Will judge give Cochran a ‘get out of jail, free’ card in corruption case?

It will be intriguing to see just how a federal judge rules with regards to former 20^th Ward Alderman Willie Cochran, whom federal prosecutors say used funds meant for ward activities instead for personal use.

COCHRAN: Doesn't want to go to prison

Cochran has entered a “guilty” plea, and as expected is hoping his judge will be sympathetic. Although some may say “delusional” would be a more accurate descriptive term.

FOR COCHRAN IS the alderman who earlier this year sent his attorney a written legal brief in which he argued that prison time would be totally inappropriate. But because he apparently got confused in sending out e-mail, a copy was sent to the U.S. Probation Office.

For as Cochran stated, his actions would constitute political corruption. And history shows us that threats of incarceration haven’t done a thing discourage Chicago aldermen (or elected officials from anywhere, actually) from doing things that federal prosecutors believe do not serve the public good.

How else to explain the dozens of former aldermen who wound up ending their time in public service with a prison stint.

Cochran argued that a period of home confinement (say, six months or so) would be a more appropriate punishment for the alderman who solicited donations to provide financial support for a back-to-school picnic, a senior citizen event for Valentine’s Day and other holiday-type events.

PROSECUTORS, HOWEVER, SAY that Cochran took the contributions, then used the money for personal expenses.

Which is why they whacked him with a criminal indictment, resulting in Cochran entering a “guilty” plea back in March. No trial. A chance at a lesser sentence.

Sometimes, it seems these people don't understand the law

Except that Cochran seems to want us to think he didn’t do it – even though he submitted the guilty plea. It’s as though he doesn’t realize the significance of what it means to plead guilty. He’s going to have to take some sort of a legal blow when he comes up for sentencing on June 24.

Which is why the Chicago Sun-Times has reported this week that federal prosecutors are now demanding that Cochran get prison time.

THEY WANT HIM to get something along the lines of an 18-month prison sentence, which they say is close to the maximum sentence he could get. While admitting that if Cochran keeps trying a legal strategy along the lines of “I’m guilty, but I didn’t do it,” they’ll go for the max.

As in two full years of prison time. Which would put Cochran in line with the many other aldermen who wound up having to answer to the title of “inmate,” rather than “counselor.”

It would seem that Cochran has a tenuous grasp of what the law says, and means.

Which shouldn’t be surprising. Because one of the things that has often amazed me through all the years I have written about governing and the making of public policy is just how little officials truly comprehend legal issues.

EVEN THOUGH MANY of them are law school graduates and are certified to practice law, it would seem what they truly grasp are the mechanizations of politics. Which often differs greatly from what prosecutors will accept as legitimate.

These people want to criminalize govt.

Hence, the idea that some 30-plus aldermen ended up as criminals. That’s going back to 1973 – I’m sure the tally would be higher if you pushed the timeline back.

Although then again, legal interpretations used to be looser so that actions we’d now claim are criminal would have been regarded as legitimate, way back when.

Which may well be why federal prosecutors said they plan to enter into evidence the oaths of office that Cochran took when he became an alderman – perhaps they think elected officials need a reminder that the old cliché “talk is cheap” doesn’t apply, and that there’s a meaning to all the gibberish about “upholding” the federal and state constitutions.

  -30-

I laugh in his face at the thought of giving Trump any campaign cash

As far as I’m concerned, this week’s horrific arctic-like weather is the ultimate proof of damnation. Hell truly has frozen over!

TRUMP: He wants your cash!

How else to explain that someone, somewhere out there made a decision that I might be inclined to make campaign contributions to support the continuation of President Donald Trump’s political aspirations.

IT’S TRUE. MY load of e-mail messages included, amongst with all the other junk I often receive, pleas in the name of Trump himself and his daughter-in-law Lara – insisting that I respond by Midnight to show my support to The Donald and overcome the hysterical nuttiness of the Hollywood crew.

Whom they insist are trying to raise significant amounts of cash meant to support a serious Democratic Party presidential challenger come the 2020 election cycle.

Obviously, I let that deadline come and go. I was not a part of any attempt by Trump to get people to give his campaign at least $1 million by the FEC reporting deadline that has passed.

Which was so important to the Trumpster because his ego felt the need to make a statement showing that people actually like him. Rather than all the ego-bashing he’s been enduring as the public (the true majority) made it clear we were more than willing to blame him for the federal government shutdown that lasted more than a month – and could theoretically resume in a couple of weeks IF Trump is so inclined.

LARA TRUMP, IN the plea attributed to her (it’s actually the Trump Make America Great Again Committee that’s issuing all this e-mail traffic) says “all the top Democrat contenders for the White House have been raising big money from Hollywood donors to jumpstart their presidential campaigns.”

