The Bigot Who Rules Illinois

Pate's Fate: Will Illinois Voters Take Down "Pate" Philip, President of the State Senate?

James Peyton "Pate" Philip may be the most powerful politician that Illinois voters have never heard of. As the Republican President of the Illinois Senate, he has reigned over Illinois politics for a decade, promoting his conservative agenda, and filling his campaign coffers with millions of dollars. But in a week, he may be ancient history.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Steve Neal noted in an August 26, 2002 column, "An era is about to end." Neal reports that Philip "is expected to step down next year." According to Neal, "After a decade as Senate president, Philip has hinted that he will choose retirement over being demoted to minority leader."

Neal isn't the only one expecting the end of Pate's reign. Lobbyists can smell revolution in the air, and their money follows a winner. While piles of campaign cash cascaded upon Senate Minority Leader Emil Jones, Philip barely raised $1 million in the first six months of 2002, less than half of his take during the same period in 2000.(Springfield State Journal-Register, August 4, 2002) A flip of the coin gave Democrats redistricting power, and they have used it skillfully to decimate the Republican's 32-27 majority. An analysis in Illinois Issues predicted 29 safe Democratic seats and 23 safe Republican seats in the new districts, with seven seats up for grabs but little hope for Republicans to take all of them. [Full Article]

Time for a Third Party? No, Time for a Second

The Green Party is offering a choice - for a change.

Recent history - including the last presidential election - has shown that there is little significant difference between the two semi-official parties on the issues, economic and political, that matter most to Americans. The reason is to be found in their list of major donors.

The Republicans and Democrats represent the 1% of the population who own the country and the 20% who want to be like them (as the writer Gore Vidal says). Eighty per cent of the population is unrepresented by the so-called major parties. The Green movement is growing rapidly across the country because it does offer an alternative to the two parties - it speaks for that 80%.

• More than 80% of Americans agree in polls with the statement that the government is "run for the benefit of the few and the special interests, not the people," regardless of which party is in power.
• In a recent (December 2001) Harris poll, more than two out of three respondents agreed that in the US, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer"; more than three-quarters of Americans believed that even in the midst of the false "boom" of the 1990s. They were right, of course, because real wages had been falling for a generation.

Americans do know what they want from government - overwhelmingly they endorse policies that they know won't be accomplished by the existing parties. [Full Article]

The Mystery Governor: Marsellis Brown

In a sad display of the representative state of American politics, the Illinois voters have been given the choice between two gubernatorial candidates with few new ideas, an anti-progressive agenda, and a glowing chance to fill the void of corruption that our current governor will leave behind him. Following an all-too-familiar political trend, the names on the ballot for governor this year may as well read "bad" and "worse."

In search of an actual choice, I examined the stances of the two main candidates, Republican Jim Ryan and Democrat Rod Blagojevich, and found that the two candidates are about as similar as margarine and butter. Both candidates oppose needed campaign finance laws, such as public funding for congressional elections. Both seek to build more prisons and toughen the already ridiculous penalties for non-violent drug offenders. Both support national education test standards that will essentially eliminate teacher creativity and force all teachers to teach exactly the facts that these tests would mandate. Both support United States membership in the World Trade Organization.

Determined to vote but appalled by the lack of a choice, I decided to write in "none-of-the-above" for my official vote for governor. Even the Libertarian candidate, Cal Skinner, appeared to be a terrible choice. By a stroke of luck, however, I came across the story of another candidate: Marsellis Brown. [Full Article]

No Respect at NBC

Democratic Candidate for Governor, Rod Blagojevich supports Telemundo employees who are seeking union representation and respect by NBC for their decision to join a union.

While anti-war demonstrations took place on October 26th across the country and around the world in major cities, including Chicago, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) held a rally for respect in front of NBC Towers in Chicago, protesting the inequality at NBC against Telemundo Broadcasters who have recently become employees of NBC. Over 200 people rallied and chanted both in English and Spanish: "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!" In Spanish: "Si, se puede!" ("We can do it!") and "El pueblo unido, Jamas sera vencido" ("The people united, will never be defeated"). In English: "Respect!", "2,4,6,8 NBC Discriminates", and "2,4,6,8 NBC Negotiate!" A Telemundo truck drove by honking in support for the rally.

NBC's acquisition last April of Telemundo, a major Spanish-language TV network, has created a tremendous problem and opportunity for AFTRA and other labor unions. The purchase of Telemundo for $2.7 Billion gives NBC 13 additional stations including WSNS-TV (Channel 44) in Chicago. NBC also owns WMAQ-TV in Chicago and stations in 13 other cities. The major difference between Telemundo broadcasters and NBC's English speaking broadcasters is union representation. NBC intends to provide less compensation and benefits to the Spanish-language staffs compared to the English-speaking personnel by keeping Telemundo employees non-union despite the current integration of all employees for news reporting.

Joining the protest against this inequality was the Illinois Democratic candidate for Governor, Rod Blagojevich, along with Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Illinois AFL-CIO President Margaret Blackshire, and many others. Support from other Illinois unions included members of HERE Local 1, IBEW, Chicago Teachers Union, Teamsters, Jobs with Justice, and AFSCME as well as major support from AFTRA and SAG, whom Telemundo employees seek representation from. [Full Article]