The [Monday] Papers

"Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in a black-owned bank in Chicago, taking a page from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's playbook," the Tribune reports.

"The issue led to back-and-forth attacks from the two campaigns centered on failures of financial institutions Rauner and the Pritzker family have been involved with in their careers.

"Pritzker's planned deposit, like Rauner's three years ago in a South Side credit union, carries the goal of generating support from black voters.

"Pritzker's campaign tried to draw a distinction between the two men's actions: the Democrat's money pledge was only announced on a Chicago radio show, while Rauner's visit to the credit union was a major campaign event."

That's the distinction the Pritzker campaign is trying to draw? That's pretty weak tea - "I'm slightly less cynical if you use the metric of how much attention we each sought!"

Besides, from an insidery political strategist's point of view, it made sense for Rauner to make a big deal of his deposit - he was a whitebread Republican trying to demonstrate that he would care about the city's African Americans should he become governor. Pritzker's deposit was also no doubt the result of an insidery political strategy: Let's make the deposit and make sure enough of the right people know about it, but let's not make a big deal of it because of the potential backlash of doing so.

From an outsider's perspective, it looks like nothing but what it is: a heavy-handed tactic to buy support from a community neither candidate felt they had properly engaged. Why else would such a move be necessary? It's offensive.

Both Rauner and Pritzker had contributed millions of dollars in philanthrophy toward their causes. I'm not going to say neither of them truly care about the city's people of color. But do they know how to care? Have they done enough? Clearly the answer to that is No. If each felt it was important to have deposited a large amount of money into a black-owned bank, they would have done it long before they were campaigning, just because they thought it was the right thing to do.

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From Rich Miller at Capitol Fax:

"Um, remember when candidate Bruce Rauner deposited a million dollars into a black credit union? The Democratic Governor's Association was not amused . . .

Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner made good on a promise to deposit $1 million in a South Side credit union for small business loans.

Rauner arrived in his 20-year-old Volkswagen van. At the teller's window he made a $200,000 donation and an $800,000 deposit to help the African American-owned credit union make small business loans. [...]

"Is he the kind of person who would rather buy votes in the community as opposed to being here all along?" said Rikeesha Phelon of the Democratic Governor's Association.

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That's measured compared to what a lot of others were saying about Rauner's "investment" back then. From the Tribune in 2014:

[T]he Democratic campaign of rival Gov. Pat Quinn accused the Republican of trying to buy black votes.

Some of those involved in securing the promise from Rauner respond by saying, in effect, so what? One of them, veteran South Side political activist Mark Allen, said in his experience, pending initiatives by politicians all have the same end purpose, whether paid for with public or private funds.

"When Pat Quinn spends $10 million for an issue like Safe Passage, what do you think he's doing?" asked Allen, referring to a program for safeguarding Chicago schoolchildren. "Every dollar is to try to get votes."

Also, as far as Rauner making his deposit pledge a major campaign event, it may have turned into that when he actually arrived to deliver the money, but it certainly didn't start that way:

For its part, Rauner's campaign initially made little public mention of what had transpired. Pictures of the event posted on the official campaign Twitter account were simply captioned, "Spent some time having a good dialogue on the South Side today."

It wasn't until Allen went public with details about Rauner's promise that the Republican confirmed he had made it.

Sounds familiar, eh?

But then, Democrats appear to be lining up behind Pritzker exactly because he can execute the Rauner playbook. The opening that creates in the primary is not for the bumbling Chris Kennedy, whose early effort to position himself as an outsider is laughable, but for state Sen. Daniel Biss or Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar. (I'd give Biss the advantage there.)

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The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Featuring: The Biters, Frankie + the Studs, Ha Ha Tonka, The Gladstones, Rik Emmett & RESolution9, Sirenia, Arkona, Diamond Head, Big Freedia, Downtown Boys, Ross The Boss, The Meat Puppets, The Holdup, Oceano, Coheed & Cambria, Blue Dream, Jambinai, Daniel Oulette, and The Besnard Lakes.

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The Ghost Of Dayan Viciedo
In The White Sox Report.

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SportsMonday: The Cubs Are Ridiculous
If the rotation stays healthy, they will contend for everything again.

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Beachwood Sports Radio: Is Something Still Wrong With The Cubs?

Or is the narrative the problem? Plus: Coming Soon: The White Sox' Most Interesting Time Of The Year; Blacks In Baseball; Preaching The Preakness; The Bulls & Butler; NBA Putting Us Through Needless Conference Finals'; No Mitigation For Blackhawks; and Schweinsteiger!

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Slow TV Chicago
It's time.

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The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Is in pre-production.

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BeachBook

Loop Dermatologist Convicted For Treating Skin Conditions Patients Did Not Have.

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Chicago Scrap Metal Company, President Plead Guilty To Tax Violations.

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U.S. Used Car Glut Is A Dream For Dealers, A Nightmare For Manufacturers.

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How Our Tax Code Makes Inequality Worse.

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Corporate Giants Target Communities Of Color To Extract Wealth.

Kind of like domestic colonialism . . .

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How The Fine Print Gets You.

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SCOTUS Judges Used To Explain Recusals. What Happened?

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The New Dark Times.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

Dart is right, but why do I feel like this show is on every week?

Sheriff Tom Dart says his jail has become a dumping ground for the poor and mentally ill, tonight on #60Minutes

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 21, 2017

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Everybody's interviewing white Trump voters in struggling towns. I talked to voters in a struggling black town: https://t.co/47SneVyZaJ

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 20, 2017

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Anyone who cites the 9/11 commission as a device to get "politics" out of investigations doesn't remember it very well

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) May 20, 2017

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*extremely citylab voice*

How poutine saved Reading, PA

— Dick Florida (@Dick_Florida) May 20, 2017

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Also over 11 hours. pic.twitter.com/kGXDKCHL8I

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) May 20, 2017

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Time frames.

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