Russ Stewart: Morton Grove Politicians Battle Over Regime Change

[Tweed]

http://www.russstewart.com/3-9-05.htm

"When American politicians in general, and the Bush Administration in particular, advocate "regime change" in such countries as Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Libya and North Korea, their message is abundantly clear: Replace totalitarian dictatorships with democratically elected governments.

But when politicians in north suburban Morton Grove argue about local "regime change," their message is abundantly unclear and hopelessly murky. Here's why:

Trustee Dan Staackmann, a lifelong Republican, is the mayoral nominee of the Morton Grove Action Committee, this year's name of the Action Party, which has controlled village government since 1977 and with which the last three mayors, Dick Flickinger, Richard Hohs and Dan Scanlon, were affiliated. All three were Democrats, and all had varying degrees of political alliance with Niles Township Democratic Committeeman Cal Sutker. Staackmann, in fact, lost the 1997 mayoral race to Scanlon, who is retiring this year, an election in which Sutker backed Scanlon. Scanlon has endorsed Staackmann to succeed him.

The opposition, known as the Morton Grove Caucus Party, fielded Trustee Rick Krier as its mayoral candidate. Krier's father and grandfather were both township Democratic committeemen, and Krier is a lifelong Democrat, a veteran precinct captain in Sutker's organization and a lifetime political payroller, having held a succession of county jobs since 1975. Krier worked for Scanlon in his race against Staackmann in 1997. The Caucus Party is the moniker under which Sutker controls the township offices and Skokie."

This article gets pretty humorous at times. It's a good read.