For those of us in the 50th ward in Chicago today is a run–off election between Alderman Bernard Stone and Ms. Naisy Dolar. Bot candidates are fine people and I’m relatively certain that both candidates would serve us, their constituency, with honor. So why do I support Mr. Stone? It is because he is a proven entity who has served us well for several decades. When things needed to get done, Berny was there for us. When Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov needed a public school building, he was instrumental in helping secure it for us in the face of much opposition from the public school parents who opposed us. I know, I was there as an elected member of that public school's local school council. And if anything like that ever happens again, I know we can count on him.
As a political matter, I am opposed to big labor. It is big labor who worked to defeat all candidates who voted with Mayor Daley to veto and defeat the “Big Box Ordiance” that would have prevented Walmart from opening up a store on the “West Side” and thereby providing hundreds of job opportunities for the very people who need them the most.
And when the ordinance was finally defeated, indeed there were many more applicants than there were jobs available. The West side community leaders and the community at large wanted Walmart there, but the Alderman, who I guess were in the pockets of “big labor” didn’t care and passed an ordinance to prevent them from opening, because Walmart does not abide by big labor’s pay-scale guidelines. Berny stood up to them and now residents of the West Side are better off. Obviously since Ms. Dolar is supported by big labor, we know what her vote would have most likely been. I am not interested in perpetuating big labor at all. And for me that alone is enough of a reason to vote for Alderman Stone.
So I urge all voters in the 50th ward who read my blog to go out today and support a proven friend of the Jewish community and a champion of doing the right thing for the city, despite threats of repercussions from big labor. A win for Berny is a win for all the people. Jew and gentile alike.
