"The gravest of political sins" from Mike Royko

"It wasn't merely that Kelly had opened the town. Chicagoans enjoy their vices. But he had let it become so obvious that the civic leaders were complaining. Also, basic city services were declining. Garbage collection and street cleaning were haphazard, public transportation was a mess. Worst of all, he had committed the gravest of political sins, next to losing an election: he had allowed politics to creep, to gallop, into the schools. The school board was loaded with party hacks, and what they weren't carrying off, they were wasting. The PTA had demanded that the school superintendent be replaced, and the superintendent airily responded that he 'couldn't care less' what the PTA wanted."