By Steve Rhodes
Let’s start with mayoral candidates trying to persuade you they are normal, likable people, which I can assure you they are not.
Posted on February 4, 2019
The [Friday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
Thursday was Endorsement Day for several mayoral candidates. While none of the endorsements was hugely significant, each said something about endorser and endorsee. Let’s take a look, in no particular order.
Posted on February 1, 2019
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
For completists, there was no column on Wednesday.
“A bombshell federal court document laying out a potential corruption case against retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th) not only depicts a politician badly in debt – but one whose campaign funds appear to have been used for blatantly personal expenses,” the Sun-Times reports.
Posted on January 31, 2019
The [Tuesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th) received sex acts, Viagra, free weekend use of an Indiana farm once owned by Oprah Winfrey and a steady stream of campaign contributions in exchange for shepherding official City Council actions, according to allegations in a federal court affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times,” the paper reports.
“The allegations are contained in an explosive search warrant application that helps explain why Solis, the powerful chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, agreed to spend more than two years cooperating in a federal investigation during which he is known to have secretly recorded at least a dozen conversations with Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), the former chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee.”
Posted on January 29, 2019
The [Monday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“At least 18 people have died in Cook County from cold exposure since the start of the season, the Cook County medical examiner’s office reported,” according to the Sun-Times.
“Last season, at least 33 people died from causes that were at least partially cold-related, according to records kept by the Chicago Sun-Times.”
Posted on January 28, 2019
The Weekend Desk Report
By Steve Rhodes
For completists, there was no column on Friday.
“Mold-A-Rama, whose vintage machines have churned out plastic figurines at Chicago-area museums and zoos for half a century, has gone to court to defend its retro name and technology,” the Tribune reports.
Posted on January 26, 2019
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Solis has previously denied being an informant or wearing a recording device for the feds,” the Sun-Times reported in its initial article about Ald. Danny Solis wearing a wire on Ald. Ed Burke.
Unexplained, because the Sun-Times is a poorly edited newspaper, is who he denied wearing a wire to, why he was suspected of being a federal informant, and when these denials occurred – over the years or just recently.
Posted on January 24, 2019
The [Wednesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
I’m still catching up with and absorbing the news that Danny Solis wore a wire on Ed Burke not just because of whatever jeopardy that may put Burke in, but because that means Solis was in such a deep jam himself that he agreed to do it.
Remember, the criminal complaint against Burke is, presumably, just the tip of the iceberg of this investigation, and probably was made public now to keep him from winning re-election – or to put Burke on the griddle (but who can he flip on – Rahm?) or maybe even because the investigation was about to be leaked anyway. Right?
The criminal complaint makes it clear that the feds were listening to Burke long before they heard of the rather rote – though still abominable – Burger King scheme. And last week, the feds asked the court for an extension of time before actually filing an indictment (which is done by a grand jury hearing evidence; a criminal complaint is basically an FBI agent’s affidavit).
Burke, of course, denies he ever said anything incriminating in Solis’s presence, but that’s a denial that is not to be believed or disbelieved; it’s to be ignored because there’s no reason to trust Burke but no reason to believe Solis actually got the goods either.
Posted on January 23, 2019
The [Tuesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
I’m going to catch up today with the final Tribune editorial board session from last week, but first, a few other items from the campaign trail.
1. Paulmentum!™
Paul Vallas had a good week last week with his profusion of ideas to shore up the city’s finances in conjunction with policy initiatives that made the rest of the candidates look like pikers. But he has yet to be challenged (to my knowledge) on his charterization of New Orleans’ schools and I still don’t see where his votes come from. Still, an up arrow.
Posted on January 22, 2019
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
So I watched – on Facebook Live! – the mayoral forum this morning at Whitney Young High School and this afternoon at the Tribune, the last in their series this week. I tweeted my commentary at #WYHSForum, #WYHSDebate, #ChiMayor19 and #TribEndorse from @BeachwoodReport.
Near the end of the Trib session the judge in the Jason Van Dyke cop conspiracy trial released her (absurd) decision.
Now I’m in Bucktown for another Weekend at Benny’s – long-time (and even mid-time) readers know what this is about. New readers will soon learn!
I have some additional notes besides my tweets on the mayoral forums. I’m going to work on putting them together now and post them here in a bit, so there will be a column. You can see them below this photo of Benny’s tail.
Posted on January 17, 2019