Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Marianne Lalonde Withdraws Election Challenge Against James Cappleman

Photo from www.facebook.com/
marianneforuptown/
Two and a half months after the February 26th municipal election, and fewer than two weeks before city officials will be sworn in for their upcoming four-year terms, there are no more challengers for the 46th Ward aldermanic seat.

On Tuesday, Marianne Lalonde, who came up just 25 votes short in the April 2nd runoff election against incumbent alderman James Cappleman, announced that she is withdrawing her legal challenge of the election results.

In a statement on her campaign's Facebook page, she did not formally concede and did not offer congratulations to Ald. Cappleman. Instead, she discussed what she describes as troubling aspects of the Board of Elections' vote-counting methodology for the 46th Ward, a process she closely observed during the past few weeks.

After the election results were certified by the Board of Elections on April 18th, Lalonde requested a discovery recount of 25% of the precincts in the ward. Essentially, that means looking at votes cast in ten precincts chosen by her and her attorney(s) to see if a basis for a legal challenge exists.

Her conclusion: "Our assessment is that the law currently allows no further viable remedy, so I have withdrawn my complaint."

With the withdrawal of her legal action, we hope the healing of differences in the 46th Ward can begin. In her post, she says, "Now more than ever, we need to build bridges between different groups within our community." We agree wholeheartedly.

In a similarly conciliatory tone, Ald. Cappleman tweeted on Tuesday, "Now that the 46th Ward election is settled, I look forward to 4 more years of advocating for all residents and working together as a community."

There's still one race that's still being contested: in the 5th Ward, challenger Will Calloway has not conceded to incumbent Leslie Hairston, despite trailing her by 176 votes.

11 comments:

  1. An open rant to Marianne Lalonde---Thppppt!


    Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake. That's bad manners--Napoleon Bonaparte.


    Thanks Marianne for showing us that you are who we thought you were: Spoiled, petulant, arrogant, entitled, and not nearly as wise as you are bright. The whitest kid on the block proves that she understands the "ass" part of "class", but doesn't understand the larger concept.


    Do you want to know why you lost Marianne? Well simply put Cappleman got more votes.


    Now I wouldn't want you to spend years obsessing over things you could have done differently to win. That's not who I am. I'm a classy guy. Nope, I wouldn't want that.


    However, here are five mistakes you made that might have changed the outcome.


    1. "Marianne for Uptown"--really? About 40 percent of the votes came out of Lakeview. I guess you didn't realize that being that you only lived here what 3 1/2 years or so? Was it 4 1/2? I forgot just like people will forget you and your campaign over the next few years. Your campaign was like an outdoor fart. Stinks momentarily and then is forgotten as the winds of change continue.


    2. The crazed nutty challenge to Angela Clay's petitions. Now she supported you, but some of her supporters were pissed about that. In a 25 vote race every slight counts.


    3. Showing up and being taped at the "Cappleman is a racist" gathering/soiree/march in front of his condo. Really. This is one where I pat myself on the back for finding the video evidence on YOUTUBE and making sure it hit the interwebs. Calling a guy who stood up to community opposition to the woman's shelter and the new gym at McCutcheon a racist is stupid and vile. The people who are most going to benefit from those improvements aren't pasty upper middle income white girls from the DC burbs who decided to "save" a community from the guy who's literally spent over 20 years working for positive change.

    That was enough to cost you the election, but it wasn't the "Mother of all Mistakes" to paraphrase my late buddy Saddam Hussein.


    4. Now, you ask what was the "Mother of all Mistakes", well first let me digress. WTF were you thinking letting Marc Kaplan anywhere near your campaign? Weren't you around in 2011 and 2015 to see what happened to Phelan and Crawford after their grotesque embraces of mutual convenience with him. Oh, I forget you didn't live here then.

    Let me explain what Kaplan is since the smell of sulfur, bad grooming, and body odor don't seem to register in your oversized nostrils.


    He's the Drakkar Noir of losing Uptown campaigns. Drakkar Noir was a men's fragrance made famous in the 80's. It was more stink than fragrance. Designed to be "loud" and annoying just like Marc and frankly the 80's.

    "Feel the Power" of Kapkkar Noir!

    Now when your campaign embraced him that went out on the web just like the video at the "Capp is a racist" rally. Did it directly have much of an effect? Probably not, but indirectly when you embrace Kaplan you insure that the Karma Clown Car is going to show up at your campaign door. Twenty five votes is KARMA and as the old saying goes "Karma is a bitch" particularly when it drives up with a bunch of clowns in tow.

    5. This was the "Mother of all Mistakes"--WTF didn't your petty little campaign embrace Lori Lightfoot more? Every damn piece of literature you put out after February should have emphasized that. Every sign, every email etc. Why did you emphasize endorsements from groups no one ever heard of--Asian Americans lefties for change etc.

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  2. Now I can only think of three likely reasons you didn't do that.

    First, your campaign was run like a machine and you just weren't able to adjust--does not compute. Danger, danger Will Robinson.

    Second, because of your showing up at anti Capp rally in front of his condo Lightfoot's campaign asked you to keep quiet about the endorsement. Possible, but strikes me as unlikely.

