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I enjoyed watching the repeat of last night's council meeting on Channel 22 this afternoon. Better entertainment than Desperate Housewives, by a long shot. It was the first time in quite awhile I felt cable was worth having.
Baby Boy Aaron Schock gave a well rehearsed and glowing speech about the State Budget. Huh, I thought that the Journal Star reported that he voted against it?
I wish I could have been there in person, I'm sure the heated exchange between Sandberg and Oliver regarding basketball hoops was electrifying. This stupid debate over kids playing basketball in the street and whether yet another ordinance against it is called for sucked up more time than any other issue. Sandberg and Oliver took caddy, verbal swipes at each other until Daddy, I mean Mayor, Ardis reigned them in.
However, my favorite part was the swearing in of Jacob. He looked to have had a few before the meeting. He stumbled through his promise to up hold the constitution, etc. The poor guy actually stuttered through his own name! Maybe he was nervous. Even better was his acceptance speech, which amounted to a sad string of over used cliches. Jacob had the nerve to say that Peoria was a great community because of its diversity. Diversity. Yeah, right. The guy lives as far north in Peoria as one can get. People don't live in literal spitting distance of Dunlap for diversity, George, and we all know it. I felt a bit bad for Jacob, and I'm gonna try to lay off him a bit after this post because he doesn't seem, well, particularly smart. I think this may be - to a large degree - why he was chosen. I suspect he will be Ardis' and Spears' well connected lackey. In the congratulatory speeches Turner said that he had been friends with Jacob for over ten years. Spears actually held Jacob's son on his lap at his seat in the horseshoe in a manner nothing short of odd. Oh, and of course, Sen. Shadid was there, beaming away. So, allow me to recap the Who's Who of Jacob's Good Old Boys Club:
Rep. Leitch
Sen. Shadid
Tim Elder, Board Chairman of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce
Tim Elder, Director of Public Affairs at Caterpillar
Bill Spears, Fourth District Councilman and BROTHER IN LAW (Who didn't abstain from voting for him by the way.)
But I'm sure the Council and Ardis are right. Despite being given his business by Daddy and doing nothing more for the community than writing checks (coaching your own kids hockey team doesn't count), I'm sure Jacob is an outstanding guy and will be a wonderful and effective addition to the council.
He began his first session by abstaining on a liquor vote.
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If your mind is too open, your brain will fall out. Warning: Names, identities, descriptions, and pictures have been changed and/or used to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. PollyPeoria should not be used or quoted as a source for your senior college thesis.
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2 comments:
For a rich guy, he seemed awfully working class to me. His dad may have "given" him the business, but his father worked physical labor in the beer business before moving to Peoria.
I guess we bnonded over that fact, as my dad was a Brewery workers at Pabst Blue Ribbon before the closed the plant down not much more than a year before he would have been eligible for full retirement.
And I am surprised that you would be upset at Ardis for wanting to put someone on the board who is politically connected. Seems like a smart thing to do.
Ardis is going to be spending the next year or so putting his supporters onto boards and commissions, or people who supported his allies on the council. This is GOOD politics, and I'm glad the mayor I voted for understands this.
There's nothing corrupt, underhanded, elitist or unsavory about it at all.
Yes, I would be much happier were Jacob to be a resident of an older neighborhood, and were his kids attending District 150 or one of Peoria's parochial schools. But considering the shape of the schools, I can't blame him that much.
Again, give the guy a chance.
Bill,
If Ran$burg had been the one to put Jacob on the Council I would completely agree with you. I very much doubt you would be shouting, "Give the guy a chance" if he had. Granted, having someone connected politically in Springfield might be useful.
However, remember that Ardis ran on a theme of INCLUSION. If we elected Ardis as Mayor, we were led to believe that the City would no longer be run by the Country Club set, we would be getting a "new generation of leadership" where participation and decsion making would include the average, ordinary citizen.
Since no one went out of their way to hide their deeds, I agree that nothing corrupt occurred. However, using political connections to overturn a law and having an amendment added so you can immediately serve REEKS of elitism - because it never would have happened for the likes of you or me. Moreover, the new law and amendment were being crafted at the same time Ardis was saying to local Joes, "Send me your resumes." It is obvious from the timing of the appointment that a liquor license holder was going to get the nod all along.
I would be willing to bet even you hiccupped when you found out Jacob was a Distributor, not just a liquor license holder.
I don't blame Jacob for living as far North as possible. If I had kids I would too. I would buy a house in the safest neighborhood with the best schools as I could possibly afford. My contention is with Jacob stating his love for Peoria lies in its diversity. Given where he lives, this statement is obviously a load of crap. I think we can all agree his neighborhood isn't diverse. At all. As you and yours often state, "I call bullshit."
I do intend to give Jacob a chance. It's Ardis and Spears that have strikes against them. Ardis had a chance to prove he was really a mayor of all instead of just the elite with this appointment and he blew it, big time.
At a minimum, Spears should have abstained when it came to voting in his brother-in-law. Spears has long been my favorite council member, and this breech of ethics is especially painful. I have the impression that Spears and Ardis are tight, and Spears is Ardis' closest advisor.
This whole episode leaves me with the impression that Peoria is still being run by a good ole boy's club, just a slightly different one that is run from a bar instead of a country club.
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