Tom Tresser for Cook County Board President

Let’s Get Some Of These For Cook County

TomTee — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:23:43 +0000

A new kind of electric bus hits the road today in Southern California. It will carry a full load of passengers over 30 miles, stop for 10 minutes, and fully recharge its batteries. As the inventor points out — that’s a lot less time than it takes to charge your cell phone.

More information from Foothill Transit.

Why can’t Cook County invest in a fleet of these buses for local use?

Here’s Why Cities, Counties and States Are Going Broke…

TomTee — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:16:40 +0000

Find out more about what the war has cost the taxpayers of Illinois, Cook County and Chicago. You might want to be seated when you see how many billions Illinois taxpayers have spent on war over the past nine years.

Illinois Is Bankrupt – Had Enough?

TomTee — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:49:43 +0000

Hire Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor, to fix this mess!

From the Northbrook based Institute for Truth on Accounting. From their press release:

The Institute’s reports the state has only $20 billion of assets to cover $140.6 billion in bills —- a $120.6 billion shortfall. Each Illinois taxpayer’s share is $29,200. This precarious financial position falls under one definition of bankruptcy —- A debtor that does not have the financial means to pay their bills as they come due. The Institute’s detailed study of Illinois’ June 30, 2009 audited financial report and retirement systems’ actuarial reports found the state does not have the $120.6 billion needed to pay for its liabilities as they come due. “The state has incurred billions of dollars of liabilities and does not have the means to meet these liabilities,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder & CEO of the Institute.

Had Enough? Vote for Rich Whitney

TomTee — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:27:28 +0000

Support the Green Party. Donate to Rich Whitney’s campaign.

Read & Comment – “The Cost of Corruption” @ Huffington Post

TomTee — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:24:17 +0000

Illinois is corrupt. HOW corrupt? Read Tom’s essay at Huffington Post Chicago:

Watch Tom on ABC News Chicago’s “NewsViews”

TomTee — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:14:49 +0000

Like what you hear? I’m looking for 100 donors at $100.00. Small change for big change!

Donate online via DonationPages. You can mail a check made out to “Friends of Tom Tresser” to 333 W. North Avenue #154, Chicago IL 60610.

Green Party Marches @ Billiken Day Parade

TomTee — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:45:17 +0000

Tom, LeAlan , Rich and the Green Team marched on Saturday, August 14 in the 2010 Bud Billiken Day Parade. It was hot as the dickens but we all had a great time and met thousands and thousands of parade-goers who cheered and encouraged our call for REAL change in 2010!

Photos by Adam Snow - www.hornsandtails.com

The Cost of War for Cook County

TomTee — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:19:41 +0000

What could Cook County have done with the $25 billion county taxpayers spent on the wars in the Mideast since 2001?

But it’s bad all over America. The front page of the August 7 New York Times ran a story headlined “Budget Ax Falls, and Schools and Streetlights Go Dark.”

End the wars now. Elect Green Party candidates who will make re-building America Priority One – not lining the pockets of big business and continuing wars that are bankrupting the country.

Trade-off information from The Cost of War web site.

Activist Titan Says “I’m With Whitney”

TomTee — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:21:42 +0000

Doug Dobmeyer is a titan of social change activism in Chicago. Here’s just a sampling of his accomplishments: Executive Director, The Public Welfare Coalition, Chicago, 1986-1994;Lobbyist on low-income and campaign finance issues in Springfield, 1986-1996, President of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Chicago, 1985-1987;Member of the Mayor’s Task Force on the Homeless, Chicago, 1983-1989;Project Director for several reports on poverty issues; and Past member of three statewide councils on poverty and homeless issues (1989-1994).

I had the good fortune to work with Doug in the early 1990′s when he led a state-wide coalition against Mayor Daley’s push to get land-based gambling in Chicago. We won that fight.

Read his column “I’m With Whitney” from the Beachwood Reporter.

I’m With Whitney

By Doug Dobmeyer

I am sick of Illinois politics as we know it today! Blind abeyance to massive debt and unbalanced budgets are now the norm. This well entrenched corrupt political system has only expanded in the 39 years since my coming to Chicago in 1971.

So, I’m going to do something to work for change. I’ve decided a third party is a viable option. I’m volunteering with the Green Party doing media for the Rich Whitney candidacy for governor. Whitley is a civil rights lawyer from Carbondale is the Green Party’s candidate for governor.

In the latest poll he was at nine percent of the vote. In 2006 he received 10 percent of the statewide vote.

As you know I have been a Democrat all my life. I have voted for a few Republicans along the way. The two usual party candidates for governor are dismal at best. One, Bill Brady, the Republican was born with the word NO on the tip of his tongue. Pat Quinn the Democratic incumbent and a friend for 25 years has become a disappointment since he took over from the disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Unfortunately Pat has moved away from previous positions that had formed our friendship. He’s just another Springfield politician now.

So, I intend to do what I can for Whitney to make him more of a viable candidate that could result in his being Illinois’ next governor.

As you might guess there is little money. But the Green Party’s positions on issues are very good. You can see for yourself. You would want them in charge of the environment, social services and democracy in general. The Greens are that fresh breath of air this state so desperately needs.

Some of you may ask, well, is Doug just going to help elect Bill Brady as governor by taking votes away from Quinn?

No, that is not the case. In the 85 days left to the November 2nd election I will work hard to elect Rich Whitney governor. And only hard work will make the change Illinois needs.

I invite you to join me in that effort as volunteers with the campaign. The only way for Rich Whitney to win is for people to move away from the same-old same-old to a new way of action.

Send me your name, your area of expertise and contact information and I will forward it to the campaign manager.

As always, I invite your thoughts and comments.

Take Back Our Meters – The Mayor Bailed Out Morgan Stanley!

TomTee — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:36:23 +0000

If you weren’t already furious with the parking meter rip-off, check out this article from Bloomberg Financial News:

Chicago drivers will pay a Morgan Stanley-led partnership at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what Mayor Richard Daley got when he leased the system to investors in 2008.

Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Allianz Capital Partners may earn a profit of $9.58 billion before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to documents for a $500 million private note sale by their Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. That is equivalent to 80 cents per dollar of projected revenue. Standard Parking Corp., which runs 30,000 spaces at the city’s O’Hare and Midway airports, earned 4.84 cents on that basis last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The deal illustrates how Wall Street banks, recipients of more than $300 billion in taxpayer bailouts in the worst credit collapse since the Great Depression, are profiting from helping states and cities close record recession-induced deficits by selling bonds and leasing public properties. Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue when it announced in 2008 that it leased Morgan Stanley its 36,000 parking meters, the third- largest U.S. system, for $1.15 billion to balance its budget, said Alderman Scott Waguespack.

It’s time to declare the parking meter deal NULL AND VOID and reclaim the meters from the Wall Street insiders who got the sweetheart deal of the century (literally!).