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SUBSCRIPT. HOW RAHM EMANUEL'S CHICAGO FIGHTS 'CORRUPTION'... Rahm and Rahm's One Percenters Come in All Colors of Diversity, but their only real color is the green of dollars and the vomitacious smell of hypiocrisy

George N. Schmidt - November 20, 2011

…While just about everyone across the USA is focusing on the predations and crimes of the “one percent”, in Chicago, Mayor One Percent (Rahm, remember, “earned” a mere $18 million as a “Relationship Banker” in three years between his stints in the Clinton White House and as Congressman in Chicago’s Fifth Illinois Congressional District) is making sure that One Percenters are in as many positions of power in Chicago as possible. The first in-your-face appointment, of course, was to put billionaire heiress (she likes to refer to her privileged self as an “entrepreneur,” by the way) to the Chicago Board of Education. Now Rahm has revived mere millionaire Norman Bobins (who was on the school board during all the Daley year) and appointed Bobins to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. In a November 18, 2011, City Hall press release, Rahm’s multiple media myrmidons wrote of Bobins as follows:

Banker Norman Bobins (above) received a plaque for his 16 years of service as a member of the Chicago Board of Education at the Board's May 25, 2011 meeting. Bobins, who had at various times been head of the Illinois Business Roundtable and an active member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, was the "one percent" eyes and ears on the Chicago school board during the entire time that Mayor Richard M. Daley had control of the city's schools, and made sure that the ruling class's privatization and charter schools agendas were fulfilled at the expense of the city's public schools, democracy, and, of course, the unions. Bobins's last act as a banker saw him walking away from his post as CEO of Chicago's LaSalle Bank with tens of miliions of dollars when LaSalle Bank was sold to Bank of America. In typical one percent fashion, Bobins became more wealthy, while hundreds of LaSalle Bank workers lost their careers when Bank of America "synergized" the two "properties" following the 2008 acquisition of the bank that Bobins had run. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. “Norman Bobins is the chairman of Norman Bobins Consulting, LLC (NBC), which provides financial consulting services to various clients. Bobins began his career at American National Bank and Trust Company in 1967. In 1981, he joined Exchange National Bank, which was acquired by LaSalle Bank. He retired from LaSalle Bank Corporation as chairman, president and chief executive officer in 2007. Bobins served as a member of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago from 1995 until 2010 as well as chairman of the board of trustees of WTTW Communications, Inc. and vice chairman of the Auditorium Theatre Board. He earned his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin in 1964 and his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago in 1967.”

Joining Bobins as Rahm’s picks for the posts are millionaires Jim Reynolds (Loop Capital Market) and Christopher Melvin. Reynolds just finished destroying thousands of poor peoples’ homes as President of the Chicago Housing Authority. Reynolds, who fulfills one of the “diversity” requirements that have been all the rage among the one percenters, is also one of the leaders in the push to privatize Chicago public schools as part of the “Leadership Council of the Chicago Public Education Fund.”

In addition to proving the "diversity" cover for the displacement of thousands of families from Chicago Housing Authority homes as President of the CHA (appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in August 2010), Loop Capital Markets's Jim Reynolds (above) was one of the investment bankers in Chicago who orchestrated the derivatives investments that have cost the Chicago Board of Education millions of dollars. That’s the bunch that took over from the “Renaissance Schools Fund” and collects millions of dollars in Philanthropy for the good works of Chicago’s charter schools, union busting, and other privatization schemes.

Rahm’s other appointee is Christopher Melvin, also a multi-millionaire investment guy.

Rahm's City Hall script depends on the collaboration of the corrupt and ethically bankrupt Chicago corporate media, which reported Rahm's appointments of these guys as a "reform." In one of their more droll moments, Rahm’s media mavens noted that Bobins, Melvin and Reynolds “will not accept any ot the perks that have traditionally come with board membership, including free special club memberships, free food and beverages and special parking privilges, discounted ticket prices for sporting events, or special events and access to skybox for events not deemed legitimate use of taxpayer dollars…” Isn’t it nice, Chigoans, to know that a rainbow coalition of the city’s richest (but not all white) guys is going to avoid such “corruption” as getting a parking discount at Sox Park while everyone else is budgeting to be able to pay the every increasing parking costs? Rahm and the one percenters have it all figured out, and they seem to believe they can push nonsense like this and murk up the minds of the rest of us. We’ll see…

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