Which is something I find amusing because Trump, by engaging in such tactics, almost makes it seem like he’s channeling Sally Field and her famed Oscar acceptance speech of “You like me, you really really like me” that she never actually said.

But the man’s ego is such that he feels compelled to make a grandiose gesture. In that regard, he’s like the organization Democrats within Chicago government – who often have trouble accepting the idea that people might legitimately not support them on Election Day and honestly believe near-unanimous voter outcomes are to be expected.

LARA TRUMP: Trying to help father-in-law

I have no doubt on some level that Trump will never truly get over the fact that some 3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and that he only won due to a glitch within the Electoral College process.

HIS GOAL PROBABLY is to try to get something he can claim to be a majority in 2020. So he can then try to re-write history to erase the facts of Election ’16. Similar to the old Soviet ways of rewriting history to reflect the perception the powers-that-be want to be remembered.

Perhaps that’s the real attraction between the Trump persona and the ways of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Regardless, it is ridiculous that we see the modern trend of electoral politics is that of government officials of significant wealth trying to buy their way to Election Day victory. I suspect they think if they buy their way to office, then no one can tell them what they can or cannot do.

But in Trump’s case, if he does get significant amounts of campaign cash, it’s likely to be from those lower-middle-class people who make up the bulk of the roughly one-third of the American population who still approve of the president’s performance in office.

DALEY: Trump fantasizes of his victory margins

IN SHORT, PEOPLE who really can’t afford to make significant donations. Which is all the more reason Trump touts the gimmick that he can “triple” the amount of money one donates.

A $250 donation becomes a $1,000 payout – all in the name of boosting the ego of Donald John Trump. Which is why I’m sort of offended that Trump’s fund-raising plea began by saying, “We haven’t seen your name…,” as though implying I’m under some sort of investigation that could penalize me for failing to support the Trumpster.

The thought that anybody ever seriously thought I’d support this president financially is laughable – until you realize it means somebody noticed my work and put my name on the potential donors list without seriously reading what I've written.

That, I must admit, is a serious blow to my own ego.

  -30-

EXTRA: Emanuel not a lingering loser; he’ll remain a part of political scene

There are those people who are going to be determined to spin things in ways that say that Rahm Emanuel fled politics because he could see he was destined for a butt-whuppin’ – that he saw he’d wind up losing any bid for re-election.

EMANUEL: Will remain in spirit, no matter who wins

Yet anybody who looks at the situation objectively can see Emanuel had his backers, and may have won despite all the hostile rhetoric he’ll face in coming months from segments of Chicago society.

ALL ONE HAS to do is look at the finances that would have been available to him and to the people who were inclined to challenge him.

Rahm would have been capable of out-spending anybody who dared challenge him come the Feb. 26 elections (with a possible run-off April 2). Even now that he’s out of the race for mayor, he’s going to be spreading his influence around.

It’s likely that our city government will continue to have large segments of people who will owe their presence in politics to Rahm Emanuel, and who will be inclined to pursue the same kinds of ideals that Rahm would have pushed for if he were still mayor.

That’s a thought people ought to keep in mind if they’re the types of individuals who seriously want to believe they’ve dethroned the tyrant by getting Emanuel last month to announce he’s not seeking a third term in office at City Hall.

TAKE THE REPORT by the Chicago Tribune, which indicated the financial support Emanuel is giving to just over one-third of the City Council – members whom he believes were supportive of him on politically-sensitive issues.

The newspaper reported how 20 of the 50 aldermen were invited to a breakfast meeting at a restaurant within walking distance of City Hall. In addition to a morning meal where Rahm picked up the check, he also handed out checks to individual aldermen.

Roughly some $20,000 apiece, made out to their individual campaign funds, so as to help them financially with getting themselves re-elected.

As the Tribune pointed out, the money totaled some $500,000 – money that would have been part of his campaign fund IF he were still seeking re-election as mayor.

INSTEAD, HE’S ENSURING that the powers-that-be won’t be able to forget that Rahm Emanuel ever existed. Just because he won’t be working out of the suite of offices on the Fifth Floor of City Hall won’t mean people inclined to support him will be gone.

Now Emanuel is going about making statements about how the bulk of the money he had raised for a re-election bid will be returned to the entities that donated it to him.

But if he was able to cough up about a half-million dollars in checks for personal donations, it makes one wonder just how much he could have had to spend on himself.

As reported earlier this year, Emanuel had one day back in April where he received $1.7 million in contributions, and at that point in time had some $5.7 million available for use during the upcoming election cycle.

BY COMPARISON, THE mayoral hopeful with the most money now is William Daley – who this week received donations putting him just over the $1 million total. Just behind him is Garry McCarthy, the one-time Chicago Police superintendent, whom the Chicago Sun-Times reported has about $830,000 and will soon be over $1 million himself.

