Chicago Daily Observer

Jeff Berkowitz interviews Sen. Steve Rauschenberger about Sen. Obama’s performance as an Illinois Legislator.

Excerpt:

Former State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger[Watch here]: [Barack Obama] didn’t work on building that bill—any more than he worked to write the ethics legislation. He was a show pony. He was [Democratic Senate President, Chicago machine pol and Obama mentor]Emil Jones’ —

Jeff Berkowitz: Well, then, who did it? Because Emil Jones didn’t do it.

Senator Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin): He was Emil Jones’ show pony.

Just when the presidential campaign had degenerated into arcane bickering over who stole whose words…whether Hillary pilfered Obama’s “I’m fired up!” rhetoric or how Obama appropriated the catchwords of the Massachusetts governor to defend his (Obama’s) reliance on vague, misty poetic allusions, the campaign has turned exciting with the prospect of a real sex scandal. Huzzza!

The “New York Times” uncovers the a supposedly good looking female lobbyist, a partner at Alkcade & Fay, Vicki Iseman, had spent a good deal of time hanging around McCain’s office eight years ago. And she accompanied him on her client’s (Home Shopping Network chief) Lowell Paxon’s corporate jet. There is even a hint of romantic interest by the two although both deny it.

Remember Tony Peraica?

He’s the Republican nominee for state’s attorney who waited about four seconds after first-time candidate Anita Alvarez won the Democratic primary before he began attacking her, charging that she’s a product of the Machine and a big reason the county’s criminal justice system has been “turning a blind eye to corruption and putting politics over public safety.”

In 2005 a proposal for a new condo tower in the landmarked Jewelers Row District on Wabash came before the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. The plan for the Legacy allowed the developers to demolish everything but the facades of three 19th-century buildings, one of which had once housed the flagship store of booksellers Kroch’s & Brentano’s. I wrote in the Reader in favor of the project, rejecting preservationists’ “slippery slope” arguments that it would set a dangerous precedent.

I was wrong. Three years later, even as the commission is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Chicago’s landmark ordinance, the true legacy of the Legacy has become clear: not only does the commission continue to leave many of Chicago’s most famous buildings in danger, it’s also eviscerating the very concept of what a landmark is.