Dan Seals: North Shore Pretender, 44th Ward Regular

Dan Seals is running a campaign to get elected in a district that he has few ties to and doesn't understand. While we know from his website and from his verbiage that his campaign reflects his relative ignorance of the district he doesn't live in and doesn't understand, he could always learn, right? Not so fast.

To add insult to injury, its getting clearer all the time that Dan Seals consistently brings in his out-of-district supporters to help his out-of-district campaign. His supporters deny this fact, but at best they delude themselves.

Dennis Byrne, a Chicago suburbanite and long time Sun-Times columnist, now an independent writer, pointed out in the other day's Tribune that the Seals' supporter knocking on your doors likely a member of Chicago's 44th ward, not your neighbor. He said,

The Illinois Democratic Network, or IllinoisDemNet as it calls itself on its Web site, is proud to be transporting campaigners from Chicago (and Evanston) to work for Democrats in congressional races from the Wisconsin line to as far south as Joliet.

There, they are knocking on doors and making calls for Democratic candidates Dan Seals (against incumbent Republican Mark Kirk in the north suburban 10th District), incumbent Melissa Bean (against Republican challenger David McSweeney in the northwest suburban 8th District), Democrat Tammy Duckworth (against Republican Peter Roskam for Henry Hyde's seat in the west suburban 6th District) and John Laesch (against House Speaker Dennis Hastert in the west and southwest suburban 14th District).

This may not sound like much of a deal to some Chicagoans who have no use for the suburbs to start with, but suburbanites, such as myself, might not like it because we, after all, live out here in part to be away from the city's lousy schools, higher crime rates and politics as it is practiced in Chicago. Suburbs to Chicago: Butt out. Do we send in squads of suburban Republicans to work Democratic precincts? Haven't you screwed up Chicago and Cook County governments enough already? Do we need lakefront and limousine liberals to tell us how to vote?

IllinoisDemNet asserts that it has no connection with the Chicago organization or any other Democratic organization, that it's just a bunch of progressives, liberals and moderates who are passionate about their cause. Except that the volunteers are picked up at the 44th Ward Democratic Organization, in the district of Democratic U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (the guy who parachuted outsider
Duckworth into the 6th District race) and the Democratic Party headquarters in Evanston, in Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky's district. After I inquired, the Web site deleted the fact that pick-up sites were connected to party offices. Not deleted were some destinations, such as the Duckworth and Bean field offices.

Could this be a trial balloon for the City of Chicago to take the bold move to annex the Northern Suburbs as they once annexed Ravenswood and Rogers Park? Well, you never know. Just one more reason why Dan Seals is wrong for Congress and wrong for the North Shore