Support CL

Primary elections are fast approaching here in Illinois, and for people like me who have that device called a “telephone” in their homes, that means assorted local politicos have started calling to beg for money, exploiting a loophole that exempts nonprofits from the Do Not Call, I Don’t Want to Talk to You List. On Sunday morning at about 10:30—the doughnut hour, if you’re lucky—some yahoos from “Citizens for CL” called.

At least, that’s what it said on the little screen on my fancy, 21st-century-type receiver that tells me who’s calling, unless it doesn’t. Sure, other people have had this feature since before January 1, 2001, but I’m a late adopter of technology, minor and major, so I still marvel a bit at it. Got it in ’04, I did.

Sometimes it merely says “Private Caller,” or “Out of Area,” which represents useless information. In those cases, I have to make a judgment as to whether to pick up. I usually do during business hours, since a fair number of people do return my calls for interviews. Much of the time, though, I can screen the calls. The Citizens for CL were either going to talk to my answering machine, or not talk to me at all. They didn’t waste their time with my machine.

Citizens for… Clean Living? Hey, that sounds like a something we can all stand behind. Mostly. When applied rigorously to other people. Or maybe it’s Citizens for Cleghorn, who may be running for re-election as fictional senator. In that case, I’ll be happy to donate fictional money. Another possibility: Citizens for Chloride, which is usually aligned with Sodium, but perhaps they’re trying to distance themselves from that element this election.