* Asked about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to run again, Gov. Rauner had this to say…
I just heard about that this morning. I look forward to working with whoever is the next mayor.
* Asked if he had any comment on the timing of the mayor’s announcement (the start of the Jason Van Dyke trial), Rauner said…
I don’t. I will just work with leadership in Chicago. I work for everyone in Chicago. I want to make sure we got more jobs, we bring down our tax burden, we end corruption by getting term limits. I believe in term limits for all officials. So this is all part of a process. I look forward to working with the new mayor.
* Your one-word prediction for the immediate future of Chicago politics now that Mayor Emanuel has decided not to run for reelection? Hashtags allowed.
* It’s the day after Labor Day, so the new TV ads are rapidly filling up my in-box…
Today, Sen. Kwame Raoul’s campaign for Attorney General released a new television ad, “What Erika Harold Believes,” highlighting his Republican opponent’s shocking views on the safety of children and her consistent record of discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
“Erika Harold has repeatedly supported policies that discriminate against people like me,” said State Representative Greg Harris, chief sponsor of Illinois’ marriage equality law. “Prejudice has no place in our state, let alone the attorney general’s office. Kwame has a long history of protecting our families and fighting for equal rights, and I know he will defend the progress we’ve worked so hard to achieve.” […]
Harold, who claims her personal views don’t matter because she will simply “enforce the law,” didn’t feel that way in 2014 when she supported prohibiting the U.S. Department of Justice from undermining the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Supreme Court had already found unconstitutional.
“I would support an amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman,” Harold told the Champaign News-Gazette while running for Congress in 2014.
[Narrator] “You still won’t believe what Erika Harold believes. We know she’d discriminate against a loving, gay couple who want to adopt a child, favoring an abusive, straight couple instead. But she also supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and would even allow employers to fire workers, just for being gay.
“Kwame Raoul believes children must be protected from abusers, and everyone should be treated equally no matter who you love.”
[Kwame Raoul] “I’m Kwame Raoul. This is the work of my life. And I’m just getting started.”
Today, in the race for Illinois’ Sixth Congressional District, the DCCC announced a new television ad hitting Rep. Peter Roskam for falling in line with President Trump and endlessly attacking affordable health care for families, seniors, and women in his district. The ad will begin airing immediately in the district.
The ad, “Fallen,” highlights Roskam’s record of voting 94% of the time with President Trump, and his repeated votes to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, make older Americans and women pay more for their health care, and leave 30,000 of his own constituents without health coverage.
“Rep. Peter Roskam is deeply out of step with his constituents, and they are the ones paying for it. Rather than put his district first, Roskam has fallen in line with President Trump and voted repeatedly to weaken protections for pre-existing conditions, raise health care costs, and leave 30,000 of his constituents without health care coverage.” – DCCC Spokesperson Jacob Peters
Not to say it won’t work. I have no idea on that front. President Trump ain’t exactly popular in suburbia. But the spot looks like everything the D-trip has ever done - and they don’t exactly have a wonderful track record over there.
Career Politician Peter Roskam’s supposed to work for us. Instead he’s been a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. Roskam voted repeatedly to gut health care…weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions…and to allow insurance companies to charge older Americans and women more for their care. Roskam even voted to kick 30,000 people in his district off their health insurance. Peter Roskam’s fallen in line with Donald Trump…and we’ve…fallen behind.
…Adding… I’m told his polling showed he either couldn’t win or that it would be extremely difficult to win…
…Adding… Huge pushback on that above insider leak by a much higher-level insider. They finally got him to a place where he could win and he decided not to pull the trigger is what I’m hearing now. He just figures he has nothing left to prove…
…Adding… Talked to another top dog and got the same thing. He was just done. Time to move on…
…Adding… Former Emanuel top dog…
I called this 5 months ago and people said I was crazy. Rahm doesn't do fights he might now win. The guy hates losing.
On Sept. 7, 2010, Richard M. Daley touched off the political equivalent of a Chicago earthquake.
After breaking his father’s longevity record, Daley chose political retirement over the quest for a seventh term. That touched off a game of political dominoes that saw Rahm Emanuel succeed his political mentor and Daley’s brother, Bill, replace Emanuel as White House chief of staff.
Nearly eight years later, Emanuel is approaching that point of no return himself.
He needs to decide whether to walk away or make the uphill climb toward a third term — and stick to that decision, no matter how difficult the campaign gets.
If Emanuel waits much longer, he will risk looking like his political future is being dictated by the outcome of the trial of Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is charged with the murder of Laquan McDonald.