    Third, and this just occurred to me a few minutes ago, Kaplan and his coven of supporters generally were supporting Preckwinkle. Was part of his support for you contingent on you not playing up the Lightfoot endorsement? Mein Gott! Was that it? If so, and I pray to whatever deity will listen that it was, Kaplan's work for you cost you the election. Please let it be true. If that's what happened the Karma Clown Car didn't show up at your campaign door it ran you over.

    How sweet it is.

    Now I bid you adieu sweet Marianne with the ending lyrics of the Monkees "Porpoise Song"--


    The porpoise is waiting
    Goodbye, goodbye
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

    P.S.

    I'll be back later to comment on Marianne's allegations that we will never know who truly won the election. I need to check with my sources at the Chicago Board of election before I take my rapier wit to that line of revisionist bullshit.

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  3. I saw that there were two comments, and I knew that both of them would be from the never classy, always petty Uptown's Own Roger Stone, Irish Pirate.

    Please slither back under your rock for three more years? Please?

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    1. It would have been one comment, but it was too long.

      I hear that alot.

      Delete
    2. Love your comments Irish..on point! Thankful Cappleman has 4 more years to continue moving Uptown forward!!! He truly looks out for all.

      Delete
    3. Thanks mom! I'll make sure they give you extra cupcakes at the nursing home.

      Delete
  4. as good a reminder as any to never read the comments on anything. dude has been spouting this vile, misogynistic garbage for months.

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    1. Hey, I'm not a misogynist. I'm a misanthrope.

      Look it up you amadan. Look that up too.

      Delete
    2. Hey Kevi I don't appreciate your attempt at a comment. It hurts my wittle fweelings. If you were around prior to the February election you'd see I also mocked the male candidates JON-ROBERT and Captain Lakeview or whatever his name was.

      I'm sorry I don't have any better insights into Marianne's campaign or her supporters, but since I'm a few decades past thinking quarter beer night should be a national holiday I guess that will just continue.

      Toodles!

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    3. I'm refraining from making any "your mom" jokes here because UU would probably not post them, but ANY of the stupid crap I've posted here pales in comparison to the vileness of her campaign.

      That's alot of pale and it's hard to be any paler than Sweet Marianne.

      Showing up at the rally where Capp was called a racist--that's vile with a capital "F".

      Not conceding and suggesting that she may "really" have won the election--that's vile with a capital "B" for bullshit.

      That's Trumpian level crap there except that it's not coming from an entitled marginally intelligent sociopath, but a bright, well educated young woman who should know better. Then she probably wouldn't recognize the better angels of her nature because she either doesn't have them or she let her entitled spoiled white girl demons drown them out.

      The beauty of this spite on her part is that it's going to cost her in the future if she runs again.

      Now I can be spiteful because the only thing I'm running for is class clown. Unlike the Ginger Menace I recognize my limitations and I still have a tiny bit of decency left--I think.

      Ok now for the "your mom" joke.

      Delete
  5. I was annoyed and intrigued by La rousse dangereuse, the dangerous redhead's, assertion that many discrepancies were found in the recount so I reached out to my contact at the Board of Election--Deep Abacus.

    Ok, I have no contact there, but I have a contact who has a contact. There are only so many people working at city hall.

    This is the response I got:

    La menace rousse est tellement pleine de merde. Il y a plus de merde dans cette affirmation que dans un troupeau de vaches normandes.

    Which translated into English roughly is:

    The redheaded menace is so full of shit. There's more shit in that assertion than in a herd of Normandy cows.


    I then asked him to send me emails in English as this is Chicago and the only people who speak French here are annoying French teachers, tourists and flaming waiters at well regarded restaurants who look down at me and my silly Chicago accent.


    The recount started out with Cappleman up 25 votes and by the end showed him up 28. Only ten precincts that Lalonde picked were counted.

    I asked him if the official recount would be changed to show a 28 vote difference and he said barring court action the recount has no standing and that I should STFU.

    He then said Lalonde focused on voter applications and seemed to become obsessed with them. She apparently was there herself during the process. There was a claim that 30 applications didn't coincide with votes and the BOE examined 15 and found no discrepancies. She was asked if she wanted the remaining 15 examined and she said no.

    She examined much of the data and never filed objections so the staff at BOE is confused and annoyed that she claimed there were discrepancies. Their sense was that she was a math/science geek who got bogged down in the minutia and the data that didn't make any substantial difference.



    So that's one description of the process.



    You can believe that or you can believe that Marianne's version of what was found is accurate. I will tell you flat out that her assertion that "we were able to reduce the gap in votes between James Cappleman and me" is bullshit. Now perhaps in her scientific mind voter applications, donut smudges on ballots, and pigeon droppings had an effect on the election, but anyone who's lived in Uptown say four or more years would know that's bullshit.

    The election is over and ultimately the people of the ward and the people who will live here in the future are the winners.

    This ward doesn't belong to any particular person or group of people. It belongs to the future. Those of us who are here are merely passengers on a merry go round and eventually we all get off for other destinations or whatever does or doesn't exist after we've departed this mortal coil.

    Vive la Uptown and to my comrades from 2007 who are here or have moved on I say "Vive La Resistance"--the middle held by the slimmest of margins and the new Arc de Triomphe is located outside the Golden House restaurant.

    How sweet it is!

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