Posted by joan e. yum 'n' jen e. schulze on February 22, 2011 at 17:03:12:
In Reply to: Robert Feder on his former boss "Ed Bus"(?!) posted by Feder Reader on February 22, 2011 at 01:32:20:
next up: jennifer schulze by joanie yum!
: On the eve of Tuesday�s mayoral election, political satire collided with reality when a cadre of real Chicago pols jumped on the bandwagon of Ed Bus (pictured above), fictional alderman of the city�s nonexistent 53rd ward.
: Illinois Senate president John Cullerton led the list of luminaries throwing their support behind (and occasionally ripping into) the unabashed Democratic machine ward heeler, who boasts a 100 percent pro-Daley voting record in the city council and whose campaign slogan is: �Keep It Like It Was.�
: Others who took to the stage Saturday at Gallery Cabaret for what was billed as �The Alderman Ed Bus Victory Party� included 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack, former 42nd Ward Ald. Burt Natarus and 20th Ward aldermanic candidate Che Rhymefest Smith.
: Bus and his candidacy are the creation of the Chicago sketch comedy ensemble Schadenfreude, which has played out the campaign in a series of hilarious online videos, staged media events and mock press releases (including the alderman�s 2010 tax return).
: Complicit in the gag have been a variety of familiar Chicago figures, including Tribune columnists Eric Zorn and Rick Kogan, Eight Forty-Eight host Alison Cuddy, Chicago Newsroom moderator Ken Davis, Chicago Reader reporter Ben Joravsky, restaurateur Stephanie Izard, and ABC 7 food critic Steve Dolinsky. Bus is the alter ego of Justin Kaufmann, whose day job is senior content developer for Chicago Public Media. (Full disclosure: I worked with Kaufmann last year at Chicago Public Media�s Vocalo blogs.)
: Cullerton, a surprise late addition to Saturday�s victory party and an old hand at stand-up comedy, got right into the spirit of the evening when he welcomed �all the Democratic state senators from Wisconsin� he claimed were hiding out in the audience.
: Hopes that Rod Blagojevich also might show up were dashed late Saturday when Glenn Selig, the disgraced former governor�s publicist, sent word: �We appreciate the opportunity, but it�s not going to work out for tonight. We wish you the best of success.�
: As mock election returns showed Bus getting trounced, the night culminated with a concession speech by the candidate that alternated between gracious and defiant. Accompanied at the podium by his wife, Dorse Carson-Pirie Scott Bus (played by the immensely talented Kate C. James), Bus thanked each and every one of his campaign workers and congratulated his rivals on running good races � even as he mangled their names. The sight of Cullerton, Waguespack, Natarus and Smith standing behind him completed the surreal tableau.