Ward Boss News Today

Oh mess every day in every state across the country our political system is bankrolled by an army of fundraisers pulling in millions of dollars a race sometimes it looks like you might imagine knocking on doors, calling every name in the phonebook, and emails, so many emails. But for all those little fish drawing 100 to their local race, its the whales, those Campaign Fundraisers really need powerful and rich individuals and companies. And when they donate 20 5,000, 1 million, they want a favor ...

Her son owned a local saloon, became a ward boss, and served in the state senate. his son, my great grandfather, was born a few blocks from here on meridian street. his son served this neighborhood in congress and then went on to serve as president of the united states. [ clapping ] >> i want to turn to you. it only took a minute before he referenced the former president of the united states. the kennedy name still has a lot of resonance. we saw a few moments ago of ed markey alongside alexander...

Practical work of rebuilding democratic institutions at the neighborhood level. you know? so in pittsburgh besides just kind of running candidates for local office and they have done, you know, kind of in miniature what they did with joe crowley and took on really established incumbents, members of kind of storied political family and defeated them just by like outcampaigning them, knocking on doors, building that political power and also do some of the stuff that maybe in the past like a ward b...

>> i think were trying to figure out who this guy is. because he does look attractive on several levels. lets go to wayne slater. you know the appeal of this guy, hes got that cocksure attitude. wayne, talk about this guys behavior as an elected official. is he a guy who deals with insiders who pay to play? >> yes. the quick answer is absolutely. that has been his history, that is the rap against him. weve written an awful lot about these various deals, and the ones, as mike said, the ones you m...

There are a whole range of these, a lot of people have done very well. but heres whats different right now. if i go to chicago in the old daley years nobody is shocked, shocked if somebody gets a contract if they support the local ward boss. but perry, riding a tea party wave, which sarah palin reiterated yesterday, said this crony capitalism is a bad thing. we arent part of giving public money, taxpayer money, to our friends. thats the wrong thing. this is the wrong year for perry to be shown, ...