ChicagoClout

Michael Volpe got many of the facts correct on Hired Truck Scandal. I hope that he digs into this story deeper. If you want to learn more insider facts make sure you read this article. His blog is called Thee Provocateur. I met Michael last night, my first night out in years. ckick here: http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2009/08/deconstructing-hired-truck-scandal.html On another note, was happy to see Mick Dumke fighting with Alderman Stone. Stone will need to start a fight with a new Inspector General. Last night, I also met Brad Flora of the The Windy Citizen, he is a nice person (a cool dude), go to his website here: http://www.windycitizen.com/ they took pictures of the night click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennuiislife/sets/72157622040935747/ I also met a editor of a great website, Anna Tarkov, go to Daily Daley, click here: http://www.windycitizen.com/blogs/dailydaley I want to do a TV show with Anna, she has great humor. More on this later. Patrick McDonough.

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I hope all the city workers during this difficult time can reach into their pocket and support David Hoffman in his bid for U.S. Senate. Please click here and help, http://www.hoffmanforillinois.com/ I met David Hoffman when three city workers spoke in front of the Federal judge regarding our mistrust of Chicago to implement fair hiring. It was Bruce Randazzo, Frank Anton, and I that told the judge the city is not to be trusted. I also asked the Federal Judge if the City of Chicago would provide the Office of the Inspector General with additional funding. David Hoffman enjoyed that request. I am going to make a contribution to David Hoffman and I hope everyone can dig in and help. Let's reward people that respect the taxpayers. My bone to pick with the Office of the Inspector General is the taking of furlough days; I want a complete independent Inspector General in Chicago. Crime takes no day off in Chicago, neither should the Inspector General. Chicago Clout has some unfinished business with the I.G.; I hope these concerns are still a priority. Good luck, Mr. Hoffman. Patrick McDonough

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Here is the link to hear the music played that morning. Thanks to all at the WGN Radio staff. http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/gregjarrett/wgnradio-gjuncut090821e,0,2868995.mp3file Enjoy. Nice jamming for a bunch of City Workers.

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Visit 4114 North Knox Avenue from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Enter from off Montrose Avenue on travel south. Work goes on, Hired Trucks roll, contractors from Lake County make bank. Visit the Milaukee Avenue project than never ends. Union dues will not be reduced. The Olympic dream goes on. Enjoy, you have been warned, it get worse, much worse.

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Long before anyone knew who No Games Chicago was; Charles Walker came to me and asked to help this organization. This group of activists, the No Games group, has taken the City of Chicago and the Olympic World by storm. I enjoy watching a well oiled machine work. The City of Chicago laid off a large amount of workers from two unions that decided to allow the members to vote on accepting wage concessions and furlough days. Most of the other unions made the decisions for their members. None of the unions made any concessions to the membership. No reduction in dues, nothing. I am thankful for media covering this story, this is a tragedy. I have wrote long before the downturn, Chicago is broke, the infrastructure is rotten, and selling off assets is a major mistake. The Daley Administration spent money like drunken sailors when the economy was good, and kept spending when it tanked. We have a video of Chicago city workers that brought food and money to assist at a 2016 Olympic meeting. I am proud of my boys; they brought three bags of food. I am proud of the teamsters that showed up and brought food. Some of the workers laid off told me they are now on government assistance; they have been replaced with non-union hired trucks. I asked the head of the Operators Local 150 if he wants his boys to keep loading non-union hired trucks, he would not answer. A high profile attorney agreed to represent all the laid off workers in Federal and state court. Contact us. See what the current union management does for its workers now. Watch the video we will post soon. I am proud to help Teamsters local 726, they are real men. Special thanks to Angelo Fata, Charles Walker, John Swietczak, and the McDonough boys. Patrick McDonough

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Most famous reporters say things like, "There he goes again", after a session with Mayor Daley. A Chicago press conference with Daley is a test in one's ability not to swear at his corny answers. This picture depicts another contractor putting a patch on a wound. A method of sealing basins is to "line" them. A thin spray coat is put over the bricks and then they look pretty. This is not a proper structural repair. The type of brick Chicago Department of Water Management has used for years, decays when it comes in contact with brine or salt (sodium, road salt). These bricks support heavy cast iron lids and covers. After buses, trucks, and heavy traffic roll over them, it renders the thin coating useless. The procedure is to have the basins vactored and washed out prior to this lining but I found this is not done correctly. In fact, an investigator crew was called out when citizens smelled poop water. This was verified by me personally. The water was sprayed into the sidewalk where people walk. This was covered-up by a superior. I have noticed the amount of construction by private contractors has reached a fever pitch. None of this work is supervised by Chicago Inspectors. Daley uses kids to supervise the work. Mayor Daley is hurting Chicago City Workers by paying contractors that give bribes and kickbacks to him and his political machine. I am proud the Laborers Local 1092 fighting for this work for their members. They are aware of the crews on Irving Park just west and east of Cicero Avenue. Take pictures of these goons and send them to Chicago Clout. Photo by Patrick McDonough.