Financially, Emanuel could have buried either of them. When combined with the fact that there are going to be so many mayoral dreamers going about, it’s possible that Rahm could have taken advantage of that partisan split and prevailed politically.

So whomever does manage to prevail in becoming Chicago’s new mayor had best understand there are going to be elements of the ‘old way’ remaining at City Hall.

Anybody who thinks they’ve “overthrown” Rahm may well find themselves frustrated beyond belief in finding themselves incapable of getting anything done, what with all the people in place who owe their allegiance to Emanuel.

  -30-

EXTRA: Presidential birth dates little more than partisan fundraising schemes

12.

 Barack Obama turns 12 on Saturday.

He does, that is, if you follow that quirky means of estimating one’s age by adding up the digits in his actual age (5 + 7) to come up with some youthful sounding number.

SO YES, SATURDAY is the birthday anniversary of that date upon which Stanley Ann Dunham gave birth to her eldest son in Honolulu (I don’t want to hear from the crackpots who persist he was born in Kenya, or Singapore or anywhere else outside the U.S. boundaries).

My e-mails have been flooded in recent days with messages from the Organizing for Action group (the remains of Obama’s old fundraising organization) telling me to sign off on a digital birthday card that will be sent to the man they say is now “Organizer-in-Chief.”

It’s a way of reminding the majority of us who didn’t vote for the current president (and remain disgustingly appalled he could ever win) that there really was once a better time. And that by uniting together, we might be able to undermine The Donald come the Nov. 6 elections (by erasing the Republican congressional majorities that give him strength) and the 2020 general elections when we can vote to remove him from office altogether.

Otherwise, it would be the tackiest of behavior that we’re supposed to celebrate a past president’s birthday. We don’t get similar requests on behalf of Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter.

OBAMA ALSO POPPED into the news this week when he made his own endorsements for Election Day known publicly. There are some 81 people running for various political posts who can say they have the backing of “the Big O!”

Those include a few Illinois races, including that of J.B. Pritzker for governor and Kwame Raoul (the man who replaced Obama as a state senator some 14 years ago) for state Attorney General.

Also, he’s backing three people wishing to run for Congress from Illinois – although the common thread is that Obama is backing the Democrats wishing to challenge Republican incumbents in the House of Representatives.

Only 9.

Obama thinks we’d be better off with Peter Roskam and Mike Bost (both of whom are people who were amongst his state legislative colleagues all those years ago) and Randy Hultgren. Similar to how Republicans would put effort into trying to win congressional seats held by Democrats so as to reduce the partisan numbers.

I DON’T KNOW how many people are going to be swayed by the influence of Obama, who has done one thing right in his post-presidency – he’s kept a low-profile. Otherwise, the people who think that this Age of Trump we’re now in is largely Barack’s fault because he wasn’t aggressive enough in pushing an agenda of his own (Trump has largely been able to erase many of the Obama-era accomplishments) would really be screeching!

Of course, I also noticed the e-mail I received Friday on behalf of one-time Vice President Joe Biden, who wanted us to know he recently had lunch with Barack (and had a ham sandwich). As though he wants us to think he’s still important enough to warrant a presidential campaign come 2020 – even though he’s already 75 and ain’t gettin’ any younger.

A lot of this e-mail traffic is to be expected. They’re probably p-o’ed at me for not giving them a credit card number so as to make it easier for them to charge me money for their campaign fundraising efforts.

Even President Donald Trump is sending out his e-mails – he wants me to send him $1 (or more, if I absolutely feel compelled to do so) to be entered into a sweepstakes. The prize being a chance to eat dinner with the president and a collection of people he says are, “great American patriots.”

14, by 2020.

JUST AS I haven’t felt compelled to sign off on the Obama birthday card, I also think I’m taking a pass on the idea of eating with Trump.

The man who thinks he’s the sweepstakes prize is just a little too full of himself for me to want to spend time with.

Besides, we have a president these days who is a mere 9-year-old (7 + 2, as of June 14) and often behaves as though he lacks even that much maturity.

  -30-

Will ballots cast for familiar names be enough to overcome self-spending?

Will the son of Richard J. ...

Looking at the campaign finances for the candidates wishing to become Illinois governor, it was interesting to see that fringe candidate Daniel Biss raised more money ($1.015 million) than both Chris Kennedy AND Ameya Pawar combined.

But Biss’ campaign fund doesn’t even come close to that of J.B. Pritzker, who barely raised a dime. The 9-1 fundraising advantage Pritzker held over Biss during the past three months was solely because Pritzker was wealthy enough to pay for his own campaign efforts.

