Mendoza’s next move
Thursday, Nov 8, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune on Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s mayoral ambitions…
Part of Mendoza’s mayoral consideration has included tapping the services of an Emanuel ally to help her navigate the decision — political strategist Becky Carroll, who served as chief Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman in the mayor’s administration and ran an Emanuel-aligned Super PAC as part of his successful bid for a second term in 2015.
In a brief statement, Carroll said she and Mendoza have been “lifelong friends.” If Mendoza were to run for mayor, Carroll said, she “would gladly serve as one of her advisers,” but she stopped short of confirming any role in helping the comptroller prepare for a mayoral bid.
Carroll’s involvement and some of Emanuel’s allies pointing to Mendoza’s Chicago numbers Tuesday night are the most noticeable tea leaves yet that some of the top policy and political aides in the mayor’s orbit are starting to gravitate toward a Mendoza candidacy.
Many in Emanuel’s reliable network of big-money donors, however, largely have kept their powder dry and made no financial commitments, sources said, while a few have started to break for onetime U.S. Commerce Secretary and former Obama White House chief of staff Bill Daley, the brother and son of two former mayors. Some of Emanuel’s contributors and top labor supporters, however, still could end up aligned with Mendoza, who has been a favorite among the city’s major trade unions that were instrumental in Emanuel’s re-election bid four years ago.
* Fran Spielman…
Former Hispanic Democratic Organization chieftain Victor Reyes is a political operative who has spoken to several of the top-tier mayoral candidates but is “leaning toward” joining the Preckwinkle campaign.
Reyes argued that Mendoza is Preckwinkle’s “strongest challenger” — but has weaknesses. Chief among them, Reyes said, is a voting record in Springfield that includes “a lot” of tax increases and hard-line votes on criminal justice issues that earned her the nickname, “Electric Suzy.”
“Preckwinkle is a criminal justice progressive. The voting record would show that Mendoza voted for harsher penalties and does not have a progressive criminal justice record,” Reyes said.
Mendoza’s political consultant, Eric Adelstein, countered that Mendoza was the “deciding vote in Illinois in getting rid of the death penalty.”
* Pearson…
So, as one of the top leaders in the Democratic Party hierarchy, will Pritzker get involved in the contest to pick a successor to outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel?
“No,” Pritzker said, providing perhaps his most succinct answer to a question after a long governor campaign season.
Of course, there’s little reason for Pritzker to weigh in on a choice for mayor. His election represented a coalition of interests and activists within the Democratic Party. Choosing a mayoral candidate could be viewed as backing one group and alienating the others.
* Paris Schutz…
“My job is to work with whoever the new mayor of the city of Chicago is,” Gov.-elect Pritzker said. “That isn’t something that happened in the last administration, and I really think it’s important for the governor to work with the largest city in our state and one of the big economic engines of our state.”
* Sneed…
Watch for women — particularly consultants Emily Miller and Becky Carroll — to play big roles in Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s mayoral campaign.
• To wit: Because of the #MeToo movement and Mendoza’s strategy to wage generational war against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and mayoral hopeful Bill Daley, there’s enormous pressure to put women under age 50 in top campaign positions.
Emily Miller called this morning to tell me Sneed’s story is not true and sent me this written statement…
That is false. I will not be joining any mayoral campaign, and will not be playing any role—big or otherwise—in any race. I have never had any conversations with anyone about playing a role in a Mendoza mayoral campaign.
I’m not sure why or by whom that was planted, but it was the first anyone had heard of it.
…Adding… The passage about Emily has now been removed.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 10:13 am:
I know Sneed and other columnists play by their own “rules,” such as they are, but c’mon. Don’t pretend to be any kind of journalist if you won’t even bother to call the people you’re making claims about to give them a chance to respond.
Remember, “if your momma tells you she loves you, check it out?” Used to be a thing.
Some Chicago columnists are in serious need of editors to insist on facts and just coherent writing. You’re entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
- Roman - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 10:24 am:
I think it’s a mistake to assume an overwhelming majority of Chicago voters support criminal justice reform. In almost every poll I’ve seen crime is either first or second when Chicagoans are asked what there biggest concerns are.
