"Chicago Politics?" In Janesville?

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More junk journalism from the Janesville Gazette attacking the Rock County coroner, Jenifer Keach, for challenging the papers of a ballot petitioner in September's primary.

Newspaper Excerpt: ("anonymous" comment published in the Janesville Gazette)

On Coroner:
Just opened the front page of Saturday's Gazette. I thought the carrier had made a mistake and left me the Chicago Tribune. Jenifer Keach, you better hope that your challenge is successful and you knock Holder off the ballot because if you don't, I'm voting for Cary regardless of who is more qualified. We don't play Chicago politics in Janesville.

Excuse me? But you just played it like a fiddle.

Those are the kind of cheap-shots and veiled threats they're used to hearing around election time in Chicago. Unfortunately, it's also been standard-issue politicking in Janesville for quite some time. Not just by the useful idiot who supplied the comment (supposedly) to the newspaper, but the newspaper itself for publishing such baseless remarks built for personal destruction. What passes for open public discourse and authentic free speech opinion in Janesville is actually a newspaper actively campaigning and publishing against a candidate "Chicago" style.

Here are just a few recent examples:

Chicago politics in Janesville is when a newspaper propagandizes just like a party machine against a citizen running for public office, simply because the candidate or their supporters might not fit their establishment clique or socio-political agenda. Or for any reason they can just make up.

Chicago politics happens when elected city officials favor wealthy individuals, for-profit businesses and special interest groups with access to city taxpayer coffers under the guise of public-private partnerships.

Chicago politics happens when unscrupulous members of a government board or commission attempt to game the system by playing procedural tricks to strip away an office from an elected official and voters, and almost get away with it because a Chicago-politics-enabling-media deliberately failed to publish the heightened sense of alarm that such an important event deserved.

Chicago politics happens when good paying jobs are held open for the children and relatives of top city management officials.

Chicago politics is when a newspaper can pretend to be above the fray and neutral when they willfully publish unattributable cheap-shot political comments and statements of personal destruction against candidates, incumbents and other public officials.

Chicago politics is when a city council disregards the majority wishes of a residential neighborhood for the sake of an outside special interest.

Chicago politics happens when power-seeking insiders and their media enablers attempt to rig a primary with a puppet candidate under false pretenses.

Chicago politics is when a newspaper maligns a lawmaker by attempting to mix his private life into his legislative positions without producing any substantive proof of ethical wrong-doing. Chicago politics is when a newspaper tears down a legislator on issues the newspaper itself actually supports.

Chicago politics happens when a city administration hires a pro-issue "neutral" consultant.

Chicago politics happens when a small group of revenge-driven "connecteds" file complaints against an official based on exaggerations and distortions of the truth. Chicago politics happens when those allegations are repeated by a newspaper as legitimate judgments despite being deemed unfounded.

Chicago politics happens when a newspaper and their partisans twist commonly held legal procedures exercised by their perceived opposition into a raging affront against the law.

Chicago politics happens when certain officials, their ideas, positions and decisions can be challenged every step of the way with contempt and ridicule, but their challenger's positions and petitions cannot - or vice-versa.

Chicago politics happens when a city council, administration and a monopolized media favor one community service group over another.

Chicago politics in Janesville happens when an elected official is accused of engaging in "Chicago politics" just for following the letter of the law and openly exercising their due rights.

Chicago politics happens when anonymous voters claim to prefer the less qualified candidate if it means to "knock off" another. Chicago politics happens when those anonymously made malicious comments pick up legitimacy through unchallenged publication.

Obviously, Chicago politics in Janesville has nothing to do with being democratic or republican. But it has everything to do with revenge politics built on clout and personal destruction, and being part of a concerted if not underhanded effort to gain power and wealth at the expense of others. From all the countless efforts by the local establishment machine and their governmental insiders to usurp power without democracy, aside from the discounted and disempowered Janesville residents themselves, I can't think of a greater victim of Chicago-style politics in Rock County than our own coroner, Jenifer Keach.

Perhaps it's high time to man'up and stop blaming Chicago for this Janesville brand of personal destruction journalism and revenge politics, all the while pretending that a hateful and power corrupting environment doesn't exist here, and instead call it what it is - Janesville politics.