As sunrise greeted Under the Big Top diners on Chicago's Northwest Side, America's recessionary love affair with the picture show offered a cinematic solution to the State of Illinois' budgetary crisis & even the nation's War on Terror.

     Actor Johnny Depp's portrayal of Depression era bank robber John Dillinger in the Public Enemies blockbuster explained Dillinger's success by his own self-restraint & the generous quid pro quo cooperation of Chicago's organized crime syndicate. Dillinger ingratiated himself with others & avoided capture due largely to the public's fascination with his daring do & grandiose lifestyle. 

     Mutually, all of the parties in this art decco melodrama reaped rewards. For Dillinger & for his benefactors, the bank  robber's crime spree well-suited each of the parties. The public got a thrill, mob bookmakers distracted the cops, saloon owners spiced up their night life & Dillinger grabbed the loot. 

     The party finally ended in Dillinger's own pool of blood in front of Chicago's Lincoln Avenue Biograph Theatre. G-man J. Edgar Hoover's publicist cleverly spun a path to stardom for Hoover, expanding federal law enforcement jurisdiction for the once frustrated FBI pencil-pusher.  

     Organized crime bookies weighed in on the side of their recurring revenue & left Dillinger to be cut down in a hail of bullets. 

     In another theatre, just down the street, Illinois State's legislative leaders mixed their own melodrama. Campaign finance practice which puts legislative leadership's boot to the throats of all but the most independent State legislators, produced a nominal budget which failed to restrain runaway payroll & employee pension spending. The Chicago Tribune (07/02/09) summed it up as a "profile in failure" & pictured this Irish-American legislative leadership triumverate atop its daily newspaper Editorials section.

     Legislators find themselves caught in a political version of the Giant City State Park's rock climbing formation--fat man's squeeze. Tax recipients fight to keep the government spending gravy train rolling, while taxpayers expect to get a big income tax hike. 

     Fifty per cent!  

     How shall we break out of this legislative budget impasse?

     Criticism not withstanding, two examples of mutual gains bargaining may resolve this apparent polarization.

     On the academic front, we learn how middling students were admitted to the University of Illinois law school in exchange for public & private law firm employment for U of I graduates.

     In a federal courtroom, Dr. Robert Weinstein's wire-tapped sage advice to arrange a "quid pro quo in another world" suggests that taking a broader view of the mutual interests of all parties may invite resolution of even the most adverse circumstance.

     One might marvel @ Chicago's River North serial development just a generation ago. Consecutive high-rise condominium projects sprouted from a once cozy low-rise building neighborhood where once parking was as affordable as the lunches & beverages served @ family-owned diners & cafes. Coincidentally, in tearing down one man's paradise & to build another's parking lot, the same cast of characters convened for a mutually beneficial business arrangment--architects, engineers, developers, parking operators & realtors. The Belden's exterior Cancun maroon color scheme unified this building's appearance.  

     While we may applaud these arrangments as either business savvy or tactical cunning, it now appears that the University of Illinois deferred the dreams of some for the benefit of others & that Dr. Weinstein's advice enabled his partner--lawyer Stuart Levine--to steal millions of dollars from Illinois public employee retirees. 

     Resolution of the State's budgetary impasse & even South Asian peace is possible with the use of the mutual gains bargaining where, instead of getting mired in party positions, we examine the interests & find a way where all may win.

    Might it take a Swede to show an Irishman the way?

 

Mark A. Fredrickson

President

Northwest Area Citizens Organization

 

P.S. This blogger managed a series of high-rise residential, commercial, institutional, education & governmental construction projects, including several in Chicago's Loop & residential Near North neighborhood during the 1990's.