RIP Rosty (Chicago, Washington, Mark: home, oil, tickets)

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

This thread is about a man who just died. I am not saying people have to kiss his rear because he passed but...Why not talk directly about things you did not like about him in specific, instead of talking about things that have nothing to do with him?

I thought it was pretty clear, but I hate him because he was part of the Illinois machine. With any luck, more Illinois politicians will follow.

[Thepreacherswife]

All I know is there's gonna be a hell of a traffic tieup when that funeral procession makes its way from Division and Milwaukee all the way up to Milwaukee and Touhy.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

I thought it was pretty clear, but I hate him because he was part of the Illinois machine...

Nope. The Chicago machine. But that machine worked really well for a very long time.

You really need to look at what this man did not only for the city and state, but for the country.

[williepotatoes]

Rostenkowski was an absolute god to most of the white ethnic voters of the 10th, especially the Poles. Only the Pope polled higher.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Nope. The Chicago machine. But that machine worked really well for a very long time.

You really need to look at what this man did not only for the city and state, but for the country.

Technically the Chicago machine, yes, but Chicago is largely in charge of Springfield. At this point it all seems pretty interchangeable. It's all well and good that he has some significant accomplishments, but my earlier posts were not irrelevant. Despite the positive aspects of his career, it was Rosty and people like him that brought Illinois to the desperate state that it is in today. It's kind of hard to overlook that, especially since there is no hope of changing it. The Chicago/Illinois machine is still in charge, and will still make sure their candidates are installed this November, to the detriment of us all.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

You really need to look at what this man did not only for the city and state, but for the country.

You understand that the people in Alaska who benefited from Ted Steven's corruption feel the same way, right?

This is why America is in the state it is, everyone knows the government is corrupt, but somehow believes "their" politician is the exception to the rule.

I worked on Waguespack's campaign, and let me tell you something - Rosty's legacy includes all sorts of hack politicians you've never heard of or connected the dots to,.

And many of which are most definitely in Springfield, wasting our time and money and selling us down the river when it suits their personal interests.

And as for how well the Chicago Machine "worked," well, that really depends who you ask, doesn't it? It certainly never worked for the public school children. It certainly didn't work well for most of the south and west sides. How well it worked for the north side "white ethnics" is hard to determine, since Hizzoner sold most of them/us out in favor of corporations and developers.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

...I worked on Waguespack's campaign, and let me tell you something - Rosty's legacy includes all sorts of hack politicians you've never heard of or connected the dots to...

I know who Matlak,Gabinksi,etc. are.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

OK, love him and/or hate him, he's deserving of his own thread, he had a monstrous impact on our City and larger region.

Good piece by Joravsky:

Bye-Bye Big Dan | Feature | Chicago Reader

The Tribune has been doing a great job constructing his obit today.

Dan Rostenkowski dead at 82 - chicagotribune.com

[Attrill]

I think it's hard to pin the statewide problems on Rosty - mainly because the state legislature (and governorship) was dominated by collar county and downstate Republicans during his time in politics. Anyone who thinks Chicago dominates statewide politics really needs to start reading up on the history of Chicago and Illinois. It has had a stronger influence recently, but it does not dominate state politics in ANY way.

He certainly did support hacks on the local level, and should be held accountable for that. He, and many of the people he supported, extorted millions from developers and allowed some really crappy buildings to be built in Ukrainian Village (as in faulty concrete ready to collapse condo buildings). They also sold out the neighbors of those buildings by granting some egregious variances.

Gabinski and Matlak were complete tools. They were my Aldermen for the first ten years I was in Chicago. Good lord they were myopic machine tools. Rosty was much smarter than any of them, infinitely smarter.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Attrill

...Rosty was much smarter than any of them, infinitely smarter.

Not only was this man very intelligent-he could beat almost anybody's ass-even when he was older. He was built like a wookiee.

I had the pleasure of talking to him a few times. He was a very nice guy-believe it or not.