... be able to provide this Kennedy nephew ...

WHICH MEANS DEMOCRATS may well have a candidate who won’t get totally buried by the self-funding efforts of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who himself outspends Pritzker by a 6-1 ratio with the money he provides – although much of the governor's efforts will go toward trying to get more Republicans elected to the General Assembly.

Rauner wants allies who will support his gubernatorial desires and follow orders!

There’s going to be a lot of money spent by candidates wishing to spread their messages of ill-will toward their opposition. We’re going to be flooded with negative messages about how we’d be completely stupid to consider casting ballots for certain candidates.

Better we should go with THE OTHER guy. Nobody’s going to really tell us why we should vote for them. It will be an ugly campaign.

THAT IS WHY I find it interesting to see that Kennedy’s campaign has hired a new finance chairman – it’s Bill Daley, as in brother of Mayor Richard M., former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, Commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton.

... with similar political aid as in '60 cycle?

And let’s not forget that he was chairman of Al Gore’s failed presidential campaign of 2000.

Of course, as a former chairman of Amalgamated Bank, he has ties to many of the “big money” people of Chicago and can sway them into making significant campaign contributions to his candidate.

Which may well be the reason why Kennedy picked him. His is the campaign that raised $703,767.10 during the last reporting period, and spent $652,523.79 of it. This is not a campaign swimming in cash.

KENNEDY PROBABLY DREAMS that Daley can turn to his political contacts and get them to write out the significant-sized checks that would enable his campaign to come close to fully competing with the Pritzkers and Rauners of the political world.

Although it may be the general mood of this campaign season that we, the people, are too disgusted with government officials to want to make any kind of sizable donations. It may be that only the self-funded will be able to do much of anything.

That does seem to be the mentality of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who while he hasn’t made an official endorsement seems to like the idea of a Candidate Pritzker because he could afford to pay his own way.

Consider that Pritzker spent some $9 million during the past three months, and $14 million total thus far – all of which came from his own bank accounts.

BUT IT ALSO would be ironic if it turns out to be that a Daley winds up making it possible for a Kennedy to win voters in Illinois. You just know we’re going to get a ton of sarcastic comments from people recalling the rumor mill of the 1960 presidential election cycle.

BISS: Raised more than anyone, but nobody cares?

Can the son of Richard J. find a way to make the nephew of JFK the governor, similar to how old man Daley led the effort that got Jack Kennedy the Illinois Electoral College votes that helped him beat Richard Nixon for president?

Or is Kennedy just too far behind (even outraised by the state senator from Evanston)? Although we should acknowledge the polls that have shown at this early stage Kennedy still leads Pritzker and other candidates in voter support – the name does appear to mean something.

Particularly when one considers the most recent Morning Consult poll that showed Rauner with 49 percent disapproval rating (and only 40 percent approving of him). If he keeps that up, it may not matter how much money he spends on himself – a Democrat could wind up prevailing come that Nov. 6 of next year.

  -30-

Rauner political influence, skill comes from friendly rich peoples’ wallets

What was that old line used to describe George W. Bush’s political and business acumen – he was born on Third Base, and thinks he hit a triple?!?

I’m starting to wonder if we need a similar line with regards to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who might not literally have been born to big money (I suspect real ‘old money’ thinks our governor is a garish rube), but certainly thinks the fortune he has accumulated and has access to entitles him to behave politically like a boor.

WE ALL REALIZE he got himself elected governor with absolutely no political qualifications because he was able to tap into millions of dollars more than anybody else could.

An amount that if you think about it too much becomes almost obscene – how many worthy goals could have been accomplished for the betterment of our society instead of spending it on rounds of campaign advertising meant to distort reality?

Now, it would seem that Rauner’s approach to governing is going to be the same – tap into so much money that regular people couldn’t even fathom having access to and use it to mold a public opinion that will be gullible enough to buy whatever he says.

All of this is to say that I was appalled by learning that Rauner’s “Turnaround Illinois” political action committee has come up with its first donor.

BOTH THE CHICAGO Tribune and Sun-Times reported Monday of the State Board of Elections filing showing that billionaire Sam Zell (who once tried to mold the Chicago Tribune in his own image) came up with a $4 million contribution.

I’m not saying I find it particularly noble when a political person says their campaign fund was constituted by people donating $5-10 each – as though the tiny amounts are somehow honorable.

But the reverse is also true – there’s nothing noble about someone who thinks that by coming up with some sort of private fund that will enable him to buy airtime and other communications tools he can somehow “buy” our political love.

I really think that this fund likely to receive donations from the many wealthy people who funded Rauner’s electoral campaign (along with the many millions of his own money he loaned himself) is meant to come up with all kinds of negative ads meant to make our legislators sound vapid, stupid and downright mean-spirited when they refuse to go along with his anti-organized labor rhetoric.

