timforjudge.com Blog

  Listen, I have no business posting a blog entry right now. I’ve got far too much work to do for me to be sitting here hammering out a few words for you blog lurkers.

But tonight, I can’t help it, because I want to point you to the main page of my Web site, where I just posted “The Most Entertaining Political Commercial in Will County History.” It’s probably the most entertaining political commerical in ALL of history, but since I’m self-ordaining it with the title, I’m going to limit its reach to the local environs.

So how did the commercial get its birth? Well, I was sitting in my chair at work after a long day of teaching, thinking about what I could do to create another radio ad for my WJOL package. For any of you who’ve read my stuff, you know I have an affinity for a good rhyme, so I thought I’d try to come up with something clever using “timforjudge.com.” Very quickly, I decided I needed the Web address to be uttered MANY times. In fact, originally, I was going to take the recorder to Thirty Buck and simply record many people saying “timforjudge.com,” then have the studio engineer put it together. But after coming up with the initial rhyme of the song (You tired of voting for those you don’t know? The gift of knowlege we’re here to bestow!) I was off to the races. The whole thing took me about 30 minutes to finish. I didn’t come up with the music until several days later, when I was experimenting with rhythms on my keyboard for the backup track. I was just messing around with some bass lines and piano and kind of fell into it. So then, I built the “rap” into more of a song.

I recorded it last Thursday in the attic of my house on a portable 4-track digital recorder (something I bought on eBay a few years ago) in just under an hour. I counted out all the beats in the song, determined it would take 98 beats to fill one minute, and proceeded to lay it down with a music track, main vocal track, and two backup vocal tracks. The finished product may be the best song I’ve ever written for catchiness. I’ve never been very good at writing songs, although I’ve written a few I really like. But it’s the story of my life that when I finally write one that’s really, really catchy, it’s kind of a throwaway radio ad.

But who knows, maybe my radio work on behalf of myself will get me some opportunities as a jingle writer in the future. You always gotta keep building that portfolio!

Go to www.timforjudge.com and scroll down the center column to find the link to the song, then get ready to bust a move!

to contact Tim, write timplacher@yahoo.com

   I just returned from a candidates’ forum held by local community group JACOB at the meeting hall of Sacred Heart Church on Ottawa St. in Joliet. As is typical of these events, it seemed almost like there were more candidates than spectators in attendance.

But you can’t blame JACOB for that. At least they’re trying to do something to educate the public about the upcoming election. I don’t see anyone else picking up the ball to help people actually learn about their candidates. It’s just ridiculous that our local newspaper has nearly completely abandoned the job of reporting about local elections. If I ran a newspaper (and wouldn’t THAT be a perfect world!), I’d be smart enough to realize finding interesting stories in the local political scene is like shooting fish in a barrel. Instead, judicial races that will lead to someone being on the Will County bench for at least the next 6 YEARS (and likely 12 or more) are covered with a little questionnaire filled out by candidates with self-serving information. Lord knows, mine is self-serving. But as a voter, I sure wish someone in the press would look a little deeper. People don’t know the lawyers who are seeking the job of sitting in judgment over their legal problems for the next 6 years. They shouldn’t have to rely on the candidates’ own advertising. That’s not dependable information. Seriously, I’m not whining about it because I wish I could get more coverage (although I do wish it); I really just want to be able to cast informed votes at the ballot box. I need my local paper to help me. Our local paper absolutely does not.

That being said, kudos to JACOB members for bucking the trend. To them, I’m sure it sometimes feels like they are a lone voice in the desert, but it’s still worthwhile and important. Thank you, JACOB!

So, let’s get to the report. Who did well? Granted, it’s all show. You get 3 minutes to make an impression. And an “impression” is all it is. There’s little substance to it.

As for me, I’ll score myself an 85/100. I said most of what I wanted to get out, but not all. The alotted time of 3 minutes is tough to negotiate in a cohesive way. I think I did better than most about making a point that had a beginning, middle and not-so-great ending. That’s a killer for me! When I write, I pride myself on the “ah, ha!” ending. Today’s was OK, but it didn’t make anybody stand up and say, “You da man!”

Lissa Dow was good. I’m pretty sure her message has been weaned down to some specific, repeatable bullet points. It’s sort of like Jay Leno used to say about his standup act, when he would work out the jokes in small clubs, eliminating words until he found the shortest, most concise way to hit the punch line. Lissa seems to have done the same thing. But more power to her, she does it well. It leaves a good impression, for whatever that’s worth. Which in politics, unfortunately, is quite a lot.

Paula Gomora and Scott Delaney, who are running for judge in a different subcircuit than mine, were both pretty good. I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise when someone who’s a laywer displays the ability to string a sentence or two together. But still, it’s nice to see people be able to get up and make a good impression.

