Some really good reading about the chicago way. Fictional characters, real info about about voter fraud.
http://www.johnfdileo.com/little-pavel/
Light reading while waiting for Q.
DiLeo spins a great yarn.
Yikes. That story hit home in a lot of ways. I didn’t know it at the time,(I was just a little kid) but I ran into people like that.
Our family is mostly lunch box democrats.
You could not utter the “R” word in our house.
Attitude in the family still prevails today.
My grandfather worked for the real Mayor Daley in city hall.
One part of the patronage of your real job at that time was being a “precinct captain”. (TV\Internet\Cell Phone has taken over the precinct captain role today).
My grandfather had the river precinct(s). I don’t remember what ward. These were essentially the Lathrop projects @ Diversey\Clybourn and Damen - might be too far south west for Charlie Weber’s old 45th ward. Weber died and and Daley moved the 45th ward westward.
My grandfather stayed in that precinct (which I think became part of the 32nd ward)and I don’t remember what alderman replaced Weber.
We lived in those projects. The rent was based on your salary. If you made too much, you had to go.
I graduated high school, moved in with my grandmother and her pension and my salary was too much, but some how, we stayed. I think my grandmother had more juice than my g’father.
The projects had a huge waiting list. Some how, my grandmother’s sister made it to the top of a list she was never on.
I do remember putting voting packets and flyers together and schlepping through the neighborhood with my grandfather, climbing stairs, knockin on doors and handing out the flyers while my g’father preached to the choir.
Voters in the river precincts were like herding cats.
Voting-wise, they had a mind of their own.
My g’father always carried his precincts. He gave old folks rides to the polls.
He would get people bailed out of jail and the families were beholden to him.
Helped paid some’s rent or groceries.
He actually helped people to help them - year round.
My grandfather was a straight arrow - chased Villa and was a WW1 combat vet, 5ft 2” and was tougher than chinese arithemtic... and I do not believe he tolerated shennanigans ( voter fraud ), but who really knows.
Rumors were, the old close\open curtain via lever vote recording handle already had RAT votes in the RAT counter supposedly after the machines had been cleared and certified but before the polls had opened.