Okay, this is a dandy story.
There’s a guy named Joe Rickett who has more money than a Monopoly game. Rumors started flying about what he was going to do with some of that money.
Joe Ricketts has had quite a day. Thursday morning’s New York Times identified the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade as bankroller of a $10 million super PAC campaign to attack President Obama over his past ties to his old pastor, the hyperbolic Rev. Jeremiah Wright—a favorite villain of the right wing during the 2008 campaign.
Okay, ponder that for a minute. Ten million dollars to attack a minister who has less influence on Barack Obama than I do. Or you do. Or Sarah Palin does.
That seems a tad excessive.
It also seems a tad silly because one of Rickett’s sons is chairman of the Chicago Cubs, a baseball team you might have heard of if you read to the bottom of the scores in the sport’s section.
And the Cubs play in Wriggly Field, which you might have heard of if you studied ancient world history. Wriggly Field was built about the same time as the pyramids. They’ve had to carbon date second base several times.
Joe Ricketts
So, Rickett’s son is trying to get the city of Chicago to spend $300 million to fix up the crumbling parthenon of baseball.
And the mayor of Chicago is … are you following me, now? Rahm Emanuel. Yes, the same Rahm Emanuel who was Obama’s Chief of Staff. And there are several African American aldermen on city council in Chicago.
So Daddy is spending money to defeat a candidate who is the best friend of the mayor who the son needs to help fix his ballpark.
And to their credit, it only took the Rickett boys about a week to figure out that maybe they are biting off their nose to spite their face. However, in all fairness, their faces are also in need of some renovation.
So, two statements go out. The first is this.
“The mayor is pissed. Very pissed. Very, very pissed,” an aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s hyperkinetic former chief of staff told me upon reading the news of Ricketts Senior’s planned anti-Obama assault. Hours later Emanuel said brusquely, “It’s insulting to the president. It’s insulting to the country.”
Followed by son Ricketts
Also upset: Tom Ricketts, who said: “As chairman of the Chicago Cubs, I repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year’s presidential campaign or in any setting—like my father has.”
Game over.
It is also interesting to note that Joe Ricketts may be a son of a motherless goat, but he raised some good kids.
But Tom Ricketts isn’t the only member of the family who may have been unhappy with Dad’s activities. Laura Ricketts, Tom’s sister and thus part owner of the team, is a big contributor to Obama and other Democrats and has hosted fundraisers for gay backers of the president. Two other Ricketts siblings, Todd and Peter, also have a piece of the action with the ball club.
Thanks to David for the heads-up.