Tusk: What You Can Do Beyond Marching

Bradley Tusk (remember him???  One-time Deputy Governor here in Illinois) is back in NYC and has made a pretty good name for himself at the intersection of business and government in the Big Apple.  Between his deal and counseling of Uber as well as his totally warranted and on-going criticisms of the way NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, he's causing plenty of people to pay attention to him.   He launched NYDeservesBetter.com - a site that includes polls, a tracker of how bad de Blasio is doing and some creative ideas for improving the city.  All interesting stuff.

This week, he's out with a piece in Inc Magazine entitled:  Don't Like the Way Things Are Going in Washington? 7 Ways to Do Something About It.

Everybody loves a listicle, right?  Here's Tusk's list of ways to rattle some cages:

1.  Harass your legislators,
2.  Keep your other elected officials accountable, too.
3.  Don't forget about the cabinet.
4.  Litigation is an important weapon.
5.  Tweet at Trump.
6.  Not everything you do has to be about Trump.
7.  All politics and all governments matter.

Tusk is a smart guy and a pretty good operator.  So, while this is a bit of a puff piece and both some personal PR and Tusk Enterprises/Ventures/Whatever elese he's doing PR-work, we all can learn a bit from what he has to say.

We especially like the 2nd and 7th ones on the list.  And that's why we're committed to ensuring voters have full information on candidates and phonies.  Especially in these upcoming municipal elections.  A school board or local mayor today could turn into a government monster, with an insatiable appetite for tax increases and empire building tomorrow.

Maine 207 District Race: One Fatally Flawed Candidate Running Again

Over at West Cook News, they take the local journalist from the Journal & Topics to task for claiming that some are inserting partisan politics into a supposedly 'independent' election process.  It all stems from a few candidates having their nominating petitions challenged recently including a multiple-time loser (at least four-time loser, right?) Aurora Austriaco, who is complaining about someone having the gall to see if she followed the rules.  How dare they?!?!?

We say:  How dare Aurora Austriaco run for school board.  Doesn't she get it?  The voters don't want her.  She's a loser that keeps losing elections.  And, based on all the facts that are out there regarding her history (property taxes, missing meetings, pay-to-play with Blagojevich, being Speaker Mike Madigan's stooge), we're frankly surprised that she's decided to throw her hat in the ring again.

We're certain that the voters of Maine Township need to know the record of Aurora Austriaco and why anybody else on the ballot would make a better school board member than her!

Wheeler: Rod Got Too Many Years

Over on Illinois Review, they point to a post by Illinois Republican State Representative Barbara Wheeler on Facebook regarding Rod Blagojevich's 14 year sentence.  Wheeler - some might be surprised - argues that Rod didn't 'deserve 14 years'.

Screengrab via Illinois Review

 
With just hours left to go, will President Barack Obama shorten things up for former Governor Rod Blagojevich?  Not likely, right?

But one thing we *are* sure of is that Barbara Wheeler is probably right:  Rod got too many years.   Good on Wheeler for saying it publicly.