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The [Wednesday] Papers
"[U.S. Rep. Danny] Davis argued that a vote for Lightfoot would be a risk voters cannot afford to take at a perilous time when Chicago is facing a $1.2 billion spike in pension payments and other intransigent problems," the Sun-Times reports.
"Would you rather take a chance for an individual who has been a great prosecutor, a well-learned individual, an outstanding attorney, a great litigator, skilled professional in the courthouse, but never been elected to anything?" Davis said of Lightfoot.
Representative Davis is right! Let's all vote for Lightfoot!
I mean, that's quite an endorsement of . . . his candidate's opponent.
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"It's great to be a great choir member," Davis said. "You can sing in the choir. But, it's something else to stand behind that podium every Sunday and try and reach the people. You can talk about what it might feel like to be there. But having the experience of doing it is very different."
Davis previously endorsed never-elected literal choir member Willie Wilson.
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Meanwhile . . .
"With two weeks to go before the April 2 runoff election, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's mayoral campaign has stopped airing TV commercials - an unorthodox move that raises questions about the viability of her campaign in the race's closing days," the Tribune reports.
"We're making strategic decisions to put us in the best place to win this campaign," Preckwinkle said Tuesday during an endorsement event with U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, when asked to explain why her campaign has gone off the air.Asked whether her campaign had run out of money, Preckwinkle said: "We're making strategic decisions to put us in the best place to win this campaign. Thank you."
No, thank you, Madame President.
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"Preckwinkle's Tuesday press conference featured many of the same elected officials and ministers who already have backed the county Democratic Party chair's mayoral bid or are her longtime allies."
Yup. As Lightfoot rolled out a broad range of endorsements in the least week from the likes of Gloria Steinem, Mike Quigley, Our Revolution Chicago and Jerry Joyce, Preckwinkle's campaign felt compelled to regurgitate old and tired endorsements of their own to convey the (false) notion that they were matching their opponent's momentum.
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From the Sun-Times' latest Lightfoot endorsement:
"[Preckwinkle] entered public life as a reformer, first as an alderman and now as Cook County Board president. She has improved the county health care system, reduced the jail population and made county government more efficient. But she has an overdeveloped instinct for the pragmatic - a willingness to forge dubious alliances in the service of getting things done."
Emphasis mine - because it's spot-on. From December:
"Your job always, if you're in office, is to try to move your agenda forward and get things done," she told the Tribune in a recent interview. "You know, I'm not into being Don Quixote."
Sometimes, though, voters (and taxpayers) want their mayor (or any other elected official) to fight the good fight - even if they go down with the ship. They want an elected official to, um, fight for them.
Hence, Lori Quixote, who was willing to tilt at the city's biggest windmill - it's incumbent mayor - back when few others were.
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Four years ago, I'm convinced, Preckwinkle could've beat Rahm without needing a runoff. She said no.
Why? It wasn't practical. Rahm had raised too much money. That was her excuse this time around too; if Rahm hadn't bailed on re-election, Preckwinkle would still be on the sidelines.
(Similarly, Preckwinkle preferred Dan Biss to JB Pritzker in the last Democratic gubernatorial primary, but didn't come out and support Biss because she didn't see a "path to victory" over Pritzker's millions. She also didn't endorse her floor leader Chuy Garcia, who did run against Rahm four years ago. So when Preckwinkle says she's "taken on the Old Boys' Club," well, that's not really true. Instead, she's joined it. You can't get more Old Boys Club than Burke and Berrios.
(Another example: She thought the city's Olympic bid was a bad idea, but sensed it was going to pass the city council easily, so instead of leading a fight against it, she voted for it and tried to assure as much of the spoils for her ward as she could. Frankly, that's why it's a surprise she voted against the parking meter deal, but maybe there was nothing for her to gain by conceding on that one.
(And look, I get it, sometimes you take half a loaf, or even a quarter of a loaf or just a slice, but sometimes you fight for what you believe in - and engage others while doing so, giving them a voice. Sometimes, over time, that can become a win, too.
(I'm just not a "That's just the way it is" kind of person. Things are whatever way we want them to be; there is nothing inherent in the way we live besides the constraints of physics.)
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Back to the Sun-Times:
"As a partner in a major law firm with a global reach, Lightfoot worked on two lawsuits to actually decrease the unfair advantage of the Democratic Party. The suits alleged, correctly, that the congressional map in Illinois was unfair to Republicans."
She took on Michael Madigan? Yes!
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"As deputy chief in City Hall's procurement department, she gave Mayor Richard M. Daley grief by questioning contracts to the politically connected.
"As head of special task force, she gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel grief by producing a scathing report on the Chicago Police Department.
