A very good Tribune investigative story by Andy Martin & Co. about the Hispanic Democratic Organization. The nut of it:

HDO has amassed a roster estimated at more than 1,000 members using the same techniques that helped the mayor’s father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, build a massive patronage army: raising money for favored candidates, swarming precincts on Election Day to get out the vote, and, some members say, doling out city jobs and promotions to friends, relatives and campaign workers.

Handing out city jobs to political workers was deemed illegal by a federal court decades ago, an order that became known as the Shakman decree. The Daley administration is currently arguing Shakman is no longer required because the city’s hiring practices are so fair.

Yet about 500 of HDO’s members are city workers, mostly employed in departments where HDO lieutenants hold high-ranking posts, according to an analysis of city records by the Chicago Tribune and Exito!

No big surprise, of course. Everyone knows that, among other things, the key to Daley’s political success has been the white-Hispanic alliance he’s forged. Hand out enough city jobs and you’ll find plenty of votes, even among supposedly oppressed minority groups.

And ultimately for Hispanics, when it comes to choosing between throwing their fate in with the white ethnics like Daley versus blacks like Bobby Rush, it’s an easy choice.

Stand Down is a cool new collaborative blogging venture that my buddy Julian Sanchez helped create. It’s billed as “The Left-Right Blog Opposing an Invasion of Iraq.” Here’s one of my first posts about why such a coalition is of crucial importance, especially to libertarians — who are often grouped with “the right.”

A man bolted past O’Hare security guards Tuesday night. The United terminal was evacuated and two planes were delayed two hours while passengers were scrutinized by police dogs.

Here’s the kicker: “‘Oddly enough, they didn’t supposedly see the person, which is very disturbing,’ said Isaac Richardson, the Transportation Security Administration’s chief at O’Hare.”

Oddly enough, federalizing airport security was an idiotic idea. Does anyone doubt that the screeners who let this happen will not be punished, let alone fired?

Shia Kapas of the Chicago Tribune pecks away at Cal Skinner’s hopes.

Old Chicago LP buddy Matt Beauchamp is finally breaking through the big media lockout in his race to unseat Jesse White as Secretary of State. He’s the star of Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown’s story today, generously headlined, “Ranting ‘gun nut’ shoots himself in the foot.”

Brown had written a column excoriating the Illinois State Rifle Association for speculating in its newsletter that gun-control advocates might be behind the sniper attacks in the D.C. area. An easy target, but certainly worthwhile. Brown then wrote a column about Officer Benjamin Perez, who was killed by a commuter train during a drug stakeout but is not being honored by the Chicago Police Department. Luckily, Beauchamp did us all the favor of writing an e-mail to Brown, who quotes the whole thing in his column. And we’ll do the same here:

First off, your column yesterday was highly insulting to gun owners. I have owned guns for years, can correctly spell NRA and probably have a much better education than you. Furthermore, the NRA is hardly the group of choice anymore–they are far too liberal and willing to hand over gun rights than, say, the Gun Owners of America or the 2nd Amendment Foundation, or even Conceal Carry Inc. right here in Illinois.

Funny how you idolize the cops (who carry guns)–blubbering over ‘fallen heroes’ like Benjamin Perez or recounting your scary day at the police academy. So it’s OK for cops to carry guns, but not me? I’m sure your answer will be ‘but they’re trained to shoot.’ Alright, how about this: I’ll make a wager with you right now (knowing that you’re too big a pussy to take it). Pull one random name from a list of cops who have been on the force for over five years, and I’ll compete against him at the gun range. I’ll bet you $500 I’m a better shot.

As for your hero Perez getting his number retired, here’s the truth: Perez is a klutz who fell onto a railroad track while watching suspected drug dealers. If drugs were legal, this never would have happened. Any cop who dies in that fashion has no sympathy from me. People should be free to treat their bodies as they like–eat fatty foods (you certainly look like you indulge in this one, Mark), smoke cigarettes, joints, snort blow, whatever. When the government comes in and decides they know best–well, I can’t get too teary-eyed when they lost one of their own trying to enforce idiotic laws.

Good day to you, sir.

The rest of the column writes itself, of course. But you’ve got to hand it to Beauchamp. In the space of only a few paragraphs, he managed to: (1) Admit he was more extremist than the NRA, (2) insult a dead police officer and his family, (3) brag about his shooting capabilities, and (4) praise drug use.

I guess he got his name in the paper, and that might be all that matters to him. Brown went on to actually plug Beauchamp’s campaign Web site, where he touts his plan to give drivers their license in 15 minutes or charge them nothing. His ideas for reform aren’t bad and his site uses humor effectively.

Beauchamp re-energized the Chicago LP and is a smart guy with flair. But he is clearly out to just make noise, not make a difference. Sometimes the two are the same, but in this case Beauchamp badly misjudged what the public has a tolerance for. And it’s guys like him I have to explain away when I tell people I’m a libertarian.

A nice story by Michael Trackett in the Tribune unveils what Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Operation Flytrap accomplished. It mucked up the lives of hundreds of people who had no connection to terrorist groups and were guilty of nothing more than fudging a little bit to get jobs.

Naturally, Ashcroft had a big press conference to take credit for his
wonderful work. “Our response has been to weave a web of terrorism prevention that brings together all agencies of justice and every level of law enforcement,” Ashcroft said in April. “Let me be clear — there will be zero tolerance of security breaches at our nation’s airports.” Aw, that’s super. I just can’t wait when we have a whole cabinet-level department devoted to this kind of nonsense.

Another excellent column from Steve Chapman on Hussein’s purported madness. Chapman goes back and shows how what now seem like irrational moves (war with Iran, invading Kuwait) at the time seemed necessary for survival and not at all crazy. Further, when his survival was very much in doubt during the Gulf War, Hussein still refrained from using the weapons of mass destruction he possessed at the time.

Why would it be different this time around? More generally, how un-crazy does a person have to be to realize that going nuclear with the United States is a very, very bad idea? A bare grasp on reality seems to be the only requirement.

In case you needed any more evidence that the Homeland Security Department is a giant sinkhole in the making, just look at what’s keeping Tom Ridge from
getting his own shiny new cabinet chair. Congress and the president have been arguing for weeks about job rules. Job rules!

And we think this 170,000-person monstrosity is somehow going to help secure the homeland? Let’s drop this sucker while we still can.