THIS IS THE governor who complains about the fact that labor unions have too much influence over political people because of the fact that they can help certain types of candidates raise the kind of money they need to hold their own against politicos who have the backing of big business-type interests.

Maybe it isn’t some ideological belief against unions as much as Rauner wants to be all-dominant over who has a say about what government does?

Which makes this particular political action committee sound downright venal.

This coming at a time when Rauner types are trying to get local government officials to pass symbolic resolutions meant to show how much they agree with his anti-union desires – his fantasies that would (in his own mind, I’m sure) culminate with “right to work” status coming to Illinois.

WHICH BASICALLY AMOUNTS to making it legal for companies to harass those interests that want to have union representation on their jobs!

I find it interesting that both the City Council and Cook County Board this week are contemplating resolutions expressing opposition to Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda,” which probably has Rauner thinking in terms of what tactics he must use to counter the significant negative blow his political dream will take.

In the world of partisan politics, making dreams become reality costs money. If Rauner can’t find more millions of dollars from business interests concerned with their selves, then the desires of the people might actually prevail.

That might be the most appalling thought of all to the business interests – and one we should all keep in mind in coming months when we hear all the nasty rhetoric about how Rauner is being prevented from doing what he thinks is right.

  -30-

Oberweis wants us to pay him to promote his political campaign

Republican Senate hopeful James Oberweis wants us to think of him as the scrawny guy getting sand kicked in his face by the big, muscular bully in those ads of old that used to appear in comic books.

For the Charles Atlas bodybuilding plan of old allegedly gave you the kind of muscles that would let you beat up the bully AND get the babe in the bikini.

I HAVE LOST count of the number of e-mail appeals he has sent out advising us that he needs our money (in the form of campaign contributions) so as to beat up on the bully otherwise known as Sen. Richard Durbin.

To “Dump Durbin,” we need to give our money to the multi-millionaire who isn’t willing to pump in millions of dollars at a time (including another $1.5 million as recently as Friday) of his own money into his campaign fund.

I wonder how Bruce Rauner is going to feel when he realizes he spent so many millions to gain a job that pays under $200,000 per year and comes with a house that is in desperate need of a rehab.

But back to Oberweis, the millionaire businessman, dairy farmer and ice cream parlor operator (he does make a good banana ice cream, if I may say so myself) who I’m almost surprised doesn’t put together a campaign ad showing someone kicking sand in his face – so he can deliver that blow to the jaw to Durbin on Election Day.

I’M GETTING ALL worked up about Oberweis because of the e-mail message from his campaign that I woke up to Monday morning. He wants $25 (or larger) contributions from us.

In return, he’ll send us a yard sign that we can put in front of our residences to promote his campaign.

Actually, it doesn’t tout Oberweis, as much as tells people not to vote for Durbin.

His campaign staff took the old slogan of the British government – “Keep Calm and Carry On” – to motivate the people to keep up their morale in the face of attacks from Nazi-run Germany.

OBERWEIS WANTS ILLINOIS voters to “Keep Calm and Dump Durbin.” Which sounds more absurd than anything else.

If we truly were keeping calm, we wouldn’t feel the need to change much of anything. We certainly wouldn’t dump anything. Oberweis wants us to calm down, then act rashly.

It’s like that old “Hurry Up and Wait” cliché that is meant to mock wasted effort, rather than inspire serious activity.

The yard signs Oberweis offers up (at least according to the fundraising e-mail message I received) would even depict a British crown, which I guess is meant to bring to mind the original British slogan.

ALTHOUGH IT MAKES me wonder if Oberweis thinks he’s some form of Illinois royalty. Does that mean that if he gets elected, we would have a queen from Florida. Let’s not forget that the missus doesn’t actually live here anymore. She prefers the Southern sunshine.

The whole yard sign concept seems silly. The idea that we’re being asked to pay for it comes across as tacky. And then he wonders why, even in the most favorable poll taken to date, he’s losing by 6 percentage points!

The problem here is that Oberweis thinks the fact he operates stores offering quality dairy products makes him fit to represent Illinois in Washington, D.C., when he’d rather be the guy barking orders at minions and looking down upon some of us.

He had no problem in a past campaign being the bully who wanted to single out all those foreigners who don’t (as far as he was concerned) belong in this country.

BUT NOW WHEN that campaign ad of him flying over Soldier Field in a helicopter (claiming undocumented foreigners would fill the stadium full every day) is brought up, he says he’s sorry – even though he still stands behind the basic sentiment on immigration reform.

In short, don’t criticize him. He doesn’t want to hear it!

