but with a deadline looming both to comply with hava, and not loose the $25M that came with it, they chose what they felt was the lesser evil. there were repeated questions about lobbyists or "contacts" that were never answered.

all in all, no one was really asking the right questions, no one really played too much hardball, and everyone seemed to accept that it was "human error". it was a dog and pony show, it let the chicago media painted the tinfoil hat on us all. they had to do something, this was it, end of story, i fear.








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[Wilms]

1. Thanks for the excellent report, Mo.

I hope you won't mind my editing. I thought it would help some readers here.

First let me say what a pleasure it was to see Jack Blaine, CEO of Sequoia USA, squirm in his seat, and be made fun of in the Chicago City Hall chambers last Friday.

The actual ownership, directorship, and control of the company was the source of the most pointed questions, including pointing out that all the directors of the parent corporate shell listed the same 2br Boca Raton house as their residence when they incorporated in Delaware. Blaine pretended ignorance so many times that one alderwoman said she thought he belonged to "the secret brotherhood of i don't know". He was under oath, and he lied his ass off.

Second, let us all give a round of applause, as we politely did in the chamber, for Alderman Bernie Stone, longest serving member of the council (iirc), who blasted the debacle of the primary, and said "we should go back to pencil and paper". I have seen some very long ballots, including the infamous 'bed sheet ballot' (me-'68? '72? something like that) which was counted by hand, and finished by 1 AM. The more technical they make the process, the more cumbersome it becomes. I say, just go back to pencil and paper." Go, Bernie.

Other than that, though, there is not too much good to say. I think it is one of the first rules of politics that if you are serious about a hearing, you do not schedule it for Friday. This is doubly true in Chicago, where our alderman are, technically, only part time, and if they are at work on Friday, it is usually in their home offices. Nonetheless, about a dozen were there for at least part of the proceedings. only 3 stuck around until testimony from citizens at the end, 2 being the chairs of the committees that called the meeting. Thank you to Danny Soliz, the one who stuck it out, and seemed to have some grip of what the problem is.

Alderman told many tales of precincts STILL not reported. All were upset about having to stay up so late on election night. All heard many horror stories of machine malfunction, paper jams, all the usual complaints. 14% of precincts in the city did not report on election day. There was a lot of finger pointing, and blame on "human error" and "lack of training" bull crap.

Blaine, especially, insisted that the machine were fine, it was lack of training.

Really, the bottom line, though, is this; this was about the city embarrassing/punishing the county. All politics is local, and in Cook County, it goes like this; the City of Chicago makes up the bulk of Cook County. The city has a BoE, which runs city elections, and is headed by Langdon Neal. The county clerk runs county elections. Neal also testifies, and was raked over the coals for cooperating with the county. He explained the situation that they were in re: HAVA. He said he was nostalgic for the days of pregnant chads, and had fought to keep the punch cards. But with a deadline looming both to comply with HAVA, and not lose the $25M that came with it, they chose what they felt was the lesser evil. There were repeated questions about lobbyists or "contacts" that were never answered.

All in all, no one was really asking the right questions, no one really played too much hardball, and everyone seemed to accept that it was "human error". It was a dog and pony show, it let the Chicago media paint the tinfoil hat on us all.

They had to do something, this was it, end of story, I fear.

Thanks, again.

[mopinko]

2. you're welcome, wilms

your edits are added. thanks.

[BeFree]

3. Not lose the $25 million?

Sounds like a bribe, to me.

A Tom Delay engineered bribe aka HAVA.

[Wilms]

4. What was Delay's roll in HAVA? n/t

[BeFree]

5. He pushed it right through congress.

As Majority Whip, he had the power to get any law he wanted passed as fast as he could, and he did just that with HAVA.

He HAD the power, but he got caught doing bribes.

[Wilms]

6. I understand the reference, now.

Thanks.

[mopinko]

7. this was broadly hinted at.

there were quite a few questions about just exactly who contacted whom about this contract. was there a lobbyist, did you get a call, who was it from?
"the secret brotherhood of i don't know" did prevail on that score, tho.
langdon squirmed quite a bit, and admitted to much consternation. he said the decision was rushed, but the the use it or loose it deadline for hava money ;eft him no choice. he was clearly pressured by the county, which would be david orr, and co.
a little local politics, here. david orr is my neighbor, and was alderman of this ward for a long time before rising to cook county clerk. i live in what is generally described as a "liberal lakefront ward". back in the days of boss daley, the north side lakefront wards sent independent, honest folk to the council. dave was one. he was on harold washington's side in the council wars days, for any of you real political junkies out there. his successor, joe moore, is one still. he has been a vocal opponent of the war, and supporter of howard dean. he is the only illinois dem that i know of that did not back away from christine cegelis. i believe there is lingering resentment of orr on the council. ed burke, who called this hearing, i think is an old elephant that will never forget.
so, that was really what this was about. the county clerk pressured the city boe to buy these machines, but the city has to pay the bill. they get to nurse an ancient grudge, and look like they are addressing the problems. and get on tv. win, win, win for them. nothing there for us, tho.
one good thing does come of it, tho. like i said, orr is a neighbor. we have a nodding acquaintance, and i have always thought highly of him, and told him so. this whole mess tears that. he sat in a witness box off to the side for most of the hearing. i sat and gave him my best outraged glare for most of the morning. in fact, i changed seats, the better to glare at him. by the end of the morning, he had ceased look my way, except out of the corner of his eye. it's something.
i will be trying to get in on the cook county audit, tho. illinois law requires an audit of 5%. it is a deep dark secret, the results of which never see the light of day. but it is done, and afaik, cook has yet to do theirs. so, i will be contacting my alderman to see if i can volunteer. i will let y'all know about that.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. If Delay is convicted, shouldn't everything he was a part of be

re-examined, and all the laws he helped to get passed be reviewed, including the gerrymandering of Texas?

[mopinko]

9. we can hope.

or at least we can try.