Tuesday, March 29, 2011

"Teacher, Social Worker, Author And Activist"

Photo Credit:
Ellie Pritts Photography
There's a nice human interest story about James Cappleman on today's Chicago Examiner website.  It gives a lot of his background and the reasons he supports the policies he does.

"When Cappleman was born, he and his family actually lived in the hospital.  “Back in those days my Dad was a general practitioner and went back to medical school to becoming an internist. That term “residency” actually meant in those days to reside in the hospital,” he explains. The Cappleman family lived in a ten bedroom/ ten bath hospital ward for two years."   Read the rest of the article here.

[To stem the inevitable cries -- "You're biased!"  "You're unfair!" --here's a link to a Grab magazine article about Molly we ran over a month ago.]

24 comments:

  1. "You're biased!" "You're unfair!"

    I just wanted to get that out of the way.

    Also while Molly wasn't born in a log cabin her dad was and her mom was born in an igloo and they raised her in a teepee on the North Shore while ministering to leprosy patients at the behest of Pope Paul the Sixth.

    Seriously, would I make that up?

    By the way I'm unsure of why Kelly Tarrant wrote this story, but she did work for Scott Lee Cohen when he ran for Governor.

    She also did a profile of Sean Tenner who is involved with the 46th Ward dems.

    http://www.examiner.com/democrat-in-chicago/spotlight-democrat-sean-tenner-chicago-s-connoisseur-of-politics-and-policy

    I refuse to hyperlink because while I understand political consulting can be a dirty business, ask Dave "Woof Woof" Clarkin, working for Cohen is too much. Except that Cohen actually helped get Quinn elected over that right wing non libertarian Republican.

    Nevermind. Kelly is now ok with me. In a choice between Pat "I was born without a spin" Quinn or a Palinite Republican I guess Quinn is less offensive.

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  2. IrishPirate-
    I'm glad you approve of me. My writing is exactly what was stated, a human interest piece. Generally my writing is about newcomers and challengers. I also write on urban issues such as gun violence and other topics. I select the candidate/topic very simply, I get asked to do it. I have not turned down anyone.

    As far as political consulting, I have been consulting from the Vrdolyak days ('85), Stone Park mayoral ('91)to the new 1st Ward Aldermanic remapping of the '90s, to Sec of State Jesse White (Pol. Dir from '98 to 2009), David Hoffman for Senate and Cohen. All of which I have tremendous regard for in that I learned and lived through it all. No small feat!
    Best Regards- Kelly

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  3. Meow!

    I'm sorry, but Cohen is crazy and Fast Eddy is now a guest of the Feds. Took long enough.

    Anyway I enjoyed the article.

    I didn't know many of the things in there regarding the Capplemaniac's life story.

    As I said Kelly, Cohen helped Quinn get elected. For that little blessing(and I do mean little) I thank him and the people who worked for him.

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  4. Very nice article on James and his work throughout our community. It's a pity that the grammar throughout was so poorly edited.

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  5. I used to actually respect Molly until this run-off election came along. Her ridiculous negative ads really seem to be working overtime to convince me NOT to vote for her. The "homeless shelter" one really takes the cake. Lee Atwater wouldn't haven't run an ad so shameless. Well, maybe not. He probably would've. But that just illustrates my point. Am I missing something? Does she really want to alienate as many voters as possible?

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  6. I just looked through my mail after reading Rish's comment, and saw Molly Phelan's negative homeless shelter ad against Cappleman.

    Wow. I am surprised and disgusted that her campaign put this garbage out. As someone who really thinks quite highly of Molly, I am still processing this. Seriously, what the f*ck?

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  7. I wonder if Uptown Update should post the ad in question and let people debate the merits. Let everyone see exactly what Molly is accusing Cappleman of. It's just beyond the pale.

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  8. I haven't seen the ad in question.

    Someone with a scanner please post it on photobucket or flickr please.

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  9. I received her negative flyer in the mail this afternoon...I promptly called her office to have myself removed from her mailing list.

    I sincerely wanted to keep an open mind.

    Over it.

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  10. I am just appalled at how low Molly is stooping. Where is her moral character?? These mailings are all lies! Incredible!

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  11. @Quietly conscious: Ad(S). She now has more than one negative mailer going around (one about the homeless shelters and the other about him wanting to raise taxes). Both have the cliche "I'm in perfect color while the bad guy is all black and white".

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  12. As my debate coach in HS said, in a thick southern drawl as his second chin wobbled back and forth, "never let yo-self be mahginalized! That's the wurst thing to happen to a debatah"

    Ignore the negative campaigning and focus on the positive - in less than a week we will have a great new alderman! Yeh, you know who I mean.

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  13. I literally held the hand of someone to help them come out and early vote, I hope they voted for James they would not reveal. Point is, if the run-off turns out to be anything like the primary's, every single vote counts. Grabs some hands Uptowners and get people to the poles! If you are a strong Phelen supporter, your polling place can be found at 632 E. Wilson Ave.

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  14. These mailing pieces seem to have gone only to selected households in the ward.

