With Apologies -OR- Where ya been?

As noted by the countdown clock in the sidebar, our local elections are 9.5 days away.
In this inner-ring suburb of Chicago, Proviso Twp. Crook County, Illinois, population ~15,000, that means the quadrennial battle for our very souls is heading into the home stretch.

I'm doing my part, or at least trying to do my part, to elevate the discourse, provide context, historical perspective and translation for the interested. Elections here are an odd lot. In the main event, two candidates to be Mayor and 11 candidates vying for the 4 commissioner seats. The simple math is that 3 votes provides a ruling majority for the next four years.

For the last 12 years the current mayor has enjoyed that power, consolidated that power, exercised and weaponized those powers. He identifies himself with the ethos of the Republican Party, but our elections are non-partisan. Big things, big plans, no scratch that, no real plans, just a vision thing. Shoot first, then draw a target around the arrow and say "See, that's what I meant the whole time. Isn't it great?"

His tenure and ambition mirrors that of another former small town mayor. One whose ascendancy to the national stage has offered bloggers and comedians a bottomless well of material. A comparison our MATC would categorize as nothing but a plethora of innuendo. (yeah he says shit like that)

He'll dispute the definition of deficit, transparency, fiscal responsibility...call them buzzwords, hint at sinister, despicable agents of discord who are nothing but whiners and complainers. While whining and complaining that they(we) just don't recognize excellence in mayoring.

A guy who turned this little Brigadoon into the next hot real estate destination. The new Bucktown/Wicker Park of the western suburbs. Doubling spending, doing less with more and shifting costs and responsibilities while ignoring accountability.
Just one of the many arms-length relationships he's developed with reality.

As of today, I'm cautiously optimistic that this time the bullshit won't fly. He'll fall short of the goal, which for the last four cycles seems to have been to fool enough of the people for just long enough.

So we're entering the home stretch and the long knives are coming out. Preaching caution and awareness that the whispers will be getting louder and meaner, the accusations will be flying, but that this time, if we hold fast, when the smoke clears our long local nightmare will have ended.

If not? I'll deal with that on April 6th. It's a tough time to even think about relocating.