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Mayor Daley is ordering City of Chicago Teamsters drug testing on a record pace. The other union workers can relax because the weenie has set his sights on the lowest paid of all the trade workers. This picture shows a large line of Mayor Daley's special companies that know the pay to play schemes Daley made famous. This picture was taken at Oakley Street just south of Irving Park. It seems the shrimp has the habit of hating when baby richy do not get his way, a midget's curse. We need to support the drivers that lost their job by attending Wright College, Thursday August 13, 2009. 5:00 p.m. Please bring any extra canned food you have at your house for our union brothers that lost their job. Also bring some rotten fruit to throw at Pat Ryan and all the phony lying scum buckets selling the 2016 Olympics so Daley can parade his scary face in front of the world. Chicago Clout is against the debt the 2016 Olympics guarentee until Daley can tell the truth for once in his life. Chicago is broke now, Dump Daley and the Olympics. Photo by Patrick McDonough.

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Many Chicago Teamsters from local 726 sit a home unsure of the next meal or mortgage payment. The trucks they drove rot on a parking lot hidden from public view. The City of Chicago still uses the trucks they lease, while these trucks they own, sit idle. Mayor Daley's Hired Truck Program is back on track providing work to non-union trucking firms while the taxpayer's trucks rust. Chicago pays the former employees to sit at home on un-employment and do nothing as the city trucks rust. Trucking companies from the suburbs work as Chicago workers sit at home. We are organizing a food drive for these workers August 13, 2009 at Wright College 4300 North Narragansett in Chicago, after work. If you are a current Chicago City Worker, please bring any canned food items to help those with no job. We will be joined by No-Games Chicago, AFSCME, Teamsters 726 members, and current Chicago City employees. We will have a petition for every City employee to sign and you will be given an option to sue to enforce the agreed 10 year contract. We are going to take issue with the scam agreement unions made with-out member's vote. This affects many Chicago Local unions. Look over your own shoulder, Daley is going to cut more positions, you might be next. We are also asking all Chicago Unions to reduce the dues now. Save your jobs, lawyers stand by to protect your rights. Photo by Patrick McDonough From AFSEME Council 31 AFSCME Council 31 statement on City of Chicago layoffs July 16, 2009 Printable page Send a link Mayor Daley's decision to lay off more than 400 City employees will cause great hardship for the workers and their families. And it will further reduce city services for residents who rely on them, especially in the police department, the libraries and the health clinics where most of the Mayor's layoffs will occur. Mayor Daley's choice today is the wrong choice for the city of Chicago, for city workers who provide services and for every resident of this city who relies on them. Union members voted by a 4-1 margin to reject the Mayor's demand that they take what amounted to a 10% pay cut as the only alternative to layoffs. AFSCME does not believe that employees should be required to pay such a draconian price. Nor we believe that a single City employee should be laid off. That's why our Union offered the City an alternative approach that provides the City with the same dollar savings that the layoffs will bring. It is very wrong for the Mayor to allege that AFSCME members are not willing to do their share. Last fall AFSCME members agreed to help close a city budget shortfall by taking six unpaid days over the next two years--equal to a 1 percent pay cut. At the same time, the Daley Administration laid off more than 100 AFSCME members. Hardest hit by those cuts were city health services for those with no other health care options. These new layoffs will take an even bigger toll--further reducing access to health care for those in need, requiring police officers to be taken off the streets to perform the clerical duties of laid off police department support staff, and making it more difficult to utilize the services of public libraries. Up until the Mayor's final "deadline", AFSCME made every possible effort to reach a reasonable compromise. But the City never budged from its position that AFSCME members must make concessions equal to nearly 10% of salary as the only alternative to layoffs. And as much as AFSCME members wanted to prevent any of their coworkers from losing their jobs, most could simply not afford a pay cut of that magnitude--taking as much as $3,000-$4,000 out of their paychecks this year and next year as well. Daley rejected the Union's offer of a plan that would be much less burdensome to employees yet save the City as much as the layoffs will save, claiming that the other unions already agreed to the 10% pay cut and that there had to be "equality of sacrifice". But Daley never said why no other citizens were being asked to sacrifice even a few hundred dollars while frontline City workers were being asked to give up thousands. Where is the "equality of sacrifice" in that?