What would it take for Illinoisans to dump Oberweis from the niche he has developed for himself – that of being a perpetual candidate whom nobody outside of the people living near Sugar Grove have ever actually voted into public office.

  -30-

The “enemy” is out to get you – or so political operatives want you to think!

As a reporter-type person myself, I have often heard the argument from ideologues of all sorts how it is a good thing that the old means of disseminating information are being knocked on the ropes, so to speak.

It is now possible for people with varying ideas to get their messages out to the public (or at least that segment of the public they want to reach) without having anyone try to edit them into any sense.

ALTHOUGH I’VE COME to believe that this is just a batch of nonsense from ideological types who can’t survive in a true world of ideas – and think their only chance is to be able to outshout the opposition.

We’re in the campaign cycle, and in a few weeks will begin the most fervent activity prior to the Nov. 4 general elections.

So it’s to be expected that things are stepping up now. But part of the reason I have come to detest my smartphone is the flood of nonsense that is popping up through my e-mail accounts.

Now one of the drawbacks to publicly posting an e-mail address for this weblog is that there are some people who want me to hear what they have to say, and they feel compelled to put me on their automatic mailing lists.

HENCE, I GET many dozens of messages per day from political activists who are convinced they are going to sway me to their side.

And yes, I get the messages from all sides. Some people will beef up their mailing lists by putting anyone on.

So just this Friday afternoon, I got a message from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee telling me that if I don’t make a donation (which I can conveniently do via the Internet) to their efforts, then, “If we can’t cut the Republican advantage THIS WEEK, our chances of beating (House Speaker John) Boehner’s Republicans drop to zero.”

Along with a message from the House Majority PAC telling me of the ad buys by Republican operative Karl Rove that self-respecting Democrats just can’t let go unanswered.

“IF WE WANT a Democratic majority, we can’t afford to let Karl Rove’s latest ad blitz go unchallenged,” they write. Heck, earlier this week I got an e-mail message apologizing for the number of e-mails sent in the names of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi -- then asking me for yet another donation.

All of which comes across as a little bit whiny – poor little Dems who are getting bullied politically by the big bucks of wealthy individuals of a conservative ideological leaning who want a Republican-run government to bolster their interests.

But whining isn’t limited to anyone of a particular ideology. In addition to those messages, I got one from Jim DeMint of the Heritage Foundation that “liberals know how to reach the American people” and how they need my money to help them fight back to ensure that the conservative-leaning interests prevail.

As DeMint told us in his mass-produced e-mail, “Why is it that liberals continue to win victories despite decades of big government,” adding later, “We conservatives need an answer, and fast.”

FOR THE RECORD, I’m not sending money to any of these people. In fact, once I finish writing these commentaries, I’m deleting them from my log. Because as far as I’m concerned, they all amount to people whining and claiming “victim” status to get my money.

These people want me to vote against someone else, rather than telling me why I should vote for them. Which may well be the biggest flaw of the electoral process as it exists today!

Although I have to admit I find it laughable to read DeMint’s claim that liberals know how to reach the people. If they truly did, then there wouldn’t be so much circumstantial evidence indicating the GOP’s interests may wind up prevailing on Nov. 4.

Although it does have an element of truth as well. Because it seems the election cycles of recent years where there is respectable voter turnout are the ones where Democratic Party interests prevail.

THE ONES WHERE the people become apathetic about the electoral process are the ones that turn into “big years’ for the Party of Lincoln that often acts as though it is ashamed to have his name associated with them.

“Apathy” and “shame” most definitely are a pair of words I would use to describe the political mood I see amongst the public these days.

  -30-

Rauner’s trying to buy the office; It only makes sense to buy allies too!

Much is being made of the many millions of dollars being spent by Bruce Rauner toward his own campaign for governor (some $9.6 million, with more likely to come in the next three months).

Yet I couldn’t help but notice the latest study from the Better Government Association, which focused on the amount of money Rauner is donating to other Republican candidates.

AFTER ALL, WHAT good does it do him to be governor if it turns out he has a hostile General Assembly and other high-ranking statewide government officials.

Rauner could easily find himself outnumbered by Democrats within state government. Unless you think that he and Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka can be a new GOP dynamic duo and take on the mass of state government all by themselves!

Hence, he’s kicking in significant amounts of money to Republican organizations across the state. Which probably makes more sense than backing individual candidates.

Those organizations are the groups that know the local lay of the land and are capable of getting local GOP candidates in higher office, where they would become allies to a “Gov. Rauner,” should we wind up with that concept come next January.

THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES published a new Better Government Association study that reviewed the Illinois State Board of Elections records of Rauner’s campaign contributions.

This year alone, he has donated 119 contributions to 75 groups across the state.

