Dear Swami,
If State Sen. Terry Link did get someone to forge signatures on his election petition, shouldn’t they have picked people who weren’t dead? Won’t relatives know their friends are dead, and what is Link trying to pull?
Signed: Livid in Lake Bluff.
Dear Livid,
The details of Link’s accusers
And Swami must note that having dead people vote in your behalf is a time-treasured Chicagoland tradition.
Swami is not even sure letting dead people vote is such a bad idea. It's not like they're in a hurry to get somewhere else. They have time to consider the ramifications of their vote.
If Swami dies before the general election, we hope someone casts our check mark with Link. And even if I'm dead then, I hope someone sends in my Visa payment because Swami wouldn't want his credit rating to suffer just because he was dead. Talk about a black mark on your permanent record.
As for the electoral process, dead poeple take their obligation to vote gravely. (Sorry. I couldn't help myself)
But if there is deliberate skullduggery afoot (there aren’t many places where you can say “skullduggery afoot”), The Swami has to admit that the afooted skullduggery person has some serious nerve.
Folks say the petitions claim names and addresses appear to be copied straight from a phone book. Even worse, it appear to be an old phone book. Crooked AND lazy.
Several dead people "signed," including former News-Sun political reporter Ed Nash, who died in May 2006. Attempts to reach Ed Nash were unsuccessful. Someone answered the phone and it sounded a lot like Ed, but we don’t think it was.
In an apparent itrony, some of thoise leading the protest against Link are local Democrats who have had differences with the county chairman in previous votes. (Trouble i n paradise, Terry?)
And here’s one even better on the roster of "I see dead people" petitioners, though this one is still alive, as far as we know. Shields Township Supervisor Chuck Fitzgerald, a Republican, says he discovered his name on the peitition. Fitzgerald was Link's opponent in the 2006 race for the 30th District senate seat.
That makes two low blows in one fake petitiion.
And who was Ed Nash? For those of you who were not long-time local readers, here’s the obituary.
WAUKEGAN - Former News-Sun political reporter Ed[0] Nash[0] died
Saturday at Victory Memorial Hospital in Waukegan.
Nash, 78, left The News Sun in 1977 after 22 years to work for the
state of Illinois. He worked in public relations for the Department
of Professional Regulations and then the Department of Transportation
for 18 years until 1995 when he retired.
Nash was political editor of The News Sun from 1969 to 1977 and
started covering government and politics in Springfield and Lake
County in the mid-1950s soon after joining the newspaper in 1955. He
served briefly as city editor in 1977.
Nash was The News Sun's statehouse reporter for about 15
years, starting in 1959, and he covered several national political
conventions. He was named chairman of the Senate Committee of
Correspondents in 1971. He was known for his near-encyclopedic
knowledge of politics.
"Ed was a fountain of statewide political information and was
well-respected by those in both political parties," said News
Sun News Editor Charles Selle, who worked with Nash.
"Something I'll always remember him saying of our
political coverage around election time was: 'We've set
the table for voters, now it's up to them to dine.'
When he left, his presence was missed in the newsroom."
Nash started writing a Saturday column called
"Commentary" in 1972. In his final column, he urged
editors and reporters to keep opinions separate from the news. He
quoted a former editor, the late George Crawford, who once said,
"News is news. Opinions are somewhere else. They have no place
in a news story."
Nash was born in Detroit and raised in Newton, Mass. He served two
years in the Navy from 1946 to 1947, then went to Yale University.
After graduating from Yale, Nash worked as a copy boy for the San
Francisco Chronicle and New York Times. He worked on the Pampa,
Texas, Daily News, for about three years, then worked for The
News-Palladium in Benton Harbor, Mich., before joining The News Sun
in 1955.
Nash won many journalism awards, including first place in a state
Associated Press contest for his work on a series on a highway land
transaction.
In Waukegan, Nash worked as a volunteer with the Junior Achievement
program, the Salvation Army and Waukegan Main Street program. He was
a longtime member and past president of the Waukegan City Club. He
organized and moderated political forums at the City Club for many
years.
Nash is survived by his widow, Peg; children David, Marcia and Amy
Nash, and grandchildren Devin, Derek, David and Dylan.
Services are scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the First
Presbyterian Church in Waukegan. Visitation is 2 p.m. Thursday at the
church until time of service.
Leave a comment