97 Comments - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:24 am: Not just any ‘grass bowl,’ but Rauner’s ‘grass bowl.’ - PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:26 am: If the bowl fits… - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:27 am: As an aside, something that struck me, reading the close; ===But Republicans defend Goldberg. They said Goldberg is a person of substance, and if Democrats would just listen to him they would see that. In other words, Republicans say, if there’s a problem here—if something’s toxic about what’s happening with Richard Goldberg—it’s the Democrats’ fault.=== Hmm. “But the Trubune defend McQueary. They said McQueary is a person of substance, and if readers would just listen to her they would see that. In other words, Bruce Dold and other’s say, if there’s a problem here—if something’s toxic about what’s happening with Kristen McQueary’s work—it’s the readers’ fault.” Just… struck me. - Get a Job!! - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:28 am: This reminds me of the Team Rauner response to questions about why Sec. Purvis was paid from the DHS budget. She’s a woman, you must all be sexist! So since Mr. Goldberg is a veterans, all the Dems must be anti-American! Is a veteran not capable of being a grass bowl? - Sleepysol - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:29 am: If the sides were flipped, and the person the GOP rep was calling a ‘glass bowl’ was, black, a woman, or a reservist, that rep would never be able to live it down and might possibly have to resign in disgrace. You aren’t allowed to be anti anything if you a GOP but if you have a D next to your name, referring to anyone as an ass is fair game. - thunderspirit - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:30 am: == Republicans say…it’s the Democrats’ fault. == And the Democrats say it’s the Republicans’ fault. Which sums up the Springfield impasse in its entirety. - Man with a plan - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:30 am: I can’t say I have ever accused anyone of pulling the veteran card, just because of the reverence I have for servicemen and women, but come on, Trover. Is calling Goldberg an a-hole really that shocking and appalling to you? What a cheap response. - PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:33 am: Sounds like the governor’s office has a bunch of grass bowls over there. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:35 am: Sleepysol is the first to play the victim card. Congratulations!!! Sheesh, man. - sideline watccher - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:35 am: That is a stupid response. Goldberg is a grass bowl. Every rude, and disrespectful interaction he has had with elected members of the general assembly has shown that. And this crew takes every opportunity they can to call legislators and anyone they disagree with corrupt crooks. They act like Trump…they can dish it out but boy do they have thin skin on the return fire. - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:37 am: =You aren’t allowed to be anti anything if you a GOP..= Sad story, really./s Wrap anything in the flag and now it is hands off? That is the absolute apex of disrespect for America. - Wensicia - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:38 am: Is Trover claiming there are no grassbowls in foxbowls? - Distant Viewer - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:40 am: I think it says something that the mild-mannered and typically above the fray Harmon shows this much despair. More evidence that Springfield is totally stuck in an ideological quagmire if the folks who typically find ways to meet on common ground are getting this frustrated. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:41 am: @Lance Is this an endorsement of Tammy Duckworth? LOL - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:41 am: I would guess the majority of Illinois residents think Springfield is full of “grass bowls” who have run this state into the ground for decades and resist any changes in the status quo - Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:45 am: Ah, yes, and Senator Harmon’s years of thinking that he’s smarter than everyone has led him to talking down to everyone else in the Senate who’s name isn’t John J. Cullerton. - Ace Laredo - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:49 am: I think Harmon’s quote is hilarious. - CharlieKratos - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:52 am: I’m a Gulf War veteran and can verify that we vets can be a huge glass bowl as much as anyone (and in some cases, more so). - Missing G - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:52 am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTr60WYjNM4 - Empty Suit - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:56 am: Takes a grass bowl to know a grass bowl - Sleepysol - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:57 am: Re: follow up on my earlier comments. I wasn’t a commenter then but I remember reading all of the howling that went on when then Congressman Joe Walsh claimed Duckworth wasn’t a real American Hero. Some calling for him to resign right there. Glad to see consistency - PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:57 am: === resist any changes in the status quo === Yeah! Just let Bruce raise taxes like they should have before that status quo set in, and our structural revenue deficit will be rsolved, while we turn around Springfield and bring back Illinois…oh, and all the while by being compassionate. I don’t think I missed any slogans did I? - DuPage - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:59 am: Sticks and stones… - illinoised - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:59 am: Where I work, if I responded in the manner and tone and verbiage displayed by Goldberg, I would be canned. Goldberg reminds me of Trump, who cannot defend his positions in any way other than sophomoric attacks. If this is the what Rauner wants his administration to look like, then my warnings about what would happen if he became governor have come true. - 35/Shields - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:04 am: Here’s an easy fix. Ask Sen. Hastings what he thinks of Rich Goldberg. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:09 am: Goldberg, thank you for your service. You’re still a grass bowl. - Amalia - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:13 am: wow, grass bowl. and here I thought Goldberg was something else. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:14 am: P.S. Harmon owes Wordslinger a hat tip. I believe he’s the one that made the first observation of the administration’s frat boy tendencies. - Skeptic - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:21 am: He’s a Last Toe? - Joe Biden Was Here - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:23 am: And we have a new Cap Fax term to use for the next umpteen years! My question is do we abbreviate it GB or does that only apply to that team from Wisconsin? - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:24 am: Norse, it’s not like they’re trying to hide it, lol. - AlabamaShake - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:25 am: **P.S. Harmon owes Wordslinger a hat tip. I believe he’s the one that made the first observation of the administration’s frat boy tendencies.** LOL - I love wordslinger, but it sure didn’t take him for most of us to see the clique of frat boys in the Rauner admin. - anon - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:27 am: A grass bowl would be very leaky, a lot of grass bowl sin Springfield. - burbanite - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:31 am: - Sleepysol - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:57 am: Re: follow up on my earlier comments. I wasn’t a commenter then but I remember reading all of the howling that went on when then Congressman Joe Walsh claimed Duckworth wasn’t a real American Hero. Some calling for him to resign right there. Glad to see consistency” Are you kidding? apples and oranges, the statement about the grass bowl had nothing to do with his service in the military. Jeez. And I have seen his correspondence and tweets, he wouldn’t know respect if it bit him in the grass. - Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:33 am: Laughable that the Rauner administration frames this as an attack on a veteran, when many in it were alongside Kirk as he stole valor. @Sleepysol, can you quote me where Harmon attacked Goldberg’s service? - Richerton - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:34 am: Harmon is one talkative guy except when you ask him about his law firm’s work related to state business. Then he clams up really quickly. As for Goldberg, I appreciate the sentiment behind his efforts but think he could be just as direct without the sarcasm and snark. The Democrats bear a good part of the blame for how bad the state is messed up and it is refreshing to hear someone say it without fear. - Roamin' Numeral - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:44 am: When your chief legislative liaison is known as the Prince of Snarkness, he’s probably not doing a very good job as a liaison. If Rauner wants him to be an attack dog, then let him be an attack dog. But a legislative liaison probably shouldn’t fill the attack dog role. With the situation the state is in, we need discussion, dialogue, compromise — stuff that a liaison would do. The attack dogs need to stay in the dog house right now, because they’re not helping. - Langhorne - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:47 am: At the opposite end of the spectrum, just imagine what geo ryan would do to a staffer who treated any member of the GA like that. He would tear them a new grass bowl, and then fire them. - Get a Job!! - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:48 am: =Re: follow up on my earlier comments. I wasn’t a commenter then but I remember reading all of the howling that went on when then Congressman Joe Walsh claimed Duckworth wasn’t a real American Hero. Some calling for him to resign right there. Glad to see consistency = Is it really that hard? Senator Harmon’s comments have NOTHING to do with Goldberg the veteran and everything to do with Goldberg the Governor’s employee. Trover brought up the Veteran nonsense. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything, other than trying to make Harmon look bad for calling a glass bowl a glass bowl. - GV - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:48 am: I’m a veteran. People often describe me as “kind of a grass bowl.” Anyone who had served in the military knows it’s full of grass bowls. As a grass bowl and a veteran I’m not offended - downstate commissioner - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:48 am: Grass bowls? Here I have been mispronouncing it all these years… This is a great word for this forum, but it will probably have to be banned…(sigh) - My New Handle - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:49 am: Who then is the ventriloquist, Rauner or Goldberg? - Gruntled University Employee - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:49 am: Thanks Senator Harmon, you just figured out a way for us to use a “banned word” on this blog without actually using a “banned word”. Any guesses on how many times “grass bowl” will be used in this blog from now on? - ABC Lawyer - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:50 am: “He may be a grass bowl, but he is our grass bowl” would have been a better response. - Otto Didact - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:51 am: Like opinions, everyone has a grass bowl…The difference is how they are displayed to the public. Some opinions have value…others are simply grass filled bowls? - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:52 am: You’d think Team Rauner would have some thicker skin, but you’d be wrong. Who knew they were so sensitive? Btw, has anyone seen Don Harmon and Wordslinger together at the same time/place? - Since When - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:55 am: Since when did someone’s military service make them immune from being called a **** - cailleach - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:55 am: Amalia, did you think he was a stick? - AlabamaShake - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:56 am: How long until “grass bowl” gets banned on here? - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:57 am: Well said Langhorne. As would Edgar and Thompson. Then again we operated on the premise of giving and earning respect and trust. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:01 am: Big deal, so he is a veteran- he doesn’t deserve better treatment than any other person when it comes to this issue. Also, he chose to work for Rauner which still makes him Rauner’s lapdog. Tell the governor to write his own letters already and do his job. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:02 am: === “He may be a grass bowl, but he is our grass bowl” would have been a better response. === ABC Lawyer, that requires some degree of creativity from Lance. Where have you seen that from him? - 100 Miles West - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:06 am: Grass bowl? I thought he was a BIC. - My New Handle - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:07 am: And, were I Trover, I would be careful playing that veterans card, given the problems with food vendors supplying veterans homes. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:08 am: “It’s no surprise that our new governor isn’t willing to look in the mirror and do his job for once. Eventually he will learn trying to pay people off is bad public policy,” said the 98% of the rest of Illinois. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:09 am: ===Congressman Joe Walsh claimed Duckworth wasn’t a real American Hero=== And that’s the same as this? You really are a supreme victim. - Hon. Don Gerard - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:10 am: I wonder if all of the politico trolls currently working for free might consider organizing and forming a union to get in on the action upon which Richard A. “Rick - the ‘P’ is Silent” Goldberg is cashing in…it seems that “Right-to-Troll” is terribly unprofitable. - zatoichi - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:12 am: I have some robin nests in my backyard that would make fine ‘grass bowl’ trophies. - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:16 am: Anyone who’s served in any branch of the military for any length of time knows it’s teeming with grass bowls. – MrJM - tmfbitu - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:17 am: Astutely observed, and eloquently delivered, by Senator Harmon. Best laugh I’ve had all day. - Under Further Review - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:24 am: @Oswego Willy: Why pick on McQueary? I had to deal with her while she was at the Southtown and I found her to be fair and open-minded. Is it a crime that she sometimes deviates from the Madigan party line and calls some of the politicians out? - Mama - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:30 am: As the Pope said to the U.S. Congress today, we should all practice the Golden Rule. - ugh - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:30 am: I like Rich. I think he’s a substantive person who could contribute a lot, but his method of communication doesn’t work, particularly when talking to those with actual State government experience. It’s not just a dem thing. He acts the same way toward GOP staffers and members, as well as lobbyists, but he does so in private. - South of 64 - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:36 am: It is an insult to fraternities to refer to the Rauner term as frat boys. Members of fraternities learn to live and work with people of different views while in college. They do not act like the Rauner team. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:39 am: ===she sometimes deviates from the Madigan party line and calls some of the politicians out?=== lol I don’t think that’s the beef. - Get a Job!! - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:45 am: Maybe Harmon wasn’t actually calling Goldberg an a-hole. Maybe Harmon thinks Goldberg is a Brass Troll? Or maybe he’s a Crass Soul? Perhaps a Mass Schoal? Better yet, maybe he was saying Goldberg was Pass Seou. - blah - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:46 am: == Why pick on McQueary? I had to deal with her while she was at the Southtown and I found her to be fair and open-minded. == “Fair and open-minded” aren’t words the come to mind when looking at her more recent work. - Streator Curmudgeon - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:52 am: The question here is not Goldberg’s military service, but why any employer, especially an elected official, would tolerate an employee who is routinely rude, arrogant, and insulting toward other people. If you’re in business, your employees represent you. They’re your face to the public. Who would hire someone who takes such a superior attitude toward others? But I guess if you’re appointed, the concept of being a public servant doesn’t apply. - 618er - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:53 am: I am glad the good Senator cleared it up. I was thinking “unmentionable anatomy” rhymed with Richard. - s2qs - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:56 am: Sorry Trover… Goldberg’s honorable military service does not give him immunity from being called a ‘grass bowl’ when he is indeed being a ‘grass bowl’ (which appears to be quite often) - Skeptic - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:01 pm: Oh wait…Harmon was speaking Spanish. It’s “Mas Sol!” - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:07 pm: The article mentions that Goldberg is a man of “substance”. Okay, how? Anybody who has met him or worked with him please chime in. I’m not being snarky. I don’t know the man. It would seem quite a different thing if he was snarky because he’s frustrated with the inability of others to “get” his arguments. Or is he snarky because he actually lacks true substance and is covering that fact up with preemptive rudeness. I’m thinking about Nuding being referred to as “competent” and “knows his stuff” but has become abrasive when unfairly challenged. So here’s your chance Rauner people. - Intheweeds - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:34 pm: Grass bowl? Foolsgold: take two puffs and chill - D.P.Gumby - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:35 pm: grass bowl Last toe Brass Troll Crass Soul Mass Schoal Pass Seou. That’s the list so far…let’s keep it going: Glass Vole — sharp shards of a rodent Sass Role — playing the part of the mouthy one - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:43 pm: 47, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Harmon and I have been seen in the same place at the same time. But George Clooney and I have not. Draw your own conclusions. - tmfbitu - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:50 pm: Class Mole, or for those prone to taking the bait, Bass Pole - vole - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:02 pm: I prescribe they all just go smoke a bowl. Sheesh. Lots of folks in spring patch need some serious reality revelation. Turn in the keys to the big black power SUV for a bicycle. Or a long walk where some fresh thoughts may occur in the brain bowl. Get their heads out of their grass bowls and some grass bowl into their heads. - Cheswick - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:12 pm: When you’ve got the job Goldberg’s got, it’s better to be called a grass bowl than a… bussy mat. I’m guessing he wears it as a badge of honor. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:17 pm: ===she sometimes deviates from the Madigan party line and calls some of the politicians out?=== I must’ve missed where Speaker Madigan and the legislators he doesn’t control as well as Durkin *cough* Rauner *cough* called on a Hurricane to gut Chicago, leading to the deaths of hundreds and the displacement of thousands… My bad. It’s also how the GOP and the Tribune are quite similar in thinking either they are smarter then everyone, or everyone else isn’t as bright as they all are. - vole - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:26 pm: “I’m guessing he wears it as a badge of honor.” On his chest would be better than in your face. You know, something to do with civilization. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:26 pm: To Goldberg, He is hands-down my favorite. Unlike Lance or “ck”, his is a role, not a job, and it isn’t about moving things forward. If you think your recognized Press Shop needs to be against trying to help their Boss be successful, then the Rauner Press Shop is that place. It’s as though the Press Shop just doesn’t want to be the place for good things to originate from. They want tweets, snark, mockery, and a vast majority of the time, boilerplate drivel lacking any originality and substance. Now Goldberg? While tilted Legislative Affairs, his role IS to be snarky and unhelpful. On purpose. While that troubles me to no end, making “Goldberg” #3 on my “Rauner’s Unhelpful Governing List” (Press Shop #1, the actual Legislative Shop #2) it’s role to BE unhelpful. If Goldberg was an actual commenter here in those tones, man… He’s my favorite, for all the right and wrong reasons. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 1:37 pm: Ugh - hence why it would’ve been nice for Governor Rauner to hire a former or current GOP legislator to do that job and put Mr. Goldberg in a more behind-the-scenes role. I’m not a big Gary Hannig fan, but Rep. Hannig did a pretty darn good job of herding cats and making things work when Quinn smartly brought him in to run the shop. - cogito - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 2:35 pm: As a past Illinois Governor once reminded me, politics is a game of addition, not subtraction. Even a grass bowl should be able to figure that out. - My New Handle - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 2:41 pm: And being snarky moves things forward how? Oh, because his boss doesn’t take his own job seriously, or rather his role. - My New Handle - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 2:44 pm: As I wrote in a post several days ago, maybe Goldberg’s approach is better suited to being a writer on Stephen Colbert’s show. Sowing disrespect and reaping I-don’t-know-what, except his taxpayer supported paycheck. - Daniel Plainview - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 2:46 pm: I can tolerate grass bowls that get things done. Grass bowls that bring nothing but tired mindless snark to the table? Useless. - Ghost - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 3:13 pm: So if you serve in the navy you cant be a grass bowl? Someone needs to attend an army navy game….. - Huh? - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 3:41 pm: According to the WUIS story this morning, what Mr. Miller has posted is the first part of a 2 part story about how the players in our sad story go out of their way to be rude and obnoxious to the other side. The second part is supposed to be tomorrow morning. - walker - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 3:55 pm: Harmon didn’t call out Goldberg as a person, he said it was his “role” as the Governor’s legislative liaison. Since when? How is that supposed to work exactly? If Goldberg’s the “bad cop” in this little play, when does the “good cop” show up? - Tec - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 4:11 pm: @Tover, if Goldberg wasn’t a grass bowl he wouldn’t have made it through basic training, let alone a WAR. OW is right, you always say the wrong thing. - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 4:11 pm: I don’t get it. Brad Tusk doesn’t rhyme with “grass bowl” - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 4:24 pm: ===If Goldberg’s the “bad cop” in this little play, when does the “good cop” show up?=== Ever hear of “bad cop/worse cop?” Goldberg is the bad cop, but I have a feeling Rauner is the worse cop. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 4:50 pm: Can I change my Cap Fax moniker to Grass Bowl? - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 6:42 pm: House cleaning at Ag. Evidently they want bigger grass bowls to run the agency and fair. - Huh? - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 7:04 pm: I was wrong about the second part being aired tomorrow. Heard it on the way home. The quote about opportunity from Mr. Madigan was priceless. - Jorge - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:08 pm: This is pathetic. As a vet I would like to go ahead and say I agree with with Harmon. Sometimes the truth hurts but when I get called a grass bowl it hurts so good. - Dome Gnome - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:42 pm: Just like “618er” before me, I was convinced Harmon had rhymed a body part with “hick.” Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.