The following is a letter Wolf Weiss sent to me via email:
I am asking you kindly to stop emailing me about your so-called (cabmarket.com) discussion forum.
Over the past twelve months, you have consistently and convincingly shown that your main mission is to discredit, disparage or malign anyone or any organization that does not agree with you or your lunatic fringe friends, one of whom has deluded himself into believing he is the leader of a taxicab drivers’ organization.
Let’s face it, fifty-some “votes” collected over several weeks of “vote” gathering by hanging out in front of a popular cabbie restaurant amounts to almost nothing.
It does indicate that practically no one (none of the other +/-10,000 drivers) really cares about the alleged CCO and he certainly is not their leader. He did not even collect enough popularity votes of confidence to constitute any sense of popularity or confidence or legitimacy by any normal standards.
I don’t see you crying out or questioning Foulks’ and the alleged CCO’s legitimacy!
At least I don’t have to question Foulks’ or your legitimacy as you did in your “Clowns” article last year about the CPTDA. We now know you have less credibility than you may have attributed to any of your so-called enemies.
We now know you have unfairly, unjustly, unduly and irrationally used non-events and non-issues such as Wiedersberg’s biased and baseless opinions to vilify and discredit CPTDA’s activities.
We now also know that you, Wiedersberg and Budzinski hatched that little scheme and the vicious attack, presumably by Weidersberg, to discredit the CPTDA in your Chicago Dispatcher.
Obviously, you were not man enough to do it yourself. You hid behind Bullington, Budzinski and Wiedersberg in your attempt to destroy the CPTDA before it ever got off the ground. You hide behind so-called editorial content and freedom of speech to discredit other people and their organizations.
We also now know that you have used “back-room” disagreements and negotiations in your attempt to publicly destroy other organizations and people associated with them because they did not agree with your vision of how the taxicab industry can and should be regulated and administered.
The so-called flyer fiasco, as you may recall, was based on content of a handout which was at the time that it was created the best information available -- information that you and others provided -- which resulted in your false accusations of fraud.
This happened after one of your friends signed the flyer by signing a page reserved for signatures which were incorporated into the handout. His only reason for backing out was that he changed his mind about his position regarding the lease cap -- after talking to you and after you informed me that I was committing fraud!
And then there was the TWOP/DCS meeting with the commissioner about lease over-charges, which we now know was deliberately obstructed and hampered by your friend, whom you sent to the meeting to accomplish just that: interference.
We now know that your friend went to that meeting after discussing the matter with you because he and I discussed the matter as well. He admitted that he talked to you and you suggested that he go to the meeting to disrupt it, mainly to prevent TWOP from gaining any ground.
This bust-in-and-yell-and-scream-and-threaten tactic, seems to be one of your personal favorites as well.
You have consistently and convincingly shown that you can take any minor incident or a non-issue and twist it into whatever false impression you wish to create. And you seem to be quite adept in taking real issues and twisting the discussion to fit your vicious attack campaign.
A review of the past year's ostensible articles and self-styled editorials in your publication and your many posts prove this beyond any doubt.
In as much as a vast majority of your posts and published poison contain no constructive statements (except the "news" about the CPTDA re-incorporating in 2006) any comments from you are obviously designed to denigrate me and the CPTDA and others whom you have branded "the enemy."
However, it has become apparent that the only real "enemy" you have is the truth.
And, you may recall, to establish the truth, is the only thing which I or the CPTDA has been committed to.
Yet our stated goals and commitments have elicited such powerful reactions, such a horrid barrage of false and inaccurate and twisted verbiage, a reasonable person must ask, “Why?”
Why? Starting with the “Clowns/Will the Real CPTDA Please Stand Up” article and proceeding with “Snakes in the Morning” editorial/article, continuing with busting into and interfering with legitimate meetings among legitimatly concerned drivers and professionals asociated with the industry and continuing in the nasty, awful, garbage posted on your so-called discussion forum.
Count on the fact that all your misdeeds will come back to you. And, rest assured you will not like the taste of that medicine.
Wolfgang J. Weiss
Wolf,
Golly you're mean. I'll address a few of your points.
Regarding Mike Foulks and his fledgling organization, the CCO, why are you trying to tear him apart? I encourage cabdrivers who want to improve themselves so why do you want me to criticize him? Isn't it only because Mike Foulks and his CCO are a threat to your CPTDA, which has to the best of my knowledge never accomplished anything for cabdrivers?
I credit Mike Foulks. He's trying. And getting fifty or so members to start is nothing to sneeze at. You've been at it for years and you don't have enough members to make a basketball team. I am on the side of cabdrivers. I always have been unless they are trying to undermine other cabdrivers like you do.