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Mayor Daley should be upset another one of his building Inspectors got caught taking bribes. At Chicago Clout, we had the far reaching scoop on "Operation Condor", a far deeper investigation affecting all Mayor Daley's Inspectors with mob and gambling ties. Everyone knows the "Daley Inspectors" are the ones that spread fear to every Chicago Homeowner, scared of retaliation from Mayor Daley's Gestapo. You can find them at the local gambling joints, dropping hundreds of dollars like pennies. They buy the political tickets for protection. Another of Mayor Daley's Inspectors Jose Hernandez got caught in "Crooked Code" thanks in part to David Hoffman's vastly improved Office of the Inspector General. Inspector Hoffman has the FEDS backing up his hard work, making the new I.G. more respectable. The quality of building in Chicago has decayed thanks to Daley's hacks taking bribes for lousy work. Homeowners pay second time when the work is not done right. Mayor Daley should figure he promoted guys like this at a young age mostly because of political work. Speaking of scum, make sure you buy Alderman Banks tickets and make the check out to his name. That way he can put his goon into his old spot to continue the cover-ups. If you were one of Bank's goons with a nice promotion, make sure you buy these tickets.

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We wish all would help a Judge Burrell. http://www.burrellforjustice.com Good Luck Judge Burrell. Photo by Patrick McDonough

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Chicago Clout is proud to produce Judge Anthony Lynn Burrell's new show available on this website and CAN-TV. The show is named "Have Gavel, Will Travel". I think the Judge will take a more conservative approach to the issues than I have. All guests and issues will be under the direction of Judge Burrell. The Chicago Clout staff will assist in making this show a success! Photo by Patrick McDonough.

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August 7, 2009. Yesterday was a very long day for me. It started at 6:00 a.m. and did not end until 3:00 a.m. the next day. I still in shock at the treatment I was given by Kenny Construction Company employees yesterday. I helped a cameraman from a major news station interview Chicago Teamsters 726 members that are laid off by the City of Chicago Department of Water Management. We were on a job site, a sewer main replacement on 75th Street in Chicago. I have become a skeptic of the Daley Administration, the more I see them in action. Daley has major infrastructure construction work around 75th and the Dan Ryan, sewers, water mains, and I also saw MAT and Kenny construction. I might have been fooled thinking Mayor Daley was really interested improving this black neighborhood, but I know better. I am implying Mayor Daley and his Olympic committee consider this area as a staging area for the 2016 Olympic bid. I also suggest Daley and his goons sewed up the deal for the Olympic bid long ago. I received information into the basic rules of trucking and prevailing wage law. For some reason the Chicago trade Unions allow grey areas in the trucking industry. These grey areas allow Daley's friends to exploit fair play and make millions off the backs of blacks, Hispanics, and ex-offenders. The phony minority trucking companies fuel elections for both Democrats and Republicans. The Olympic bid will be profitable for Daley friends and supporters. The bottom line of the video below is making sure we thank Alderman Freddrenna M. Lyle of Chicago's 6th Ward. Alderman Lyle, took un-scheduled time to make a meeting and hear Teamsters Local 726 issues, and answer tough questions from Chicago Clout. This would never be done by a white Alderman in Chicago, period. I was also ashamed by members of the Operating Engineers Local 150, the Journeymans' Plumbers Local 130, The Laborers Local 1092, and other City Workers loading trucking companies that are not union members. The leadership of embroiled Teamsters 726 did not arrive out to the site to make an inspection. What kind of Union members would load scab trucking companies up when their brethren picket across the street? Most of the teamsters on the picket were black and Daley replaced them with Hispanic scab workers. The neighborhood is mostly black and Daley fired black workers, a page in the Bridgeport 11th Ward playbook. I am producing a show on this issue this month, I invite all. I am also proud to report a massive movement to raise funds for Teamsters victims of Daley's privatization schemes, and a massive rally by all City Workers to help provide canned food and money to help the fallen union brethren. Call your local unions and get a discount on your union dues now! Your Chicago Unions have sold you out! Photo by Patrick McDonough.

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August 6, 2009. Today is my day off. I work a different schedule than most City of Chicago employees. I was down at 74th street and the Dan Ryan. I stopped to take pictures of Kenny Construction workers repairing sewers. This is part of Mayor Daley's privatization to pay for the Olympics program. One worker was chasing me around; I think he was upset someone dared to take pictures of the crew in a public street. My impression was at least 5 guys standing around while the truck was doing the work. When this happens to non-clouted Chicago City Workers they get fired. Like the crew that got caught sleeping last weekend, if they only knew. The one guy on the right giving me the finger chased me around threatening me with two of his co-workers. The one guy in the middle physically assaulted me; I reported this incident to the Chicago Inspector General. I had my CPD Press credentials on. I think Chicago Taxpayers better think twice about Daley's plan to privatize. Lots of work around 75th and the Dan Ryan heading east, is this an Olympic sized effort? Who watches these people, who do they know? Photo by Patrick McDonough. P.S. watch the store video footage. P.S.S. Kenny Construction Company is located in the suburbs Kenny In-Liner Office 5031 W. 66th Street Bedford Park, IL 60638 Phone: (708) 594-6082 P.S.S.S. I did not see any black workers on this crew.

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