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David Krupa is only 19 years old, a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago. He studies political science and economics, and drives a forklift on the side. He’s also a college conservative, and is running for alderman from Chicago’s 13th Ward.
And because of that, Chicago’s Democratic Machine decided to squash him like a bug. It’s the Chicago Way, you know.
Credit: gifer.com.
I grew up in northwest Indiana, in ‘Chicagoland.’ The Chicago Machine was legendary when I was a small child and Mayor Richard J. Daley ruled the city through his Democratic juggernaut. Democrats still run the town to this day, with Mayor Rahm Emmanuel at its helm.
It was in this environment that conservative college kid David Krupa made the gutsy move to challenge Martin Quinn, the current alderman in the 13th Ward. Quinn, you should know, is the hand-picked toady of powerful Michael J. “Boss” Madigan, who also happens to be the Illinois House Speaker.
So Krupa did what he was supposed to do, and that was to file a minimum of 473 signatures of ward residents on a petition at the Chicago Board of Elections.
Krupa filed 1703 signatures. I guess lots of folks in the 13th Ward liked the cut of his jib.
But Boss Madigan and his bootlicker Quinn decided to shut down the college conservative before he was able to file his 1700 signatures. Suddenly political workers showed up at the doors of Krupa’s signatories. Armed with legal papers, they demanded asked the residents to revoke their signatures.
And amazingly, 2796 revocations showed up at the Chicago Board of Elections.
Now math was never my strong suit in school, but I know that 2796 is way more than 1703. Something stinks in Chicago, and it’s not the smell coming from the city’s heavy industry. It’s the stench of Democratic voter fraud, which is a longtime Chicago specialty.
Boss Madigan and the Chicago Machine also tried to shut Krupa down through a smear campaign.
But on Saturday, the unbelievable happened. Martin Quinn withdrew his challenge to David Krupa’s candidacy. And Boss Madigan blinked. There were quiet mumblings among Chicago politicos that Boss Madigan wanted to “fill a burlap bag of the severed heads of a few of his precinct captains and hang them” from a statue.
Krupa told John Kass of the Chicago Tribune:
“I am truly humbled to be the first candidate on the ballot to challenge the 13th Ward since 1991. This is a huge defeat for Madigan’s organization, and the beginning of the end of boss politics.”
He continued:
“What we have to do is take away some of Madigan’s puppets and begin to elect people that Madigan does not control.”
Martin Quinn, however, did not bow out gracefully. He didn’t acknowledge any fraud, but instead claimed that two unions requested that he withdraw his challenge. The whiff of voter fraud was stinking up the unions’ Democrat champion. The story was even going national. It was time to pull in the horns.
Quinn also gave a statement, maligning David Krupa’s ‘conduct’ and ‘extreme agenda:’
“No one whose personal conduct and whose extreme agenda so offend the city of Chicago should have the opportunity to hide behind false claims of victimhood, but that’s no doubt what a politician like Mr. Krupa would attempt to do should he be removed from the ballot.”
And as for those unions? They came out swinging against Krupa:
“Voters deserve to see everything Mr. Krupa is hiding from them, and they deserve the opportunity to reject him.”
I don’t know how David Krupa, the intrepid college conservative, will fare on February 26, when Chicago will hold its municipal elections. Chicago is hardwired on progressive politics, so he may not prevail. But perhaps he will. The Bible tells the story of how young David slew the giant Goliath. Maybe this David can take down Chicago’s Goliath of a corrupt political machine.
Featured image: wikimedia commons. Public domain.
GWB says: Wow, so some Democrats are smart enough to not immolate.
I hope this kid exposes more and more of the rot in the Chicago political scene.
GWB says: self-innovate
GWB says: Stupid auto-corrupt……….
self-immolate
rbj says: Not to worry, the ballots to put the incumbent over the top have already been filled out.
I wonder if it might also be connected with the federal investigation of Alderman Burke. Somebody is talking it seems. As all us Region Rats know, some of those who talked have committed suicide by hitting themselves in the back of the head 20 odd times with a hammer. Interesting times.
Kim Hirsch says: Hello from another Region Rat.
Mark Webb says: Leftists are the bigoted, thuggish, lying, self-aggrandizing thieves of our lives, our liberties and our vote.
Leftists would rather destroy the country, then allow their power to be diminished…..
sestamibi says: The Machine was stupid to react the way it did. They should have let the kid on the ballot where he would quietly lose in the primary. Instead they drew adverse attention to themselves which could conceivably result in loss of the seat. I still think Krupa will lose, but these actions make it a little less likely.
I was in a similar situation years ago. At 21 I decided to run for a party position in the GOP in an area where Republicans were almost unkown. This was not for a GOP nomination for a public office, but an election to a party committee held at the same time as the regular primary. I needed 500 signatures to qualify for the primary, and filed 722. The “machine” (such as it was), wisely decided not to waste resources on my race. There were about 100 votes cast (vs. the 1000 signatures obtained by me and my opponent), and I got 26 of them. Oh well.
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