In another current mailer from his campaign, Shajan Kuriakose describes his “commitment to serving our community,” and includes unspecified activities at his parish and volunteer work for Bombay Teen Challenge, a group headquartered in Mumbai that fights human trafficking. The U.S. office is in Georgia. It’s possible that Kuriakose raises funds for the group, but does that qualify as volunteer work? He doesn’t say what he does, and that’s the problem with a lot of his political advertising. He makes claims that aren’t supported by real activity. Just like the alderman he wants to replace.

The mailer also claims that he will be an “outspoken voice” who “will make sure the city invests in the 50th Ward.” That would be a refreshing change from the current alderman, who meekly does whatever Rahm tells her to do. But could Kuriakose deliver? He doesn’t say how he’d do it.

Kuriakose then touts himself as being the “only candidate running who has the experience we need to drive economic growth….” He praises himself for spending 15 years “…as a small business owner, real estate investor, and project management professional….” Unfortunately, his experience didn’t teach him how to get a signed copy of the lease for his rental apartment, or how to investigate the building where he was moving so he wouldn’t find himself living in a foreclosure. How effective would that make him in ward management? I can understand that he was in a hurry to move here since he’d been promised the pickings were ripe, but all his experience didn’t teach him to dot his i’s and cross his t’s? Not good.

I don’t like carpetbaggers or political opportunists. He may be capable of great things, but he needs to live in the ward for quite a bit longer before he rushes in to start improving it. Ten months’ residency–or less–doesn’t cut it.