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August 13th, 2004
Early and Often
Chicago/Illinois politics never cease
to be so damn fun.
Lipinski is taking his name off the ballot for re-election to the House. On Tuesday, the Democratic political bosses in Lipinski's 3rd Congressional District will agree to replace him on the ballot with his son Dan.
Now hang on, though. It's not a guarantee that his son will win the seat. There is still the election to go through.
The nomination is tantamount to election because the Republican candidate, Ryan Chlada, is regarded as a Lipinski plant who has so little campaign activity that he has not filed any reports with the Federal Election Commission.
I wonder the arrangement he got for putting his name up on the ballot. Well, not worth bothering too much with. Let's learn a little bit about the elder Lipinski.
The senior Lipinski is expected to carve out a new career as a consultant and lobbyist, though he will not be able to lobby Congress until a year after he leaves office. Lipinski, an early supporter of Gov. Blagojevich, has influential federal and state ties. Last spring, Blagojevich appointed Lipinski's wife, attorney Rose Marie, to a $50,893-a-year post on the Illinois Court of Claims.
So he's about to cash in on his political career. Happens all the time. He's probably just sick of all the politicking and wants to move on. I'm sure there's no other motivation.
Lipinski's departure from Congress also removes the possibility of ethics questions being raised by his acceptance of about $217,000 over the past two years from a vintage sportswear company in Philadelphia. Lipinski avoided the $23,205 outside earned income limit on House members by claiming the money was really owed him from 1989. An ethics watchdog called the arrangement "absurd."
As I said, it's just so much fun over there.