Here is a run-down of all the candidates and their You Tube appearances. Perhaps y'all like your candidates via the tube?
[Also, please note, I just signed up for YouTube today. Better late than completely lame, right? To get to the video, please click on the highlighted names. I'll be damned if I can figure out how to embed them.]
Vi Daley
The only presence Vi Daley has on YouTube is a video entitled, "Vi Daley Clueless about CTA Cuts." It was uploaded by someone named LP Citizen. The audio is poor and there is no date or location attached to the video, but it's obviously Vi talking.
The poster identifies two of her quotes as especially frustrating, including her comment, "We're going to have to live with it." I don't have to rely on the CTA, so I'll leave it to others to assess how damning or not her comments are.
Tim Egan
Tim sent out a DVD to the ward (well, at least my address got it) as part of his direct mail campaign, but a fraction of it is posted on YouTube as well. It's titled "Tim Egan for 43rd Ward Alderman."
The video opens with some good-natured and hokey ribbing about the Hollywoodness of his approach, and then he introduces his several key campaign points.
In the video, he sits at a desk in a green polo shirt (with some droopy, waifish houseplants in the background - note to Egan staff, they need water). He speaks across the desk just as we might encounter him in his aldermanic office. He seems like he would be approachable and reasonable.
Clearly, Egan is trying to take the high road in this campaign to differentiate himself from the mud-slinging going on between Vi and Michele Smith. He seems to want to stay focused on his message rather than challenging the current alderman. That's a nice, neighborly approach as far as I'm concerned.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I understand exactly how he would be different from Vi Daley as an alderman. He makes a lot of credible, nice points, but I just am not sure I'm getting why he is running against our incumbent. I think he may need to get more specific. I find his campaign terms of "rational commonground" and "positive action" very positive, but I just don't understand exactly how he intends to make those ideas play out.
I was also a bit disappointed to hear him say in this video that his communication strategy was to be readily available. That sounded to me like more of the same. "If you can't find me," he says, "you're not trying." But, will he try to find us? It sounds like Vi's campaign attitude of, "All you have to do is ask."
I should probably also mention that some seemingly random dude named Jake CP also endorses Tim Egan and it looks like he lit his video with a flashlight. Is it a spoof or for real? You decide.
Michele Smith
Smith has several videos on YouTube. In one she mentions she grew up on Long Island. Perhaps her anger is really New Yorker-ease?
Here they are:
Michele Smith for Alderman
You Need To Meet Michele Smith - 43rd Ward Promo (This is the best video of them all, from a purely film-making standpoint, I feel.)
Michele Smith - Candidate Forum Highlights Depaul University
Rachel Goodstein and Peter Zelchenko did not have videos on YouTube. But, I have linked to their websites for your reference.
UPDATE: My apologies. Peter Zelchenko does have a video, but it's on GoogleVideo. I'm so new to this. It is titled "Election 2007 Peter Zelchenko for 43rd Ward Alderman." You can find it here.
1 comment:
Jennifer,
Since you have been kind enough to give everyone an inning by inning replay of election coverage, please allow me to put in my first politico blog entry. I’ll go end to start in response to your U-Tube post.
Jake, the ‘dude’ who has endorsed my candidacy and made the rather gothic video is a 14 year old student with a love for politics. While the end product may be less than professional, it is the effort of a young man who is not even old enough to vote that should be applauded. He’s a very nice kid who lives in the ward, heads to the poll with his mother on election days and I am very happy to have received his vote of confidence.
Over the course of the two years plus that I’ve been campaigning, there have been times that I’ve taken criticism for having a sense of humor. The opening of our video was really a poke at the ridiculousness of modern politics and its Hollywood trend. Some unfortunately didn’t get the joke and that may have taken away from the seriousness of the real message. A sense of humor I have been taught is a great sign of confidence and something to be respected and a tool that can be effective when used correctly.
Your post mentioned your concern about me not being aggressive in my outward communication. Please allow me to quell that concern. Since we have a little history I simply ask you to please recall that I reached out to you regarding the Coastal Clean Up and brought out our team of volunteers. It was a highlight of a great year last year and I thank you for putting together the whole program.
So far you’ve received our DVD, you have been contacted by a live volunteer by phone, received a hand delivered brochure and a copy of the Chicago Loop News that featured a front page feature story and my monthly column. If not by now, pretty soon, you will be receiving our campaign newsletter and a hand written note.
As far as establishing open lines of communication, I think I’ve nailed it. I take great pride in my communication skills and a priority as Alderman would be to establish crystal clear communications in my ward office.
When the opportunity arose for me to join the Communications Committee of a program called the “Year of the Child” many community leaders were invited to attend and contribute. Three of the five candidates were present at the first function. We have had two events already and they’ve been successful and I am proud to say that I have been a contributing member to this program. I just didn’t just show up to the free breakfasts like someone else (which is a shot – hey I’m still the positive candidate but this is a blog right?)…
You want me to be specific. On a regular work week day two years ago, I was at my hospital office when my wife called to tell me there was someone trying to break into our home. She was holding our one year old son in her arms and had just dialed 911. When the man pulling on the door couldn’t get in our home, he went across the alley and tried to get into another house only to do some self gratification on the back yard lawn. Police response was about an hour and half. We were told by the police that they were understaffed.
Had our home not have been secure, I probably would not be writing you as a candidate for Alderman, but as a childless widower in search of some desperate answers. An understaffed police department in a city that is on the cusp of being a top tier in the Global Economy is unacceptable.
The corruption and government waste that leads to massive tax increases is unacceptable. Not having a voice in the Chicago City Council is unacceptable. As I was quoted in the Chicago Tribune: “We’ve got a global thinking mayor and that’s great. But if doing a good job in the 43rd Ward means challenging the mayor here and there, then it has to be done.”
When I looked further into 43rd Ward issues I found that litigation in the ward is rampant. My favorite quote from Lincoln is “discourage litigation” and he was a lawyer. Good enough for Lincoln, good enough for Lincoln Park. I want to mediate neighborhood issues before they turn into nasty legal battles.
I am a hospital administrator who has the practical experience of dealing with very real and very serious problems. I want to lend my professional life of customer service and my dedication to community to the 43rd Ward. Staying in tune with my campaign, I will not bash the incumbent.
My intention is to bring a new vision and a new energy to the Alderman’s office. The 43rd Ward is the Place Where We Live and where my wife and I are raising our sons. If I can dedicate myself to helping others by improving all the issues in our ward, then it will be a better place for my family too.
By the way, the Egan staff will be heading out tomorrow to purchase flowers that are not waifish and since I’m the staff member who exposed our floral weakness, do you have any ideas where I can get replacements in February?
Please vote on Tuesday, February 27th and it is my hope that a majority of you do vote for me.
Tim
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