Think back to Kwame Raoul’s primary tv ads. They did not stress his advocacy for criminal justice reform, they focused on his past as a prosecutor and legislation he passed to crackdown on sex offenders.
- Regular democrat - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 10:41 am:
I predict Preckwinkle decides to drop out due to her new iron clad control of county board.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 10:44 am:
Word, Sneed’s phone only takes incoming calls.
Get it? Forget it.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 10:53 am:
“Preckwinkle is a criminal justice progressive.” always thinking about your friends, Victor.
- West Wing - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 11:02 am:
You gotta love the spin from the Mendoza camp trying to compare Mendoza to the candidates in FLA (Gillum) and GA (Abrams). Why don’t they just throw in Beto while they’re at it. Highly doubt that Beto would be cheerleading a candidate who ran for two offices at the same time. Highly doubt Abrams would be cheerleading a candidate tied to Mike Madigan. Good try, though, very creative.
- DeseDemDose - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 11:36 am:
The popular honest young Mendoza will be the next Mayor to unite Chicago.The money will be there.Perfect #MeToo timing. Minimum negative baggage. She has got it all.
- Actual Red - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 11:51 am:
@Roman
Anecdotally, I’ve done a fair amount of canvassing on this stuff, in a variety of neighborhoods, and I think a lot of the people who are worried about crime are also in favor of criminal justice/police reform.
A big reason Chicago’s murder clearance rate is so low is that people don’t feel like they can trust the cops to look out for them. With things like the Van Dyke case and especially FOP’s reaction to the verdict, I don’t think that’s all that unreasonable.
Reducing crime and making the justice system more fair don’t have to be opposing goals, and I think a lot of people in the city recognize that.
- JakeCP - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 11:58 am:
I have a hard time believing that Susana would be a formidable challenger for Mayor. I believe for the average voter she has strong name recognition, but that’s about it.
The Tribune article refers to the amount of votes she received for Comptroller (compared to Preckwinkle’s votes for County Board) as an indication of her popularity in Chicago.
If we use that logic, then we should also be concerned by the 778K votes that Dorothy Brown received out of Chicago during the November 2016 General Election. However, we all know Brown is not going to win the race and I’d add that neither is Mendoza.
- Grand Avenue - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 12:28 pm:
Emily’s in line to get a well-paid highly-influential position in the Pritzker administration, I think she’s on hiatus from campaigns for a while
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 12:32 pm:
Emily Miller is one of the “best, of the best, of THE best”, someone I respect and admire for her tireless work and relentless striving for good.
Where or what she does get my attention.
Whatever is next for her, in the politics, governing, or doing her work she loves, she’ll do it well, and those working with her are lucky.
OW
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 12:48 pm:
That Victor Reyes opposes her is yet another reason I hope Mendoza becomes the next mayor of Chicago.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 1:21 pm:
Who in there right mind would want to be mayor of Chicago besides the perks
- TBB - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 1:36 pm:
The word is Mendoza is going bring in her old pal Arron Schock to be her personal notary.
- DuPage - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 2:51 pm:
She is doing a good job as comptroller. It would be nice if she continued on for a longer time, like Lisa Madigan did as AG.
- Boone's is Back - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 3:42 pm:
I have a hard time believing that Toni Preckwinkle is going to be able to paint any of her challengers as more tax friendly.
- Roman - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 3:50 pm:
- Actual Red -
I don’t disagree with your diagnosis of the problem and possible solutions from a policy standpoint. Just saying that from a political standpoint, I don’t think attacking Mendoza because she voted to extend penalties for sex offenders is going to be very effective.
- Lurker - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 5:12 pm:
Monica Treviño acting like Monica Treviño. Carlos Rosa at plate swinging at pitches regarding TP. To think he wanted to be LtG. I smell a short political career
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Nov 8, 18 @ 6:55 pm:
Does the Sneed post count as the first negative ad of the mayor’s race?
- Anonymous - Friday, Nov 9, 18 @ 7:35 am:
The popular honest young Mendoza. Who first got elected w HDO and big time Daley support. Then Burke. Sure, she’s a fighter. No question.
All this talk of her being some progressive is ridiculous. Now, thats either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective