The disgusting tactics of Dan Patlak's campaign

Earlier this week, as many of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter know, my sister Linda experienced a life-and-death crisis. She continues to recover int he hospital although her challenges are many. Her health is in serious risk but the doctors are doing everything they can to help her. She remains on life-support and her condition is precarious. It can change at any time. (Thank you ALL for the well-wishes and prayers!)
So, you can imagine when at about 8:39 last night (Wednesday) I had received a phone call that the Caller-ID identified as coming from "Glenn Dale MD" at the number "240-556-9966."
I had just spoken with the nurses at the hospital and the call shocked me, thinking that something had changed. But when I picked up the phone thinking I was being called by a Doctor -- "MD" -- instead I heard a creepy sounding voice asking me to "Vote for Dan Patlak" for the Board of Review.
I have heard of the deceitful tactics of some campaigns trying to do robocalls to make it more likely for a homeowner at 8:40 in the evening to answer the telephone. Putting the letters "MD" after a name scares people into believing they have to answer the call from the unknown number, disarming their natural instincts to suspect any calls that come late at night -- especially around election time -- and from numbers they don't recognize.
It was disgusting to listen as the voice on the line turned out not to be a doctor, but instead was a telemarketer hired by Patlack to promote his candidacy.
Patlak must be desperate. Patlak sent out a brochure, as you have read here, in which he splattered his own face with "mud" to build sympathy and accuse his opponent, Sean Morrison of "throwing mud." But criticism and holding elected officials accountable is NOT throwing mud, Mr. Patlak. It's called accountability and that's exactly what the public should demand from their elected officials.
While Patlak is pretending to be a victim to build up sympathy and smear the good name of Sean Morrison, Morrison is out there trying to play by the rules, questioning Patlak's associations and political ties to sleazy groups like the "Illinois Review," the mud-slinging extremist conservative online blog that attacks people personally as their form of "critical analysis."
I received a robocall from Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman earlier that day and it was respectful. The number was local. t was made at 1:22 pm in the early afternoon so it could go to voice mail, rather than waking people up late at night with scares. Gorman is backing Morrison and she showcases the hard work he has done over the years and his ideas to improve the situation for taxpayers as she has done too.
Patlak is going to argue, of course, that the "MD" doesn't stand for Doctor but rather Maryland. Even then, why the hell would someone running for Cook County Board of Review (formerly the Board of Tax Appeals) hire out a non-Illinois firm in another state like Maryland to make the calls unless that company sold them on the promise: "Psssst! Hey, buddy! If you use our telemarketing firm, most normal people will think that a doctor is calling their home and they will pick up the phone. Tee Hee! Isn't that sneaky? Kind of like what Patlak and the Illinois Review are all about? Tee hee!"
Pathetic. Cheap election tactic. Typical of what you might expect from Mr. Patlak.
-- Ray Hananiawww.hanania.com

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