Oh, you can’t make this stuff up! Head of Rio 2016 arrested for corruption. He had 30 pounds of gold bars worth almost $2 million. Can you imagine the level of corruption, waste and debt that Chicago would’ve wracked up?
Category Archives: Democracy
How The Right Wing Beat Us
I’ve started a series of articles on HuffingtonPost to review my own civic experience sine 1990. I got woke when the Far Right went after the National endowment for the Arts. America’s arts and culture organizations LOST the so-called Culture Wars. It’s been down hill ever since.
Part 1 recounts the story of the Powell Memo. Heard of it?
Bring The Book With The Answers To YOUR House!
“Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve” would like to come to YOUR house! We are offering folks the opportunity to organize a “Broke” Book Meeting-In-A-Box house party.
We will send you 10 books and a discussion guide and you invite friends and allies to your home. You can give your guests a copy of the book or you can re-sell it to them to recover you costs.
You power up the old PC and play a pre-recorded personalized intro we will record ahead of time.
When you re-convene your crew book organizer and editor Tom Tresser will connect vial live Skype video. How cool is that! The cost is $100 (which means if you sell the books @ $12 each, you can make some $) and you get can get started right now…
Tom Seeks To Raise The Bar at Our Revolution Chicago Launch
Bernie Sander’s legacy organization Our Revolution launched its Chicago effort today at a forum at CTU Center on Carroll Street. Cook County Commissioner and 2015 Mayoral candidate Chewy Garcia led off with a call to build a progressive infrastructure to win aldermanic seats and the mayor’s office in 2019. While he spoke “Chicago Is Not Broke” gained its youngest reader!
Listen to my comments on the budget and Mayor Emanuel’s performance (12:45)…
We Were Right In 2009…Will You Listen Now?
Oh, my colleagues in the nonprofit world. I may sound like Chicken Little crying “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” when I urge you to get involved in power politics in order to see your values realized in public life. But – here is an interview with Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Telander from October 7, 2009 – just five days after the International Olympic Committee eliminated Chicago from consideration for the 2016 Games in the first round of voting…

Read the full article…
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This Is Why Nonprofits Have Failed
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is THE publication of record for America’s nonprofit sector. Here is the list of interests they want you to choose from when you subscribe. What’s missing?
Hint: Advocacy. Public Policy. Power to Change.
Challenge To The Nonprofit Sector
I gave these remarks at the Chicago Philanthropy Club on February 7, 2017. What do you think? Too much? The video is 39 minutes. The event was recorded by John Sheehan of the Video Catalyst Project.
Wide Ranging Interview With Bill Cameron
Tom was interviewed on the “Connected To Chicago” radio program with long time political reported Bill Cameron. We discussed “Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve” in light of the Inauguration of Donald Trump, which took place shortly before we began the interview.
Upcoming “Broke” Book Events
SULZER REGIONAL LIBRARY
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29
2:00pm -4:00pm
4455 N. Lincoln Avenue
QUIMBY’S BOOK STORE
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8
7:00 pm – 8:00pm
1854 W. North Avenue
Democrats Did Not Listen To Harry, Paid the Price
Democrats, listen up. Here’s what Harry S. Truman said to the 1952 convention of Americans for Democratic Action:

“The first rule in my book is that we have to stick by the liberal principles of the Democratic Party. We are not going to get anywhere by trimming or appeasing. And we don’t need to try it.
The record the Democratic Party has made in the last 20 years is the greatest political asset any party ever had in the history of the world. We would be foolish to throw it away. There is nothing our enemies would like better and nothing that would do more to help them win an election.
I’ve seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn’t believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don’t want a phony Democrat. If it’s a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don’t want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.
But when a Democratic candidate goes out and explains what the New Deal and fair Deal really are–when he stands up like a man and puts the issues before the people–then Democrats can win, even in places where they have never won before. It has been proven time and again.”
Paul Wellstone use to quote parts of these remarks all the time. He was a REAL Democrat.
