Judge's ruling on divorce records could sink Ryan
At first glance it looked like the Illinois Republican Party had hired central casting to find its nominee for the U.S. Senate. Indeed, Jack Ryan, 44, is superbly equipped to go all the way in today's image-driven politics. He's movie-star handsome, an investment banker and a multimillionaire who devoted several years to teaching in the inner city. He's an Irish Catholic, and consonant with George W. Bush on economics and social issues. For the GOP, what's not to like?
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Dead ahead: Daley's O'Hare boondoggle
Will the dead roll over for Mayor Daley? If you seek eternal rest for your loved ones, don't patronize two cemeteries near O'Hare because the mayor will dig them up to make room for his airport expansion. Will he succeed? Or will religion triumph: the belief that the dead should not be disturbed until Judgment Day? On this note as ominous as Gabriel's trumpet, the battle of the city vs. the Suburban O'Hare Commission has moved into the hereafter, with lawsuits and constitutional disputes over two DuPage cemeteries. A cynic would say that having carried the graveyard vote in Chicago, the mayor is ordering their reapportionment. I am that cynic (and a die-hard Republican, to boot), because I live near the airport.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Removing the taint of failure from Warren G. Harding
Twenty years ago as an executive for Quaker Oats, I visited our pet food plant in Marion, Ohio. An amateur history buff, I went to the museum home of the town's chief claim to fame, President Warren Harding. The house, owned by Marion Star newspaper editor and publisher Harding, was in deplorable shape. ''Not too many people come here,'' said the matron-custodian, ''because Mr. Harding isn't well-respected.''
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Let's not rush into raising taxes
Gov. Blagojevich is accused of fiscal recklessness by several sources. One, within his own Democratic Party, wants him to increase income taxes and sales taxes, despite his effort to keep a no-tax-hike pledge he made to the voters of Illinois. A segment of a second, within my own Republican Party, is berating Blagojevich out of mere partisanship (although I didn't vote for him, I respect him now for fighting strenuously to avoid higher taxes). A third is a portion of the mainstream print media. Let's analyze these power groups that are trying to force Blagojevich to a bad decision.