    Living in a large building, I have been able to correlate (by talking to neighbors) who got these pieces with whether they had previously said to Phelan push-poll callers that they were "leaning" to Phelan or "undecided". (I don't know if particular Ward areas were targeted.)

    These two groups of voters seem to have received all 3 of the FAILING PHELAN negative stink pieces.

    FAILING Phelan's negative pieces are a coward's terrorist attack - targeted to the most vulnerable - (mis-)citing internet sources that are often quoting someone else's words as Cappleman's.

    I have not seen such a slimy and low-life campaign on the lakefront in many years. Phelan's mailings are not working in my lakefront area and I am hearing residents talking negatively in the mailroom lobby about what a decent person they had mistakenly thought Molly to be....

    What's next, Molly - mailing out aborted fetus photos?

    Can you say B A C K F I R E , Molly ???

    This is, I guess, what we can expect from the Ed Burke type of politics Molly wants to bring to the north side.

    I hope Shiller (& Tom Tunney) have gotten this as a wake up call - other lakefront alderman will be SLIMED next if this were to work.

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  15. Yo Buena Parker, relax. It's a silly tactic that won't work. Be positive.

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  16. How did this post, related to a profile of Cappelman turn into a bashing of Phelan? I'm admittedly a very infrequent commenter on the site, but sheesh! I feel like every thread these days turns into a bashing of Phelan.

    Seriously! As someone who turns to this site for neighborhood information and a basic understanding of the neighborhood politics, reading the comments on this thread (and many others) I was hoping to find some personal endorsements of Cappelman but I can only find comments about how awful Phelan is. Look back through some of the past two weeks on this site. The first four or five posts are relevant to the topic and then it inevitably descends into a discussion of how awful Phelan is. It's 11:30 at night as I write this and I'm halfway expecting to find someone blaming her for the helicopters any minute now

    Howzabout you Cappelmaniacs start talking about your preferred candidate, not the other one! He may not be going negative in his campaign literature, but I feel like a LOT of people commenting here are doing it by proxy. If his best feature is that he's not the other candidate, that doesn't inspire much confidence in this voter...

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  17. A little Off Topic:

    As a Chicago Police Officer and a homeowner in Uptown, I support James Cappleman. Don't let the FOP endorsement fool you, I believe Cappleman will be better for the community.

    He has the knowledge and experience to lead this neighborhood in the right direction.

    As far as crime goes, we all need to do our part as neighbors to stay alert and call police whenever you see anything suspicious.
    Support the police.
    Support local businesses.
    Don't let the thugs intimidate you from living in our neighborhood, it belongs to us not them.

    It seems like Phelan resorts to scare tactics and dirty politics. Her crime prevention plan involves hiring off duty cops for security and more POD cameras?!

    We need an Alderman who will help balance the budget and cut waste so we can hire more full time police officers. The CPD is grossly understaffed and the numbers continue to drop as more coppers retire. We are doing our best with who we have on the street.
    POD cameras are USELESS! Trust me, they are rarely if ever useful to capture criminals and are a huge waste of taxpayer money.

    There's my rant. Stay safe everyone.

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  18. It occurred to me, as I read about the latest Phelan mailings, that I had two different "poll" calls in which I was asked questions leading to, "Knowing this, would it increase the likelihood that you would vote for Phelan?" I laughed, repeatedly, before emphatically saying "No!"

    I haven't received ANY Phelan flyers since.

    I HAVE received lots of Cappleman flyers.

    I voted for Cappleman last week.

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  19. Molly and crew have spent many mornings trying to eat into James' base at the Lawrence EL stop. After being bombarded by her mailings, I just smile, take her literature and toss it as soon as I get to the top of the train platform! Can't wait till this election is over!!!

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  20. Could someone scan the flyers, post them elsewhere and then post a link? By the same token, if anyone has questionable flyers from James do the same.

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  21. I can attest that James has been personally willing to help our neighbors in all ward-related issues of public safety and any ideas we have for making Uptown better! And he's not even alderman yet. Long story short - James is amazing. He's the type of person you can immediately connect with and is well-versed in a TON of city (and beyond) issues.

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  22. @BP: I never answered any of those poll questions yet I have received all of the negative flyers.

    @Ned: I agree it is annoying to see the thread devolve, but if I may speak for myself: I feel most of this is reactionary to the negative ads coming out, which is forcing a lot of us to push back. I can assure you we aren't acting as a proxy for any of James' sentiments. I think Molly would be a great improvement over our current situation, but I can't stand getting these negative ads in the mail. Good thing we're killing trees for this trash.

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  23. Her mailers are ubsurd. The one about Cappleman wanting to spend money on planters, and then showing him with a goofy face and gardening gloves is hilarious. The other one is just as bad, with the saddest looking homeless person on it saying that Cappleman wants to cut thier funding. Kind of reminds me of George W. Bush scare tatics she used. It is almost comical for her to think that anyone undecided would be stupid enough to believe this garbage. I am not a big supporter of either just because I don't trust any politicains, but I always vote. I just can't wait until my mailbox isn't stuffed with trash from both of these people. Or I have to deal with Phelan myself approaching me at local bars asking me who I was voting for and why.

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