Races for controller, 5 City Council seats drawing swarm of hopefuls

Races for controller, 5 City Council seats drawing swarm of hopefuls Mr. Kraus, of the South Side Flats and an interior designer, criticized Mr. Koch for proposing the new station location without getting enough neighborhood input, and for voting to allow developer Soffer Organization to build three 165-foot towers in the South Side Works, despite community group opposition.

Mr. Kraus said his close race last year came despite the O'Connor administration's support of Mr. Koch. 'The political landscape has changed dramatically in the last few months,' he said.

Mr. Bruce Kraus went into the special election endorsement for the democrats last time and expected to win. He got toasted.

On election day, I'm sure Kraus expected to win.

Meanwhile, on election day, I had one wish above all others. I wanted Bruce Kraus to get second. I didn't want Kraus to win. I felt strongly in my heart and in my head that Bruce Kraus would have been the worst choice for our city.

Nine people were in the race and eight of us were pulling against Kraus by the end. If anyone of us has broken with him, instead of against him, he would have won. But, we were all witness to his campaign double-talk and his short falls of merit.

Bruce Kraus a lot to learn and got a lesson in the last race. But, I'm not sure how much of it will be turned into knowledge on his part. He needs to know that you don't run around on election day with gift baskets full of treats to give to those who work the polls -- as in the voting machines.

Kraus needs to know that you don't take an oath of office, if elected, and swear to serve the people of the district. Duhh. It isn't about giving people sheet cakes and ice cream at bingos. Rather, the oath of service is for a dedication to the consititution.

I'll do all I can to make sure we have person on city council who gets it. We don't need another like Tom Murphy running around on Grant Street. The city turned a corner of sorts and got rid of Tom Murphy-ish, power-hungry, logic-lacking, schmoozing-centric, miss-managed, over-spending politicians who dodge and weave when contronted with opposition concerning the depth of the issues and challenges of our time.

At the end of his tenure, everyone saw that Tom Murphy was a divider and not a uniter, to use a trite but true expression. The same mode of operation was seen on many instance in the 2006 campaign by Bruce Kraus. But that was at the outset of the Kraus public life.

Furthermore, I'm not the real rebel in spreading these observations. Dozens of others will do far more to sway public votes against Kraus in 2007.

Sure, the political landscape has changed because of Bob O'Connor's passing. And I'll offer a rant on Mr. Jeff Koch another time.

I'm reminded of a posting on a blog comment somewhere from the spring where one person rated Koch at a 10 on a scale of 1 to 100. I said I agree with the low rating. However, my scale goes from negative 100 to positive 100. That puts Koch in the middle. Bruce Kraus is in the negative 90 range.

Give me a do-nothing public official over a do-damange one any day.