Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Better than Cubs v. White Sox : Berkowitz and Bill Dock Walls

Chicago Mayoral candidate Bill Dock Walls answers a few questions on the various editions of the "Public Affairs," program- from show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz about Mayor Daley and other potential City of Chicago Mayoral Candidateseducation, school vouchers, Renaissance 2010 and privatization; a global minimum wage, a liveable wage and job creation/destruction; restoring Meigs Field as a Loop Airport; Public Corruption, the Daley Dynasty and the Daley Administration; Millenium Park and cost over-runs; uneven economic development in Chicago; Cong. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Cong. Guitterez, Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, Chicago Elections Commissioners Langdon Neal, hanky panky, privitization and reformers; O'Hare and Peotone Airports; and much, much more.

"Public Affairs," is featuring Mayor Candidate Bill Dock Walls this week in 35 Chicago Metro suburbs [See, below, for a detailed suburban airing schedule] on Comcast Cable; this coming Monday night [May 15] through-out the City of Chicago on CANTV, Cable Ch. 21 at 8:30 pm; And, right now, on the "Public Affairs," podcast page on your computer [See here].

The "Public Affairs," podcast page gives you a choice of 20 different episodes of “Public Affairs," in addition to the show with Bill Dock Walls.[See here].
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Jeff Berkowitz: …People think he [Cong. Jesse Jackson, Jr.] may be running [for Mayor]. If he gets in, you get out?

Bill Dock Walls: No. absolutely, I am not getting out under any circumstances. Cong. Jackson and I talk on a regular basis. He is quite supportive of what I am doing. And, I am supportive of what he is doing. I support Peotone airport, for example…
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Jeff Berkowitz: Have you talked to him [Cong. Jackson, Jr.] recently.

Bill Dock Walls: Yes, I talked to him just the other day.

Jeff Berkowitz: And, what has he said?

Bill Dock Walls: He congratulated me. He brings people to meet me. And he introduces me as the Next mayor for the City of Chicago.

Jeff Berkowitz: He says he’s supporting you for Mayor of the City of Chicago?

Bill Dock Walls: Well, I can’t say that he’s supporting me for Mayor of the City of Chicago…

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Jeff Berkowitz: He’s [Cong. Jesse Jackson, Jr.] not running currently [for Mayor], but might he change his mind in a month or two.

Bill Dock Walls: You never know. You never know.
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Jeff Berkowitz: Cliff Kelly would be your Karl Rove?

Bill Dock Walls: Cliff Kelly is a great supporter, but no, he’s not my Karl Rove.
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Bill Dock Walls: For example, the Chairman of the Board [of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago], Langdon Neal, receives "no bid," contracts from Daley, to the tune of millions of dollars, so he can’t be impartial.

Jeff Berkowitz: What kind of contracts?

Bill Dock Walls: He does, for example, eminent domain and land acquisition for the O’Hare expansion [for the City of Chicago], so he can’t be fair and unbiased.

Jeff Berkowitz: Are those legal services?

Bill Dock Walls: They are legal services that he provides, Langdon Neal [that is].

Jeff Berkowitz: So, you are accusing Langdon Neal of hanky panky?

Bill Dock Walls: I am not accusing him of hanky panky, but I am saying that he is not above suspicion in that particular capacity.

Jeff Berkowitz: So, how do you neutralize him?

Bill Dock Walls: Well, you neutralize him by getting someone who doesn’t receive “no bid,” contracts from the Mayor [or the City of Chicago] .
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Jeff Berkowitz: You are talking about a Supt. [of the Chicago Public Schools] who is Arne Duncan?

Bill Dock Walls: CEO

Jeff Berkowitz: Whatever you want to call him. The President of the Chicago Board of Education is Michael Scott?

Bill Dock Walls: Yes,

Jeff Berkowitz: You think Scott and Duncan ought to be removed?

Bill Dock Walls: Absolutely. When a team is losing,
they don’t fire the players, they usually get a new coach.

Jeff Berkowitz: So, you dump Michael Scott; you dump Arne Duncan?

Bill Dock Walls: Absolutely.

Jeff Berkowitz: First thing? That’s the first thing you do when you become Mayor?

Bill Dock Walls: No. The first thing I do when I become Mayor is restore Meigs Field.

