(08-04-2018 11:08 AM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote: (08-03-2018 04:17 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: Chicago's political problems (and Illinois') aren't a Republican or Democratic issue. The same problems happened under GOP Administrations too. Its really a corruption issue.
Foolish. I'm not sure what you mean by a GOP administration. Obviously, in modern times, there never has been a Republican mayor of Chicago.
For all but two of the last 35 years, the Dems have controlled the state House, with Madigan as Speaker. They've controlled the Senate for 25 of the last 35 years. The Republicans elected to governor during that time have all been moderate/liberal.
Chicago/Illinois have been under the control of the Democrats for decades.
The Chicago Democrats get along with the state Democrats just fine. The City is the way it is because of Democrat ideals and administration. It can't be pinned on anyone else.
Mike Madigan has bankrupted the state, and Richie Daley bankrupted the City. Now, it is all falling apart.
So there have been two recent GOP Governors, Ryan and Rauner. Ryan was just as incompetent (if not more so) than the Dems precisely because he was every bit (if not more so) corrupt than the Dems. Rauner was just as incompetent (if not more so) because he didn't bother attacking corruption and instead used his political capital to attempt to enact ALEC style right wing garbage that wasn't going to pass instead of going after the corruption first (which is why he was put into office in the first place).
The people of Illinois, not once, but twice, have tried to solve the corruption issue by electing a Republican. It didn't work either time. And Rauner's tenure was even more of a disaster for the GOP going forward, because Rauner nationalized the GOP agenda (highly unpopular in the state) and tried to cram it down the state's throats.
Here's the model of who could be a good and effective GOP governor in Illinois. A non-ALEC social liberal who believes in basic gun control metrics like Mark Kirk. But he wasn't interested in Springfield.
In Mass, VT, and MD, there are GOP governors. They're all pretty popular and I think all of them win reelection. None of them are Trumpers I
think Governor Hogan of Maryland might actually run against Trump in the GOP primaries in 2020 - as a way of giving non-Trump Republicans a protest vote candidate), all of them are social liberals, and they work with the Dem legislatures, not against them.
----
A start of a real solution in Chicago is for the state legislature to enact a bill allowing municipalities, via a city wide voter referendum
1) Mandating city wide zoning and planning to take the power away from the Aldermen
2) Mandating no appointments for vacant seats so that actual open seat races occur
3) Mandating a city wide registry with criminal penalties for non registry for holding guns in Chicago (that registry shall list where the owner got the gun)
4) Holding elections for Police Chief
5) Authorize each ward or combinations of wards to create their own police departments and DAs. Let CPD and the DAs compete to see who wants them in their communities. I'll bet permissive crime zones end immediately in that case. And non-prosecution.