Biting the Hand That Feeds

The politicians begin to eat their own:

• How could a mayor whose administration has been besieged by the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals claim with a straight face that a West Side alderman's guilty plea "broke the camel's back" on the corruption front?

  How could Daley put aldermen on the hot seat without acknowledging his own pivotal role in elevating convicted Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) to a position of power?

Um, assholes? You knew what he was when he appointed you to your seats. Remember? He appointed half the City Council going back 20 or more years after deaths, resignations, convictions or when they got elected to other jobs. And he did it with almost zero input from the community - he had his own ideas and committees and reverends to appease and the voters, well hell, what do voters know anyway? They'll do what they're told for the most part as long as the garbage is picked up and the bills aren't too high.

Trouble is, while the garbage is being picked up semi regularly, the buses aren't on time any more, the bills and fees are piling up, the jobs are disappearing along with the parking spaces and by golly, the police just aren't kicking the gangbangers' asses like they used to. Heck, we don't even see the police as much as we used to - it's almost like there aren't nearly as many of them around anymore.

• Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) said Daley has used a bogus argument to try to "box us in on the P.R. side" with aldermanic elections fast approaching.

  "It just seems weird to me that corruption with respect to jobs, contracts and influence happens on the executive side, yet the aldermen get blamed for it as though we're the ones who are corrupt,," Brookins said.

Well Howard, remember, half of your august body has gone to prison in the past 30 years. No one is going to make you idiots out to be Snow White. What is surprising is that not a single one of you paragons of virtue has managed to put Shortshanks in any danger whatsoever - not from the voters and certainly not from the feds.

You abet the corruption. Stop whining when you get painted with the brush Daley is wielding - you gave it to him.