Jim Dey: Illinois corruption through a comedic lens

Jan. 27—It's time once again to dive in to another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

No tears for wicked

Illinoisans are remarkably resilient in the face of the pervasive political and government corruption.

Resigned to what they cannot stop, people here laugh about Illinois' perverse political culture more often than they rage about it.

Perhaps that's why two Chicago wisenheimers made a movie that "takes a comedic look at corruption" here.

The movie — "Lincoln Is Crying: The Grifters, Grafters and Governors of Illinois" — was shown for the first time this week in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan wrote that the film is "especially entertaining for people who lack first-hand experience with the dirty deeds of the local scene."

The movie was conceived by John Davies and Tom Weinberg, producers who first met working at WTTW in Chicago.

Davies said he is not a "serious news producer." Advised by friends at Chicago's Second City, he and Weinberg decided to play it for laughs.

Needless to say, politics in Chicago and Illinois provided them a lot of material to use.

The movie runs 85 minutes, devoting time to the criminal activities of former Govs. Otto Kerner, Dan Walker and George Ryan. The real star, however, is former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Other pols play smaller roles, and they're not all from the big city. Former Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell, who embezzled $53 million, makes an appearance.

So do high-minded political commentators who've made a living covering the corruption follies here.

"There are many ways to tell a story. The movie is a comedy. It's not as depressing as it sounds," Davies said.

Readers can watch the trailer at lincolniscrying.com/.

Battlin' bros

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are at odds again over what has become a sore point between them — what to do with the thousands of migrants who've poured across U.S. borders and are now in Chicago.

At the same time, both men have expressed irritation with President Joe Biden for ignoring problems state and local government officials are having dealing with this influx.

Pritzker told reporters that he's "deeply concerned" about Johnson's plan to evict these "asylum seekers" from city-run shelters after 60 days and not to open new shelters. An estimated 35,000 people have arrived in the city, severely taxing the financial and political fabric there.

"The city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build new shelters. So we can't help if they can't identify these locations," Pritzker said.

Johnson responded by noting that Chicago "has carried the entire weight" of the influx and reminded the governor that he can "fund, stand up and operate a shelter" in any Illinois city.

Both Chicago and the state are spending — or plan to spend — millions of dollars to deal with those who are seeking work here but telling federal authorities they want political asylum because of oppression in their home countries.

Pritzker has asked legislators to appropriate an additional $160 million to address the problem.

The dilemma faced by Johnson, Pritzker and other mayors and governors is that there is no solution in sight.

The Biden administration has shown no interest in dealing with the problem of porous borders. It's essentially embraced an unofficial "open borders" policy for immigrants who use the correct legal buzzword — asylum — when they cross the U.S. border.

The cold weather is complicating state and city efforts to address the housing issue. But Pritzker said that as the weather turns warmer "we still need shelter for people."

Include me out

A federal labor report released this week shows that Illinois has a larger percentage of private and public sector employees who belong to labor unions nationally, but not by much.

The report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 12.8 percent of workers in Illinois are represented by unions compared to about 10 percent nationwide.

Overall union membership in Illinois stood at 20.8 percent in 1989. But the percentages have gone steadily downhill since then.

Decades ago, one of every three workers was represented by a union.

The sector that has taken the biggest hit in Illinois is public employee unions. Many members have left since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing workers either to join — or not join — a public employee union.

Membership in AFSCME Council 31 has fallen from 65,042 in 2017 to 53,014 in 2022 — a decline of more than 18 percent. As the same time, the Illinois Federation of Teachers fell from 101,046 from 2017 to 84,636 in 2022.

The decline in the number of members goes with a decline in monthly dues income, meaning unions have less money to spend on the political process in Illinois.

That's why the public employee unions fought to preserve "fair-share" dues that required non-members to pay monthly fees to the union. After the Supreme Court ruled in Janus vs. AFSCME that the unions could no longer coerce payments from non-members, existing members dropped out of the union while new employees chose not to join.

Union leaders criticize non-members as "free riders" — not supporting the union, but benefiting from it. At the same time, however, the union insists on representing all employees within its jurisdiction whether they are members or not.

Invasion of the ... what?

It's not clear if this is a sign of the apocalypse, but an armadillo has been spotted in Catlin.

WCIA-TV meteorologist Jacob Dickey posted this shocking announcement.

"There's an Armadillo on the run in Catlin! David Harrold messaged me and said state biologists came out last night and said he was healthy."

An armadillo is a leathery little possum-type that lives in North, Central, and South America. Scaled like a reptile, armadillos are warm-blooded mammals that have hair, give live birth and nurse their babies with milk.

Dickey posted a picture of the Catlin varmint online, and his announcement was re-posted on CapitalFax.

Dickey said he "hit an armadillo in Oklahoma and it caused caused $3,000 in damage to the underside of my car! The shells are like boulders."

Other comments from CapFax readers:

Bill and Cheryl Lair

"I think Abbott put them on a bus."

"Here is one about 10 miles north of Greenup. My daughter and I were out looking for shed antlers. Never thought we would come across an armadillo. (The video revealed armadillos can move with alacrity.)"

Evelyn R. Brewer

"They can be found all over southern Illinois with one that passed through my yard. They are terribly destructive in digging holes everywhere."

Robert Rutan II

"They have been migrating north as the winters have been milder."

Mel Renee

"They can carry Hansen's disease, so beware!"

Margaret Appl

"Maybe he was looking for Texas Roadhouse — that's their mascot!"

Old Is New Again

The years are passing by the increasingly geriatric "Jim's Pseudo-Intellectual Book Club." Thankfully, they haven't yet hit the century mark yet.

The same cannot be said for the latest selection — "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage." Published in 1959, it concerns an event that occurred in 1914.

What a story.

Readers may be aware of the famous expedition arranged by British explorer Ernest Shackleton. His plan was to lead an expedition on foot across the uncharted continent of Antarctica.

That never happened. On its way to its destination point, Shackleton's ship — the Endurance — was caught — and eventually crushed — in an island of ice.

What started as a ground-breaking scientific adventure turned into a desperately unimaginable months-long battle to survive as Shackleton and his crew of nearly 40 struggled to make their way back to civilization.

In this adventure, impossible conditions kept getting worse, testing the mental and physical strength of the crew. Their refusal to concede to the inevitable is a startling reminder of what people can do when they don't have a choice.

Caught between icebergs with no way to move, crew members lived for a while on the ship before it was literally crushed in the jaws of surrounding icebergs. They then took refuge in tents on the ice, supplementing their dwindling food supplies with meat from seals and penguins they hunted.

Later, with the ice melting out from under them, they set sail in three boats, heading for the presumed safety of faraway and barren Elephant Island. They faced blizzards, horrendous winds and, always, dangers posed by ice flows as they made their way through treacherous waters.

They were always cold. Misery in the form of hunger, fear and futility was a constant companion. Incredibly, some of the crew kept revealing, well-written diaries.

Elephant Island, uninhabited, provided no relief. That's when Shackleton and a handful of his men took one of their three boats and went out into open sea and charted a way to occupied land.

The story ends abruptly. Shackleton & Co. got where they were going. He organized a rescue of crew members he had left behind.

This book is a page-turning masterpiece about men confronting the worst of the elements and living to tell the tale. It's simply mind-boggling.