Regarding the "Clowns" article you mentioned about your CPTDA, I have to admit that I'm a little embarrassed. You see Wolf, to this day I never even read that article. I had an idea of what it was about though. You and Weidersberg were arguing over who was the rightful owner of the CPTDA, or something to that effect, as though that organization had any value. I asked my editor if there was anything worth reading in it besides the usual dribble about who was the more important cabdriver. I didn't even waste my time.
Wolf, I'm still waiting for you to accomplish something so we have something to report. Tell all the people in this list what you and your CPTDA have done for cabdrivers. Go ahead. We're looking for a lead story for this issue Wolf. Maybe you have it for us.
Moving on, you wrote, "And then there was the TWOP/DCS meeting with the commissioner about lease over-charges, which we now know was deliberately obstructed and hampered by your friend, whom you sent to the meeting to accomplish just that: interference. We now know that your friend went to that meeting after discussing the matter with you because he and I discussed the matter as well. He admitted that he talked to you and you suggested that he go to the meeting to disrupt it, mainly to prevent TWOP from gaining any ground."
Wolf, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. It sounds a little like the conspiracy theory your friend Yi Tang tried to accuse me of when he said that I knew about some secret deal between mayor Daley and some New Yorker. I will say it is entertaining though. I would love to know who this mystery friend of mine was who I supposedly sent to this meeting. Why is this the first time I heard about this anyway? If he is a friend of mine and he made these crazy admissions to you, why don't you say his name? I mean, obviously I should already know who you're talking about if I sent him there so there is no need to protect his identity. Who did I send to disrupt this meeting Wolf? Say his name so all the reporters you copied on this list can interview him so they can expose me to the masses.
Wolf, I'm going to let you in on a little secret too, while we're at it. Come a little closer and listen good. Ready? I think if the city finds that an owner is overcharging on the lease that they should punish that owner appropriately. That's right Wolf. I know that's a shock to you. I will tell any driver who thinks he or she has been overcharged on his or her lease to go to Consumer Services and file a complaint.
So the bottom line is that when you accuse me of trying to disrupt a meeting with the commissioner about lease cap violations, that's just plain silly.
"We also now know that you have used “back-room” disagreements and negotiations in your attempt to publicly destroy other organizations and people associated with them because they did not agree with your vision of how the taxicab industry can and should be regulated and administered."
Wolf, I don't have back-room dealings with anyone. I call it like I see it. My opinions are my own. You complain about what I write a lot, but you can't ever point to anything I say and tell me why it's wrong. All you do is throw attacks at me. What points have I written that you disagreed with Wolf? If you start from there, maybe we can have a dialogue about it. Who knows, you might even change my mind. But you're not going to convince me of anything by just whining.
"In as much as a vast majority of your posts and published poison contain no constructive statements (except the "news" about the CPTDA re-incorporating in 2006) any comments from you are obviously designed to denigrate me and the CPTDA and others whom you have branded "the enemy.""
First of all Wolf, there is nobody I consider my enemy. Actually that's the term your friend Bhairavi Desai branded on me. Second of all, isn't it just a little conceited of you to say that the only constructive statements in my newspaper had to do with you reincorporating your organization? You filed papers with the state. Wow. Let me shake your hand.
Wolf, I wish you all the best. When you are ready to start doing something productive for Chicago cabdrivers, please get in touch with me. I will help in whatever way I can.
Thanks,
George Lutfallah
Chicago Dispatcher
There were no "back-room" deals. Bad choice of wording -- better description "background dealings."
I was referring to the private discussions, communication and negotiations among some of the people associated with and involved in that fiasco.
-wjw-
Wolfgang J. Weiss,
Please tell me how many 'votes of confidence' I need to collect, and for what purpose?
I have yet to start 'my' organization, which will be part of the CCO. I am not delusional; I am the duly-elected CCO President until May 2008. The CCO has over fifty (50) known members.
I have never claimed to 'represent' any of the other '10,000 plus' cabdrivers in Chicago. Have you?
How many cabdrivers are known members of the CPTDA?
Aren't you, in a way, falsely claiming the other '10,000 plus' cabdrivers as part of CPTDA by falsely suggesting that I claim to represent them?
If not, how can you claim that you 'represent' cabdrivers' interests any more or less than I 'represent' them?
You, and all of the CPTDA members I could find, as well as any cabdrivers associated with Prateek Sampat, and every other cabdriver who read the Dispacther or saw a flyer, were invited to participate in the first CCO election in November 2007.
