Again with the half-truth about the raise.

After 34 years in office, you'd think an incumbent would have more than a couple of laurels to rest on. But here's another recent Stone piece:





My response to this? See previous post. Too lazy to click? Very well: *after* 2003, Stone not only was on the bandwagon for an aldermanic raise, he led the charge.

This and Thillens are the only two things I have *ever* heard in defense of Stone. And both are open to criticism. I want to know what objective, verifiable, undisputed benefit Stone has created for us. What else does the man have to show for 34 years in office and over $100,000 in salary for each of many of those years? What has our tax money gotten us?

Concerned consumers want to know.

Stone's Off-the-Mark Mailer

Stone has begun circulating a new anti-Dolar piece through canvassers (I guess it's technically not a "mailer" then):



Here's a link to the full-size image.

I'm not sure why the Dolar half of the piece looks so crappy - that's how the piece itself looks. You can barely read her name. It's as if Stone so much didn't want to spend money "on Dolar" that he couldn't even be bothered to make her side of the mailer look legible.

Among the many misstatements, let's pick the top 4:

Mislead 1: Stone "refused to accept a $10,000 per year pay increase from 1999-2003."

Truth: ... and then Stone carried the torch for the recent aldermanic pay increase after 2003!

Mislead 2: Dolar has a "0 resident service record."

Truth: Dolar was director of the city's Commission on Human Relations. In that position, she successfully removed illegal 24-hour parking meters that Stone installed on Devon Ave. Therefore, she has already shown a record for serving the residents in the ward. Bernie, on the other hand, should be deducted "service" points for wasting taxpayers' dollars on both these illegal parking meters, and the illegal wall he built and had to tear down.

Mislead 3: Dolar runs "a divisive campaign creating mistrust, tension and division in a normally united community."

Truth: Nothing from Dolar's camp has been aimed at dividing the community. Dolar's entire career has been about coalition-building and bringing communities together. I think this remark from Stone's side was probably meant to echo his previous sentiments that "all was well" in the 50th until troublemakers like Dolar and Brewer started campaigning. Rather than being concerned with what is best for the 50th, Stone from the start has been selfishly absorbed only with keeping the 50th complacent. Why should such a person be the one advocating for our ward in the City Council?

Mislead 4: Stone has more law enforcement experience than Dolar.

Truth: Stone's vague reference to "assisting in the creation of C.A.P.S." sounds like less law enforcement experience than Dolar. Not only is Dolar endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, she's also married to a cop - so I'm sure she's more familiar with the day-to-day realities of law enforcement. Also, when did Stone "assist" in creating CAPS? I believe that was more than a while ago... has he done anything to further encourage CAPS' growth and resident participation since then?

In addition, as the recent Emmerson Park beatings show, Stone and his friendly neighborhood talking heads prefer to label any local violence "isolated" rather than condemn it harshly and take steps to prevent it. While Stone was doing only as much as necessary to fend off bad PR, Dolar had her own press conference and offered affirmative, fresh action-taking solutions to help prevent such problems in the future. In fact, the press conference she held sounded much more like what I want to hear from "my alderman" than what we heard from the actual alderman!

What's at Stake

Sorry for the temporary lapse; I had a storm of projects come to a head at work and could not find the time to post something. In any event, it seems the campaigns were taking a brief reprieve to rest up and tally the score thus far before launching into run-off operations.

Well, let me correct that, because his majesty Ald. Stone has already taken action to reclaim his sovereign territory. Look at what the former Brewer campaign office looks like, as of a few days ago:



That is what's at stake, my neighbors in the 50th ward. I don't think Stone could have taken any action more representative of his administration than this unprofessional, immature act against a former challenger. I can only hope that this visual kick-in-the-teeth mobilizes Brewer supporters to join Dolar's fight.

If we don't pull together to support Dolar in these last 5 weeks, Stone will continue to mark us as his territory too.

Growing Brewer Camp Support for Dolar

I've spoken with some insiders in the Dolar campaign, and a steady stream of Greg Brewer's supporters have been emailing or calling Dolar's campaign staff to express their support and to volunteer. This bodes very well for Dolar, and comes along with the public support expressed by Brewer's Field Director Bridget Dooley and this Feb. 28 email from Brewer Campaign Manager Cottrell to Brewer's supporters:

I congratulated Naisy and her campaign manager today. The banner of change continues to be carried by Naisy and her campaign. I hope that all of Greg's supporters will choose to support Naisy in whatever way they feel appropriate.

I know that hard feelings can emerge after a campaign like this one. I ask that you set them aside for now. There is nothing that helps Bernie Stone more than for resentments to persist between challengers' supporters. Stone is still the target here. As Greg has said from Day One, this is all about beating Bernie Stone.

Many if not all of you will be contacted by Naisy's campaign. They know you have supported Greg. I'm asking that you support her now. Four more years of Bernie Stone is four years too many...

-- Alan Cottrell

So, I write this post in the spirit of reconciliation and solidarity against a common foe, and invite all of Brewer's supporters to help unseat Stone. With the picture as it was on Tuesday night, not voting for Dolar in the run-offs may basically be a vote for Stone!!

P.S. to anyone who tries to contact Dolar's campaign office this weekend, note that they are taking the weekend off to rest after a chaotic election week.

Will Labor Back Dolar?

Both AFSCME and CFL supported Brewer, and gave him some money and ground troops. SEIU stayed out, but funded anti-Stone mailers.

Now, word is labor will hand-pick the runoffs to throw its weight into. So the $50-100k (or more) question is: will the 50th ward be one of those runoffs?

They absolutely should, because yes, Dolar only got 28.3% to Stone's 48.32%, but combined with Brewer's and Aftab's numbers, she outnumbers Stone. The unions could make the difference between Dolar convincing all of Brewer's supporters to come over or not.

Moreover, one of Stone's largest support bases is seniors, and good luck getting them to come out again.