Since 2012, he and his wife have donated about $1.5 million – compared to the period from 1998 to 2011 when the couple’s campaign contributions totaled only about $1.1 million.

Interestingly enough, some of that money wound up boosting the various re-election bids of now-former Mayor Richard M. Daley and also to Forrest Claypool – remember his bids to dump Joe Berrios as county assessor?

HE’S GIVING MONEY to the various rural county organizations, along with various suburban township groups. Even the Chicago Young Republicans got a bit of cash – according to the study.

Although the one that amazes me is a series of contributions coming from the “Citizens for Rauner” organization that is giving money to the Illinois Republican Party proper.

That organization has become so weak and ineffectual in recent years that somebody has to do something, unless the one-time “Party of Lincoln” is willing to abandon “Honest Abe’s” home state for good.

It seems Rauner’s campaign fund gave the state party some $750,000 each during both August and July, along with $525,000 during June.

TWO MILLION BUCKS during the summertime leading up to the serious campaign activity that usually kicks off with the coming of Labor Day.

Not that Rauner’s and Quinn’s efforts thus far haven’t been serious. It’s just that so many people don’t really pay any attention until next month – which is why it is possible to legitimately question all those polls showing Rauner administering a serious butt-whuppin’ to Quinn.

They also contain so many undecideds that we really don’t know what is going to result come the evening of Nov. 4.

Although I couldn’t help but notice the latest fund-raising pitch I received – an e-mail message Monday from the Quinn campaign’s manager.

IT TELLS US how Democratic campaign intelligence, so to speak, has learned of incidents where Rauner thought he was privately telling Republican partisans that he’s prepared to push for government shut-downs if he winds up having to govern as a Republican with a whole lot of Democratic Party colleagues.

Reformer my butt!!! That kind of talk is nothing more than trying to return to the past of Newt Gingrich (remember when they were amazed they got blamed rather than Bill Clinton because of a shutdown?). Or as Quinn people remind us, of the nonsense we saw in Wisconsin a few years back when Gov. Scott Walker decided to get all hostile with organized labor – regardless of the problems his actions caused for people.

Of course, the Quinn people want us to kick in our own campaign cash to back him, “… to make sure Rauner doesn’t get the chance to make good on his threats.”

Which is why Rauner would like to have a few more friends in politically prominent places. That might be the ultimate reason to think about voting against him come Election Day.

  -30-

Pols put impersonal ‘personal’ touch to their pleas for our money

In my e-mail inbox Wednesday when I woke up were messages from “President Obama” and “Governor Quinn.”

 

No, I’m not trying to claim that I’m some sort of big-shot who has the ears of the top officials of federal and Illinois government. In the case of Quinn, I’m fairly sure that on the rare occasions he thinks of me, it’s as some sort of colossal pain-in-the-behind.

 

IT’S JUST THAT I couldn’t help but be amused by the latest fund-raising pitches made by both officials; resorting to that now-common political tactic of sending out these messages to make it feel like they’re reaching out to me, little old me, for a bit of help.

 

In the case of Quinn, he wants money to pay for his re-election bid against venture capitalist Bruce Rauner – who has millions of his own money to spend and has shown a willingness to use it in his crusade to get votes by convincing us that, “Pat Quinn is Evil!”

 

So Quinn is asking us for donations. Not much of one, actually. Only $5.

 

But that supposedly gets us entered into a raffle, with the result being two people will “win” the big prize of attending a Chicago White Sox game with Quinn – who himself is a season-ticket holder, but insists on maintaining a man-of-the-people image by having his seats in the upper deck that causes so much derision for U.S. Cellular Field.

 

A BALLGAME WITH the guv. While the rest of us chip in those dinky donations that add up to significant amounts of money for Quinn to campaign against Rauner.

 

Personally, the thought of a political ballgame isn’t that thrilling. Many years ago, I accompanied then-Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka to what was then-New Comiskey Park, and had her turn on me during a lull in the game to point out past stories I had written that she thought were snotty in tone.

 

There also was a time about a decade ago when I went to a rare weekday afternoon White Sox game, and encountered a legislative chief of staff in the beer line, former state Senate President Phil Rock mingling with the crowd, and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan relieving himself (along with many other fans) following the ballgame.

 

So a hot dog with the governor? Actually, I view baseball as something to follow to get away from the nonsense of the political world (although the story behind the construction of U.S. Cellular Field is the ultimate commingling of the two).

 

ALTHOUGH IT’S REALLY not about baseball. It’s about money. It’s meant to be a different pitch to get people to dig into their wallets for political purposes.

 

Just like the president is doing. Only he’s not offering to take anyone out to the ballpark. He’s trying to stir up resentment among the public to the lawsuit that Republicans in Congress want to file against Obama – contending that he’s violating all sense of decency by trying to go around their desires by using executive authority powers.

