'Don't worry. I'll talk to the mayor' -- Ka ching!

Lucas and Mayor 1%

David Sirota at IBT continues with his great exposures of the "dark side" of Chicago politics. Is there any other? Nothing captures it better than Melody Hobson telling billionaire husband George Lucas, "Don't worry, I'll talk to the mayor. I'm sure he'll love it," referring to the plan to give Lucas publicly owned lakefront land. for his wacky blob of a Star Wars museum. Of course there was nothing to worry about. Lucas and Hobson had just deposited another $50K into Rahm's campaign bank account.

Keep 'em coming David.

Huffington Post reports that progressive City Councilmen Bob Fioretti, John Arena, Scott Waguespack  are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a full investigation of Rahm's accepting illegal campaign contributions from financial firms that manage the city’s pension funds.

Says Dick Simpson, a political science professor for the University of Illinois at Chicago, the allegations against the well-funded incumbent have the potential to cast a longer shadow over his campaign.

Simpson told The Huffington Post that Emanuel's fortunes may shift if his opponents decide to make the campaign cash allegations a bigger issue. First, however, Emanuel's opponents have to make the problem crystal clear to voters.

At last night's Chicago school board meeting...

Much of the heat from the audience was directed at Vitale, who previously served as CPS' chief administrative officer from 2003 to 2008. Vitale is also the former president and CEO of the Chicago Board of Trade and the former vice chairman and director of Bank One Corp.

"Responsibility for pursuing such a risking financial course rests squarely on David Vitale," reads the city council resolution calling for hearings into CPS' borrowing practices.

Speaker after speaker, meanwhile, noted that the CTU and activists have been sounding the alarm on these deals for the past three years. -- Progress Illinois