Most chose not to, whatever the reason (or lame excuse).
I'll happily run against you in any fair election and expect to win. You haven't done anything for cabdrivers that I am aware of. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
There is nothing 'illegimate' about the CCO. It is a group of over fifty (50) cabdrivers. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm going to stop here, because you seem to get easily confused and attempt to confuse with lengthy postings.
Well, Mr. Weiss? I'm e-mailing you notification of this posting...
-Mike Foulks, President, Chicago Cabdriver Organization (CCO)
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Replying to:
The following is a letter Wolf Weiss sent to me via email:
I am asking you kindly to stop emailing me about your so-called (cabmarket.com) discussion forum.
Over the past twelve months, you have consistently and convincingly shown that your main mission is to discredit, disparage or malign anyone or any organization that does not agree with you or your lunatic fringe friends, one of whom has deluded himself into believing he is the leader of a taxicab drivers’ organization.
Let’s face it, fifty-some “votes” collected over several weeks of “vote” gathering by hanging out in front of a popular cabbie restaurant amounts to almost nothing.
It does indicate that practically no one (none of the other +/-10,000 drivers) really cares about the alleged CCO and he certainly is not their leader. He did not even collect enough popularity votes of confidence to constitute any sense of popularity or confidence or legitimacy by any normal standards.
I don’t see you crying out or questioning Foulks’ and the alleged CCO’s legitimacy!
At least I don’t have to question Foulks’ or your legitimacy as you did in your “Clowns” article last year about the CPTDA. We now know you have less credibility than you may have attributed to any of your so-called enemies.
We now know you have unfairly, unjustly, unduly and irrationally used non-events and non-issues such as Wiedersberg’s biased and baseless opinions to vilify and discredit CPTDA’s activities.
We now also know that you, Wiedersberg and Budzinski hatched that little scheme and the vicious attack, presumably by Weidersberg, to discredit the CPTDA in your Chicago Dispatcher.
Obviously, you were not man enough to do it yourself. You hid behind Bullington, Budzinski and Wiedersberg in your attempt to destroy the CPTDA before it ever got off the ground. You hide behind so-called editorial content and freedom of speech to discredit other people and their organizations.
We also now know that you have used “back-room” disagreements and negotiations in your attempt to publicly destroy other organizations and people associated with them because they did not agree with your vision of how the taxicab industry can and should be regulated and administered.
The so-called flyer fiasco, as you may recall, was based on content of a handout which was at the time that it was created the best information available -- information that you and others provided -- which resulted in your false accusations of fraud.
This happened after one of your friends signed the flyer by signing a page reserved for signatures which were incorporated into the handout. His only reason for backing out was that he changed his mind about his position regarding the lease cap -- after talking to you and after you informed me that I was committing fraud!
And then there was the TWOP/DCS meeting with the commissioner about lease over-charges, which we now know was deliberately obstructed and hampered by your friend, whom you sent to the meeting to accomplish just that: interference.
We now know that your friend went to that meeting after discussing the matter with you because he and I discussed the matter as well. He admitted that he talked to you and you suggested that he go to the meeting to disrupt it, mainly to prevent TWOP from gaining any ground.
This bust-in-and-yell-and-scream-and-threaten tactic, seems to be one of your personal favorites as well.
You have consistently and convincingly shown that you can take any minor incident or a non-issue and twist it into whatever false impression you wish to create. And you seem to be quite adept in taking real issues and twisting the discussion to fit your vicious attack campaign.
A review of the past year's ostensible articles and self-styled editorials in your publication and your many posts prove this beyond any doubt.
In as much as a vast majority of your posts and published poison contain no constructive statements (except the "news" about the CPTDA re-incorporating in 2006) any comments from you are obviously designed to denigrate me and the CPTDA and others whom you have branded "the enemy."
However, it has become apparent that the only real "enemy" you have is the truth.
And, you may recall, to establish the truth, is the only thing which I or the CPTDA has been committed to.
Yet our stated goals and commitments have elicited such powerful reactions, such a horrid barrage of false and inaccurate and twisted verbiage, a reasonable person must ask, “Why?”
Why? Starting with the “Clowns/Will the Real CPTDA Please Stand Up” article and proceeding with “Snakes in the Morning” editorial/article, continuing with busting into and interfering with legitimate meetings among legitimatly concerned drivers and professionals asociated with the industry and continuing in the nasty, awful, garbage posted on your so-called discussion forum.
Count on the fact that all your misdeeds will come back to you. And, rest assured you will not like the taste of that medicine.
Wolfgang J. Weiss