I thought Tim Baldermann, candidate for U.S. Congress, did a nice job. He’s pretty good with a crowd. If only he could make as good an impression on the guy who covers New Lenox for the Herald News, he’d be in business.

Of course, my perceptions are colored by the fact I already know these people (except for Baldermann). So my comments probably bear little resemblance to the impression made on first-timers. But I walked away happy when two women approached me afterward and told me they liked me! Really, after talking for 3 minutes, what more can a guy ask? If only I’d had that talent with women was I was 18!!

To reach Tim, write timplacher@yahoo.com

To learn more about Tim’s campaign, visit www.timforjudge.com

For me, the most difficult part of running for office, by far, is asking people for help.

Part of it is a function of my personality. When I want to try something new, or attempt to learn a new skill, I tend to do it myself, educating myself from my own trial and error. That’s how I learned to fix everything in a 100-year-old house, by messing things up royally the first time as I taught myself how to to it. The good news about that method is that I’m an exceedingly quick learner. Rarely do I make the same mistake twice. The bad news is that with the number of jobs and skills I’ve tackled in my life, I’m still making new errors when most people have settled into the groove of well-established careers that bear few new surprises or opportunities for big mistakes.

But, hey, that’s obviously not me. My brain is going a million miles a minute all the time. I like to always learn new things and tackle new challenges. Running for judge is only the latest in a long line of personal challenges I’ve undertaken. And like the rest, I’ve made some mistakes. Whether they will ultimately hurt my chances remains to be seen. But I know one thing, whether it’s for myself in the general election come November, or for someone else in the future, I’ll make a heck of an election consultant!

But back to the point! When you’re hard-wired to do things for yourself, it’s difficult to ask people for assistance, even if they are freely offering to give it. I don’t know if it’s a product of Catholic guilt or what, but I don’t want to impose on anyone. And asking for help always feels like an imposition to me. When I was walking for signatures in October, it was incredibly difficult for me to approach people and ask for something as simple as a signature. The only way I could handle it was to begin the encounters with “I’m not selling anything,” a disclaimer that immediately made them–and me–feel like our meeting was NOT going to wind up classified as an imposition. And now, with campaign work that needs to be done, the primary reaon I’m getting so much help is because people around me are taking charge of things they know I’ll try to do myself, even when the laws of time and physics make it apparent I won’t have enough time to get them accomplished.

So thank you to my campaign staffers who volunteer their time and effort to help me out, and for some reason, act like it’s not an imposition. I can’t help feeling that it is, though. I get a little Deputy Fife voice in my head that wants to tell them, “All right, all right, break it up!! Go about your lives, citizens!” But instead, I just keep shaking my head at their generosity and saying “Thank you.”

To contact Tim, write him at timplacher@yahoo.com

For more info about Tim’s campaign, visit www.timforjudge.com

   One of the cool things about having your own Web site, especially one you built yourself, is the ability to check the site statistics to determine how many people have been stopping by to have a look.

So far, I’m very happy with the stats, although I’m not going to tell you what they are. But why won’t I say? After all, it totally goes against my natural inclination to want to spill things in my writing. Well, I’m keeping it under wraps because I’ve determined there are a few lurkers out there, stealthily trolling my blog for any information I might put up about the campaign. The site statistics show a pretty healthy daily audience for this blog page, yet nary a single comment has been posted. The most logical conclusion is that there are people lurking in the background–some for enjoyment, but others, for information. Excuse me if that sounds like the guy in “A Beautiful Mind!”

Consequently, I have to watch what I say to some extent. Not because I want to keep anything from those of you who are here for enjoyment, but because it’s probably not in my best interests to disclose my grand plan to win the election. Or perhaps there is no grand plan. But then again, maybe there is! The lurkers will just have to wonder! I need to find a sound clip of Dr. Evil laughing diabolically to post here!

To contact Tim, write timplacher@yahoo.com

For more info about Tim’s campaign, visit www.timforjudge.com

     I got a flier in the mail from Melanie Manning, who is running against me in the primary. I don’t know Melanie from Adam, although I’m told she’s the daughter of local attorney Ira Goldstein. I’ve been on Melanie’s Web site before, so I noticed she had used the same photo on her flier as the one included on her site. Since I don’t know her, the photo creates an impression on me. And that impression is that she wants me to think she’s ALREADY a judge. Her portrait shows her standing in front of a wall stacked with law books, and she’s wearing a dress or something that looks an awful lot like a… robe!

But Melanie’s not the only one. Elizabeth Dow, who’s running in the Republican primary for the same judge position, found her way to the law library, too! And doesn’t her oufit look a lot like a…robe?!

Then, there’s Jeff Allen, who skipped the law books and went right with the big guns: his actual robe!