 

Considering that Congress, because of the Republican House of Representatives majority, is deliberately stalling so many issues, a part of me wonders if a more legitimate lawsuit would be to sue GOPers for governmental inactivity.

 

But in recent days, I have been getting repeated e-mails bearing the names of assorted Democratic Party operatives and officials (including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who the Washington Post reported Wednesday was talking about how she has dreams of retaking control of the House come the Nov. 4 elections) asking for money, telling me how House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will win and cause irrevocable harm unless I kick in my money for the cause.

 

AND ON WEDNESDAY came the similar, almost identical, message in the name of the president himself.

 

The bottom line? I didn’t give Quinn my $5. Nor did I make the $3 donation desired by Democrats (who like to come up with daily causes, it seems, for me to kick in my three bucks).

 

Partly because I don’t donate money to political people or sign their petitions. Partly because I’m cheap.

 

And partly because I did what I suspect many real people wish they could do to much of the politically partisan rhetoric they hear these days – I hit the “delete” button.

 

  -30-

Contribute to redistricting reform? Or to complain about it after the fact?

It’s not the largest sum of money -- $25 – in the world. Heck, my latest purchase from Amazon.com (which I’m expecting to receive on Saturday) was for about that much.

But there’s something about the latest plea made Friday via Internet (to make that $25 donation to the group that is trying to get a redistricting procedural reform on the Nov. 4 ballot in the form of a referendum) that bothers me somewhat.

 

How will they use their money?

IT’S THAT I seriously fear the money being raised now will wind up going for negative campaign ads against incumbent officials who didn’t support their redistricting effort – which may wind up flopping because the proponents couldn’t get enough valid signatures of support for a referendum question. It reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live sketch in which Dana Carvey's "George Bush" put out one last negative ad after Election Day to use up money -- reminding us that in 1988's Bush/Dukakis fight, "He beat a bad man."

The State Board of Elections had until Thursday to determine how many of the nominating petition signatures were actually valid, although they extended that deadline until Friday.

But that wasn’t good enough for the redistricting reform types, who want to perceive a grand conspiracy at work (with the support of the Chicago Tribune editorial page) because they didn’t get the one-week extension (to next Thursday) that they wanted.

Although considering that we’re running into the summer months and the clock is ticking; an argument can be made that there won’t be enough time to prepare for a Nov. 4 referendum question on the ballot if we don’t figure out now what questions actually get on the ballot.

THE ISSUE AT stake is that just over 500,000 signatures of support were submitted by the group calling itself “Yes! for Independent Maps.” State law requires a certain percentage, which for this year’s election cycle translates to about 298,000 valid signatures of support.

And preliminary inspections by state Elections Board officials found that the number of invalid petition signatures was so great that they fell short.

We’re now going through a process by which the activists (whom I suspect would hate to think of themselves in such an uncouth manner) are trying to “restore” signatures – and the money being sought now from all those $25 donations is supposed to pay for it.

Heck, even all of Barack Obama’s Internet pleas for money to conquer the beasts otherwise known as House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Tea Party activists only ask for $3-5 bucks at a time.

THE GROUP USES quite a bit of bravado in its fund-raising pitch by claiming they’ve really won this fight, except for “deadline fiascoes and political grandstanding” that they’re supposedly fighting against.

The fact that they may have gained a batch of garbage signatures isn’t something they’re willing to admit to.

As for their redistricting reform effort, I’ve written before how I’m suspicious of it. Watching some of those who are leading the effort, it seems that it is a lot of business-oriented types whose idea of a non-partisan Legislature is one that would ignore social issues and put a certain spin on economic measures.

In short, forget all the rhetoric and concern about gay marriage, and focus on something “important” like trying to make Illinois a “right-to-work” state – as though Indiana ought to be the ideal for what a Midwestern U.S. state ought to be like.

YES, OUR CURRENT system for drawing political boundaries for legislative and congressional districts across the state is flawed. It is way too politically partisan – with each political party more interested in dumping on the opposition than trying to benefit the public. The once-a-decade lotteries for control of the process that we avoided in 2012 are the worst.

But I’m not convinced this effort is any less partisan. Particularly in the way it seems unconcerned about inclusion of non-white legislators from areas that have significant ethnic and racial populations.

As for those who suggest that computers should be programmed to draw boundaries, I’d argue the programmers’ biases would take over. They are a unique breed, in and of themselves. There may be no way we can get a perfect reapportionment process – so long as human beings themselves are entrusted to it.

All of which may mean the way we get a “just” political process? It may be the day when those “Damned dirty apes” – Remember Charlton Heston? – wind up taking over the Earth!

  -30-