"This election is no longer about who's the real progressive, a label that might scare off half the voters anyway. That's a wash. It's about who is most likely to put an end to the Democratic Party and City Hall's culture of favoritism and self-enrichment . . . "
True.
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Also, Preckwinkle continues to lie about how Ed Burke Jr. got his latest cushy job with the county. He did not, as she contends, merely send in his resume and get the position on his own merits. As the Tribune has reported, Ed Burke Sr. met with Preckwinkle and told her his son was "looking for a new opportunity," and Preckwinkle personally handed his resume to her human resources director.
It's not the only thing she hasn't been honest about. From the Trib last November:
A day after she announced that she had fired her chief of staff for "inappropriate behavior," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was asked twice if she knew about any harassment allegations involving her top aide before mid-September.And twice Preckwinkle responded "no," portraying her disciplinary action as swift and decisive.
"As I said, this allegation was brought to me on Friday (Sept. 14)," she told reporters. "On Monday and Tuesday, we corroborated the allegation by talking to the victim and two witnesses, and I demanded his resignation. I have zero tolerance for this."
But Preckwinkle knew of concerns about chief of staff John Keller six months earlier, the Tribune has learned.
There is no mystery about the way Preckwinkle operates. It's too bad, because she could've been one of the greats. But that's just not who she is.
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By the way, I came across this 2015 Omaha World-Herald article when I was looking for a link to Willie Wilson's choir:
"An Illinois man is suing to stop Millard Public Schools from using the name Singsation for an annual swing choir competition."
Click through to see why I'm now tempted to call him Silly Willie Wilson.
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Also:
It just occurred to me: Preckwinkle's ads are (defensively) about Lightfoot too. That's not good for Preckwinkle. pic.twitter.com/GrWdg1ApwX
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 20, 2019
The whole image isn't showing in the embed; click through to see it.
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FYI: I'm not emotionally invested in Lori Lightfoot. She could be a huge disaster. She's far from my dream candidate. I'm just calling it like I see it.
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Medicaid Mess
"Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat from Des Plaines, meanwhile, said there were concerns that go beyond the managed care system, and that's the difficulty people have getting recertified for Medicaid to continue their benefits after their initial period of approval expires," the Springfield State Journal-Register reports.
Amen! I can personally attest to that.
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"I'm sure my office is not unlike most other districts' offices, where 90 percent of my staff's time is spent on trying to get people recertified," Murphy said. "And the amount of frustration that my constituents, and I'm sure everyone's experienced, it is beyond unacceptable."
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If I hadn't tumbled into the economic abyss these last few years, I wouldn't have experienced this - and other issues of relative poverty - so viscerally. Every reporter should experience it. You gain a true understanding of a system that literally does not care if people live or die.
Proposal: A Medicaid beat. HMU!
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ChicagoReddit
Have at it!
Lollapalooza 2019 Lineup from r/chicago
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ChicagoGram
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BeachBook
U.S. Government Using Clandestine Shelters To Detain Immigrant Children.
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No Soccer Experience, But She Still Got A Spot On UCLA's Elite Team.
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At The Cozy Corner, The Bill Doesn't Add Up.
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Inside The Lives Of NBA Agents.
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TweetWood
A sampling.
SCOOP: A pilot who hitched a ride on a Lion Air flight saved the 737 Max from a plunge by telling the crew to disable a malfunctioning flight-control system.
— Kevin Whitelaw (@KevinWhitelaw1) March 19, 2019
The next day, the same plane crashed in the Java Sea, killing 189.https://t.co/JNWh4g20Ju
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Disgraced Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who just cost the taxpayers $1.2 million for refusing to comply with media FOIA requests, in talks with media about six-figure job. https://t.co/SwQKHIscok pic.twitter.com/HUhDGMqJdb
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 20, 2019
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"Last term Justice Breyer warned us that SCOTUS' conservatives want to strip immigrants of their constitutional rights." Today he was proven right. He read his dissent from bench. But the majority including Trump's 2 picks ruled: In favor of *indefinite detention* for immigrants. https://t.co/R5XAu2uo6u
— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) March 19, 2019
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"Conservative meme warriors" are being censored on social media, the president's son tweets to his 3.4 million followers, and that censorship could, uh, "quickly lead to banishment from such fundamental services as transportation, online payments and banking" https://t.co/hKSCVEo3sX
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) March 20, 2019
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I was planning to join the Politico March Madness bracket challenge but it's not secure. They ask for personal info (like DOB) but it's http not https so it's not encrypting your datahttps://t.co/LJA6Iq7cIP
— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) March 20, 2019
Here's what you see if you change it to httpshttps://t.co/uPBDDnq06Q pic.twitter.com/IvUW6mB59q
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The Beachwood McRibTipLine: Mmmkay?
Posted on March 20, 2019
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