By Steve Rhodes

MYSTERY BURRIS THEATER/Burris Press Conference 3:30 P.M. – 4 P.M. Sunday:
A rough transcript with commentary. I had a Lieutenant Kaffee moment at the end. Those who have seen the movie will get the reference. Just to be clear, I watched this on CLTV – I was not actually at the press conference. But it was one of the most remarkable I’ve ever seen. The press corps must feel personally offended. Or they knew they’d be on national TV. Or maybe they just got the memo about how to do their jobs.
–
BURRIS: I’ve always conducted myself with honor and integrity.
RHODES: Not.
*
BURRIS: Answered best I could in the time allotted . . .
RHODES: There just wasn’t enough time to tell the truth!

Read More

Posted on February 15, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

I’ve been too tired and too busy this week to post as much new material as I’ve meant to, so I hope to clear off my desk, so to speak, over the weekend and freshen up each section. Please check back often over the next few days.
A couple new pieces today, though, that I’d like to call your attention to. First, Thomas Chambers, our man on the rail, has a great piece on the new reality show Jockeys. Tom is now writing Track Notes for us every Friday. His work is first-rate. We don’t have all the tech tools yet that I’m dying to have on this site, and we remain sadly underdeveloped pending a few more dollars, but really, nobody can beat the quality of our content. And that’s really the point, isn’t it?
Also, I think my Mystery Maher Theater is pretty good; it’s the latest in our long-running and popular What I Watched Last Night feature.
Plus, we’re still getting new tales in for our Peoples Gas Journal. And, finally, if you haven’t gotten to Jeff Huebner’s “The Broom of Wicker Park” yet, please do so now. Then come back for today’s Papers.

Read More

Posted on February 13, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

1. “Federal authorities are investigating five construction companies that collectively have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in construction work at O’Hare Airport under Mayor Daley,” the Sun-Times reports.
2. “Shortly after the Don Wade & Roma show, Blagojevich’s former top fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, an O’Hare contractor, plead not guilty to federal charges that he paid kickbacks for contract work at the airport,” John Kass writes. “When Blago was charged in early December, his top aide, John Harris, who once worked for Daley handling airport deals, was also charged. Harris must be talking. Kelly will crack.
“‘Now [Kelly] probably has a lot of things he can say about operations at the airport,’ Blago told Don and Roma. ‘And I’m sure that federal prosecutors are interested to see how contracts are issued at O’Hare. And so some of those insights may have more to do with Mayor Daley than they have to do with me’.”
*
Do I smell a deal a-cookin’? Blago cooperates with the feds by portraying himself as the reformist truth-teller driven out of office by a cabal of corrupt pols. He acknowledges his own “mistakes” in the process. I’m just not sure how far the G will go to placate him.
3. But Blago ought to be careful going around talking about legislators’ affairs.

Read More

Posted on February 12, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

Where’s the coverage?
That’s the question Rich Miller asked on his Capitol Fax Blog yesterday about the race to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress.
Answer: Noticeably missing.
But that’s nothing new.
I’ve been writing for years that the Chicago media doesn’t cover congressional and aldermanic races, first in my old Press Box column for Chicago magazine, and later here on the Beachwood.

Read More

Posted on February 11, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

I’m still trying to figure out what bipartisanship means, because the way it’s been framed by the administration and the press is that it means the party in the minority should suck it up and go along with the president and the party in the majority.
But isn’t that what we hated so much about Democrats in the Bush era – that they went along with a phony war and the erosion of civil liberties and an exploding budget deficit to avoid being tagged as “obstructionist,” or, as the case may be, anti-American?
It was the same story in the 80s when Democrats were afraid to oppose the relatively popular Ronald Reagan.
So what is bipartisanship, and is it really desirable?

Read More

Posted on February 10, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

Are “we” game for the Olympics?
That’s what the big front page story in the Tribune said on Sunday, based on a Tribune poll. (The online version had a more, um, tempered headline.)
But that’s not what the ill-executed poll said at all.

Read More

Posted on February 9, 2009

By Natasha Julius

Sadly, the Weekend Desk is going to melt away on Saturday. But that won’t stop us from covering the stories that matter.
Market Update
Although the week saw a sizable rally on Wall Street, You didn’t fare too well. Your first period earnings were way off and Your asset valuation has been slashed by a couple hundred billion. And let’s not even discuss Your overseas holdings, which have taken a pounding recently.

Read More

Posted on February 7, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

The Sun-Times asks on its front page today – way down in the corner – if Mayor Daley ripped city workers. “You decide,” the paper says, leading them to a story and audio posted online.
I just listened to the audio, and it’s exactly as reported. What’s to decide?
Even worse, Daley is not only denying what is on tape, but he’s blaming the media.
“I said that some people just watch the clock-government workers or anybody else-and leave. But here in Chicago, we’re fortunate that people just don’t watch the clock.”
“I never said city workers of . . . Chicago are not good workers. Would you correct that for me? I know it’s hard because I’m a ping-pong ball for the media. If you don’t have the Daley name, I guess they don’t read the newspapers. But just correct that . . . Don’t misinterpret what I say to try to bring confrontation against city workers. That’s really unfair.”
“City workers work hard. I talked about the city in a positive way. But you’re trying to follow me in a negative way so you have people yelling at me. I know that’s your gig. But be responsible.”
Instead of asking readers to decide, why not use big bold letters on your front page that say: “You Said It, Not Us.”
Maybe under that: “Mayor Denies What Is Clear On Tape.”

Read More

Posted on February 6, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

“Holy Name Cathedral is so thoroughly woven into the fabric of Chicago’s life that it transcends its Catholic core,” Blair Kamin writes.
“A rival of Al Capone once was murdered on its front steps.
“When Pope John Paul II visited Chicago in 1979, he came to the cathedral not once, but twice – for performances by Luciano Pavarotti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“Now dwarfed by ungainly residential towers, the Gothic Revival cathedral at 735 N. State St., dedicated in 1875 and designed by Brooklyn architect Patrick Charles Keely, is a beloved throwback to the decade after the Great Fire of 1871 when the pinprick spires of churches, not the crowns of skyscrapers, ruled the skyline. Its 210-foot spire, at the time the highest in Chicago, made it the Sears Tower of its day.”

Read More

Posted on February 5, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

“What bothers me is I’d hate to see it at Halloween if everybody walks in – a 12- or 14-year-old walks into a police station on Halloween, they’ll be handed a desk,” Mayor Daley said on Tuesday. “They’ll give them a car. They’ll give them a badge . . . That’s a real concern that we have.”
As a service to readers, The Beachwood Calendar Affairs Desk would like you to know that there are just 269 days ’til Halloween.

Read More

Posted on February 4, 2009