Republican Mayor uses ARMED GUARDS to intimidate voters, wins re-election. . .

[wndycty]

Cross posted at: http://blog.windycitywatch.com/2009/02/republican-mayor-uses-armed-guards-to.html#links

Republican Mayor uses ARMED GUARDS to intimidate voters, wins re-election. . .
In an obvious attempt to intimidate voters Cicero Mayor Larry Dominick, a Republican, dispatched armed goons who had to be removed by Cook Counry Sheriff's police, yeah you read that right, COOK COUNTY SHERIFF'S POLICE! Cook County Clerk David Orr's spokeswoman called it "voter intimidation" in a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In this day and age how the hell can an elected official get away with dispatching armed guards to intimidate voters. These guards worked for Dominick who was on the ballot. If security was necessary why weren't concerns raised to the Cook County State's Attorney or Illinois Attorney General?

In addition to the armed guards intimidating voters, Jay Levine of CBS2 was followed around Cicero by a bunch of goons in suits and was warned to bring a body guard if he planned to attend Dominick's victory party on Tuesday night.

We hope that county, state and federal authorities investigate this.

Here is a video report from CBS2 Chicago.

Here is how the Chicago Sun-Times reported it:
-snip-
Cook County Clerk David Orr had to call in sheriff’s police Tuesday to evict armed guards brought into polling places by Dominick, according to Orr spokeswoman Courtney Greve.

“It’s voter intimidation when off-duty armed police officers show up in polling places,” Greve said. “They had no authorization to be in the polling places. We have a crew of sheriff’s officers on call. They had to come to remove the off-duty officers hired by Dominick’s campaign.”
-snip-

Here is how the Chicago Tribune reported it:
-snip-
Earlier Tuesday, several off-duty police officers hired by Dominick to keep an eye on the town's polling places were asked to leave, a town spokesman said.

Garcia called the presence of armed security personnel "nothing but intimidation." But Cicero spokesman Dan Proft said the security personnel were necessary "to make sure Garcia and his hooligans don't cause any problems at the polling places.
-snip-

Another question we have is why is Proft, whose salary is most likely paid by the taxpayers of Cicero, taking partisan pot shots at Garcia? Was he speaking as a Dominick volunteer or a public servant yesterday when he leveled his charges of hooliganism?

Lastly, on Monday CBS2 Chicago ran an explosive report in advance of the election on Dominick and his hiring of family and friends. Click here to view: http://cbs2chicago.com/video?id=[e-mail]&cid=28

The GOP likes to call Cook County, Crook County but it would appear one of the biggest crooks in the county is the Republican mayor of Cicero.

[hobbit709]

1. Maybe he thinks he's the reincarnation of Al Capone

[wndycty]

2. Well it is Cicero

:kick:

[BlooInBloo]

3. Gotta love Chicago.

[wndycty]

4. LOL, hey that is Cicero. . .Cicero make Chicago look tame. . .

:kick:

You have to watch the CBS2 report to see how the Mayor's goons followed the reporter around.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Sorry - Chicagoland. Sheesh.

And I saw the video.

[wndycty]

6. LOL

:kick:

[KonaKane]

7. Shades of Boss Tweed

It sounds like someone is trying to reinvent Tammany Hall. They're about a hundred fifty years too late, and in the losing party.

This incident also reminds me of the late Justice William Rhenquist, who was known as "Our Bill" in Arizona, where he was fond of physically stopping Mexican American citizens from going to the voting polls and quizzing them on the Constitution. When the authorities had enough of his racist-inspired obstructions, they sent police to remove him and he got so worked up he tried to punch them.

To this day I can barely believe that this guy became chief justice of my country's Supreme Court.

[wndycty]

8. Welcome to DU

Cheers!

[KonaKane]

9. Mahalo, Braddah!

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