Ransburg and JS teaming up to scare the Negroes

The commercials are always the same. It’s a close-up of a black person, looking directly into the camera, using tones usually reserved for warning of impending disaster, urging the viewer to vote for Dave Ransburg.

There are no details as to why this is so important. No discussion of Ransburg’s record. No discussion of opponent Jim Ardis’ record.

I gotta tell you, I saw a couple of these commercials — part of Millionaire Dave’s last-minute big media buy — and I was suddenly worried that Ardis might secretly be some sort of Klansman or something.

Then I thought about it for about a half second and saw these ads for what they were: A sad and pathetic attempt to make black people afraid to vote for Ardis. No doubt he got the idea from his high-priced political consultants he imported in from Springfield. These guys love to play racial politics. It wasn’t long after they arrived in town, that Ransburg was able to negotiate endorsements from a bunch of black clergymen.

It’s not really a new tactic. Ransburg’s allies at the Journal Star have been trying to cast Ardis and the “essential services first” candidates as horrible racists for quite some time.

An earlier back-to-basics movement — the Citizens For Representative Government — opposed to busing and school integration, the JS editorialized on Feb. 13. The implication is that anyone running for office on an essential services first campaign might be a horrible reactionary racist too.

When Ardis and Eric Turner held a press conference to announce Turner’s endorsement, they did no in front of two South Side crack houses. Pam Adams, the Journal Star columnist, was furious. How dare they exploit black people that way, she wrote. Had Turner and Ardis held this event in front of a crack house in the fifth district — and there are crack houses in the fifth district — she would have written about how Ardis was ignoring the crack problem in black neighborhoods. Apparently, only racists talk about crime, Adams believes, ignoring the fact that most crime victimes in the south side are black.

At the WEEK debate, the JS saw fit to mention — out of the blue — that there were more black Ransburg supporters than black Ardis supporters. Had Ardis known that the Journal Star was going to perform a census of audience members, I’m sure he could have followed Ransburg’s lead and made sure to bus some in.

And I am still waiting for one concrete example of something Dave Ransburg did specifically to improve conditions for poor black people in any of Peoria’s five city council districts. One. Just one. I also want to know what promises (or other considerations) Ransburg gave to those black ministers who suddenly found themselves filled with love for Peoria’s Millionaire Mayor.