Politics is a numbers game — and the
numbers of votes, dollars, and favors are the only numbers that
matter.
The boys who play politics at the street level
never forget their numbers. They can tell you how many votes they
pulled out of precinct 22 three elections ago, or how much money
they raised for some nobody judge in ’96, or the name of
their neighbor’s mother’s cousin that they helped out
of that jam that one time.
And right now, many Chicago hacks are not too
happy with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The way they see it, they racked
up good numbers for him in 2002, and, like bookies who have let a
hard-luck gambler slide for too long, they’re tired of
waiting for him to make good on his debts.
This was what was really at the heart of the
noxious feud between Blagojevich and his father-in-law, Chicago
Ald. Dick Mell.
Mell was so angry about being disrespected by
the man he took from nothing and elevated to the highest job in the
state that he said some things that almost got him sued by his
son-in-law’s closest advisor. The alderman was forced to
issue a retraction last week.
Mell’s public humiliation didn’t
go over too well with many of his friends, and the same day Mell
retracted his comments, a letter appeared in the Daily Southtown from one
of Mell’s old lieutenants, Dominic Longo.
Longo is infamous in Chicago. He runs the
Coalition for Better Government, which raises money and fields
precinct workers for candidates all over Chicago’s northwest
side. Longo was convicted in the 1980s for stuffing ballot boxes,
and he’s been skewered by just about every political
columnist in the city, but he has held several government jobs and
his crew is still highly sought after by candidates in tough
campaigns.
“Undoubtedly,” Longo wrote to the Southtown, “if it
were not for the support of Ald. Dick Mell and the Coalition for
Better Government, Blagojevich would have simply remained a
rinky-dink attorney to this day.”
You won’t find many people who believe
that Longo would use words like “undoubtedly.”
He’s a “dem, deze, doze” kind of guy.
“Rinky-dink,” yes. “Undoubtedly,” no.
“I have no knowledge of none of that,” Longo told the Chicago Tribune last
year when asked about allegations that some Teamsters were forced
to contribute to the Coalition for Better Government or risk losing
their jobs.
The Southtown confirmed that it was his letter, however, and
they published it.
Longo dropped another bomb the next day. His
attorney, Ivan Tomic, sent Blagojevich a registered letter
demanding that the governor and his staff stop dissing Longo to reporters or
face a defamation lawsuit.
But the real fun stuff was a couple of lines
down. According to Tomic’s letter, Blagojevich
“committed to making Dominic Longo a rich man” during
an event after the 2002 primary campaign.
That would be the same Dominic Longo to whom
Blagojevich promised that voters would have no place in his
administration if he was elected. Blagojevich also swore in 2002
that Longo and the Coalition for Better Government were not part of
his campaign team.
Tomic went on to write that it was Longo who
introduced Blagojevich to Chris Kelly, one of the governor’s
closest friends and the man who threatened to sue Dick Mell last
week. The governor’s office refused comment.
Frank Avila Jr. is Tomic’s law partner.
Longo was hired last year by Avila’s father, Metropolitan
Water and Reclamation District commissioner Frank Avila Sr. Frank
Jr. told the Sun-Times back then that Longo was hired at the request of
Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk. Monk denied the allegation,
and a bitter behind-the-scenes brawl ensued.
A Web site that regularly taunts the governor,
the Rod Report (rodreport.com), is owned by Tony Joyce, an MWRD
employee who works for Avila’s father. A photo of Blagojevich
with his arm around Longo is prominently displayed on the site.
I have a feeling that the governor is gonna
make the MWRD suffer for this.
Unfortunately for Longo, his name has been
dragged through the mud so many times that almost nobody will have
any sympathy for him now. And because Blagojevich obviously
didn’t make Longo a “rich man” after the
election, Longo hasn’t disclosed anything that could be
considered illegal.
But the boys are definitely mad, and they
“undoubtedly” know where many bones are buried. More to
come soon.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2005.
