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283 Chicago Political Glossary blind pig (archaic). An unlicensed saloon, as distinct from speakeasy, an illegal saloon during Prohibition (–). boodle. Originally, the private use of public funds, a corrupt legislative fund, or the practice of selling one’s legislative vote; now a generic term for graft, bribery, gratuities, or just ordinary pork-barrel benefits. bummers (archaic). Men hired to disrupt, by brawling if necessary, a gathering of the political opposition. Camp Beverly. An office where Chicago public schools employees accused of misconduct perform menial administrative tasks while awaiting resolution of the charges; named for the supervisor. Camp Muni. A room in the Richard J. Daley Center where municipal and Cook County judges accused of misconduct await resolution of the charges while performing only menial judicial tasks. captain’s man (archaic). A police officer selected by his captain to collect the police district’s illegal payoffs from businesses and vice operations. chain voting. A vote-fraud practice by which a precinct captain outside the polling place fills out a ballot and gives it to a voter, who drops it in the ballot box and then is given a fresh ballot. Upon exiting the polling place, the voter hands the new ballot to the precinct captain, who marks it in advance, and so on. Chinaman. A political sponsor or patron. clout. Originally, a noun meaning improper political influence or the bearer of it or a verb meaning to exercise such influence; now a national generic synonym for power. collection (archaic).The practice of taking bribes, kickbacks, gratuities, or boodle. fetcher bill. A legislative measure contrary to corporate interests introduced merely to solicit, or “fetch,” payoffs or at least campaign contributions to kill it. floaters. Transients rounded up on election day and transported from precinct to precinct to cast multiple ballots, as distinct from repeaters, voters who cast multiple ballots under various names in the same precinct. four-legged voter (archaic). A vote-fraud practice in which an election judge (a machine worker at the polling place) accompanied a voter into the polling booth, allegedly for assistance, which is legal, but actually to ensure that the correct machine votes are cast. ghosts. See payroller. 284 Chicago Political Glossary goo goos. Derisive term for reformers, short for “good government.” Attributed to Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun in the late nineteenth century . Goo goo originally might have been applied to members of the Good Government Association of Boston, energized by Harvard reformers in suburban Cambridge. gray wolves. Crooked and powerful aldermen. Coined in  by reform alderman William Kent and in use at least into the s. The term also has been attributed to Chicago reformer Walter L. Fisher, muckraker Lincoln Steffens, and newspaper writers. handbook (archaic). A bookie carrying racing forms who took illegal bets on the street; later, a room, usually behind a saloon or poolroom, for illegal offtrack betting. juice. A modern term for Chinaman, clout, or rabbi (political sponsor or patron). kink. An unethical politician or judge, especially one with a contrary reputation. kinky. Corrupt. lakefront liberals. Reformers, mostly independent Democrats, residing in the Gold Coast, Near North, or Lincoln Park on the North Side or in Hyde Park on the South Side. Some strays reside on the Far North Side or in landlocked Chatham in the African American Sixth Ward of the South Side. A nearly extinct species. man on five. The mayor, from the fifth-floor suite of his city hall offices; mainly an epithet for Mayor Richard J. Daley (–). outfit, the. The Chicago branch of organized crime; dating to the s but of unknown lineage. palm cards. Printed cards listing the machine’s endorsed candidates, handed to voters on or just before election day. panel house (archaic). Rooms for prostitution containing only a bed and chair; the pocket of the customer’s pants placed over the chair was picked by an outstretched arm from a hidden closet. The pickpocket was called a dip and the closet a dipping room. patronage. The awarding of public jobs to politically deserving people. payroller. Short for “ghost payroller,” a holder of a patronage job who does little or no governmental work but is expected to perform political tasks such as helping to turn out machine voters. rabbi. Like Chinaman, a political sponsor or patron. reformer. The opposite of regular; anyone who opposes the prevailing political system on moral, political, or religious grounds. regular. A politician or voter who always supports his party’s organization. Reform and regular formerly were...

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