The flower pot had been moved inches to the left, and I noticed it when I went to get the morning paper. It meant that my informant, Even Deeper Throat, had something to report, and sure enough, the note with the elegant handwriting and a faint aroma of French cigarettes was pinned beneath the passenger side wiper on my pickup truck.
It’s a power play.
Under the proposed redistricting they’ll be touting tomorrow at the illegal "hearing", Bob Caesar would be gerrymandered completely out of the 2nd district. Even if he wins and the switch is made after the election, he will not be allowed to represent a district where he does not live, at which point the Democratic Party could appoint someone of its choice. The front runner, coming in the back door, would be the man Caesar overwhelmingly defeated in the primary, Bill Schmidt, or worse yet, Schmidt’s wife, whose fingerprints are all over this hurried "new" plan of Larry Kochert’s, which Anna started drawing up the day after the primary was over.
You can bet that Larry will be pushing it because it will have the further effect of overloading the 6th district with Republican voters, and of course he and Jeff Gahan are not going out to dinner much lately.
What most people, even the Tribune, don’t seem to understand is that Kochert’s statement at the last council meeting is entirely false. He told the council that “the judge” ordered it to redistrict by November 22, 2007. But there is no record of any such order, and Jerry Ulrich, the council attorney, knows it because he was the only other council representative at the meeting besides Kochert himself. Seeing as the plaintiffs were seeking to have redistricting finished by the summer of 2008, there’s actually no hurry at all, unless the only objective is to arrogantly negate the ballots cast in a fair election by putting into place a gerrymandering plan drawn up by the wife of the defeated candidate - and he's campaigning for the Republican.
Think of it as the Kochert & Ko. Koup. The misspelling is by design. Have a good day, NAC – the empire is striking back. Think anyone else in town will notice?
Why is defeated Democrat Bill Schmidt working so hard to get Republican Harry Harbison elected? Is the absentee ballot phantom at work, dispensing communion with one hand and pre-filled ballot applications with the other? Shouldn't that cost Schmidt his clubhouse privileges at the Democratic Treehouse? Isn't he a precinct committee person? What does Chairman Stumler have to say about that?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't advise emailing the Chairman to ask!!
ReplyDeleteOne thought is - don't worry, no way will this dysfunctional group pull off a redistricting by Nov 2007, even if they wanted to. Any plan they(the council) submits would need to be approved by the judge, no? Thus delays are inevitable...
ReplyDeleteI would hate to see Bob Ceasar out of the running. I'm guessing he would be a good new voice on the council.
This sounds like a tinfoil-hat theory, to me.
ReplyDeleteEven this bunch wouldn't dare to try to pull off a stunt like your source implies. Would they?
"Even Deeper Throat" sounds pretty paranoid, IMHO.