Speaking ill of your own

In the mid-1980s, Elmer Gertz, a former Con-Con Delegate (and the first candidate I had ever volunteered for), authored an article for the Jewish Sentinel, recalling the activities of many Chicago Jewish politicians.

He mentioned that former Cook County Commissioner Martin Tuchow had “suffered a personal tragedy.”

Yeah. The guy went to jail for corruption. Why didn’t Gertz say that?

Because many Jewish community leaders did not want to speak ill of their own. Other groups felt the same way about some of their folks, too.

In one election, a group was criticized for recommending that a Circuit Court Judge not be retained. “Why are you picking on a Black woman?” critics wanted to know, even though she was clearly unqualified to remain in office.

It seems, many people feel there are a lot of bad politicians in town, but somebody from another group is always worse than someone from theirs.