THE ARROGANT ALDERMAN

"Voters here don't appreciate when the machine tries to tell them who to vote for," said Nicholas Spasato who will engage former Alderman Banks chaueffer John Rice in an aldermanic runoff this April (despite getting 3,000 votes less.) It's like Sposato knows me!
Like many of my fellow voters, I don't appreciate having my choice made for me in a room full of cigar smoke and clout by old politicians anxious to retain their slice of the pie. The right to vote is sacred and I'll use it based on what I think and believe because I am capable of making my own decision without having a decision forced on me by overzealous precinct captains and big,obnoxious signs. It's like "If we make our signs super big,people will be impressed enough to vote in this palooka!" Are we that naive?
At my polling place I am fortunate enough to be able to enter through a back entrance and save myself the glad handing superficial rantings of the assembled political weasels. I never get tired of thje election judges look of surprise when I just show up at the desk instead of coming in through the front door.
One of the online blogs observed that looking at the 36th ward,a parent no longer has to tell their child to study hard and get good grades to advance in political service. Just drive well,know the rules of the road and you too might be an alderman one day. With no political record to run on, Alderman John Rice scored almost 7,000 votes due the backing of the machine and will probably win the runoff in April because most of the folks in my ward prefer being sheep instead of shepherd.
Here's a good example of the arrogance of the alderman in a statement made to the Tribune to the other day by John Rice.
"If even one of those other five (candidates) hadn't run I'd be dancing in the street today. Instead I have to take money I would have spent on community baseball and softball programs and use it to print signs so I can win in April.It's a shame."

Yeah,damn that political process that allows people to make a decision. Damn those voters who didn't rubber stamp my candidacy like they were told! And more signs? Rice has more signs than there are voters in this ward and that includes the super sized placards we are so impressed by! And in making that "dance in the street" remark the Alderman completely overlooks the fact that if people in the ward were impressed with his candidacy maybe he would have drawn more than the 50% majority he needed regardless of who or how many others were running.

In April, a guy with very little respect for the will of the people will become alderman,but the smart votes will wind up in the column of Nicholas Sposato.