Posts Tagged ‘DC mayor’

D.C. Scholarships

March 30th, 2011 by John Feehery

I was driving into work this morning, listening to Tim Farley’s always excellent morning show on the POTUS channel of XM/Sirius radio, as he interviewed Washington D.C.’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Eleanor lives in my neighborhood on Capitol Hill, and when you meet her in person, she can be rather pleasant.

But politically, she is a disaster. For example, she helped to deliver us Vincent Gray, the current joke of a Mayor in the nation’s capitol.

Holmes Norton – or Eleanor, as she is known by her campaign signs – likes to believe that D.C. is her own private domain that she can rule as she likes. She likes to think that despite she has no formal vote on the floor of the House of Representatives and no real power in Congress (other than the power to shoot off her mouth, which she does with great skill).

Eleanor (if I might be so bold) is fighting hard against legislation being pushed by House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner believes that kids from families that don’t have resources, but do have dreams should have the chance to go to private grade schools and high schools. He has long fought for a small program to provide scholarships to kids to give them that chance.

The Mayor’s Departure and What It Means for the Rest of Us

September 7th, 2010 by John Feehery

When Mayor Daley announced that he was resigning, it made Washington liberals very happy.  It should have also put a smile on Republican Presidential candidates too.

Let me explain.

For most of his career, Daley has been a pretty effective mayor for the city of Big Shoulders.  He was able to pick up the pieces after the Harold Washington debacle and move the city past the racial political war that typified Washington’s epic battles against the City Counsel.

For a decade or so, he made Chicago work again.  He made peace with the business community, he worked hard on beautifying the city, and found ways to reach out to every different neighborhood in a way that brought the city together.  He transformed his father’s political machine, making it more acceptable for the modern era.

But Daley was dogged by federal corruption investigations that ultimately took out many of his closest allies.  He refused to back the police force when cops were charged with police brutality and racism (even when the cops were black).   That led to the shooting gallery that is currently Chicago.

He pushed liberal (and ineffective) causes like gun control, making a name for himself, but taking away freedom from citizens who wanted to protect themselves from the bad guys.