I understand the concept of trying to market yourself to an uneducated public. And your photo, like it or not, obviously sends a message about who you are. But I’d like to think anyone who’s made their way to my site is savvy enough to know that, while a photo is a picture, it doesn’t provide a true picture. And that’s why I put together this Web site. There are probably close to 100,000 of my own words filling its pages. Sure, a nice photo helps with your message (I used mine from the newspaper, and I’m happy to report I don’t cringe when I look at it!), but you can learn a whole lot more about a person from reading their words than you ever can from a photo. They don’t create cliches like “You can’t judge a book by its cover” out of thin air. There’s truth behind the cliche.

For 5 years, I’ve been writing about the things and thoughts that fill my head. I have always tried to be painfully honest when expressing my opinions and  emotions. When I wrote the columns, I did it that way to make the columns more authentic and, hopefully, more interesting than typical newspaper fare. But today, that method of writing helps give you with a window into my head that no other candidate provides, or even dares to provide you.

I don’t have to pose for you, whether that be posing in a picture, or posing behind some canned political words included on my Web site. I tried to present myself to you as I am, not who I want you to think I am. I’m comfortable in my own skin, warts and all. I hope the things you learn about me on this site are the qualities you’d like to see in a judge.

To contact Tim, write timplacher@yahoo.com

For mor infor about Tim’s campaign, go back to www.timforjudge.com

 In yesterday’s Herald News, there was letter to the editor penned by Jodi Wartenberg, who also happens to be my campaign chairperson. The reason she has the position is primarily because I begged her. But the reason I wanted her help in the first place is because I know how devoted she is to the things she believes in. And I’m lucky enough to be able to say she believes in me.

But more than she believes in me, she believes in the democratic process. Jodi doesn’t sit back and whine about things she doesn’t like. She doesn’t wallow in cynicism about an inability to change things that are unacceptable to her. If she’s got a problem with something, she gets off her backside and tries to do something about it.

Well, this week, she’s got a problem with the Will County Democratic party. And it’s a problem we all should be aware of.

The other day, she received a letter signed by Dan Vera and Dan Maher, two local Democrat officials, endorsing Jeff Allen for the judgeship I and two other candidates are running for. Basically, the local politicos have ordained Allen as their guy. As part of their ordination process, they’re using their positions to foist him on (they hope) unsuspecting voters as the only choice in the upcoming primary election.

Here’s the link to Jodi’s letter:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/opinions/letters/741893,4_4_JO16_LETTERS_S1.article

Don’t think Allen isn’t aware of this. He also, no doubt, was aware that some guy named James Broniarczyk–who is also a local Democratic Party official–filed objections to the nominating petitions of Dan O’Connell and Melanie Manning, the other two candidates in the Democratic judicial primary. My petitions, apparently, were sufficiently bulletproof to pass muster. But think about it, who benefits if two people got thrown off the ballot in my judge race? Not James Broniarczyk. No, the only ones who would benefit are Allen and me. Well, I can tell you most assuredly it wasn’t me who had anything to do with trying to kick those two candidates off the ballot. After getting a thousand signatures of my own out in the community, as well as spinning all the plates of running for office, I respect anyone who’s willing to take the personal risk of putting their name out there for public examination in the polling place. Dan O’Connell and I have shared a beer a couple of weeks ago. We wished each other the best of luck. I want to beat him, sure. Just like I want to beat the other two. But I’m not going to forget who I am in the process. If I wanted to file an objection to someone running in my race, I sure as heck would have put my own name on the objection. I wouldn’t have left it to Mr. James Broniarczyk to be my henchman. Likewise, I wouldn’t be taking part in campaigns to supposedly educate Democratic voters in ways that amount to nothing more than misinformation. There’s another name for people who pull the tricks the Will County Democrats are trying to slip by local voters: they’re called Republicans.

Contact Tim at timplacher@yahoo.com

For more infomation on Tim, visit www.timforjudge.com

  Today, I am the possessor of a couple of really unpleasant things: a bad cold and an utter lack of sleep from maintaining the spinning of all my campaign “plates.” But today is still a good day, because I learned I also possess something positive–my first two votes.

An e-mailer from Shorewood took a moment to let me know he and his dad had marked my name on their just-completed absentee ballots. So, let’s see…that makes two! Add in my own vote plus my wife’s and we’re talking 4 votes. Of course, the grumpy attitude my sleep deprivation has produced might make that fourth vote a little shaky by February 5! But all in all, knowing there are people out there, even in Shorewood, who are finding my Web site and learning enough about me to give me their support and, more importantly, their vote, is extremely gratifying.

I believe I’ve got something unique to offer our town. I’m running for judge because I want to do my part with my talents, some of them God-given and some of them the result of the great education, upbringing, friendships and opportunities my community has given me. I’m not cut out to sit back and watch others do the important work of our town. I’m ready to take on the responsibility.

Four votes will likely not be enough. But it’s a darn good start!

To contact Tim personally, write him at timplacher@yahoo.com

For more about Tim’s campaign, visit www.timforjudge.com