* Sneed…
Sneed hears House Speaker Mike Madigan is planning to ax former Gov. Pat Quinn’s two-term mayoral initiative when it gets filed.
• Buckshot: Madigan, the state’s powerful Dem party chief who equates Quinn to a slug, plans to work at squashing Quinn’s plan to impose a two-term limit on Chicago’s mayor — which he claims is the only big city in the country without it.
• Slingshot: Word is Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel met for lunch recently downtown, and Madigan was overheard telling Emanuel he was going to kill Quinn’s term-limits initiative like he killed Fair Maps.
• Backshot: Last month, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a voter referendum-driven plan on the November ballot to change the state’s political boundaries.
Unlike the state, Chicago allows these sorts of binding referenda, so Madigan likely couldn’t kill it in the courts like he did with the remap plan. He could run a bill, but I highly doubt it would make it into law, considering the mayor’s unpopularity and the governor’s support for term limits.
Madigan’s spokesman said he wasn’t aware of any element of the story and said the lunch aspect “makes it sound suspect.”
*** UPDATE *** From the ILGOP…
ICYMI: Report – Mike Madigan Brags He “Killed” Fair Maps
Report Contradicts Madigan Spokesman
For months, Madigan and his allies have claimed they had no involvement in the People’s Map group’s successful efforts to kill the Independent Map Amendment, even as multiple media outlets described the intimate connection between Madigan, the Democratic Party of Illinois, and the People’s Map.
In July, the Associated Press reported, “Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, has said neither Madigan nor the Democratic Party is involved in The People’s Map.”
But the Chicago Sun-Times reports today:
• Slingshot: Word is Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel met for lunch recently downtown, and Madigan was overheard telling Emanuel he was going to kill Quinn’s term-limits initiative like he killed Fair Maps.
- Ok - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:55 am:
Sounds like some more cheap fan fiction…
- Donald Segretti - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:59 am:
Maybe the lunch was in Madeupville.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:59 am:
Sneed is so rarely wrong that I have to believe this report. If Mike Sneed says it’s so, you can take it to the bank. Yes sir, the Sneed column is like the 5th Gospel.
- Winnin' - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:04 am:
MADIGAN: ‘May I slice my apple?”
RAHM: “Please do.”
- Ghost - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:11 am:
I am sure Quinn met with leaders to get support before pushing this. Quinn would never just wing it and hope for populist support, that would be horrible planning and leadership. /s
- Not Rich - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:11 am:
lunch was at the Apple store on Michigan Avenue…and we all know how the MJM loves to talk loud in a public setting..this HAS TO BE TRUE
- LizPhairTax - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:26 am:
When was the last time MJM was overheard?
- A guy - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:42 am:
It’s only true if Madigan’s spokesman first leaked it, so he could deny it too. If they met for lunch to discuss this, they’d be in a tree fort by Midway to ensure jet noise.
Suspect is a good word for this all the way around.
- walker - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 11:36 am:
The lunch story puts it all in the fantasy category.
Sneed is sometimes a word-cartoonist.
- Anon221 - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:12 pm:
Now the ILGOP is hearing voices, too. Raunerism is catching!
- Anonymous - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:22 pm:
Emanuel and Madigan, shooting the breeze over lunch downtown, while Sneed’s spy listens in.
Sure.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:38 pm:
===But the Chicago Sun-Times reports today:===
An entire news room just shuddered in horror.
- walker - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:47 pm:
The ILGOP might better create PR credibility by dealing with higher level-issues, and letting local campaigns play at the rumor-mongering level.
Did anyone actually believe Team Madigan had nothing to do with challenging the Fair Maps petition effort? If there’s any hay to be made here, it would be around Term Limits and Rahm.
- A guy - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 1:05 pm:
==An entire news room just shuddered in horror.==
Yep, all 4 of them.
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 2:00 pm:
Gee, who might benefit (other than the GOP) from making up and/or planting a story like this? Could it be Pat Quinn?
- 39th Ward - Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
Can’t we just agree, beginning with the “Cutback Amendment,” that any referendum from Pat Quinn will have (1) superficial appeal and (2) massive unexpected consequences?