Jeff Berkowitz: You are big on Meigs Field?

Bill Dock Walls: Yes, I am very big on Meigs Field because one, it was an economic engine, particularly for McCormick Place and as you noticed we are now No. 3 in terms of conventions in the United States.
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Jeff Berkowitz: You talk to [Cong.] Luis Gutierrez [D-Chicago, 4th CD]? Is he going to support you?

Bill Dock Walls: I don’t know what Luis Gutierrez is going to do.

Jeff Berkowitz: You never talk to him?

Bill Dock Walls: No, I don’t have conversations with Luis Gutierrez. [Ed. Note: Perhaps not, Dock Walls was spotted in the audience at the City Club of Chicago lunch program yesterday when Cong. Gutierrez received a standing ovation before the Congressman spoke to an overflow audience of several hundred. Cong. Gutierrez spoke as if he were forming an informal exploratory committee for a Mayoral run, but he said he had to talk with his spouse, who was in the audience, before he made the decision to run for Mayor— a decision which he said he would make between Labor Day and the November election. He declined to discuss the subject with his wife, then and there, when I suggested that. Substantively, Cong. Gutierrez focused, in his remarks, on the need to improve education [he likes charter schools but did not mention vouchers—which I hear are especially popular in minority communities], reform government and grow jobs in the City of Chicago] See here for a somewhat different take on Cong. Gutierrez’s speech.

Jeff Berkowitz: He is still thinking about running for Mayor.

Bill Dock Walls: But, that would be good. I support Luis Gutierrez’s run for Mayor if he thinks this is the time—
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Jeff Berkowitz: … [during] the last 51 years, a Daley has been Mayor of Chicago for 38 years.

Bill Dock Walls: That’s right.

Jeff Berkowitz: A Daley Dynasty?

Bill Dock Walls: Yeah, no doubt about it.

Jeff Berkowitz: Leads to corruption? Absolute power corrupts absolutely?

Bill Dock Walls: That is correct.
Whether they intend it or not.

Jeff Berkowitz: You’d like to debate Mayor Daley?

Bill Dock Walls: I’d love to debate Mayor Daley and I look forward to debating Mayor Daley…

Jeff Berkowitz: Yeah, if he were sitting in a chair right here and you had an opportunity to question him… [or assume I’m] Mayor Daley, shoot me a question—give me your best shot.

Bill Dock Walls: The first question I would ask Mayor Daley is what has he done to bring the people of the City of Chicago together? Why don’t we have balanced economic development throughout the City of Chicago? Why don’t we have a police department that is reflective of the population in the City of Chicago? Black, White, Latino and Asian.

Jeff Berkowitz: You don’t think it is?

Bill Dock Walls: No, absolutely not.

Jeff Berkowitz: The senior people in the police department. One [leader] is white, the next person’s black.

Bill Dock Walls: No, that’s absolutely incorrect.

Jeff Berkowitz: Cline is white, who is the Deputy to Cline? [Ed. Note: Philip Cline is the Supt. of the Chicago Police Department].

Bill Dock Walls: It’s not just that. I said rank, file and Commander. So, it’s not just the two top positions.

Jeff Berkowitz: You don’t think he has made great strides… to make the department much more ethnically diverse?

Bill Dock Walls: For example, when you look at the fire department, there’s a consent decree that goes back to 1980 that says that you have to have forty-eight percent minorities in the fire department, and that hasn’t happened under his administration.
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Public Affairs, with Mayor Candidate Bill Dock Walls, was recorded on April 30, 2006 and is airing on the Suburban edition of Public Affairs this week [week of May 8] and on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs on Monday night, May 15 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21. See, below, for a detailed, regular suburban airing schedule for Public Affairs . The show with Bill Dock Walls is available, right now, as a video podcast at the Public Affairs Cinema Complex, along with more than twenty other shows, which are also airing there. [See here].
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In 25 North Shore, North and Northwest suburbs, the show airs tonight in its regular Tuesday night time slot: 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or 35, as indicated, below.

In 10 North Shore suburbs, the show is airing in its regular airing slot at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 this week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as indicated, below.

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The episode of Public Affairs, featuring Chicago Mayoral Candidate Bill Dock Walls airs tonight:

at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette

And at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.

and this Wednesday and Friday night at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
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Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com
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