marin
Carol Marin biography
Carol Marin is the political columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
In addition to her work at the paper, she is the political editor for NBC5 …
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Even 4-star generals vulnerable to email snoops
I’m “All In” with Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Like millions of viewers, I have followed his action-filled fictional career. And why not? Boss of TV’s outrageously popular “NCIS” series, Gibbs is a born leader. Ruggedly handsome, smart, and charismatic, he commands a team of good guys …Read More
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Emanuel downplays eavesdrop act
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, at a Monday news conference, didn’t like questions about whether his press office had recorded reporters’ conversations without first seeking their consent. That’s a big no-no under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, one of the toughest two-party consent laws in the country. One …Read More
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This is how a cop coverup can work
You know the video. It went viral from Joliet to Jakarta. It was the 2007 attack by off-duty Chicago Police officer Anthony Abbate, in a drunken rage, whaling on bartender Karolina Obrycka. Now, in a civil case in federal court, the question is no longer …Read More
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Joe Walsh’s lectures on abortion not women’s cup of tea
W hy did Joe Walsh, national Tea Party superstar, lose? And Tammy Duckworth win? The question of a medically necessary abortion best explains it. In this election cycle, three men — all Tea Party candidates — made idiotic, unscientific assertions about abortion and/or rape. In …
A lot has changed in just four years
The last time we voted for president: Rod Blagojevich was governor. Today he’s in a federal prison. Rahm Emanuel was in Congress. His dream of becoming the first Jewish speaker of the House was detoured by a tour of the Obama White House as chief …
N.J. Gov. Christie isn’t complaining about ward bosses now
Somewhere in the Kelly-green fields of heaven, Richard J. Daley is chuckling. The kid from Chicago, Barack Obama, learned his lessons well. New Jersey, after all, isn’t that much different from Chicago. And hurricanes are to Jersey boardwalks what blizzards are to Chicago alleys. You …
Searching for the ‘soul’ of the Democratic Party
Two things happened the other day on the West Side that made me laugh. The first was when Lance Tyson, candidate for 10th District state representative, told me earnestly that his race has been called “a fight for the soul of the Illinois Democratic Party.” …
Candidates ought to sit in jurors’ seats
This was a crazy week. Right after Monday’s final presidential debate, somewhere between Ann Coulter’s despicable description of the president as “a retard” and Barack Obama’s sophomoric reference to Mitt Romney as a “bull - - - - - - -,” I left the campaign …
Why isn’t Paul Ryan on Catholic bishops’ ‘wafer watch’?
Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Archbishop Timothy Dolan appeared in excellent humor Thursday night at the white-tie, $2,500-a-plate, Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner at the gilded Waldorf Astoria in New York. Photos show them all together and laughing heartily. The event raises millions for …
Jesse Jr. and Sandi Jackson squander gifts, goodwill
Jackals. That’s what Ald. Sandi Jackson recently called the press corps gathered outside her Sept. 25 birthday fund-raiser. That’s fine. We’ve been called worse. No surprise. What is surprising — amazing, even — is that once upon a time, the alderman and her congressman husband, …
Carol Marin: Is it ever OK for a politician to deceive the public?
CAROL MARIN: When is it OK for a politician not to level with us? Especially when that politician is all about — you know — “transparency” and “truthiness.” Consider Friday’s departure of Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.
Walsh gaining ground on Duckworth’s territorial advantage
The danger for Tammy Duckworth in the November election is that Congressman Joe Walsh is a better, more nimble, more natural retail politician than she is. Please note, I’m not saying he’s a better or more honest person. But Walsh is, as a political operative …Read More
Marathon just another challenge for Rep. Deborah Mell
Sometimes we run for fun. Sometimes we do it to help a cause. But sometimes, in difficult times, we run as a declaration that nothing will stop us. So it is with state Rep. Deborah Mell of Chicago, who is running in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon …Read More
We’re conflict junkies when it comes to debates
When U.S. Senate candidates Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown went at each other in Monday’s televised debate, the headlines told the story. “Face Off in Fiery Massachusetts Debate,” said ABC News. “Illuminating Stumbles,” reported Boston.com. “Debate Focuses on the Personal,” wrote the Huffington Post. We …Read More
Thuggery en route to Mount Hope
Skip the statistics about just how big a killing field Chicago’s South and West sides have become. Skip the debate over whether it matters that overall crime has decreased despite the increase in shootings and death. Numbers can be numbing. Listen instead to my colleague, …Read More
Why Preckwinkle washes her hands of it all
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is blunt. “This state rep race has been a nightmare from the beginning,” she said by phone early Tuesday morning. She was talking about the latest plague on our political house, the race in which state Rep. Derrick Smith, …Read More
Illinois Republican Party focuses on keeping congressional seats
Talk about irony. This weekend, and pretty much every weekend until the election, Chicago area Democrats will take the Ronald Reagan Expy. west to Iowa. Just as they did in 2008, they are headed to the Hawkeye state to talk about the Man from the …Read More
West Side story: Indicted, expelled Smith could win
There are wake-up calls. And then there are wake-up calls. On Sunday, I wrote about Derrick Smith, the indicted, expelled state representative from Chicago’s West Side who remains on the November ballot, running as a Democrat, to reclaim the job from which he was ejected. …Read More
Indicted pol sponsors legal aid fair
Derrick Smith learned a lot about politics and the law this year. The former 10th District state representative has been indicted by the feds, kicked out of the Legislature and abandoned by some — but certainly not all — members of the Illinois Democratic Party. …Read More
Rahm Emanuel picked this fight with teachers
Rahm Emanuel started a fight with teachers that only he can finish. In his 2011 campaign for mayor, he took the Chicago Teachers Union on as an adversary rather than attempt to make them a partner. He opted for a blunt instrument rather than a …Read More