The trial, scheduled to start next week, is certain to dredge up ugly memories of Emanuel’s decision to withhold the McDonald shooting video until after the 2015 election and release it only after a judge ordered the city to do so.
“I would make the decision before the trial starts. If the cop is acquitted or there’s a mistrial and he then decides not to run, he looks like he’s responding to something,” one political operative said.
“It’s an easier decision to run than walk away. But he needs to remember that third terms are a bitch to win and even harder to govern. Even if he wins, everyone will know it’s his last term. Whatever fealty or fear people have now will be gone. It’ll be a miserable four years.”
*** UPDATE *** Emanuel’s prepared remarks…
On my first day as Mayor of this great city, I promised to make tough choices and face the hard truths we had not confronted, even when it hurts. Every day for the past seven and a half years, that is what I have tried my best to do – to improve our schools, make our community colleges relevant, put our fiscal house on stable footing, confront violence and rebuild trust between police and community, modernize our transportation systems, invest in our neighborhood parks and libraries and grow our economy into an engine of jobs and opportunity for all. I’m not shy, and together we’ve never shied away from a challenge.
Today, the time has come to make another tough choice. As much as I love this job and will always love this city and its residents, I have decided not to seek re-election.
This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime. You hire us to get things done – and pass the torch when we’ve done our best to do what you hired us to do.
I have approached public service the only way I know how for the last 23 years—giving 100 percent, 24 hours a day, seven days a week—for President Clinton, in Congress and in its leadership, as President Obama’s Chief of Staff and finally as your Mayor. For the last seven and a half years I’ve given my all every day and left everything on the field. This commitment has required significant sacrifice all around. Now, with our three kids in college, Amy and I have decided it is time for us to write a new chapter together.
In a few moments, I’ll speak to my Cabinet, and tell them to get ready to sprint for the finish line in May. We have more to do, and from now until then, we’ll do everything in our power to get it done and walk out the door hopefully leaving Chicago and Chicagoans in a stronger place. We will stand ready and eager to work with whoever is lucky enough to come next and ensure a smooth and positive transition. We owe our city nothing less.
But today I want to thank the people of Chicago for the opportunity to serve. It will fill my eyes with tears to leave a job I love, and already my heart is full with gratitude. We have worked together. We have celebrated progress together. We have grieved together. Amy and I made friendships across this city that will last a lifetime.
I want to thank Amy for being such a remarkable First Lady. We’ve been together for 27 years. When we got married, I told her I would never run for office. Six elections later, she’s the only reason I have made it this far.
We’re blessed with three great children, and I owe them so much as well. Politicians always say they’re leaving office to spend more time with their family. My kids were smart enough to see that coming and scattered to the two coasts, so as of the other day we are now empty nesters.
Amy and I are still young – and Amy still looks it. And we look forward to writing that next chapter in our journey together.
I’ll always be here for the future of this city – not as mayor, but in the most important role anyone can play, as citizen. I hope I’ll find ways to answer the call I’ve asked of every citizen: to do my part to stand up for the next generation, who deserve the doors of opportunity to be open and the spark of hope to light their eyes.
I’m grateful to my parents for lighting that spark in me. And I want to thank my grandfather, who at the age of 13, took an enormous chance a century ago by immigrating here from Eastern Europe, fleeing the pogroms, to meet a third cousin he did not know in a city whose name he could not pronounce.
In four congressional runs on the North and Northwest Sides – and in two races for Mayor – you cast aside old history and voted for a Jewish kid with the middle name Israel. I will always be profoundly grateful for that and what it means to my family.
This morning, as we start a new school year, I went to Bronzeville Classical to welcome students back for the start of a new school year and to Perez Elementary to mark the opening of universal full day pre-K in Chicago. The changes we have made to our school system – universal full day pre-K, universal kindergarten and a longer school day and year will add up to nearly four more years of class time for Chicago’s students. In the end of the day what matters most in public life is four more years for our children, not four more years for me.
Together, since May of 2011, through thick and thin, we tried to do right by our city’s future. No matter how difficult the path we never wavered or shrunk from our responsibilities. And I will never forget the honor it has been to serve alongside you the people of Chicago every step of the way.
From the bottom of my heart: Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the people of Chicago.
…Adding… Sen. Durbin…
Rahm’s record of public service spans Congress, the White House, and the fifth floor of City Hall in Chicago. I have worked closely with him at every level of his public career. I always knew a call from Rahm was an invitation to join him in a bold, ambitious effort to make life better for those he served. It has been my honor to join him in these great ventures. Rahm has left his mark and I wish him and Amy the best in the days ahead.
…Adding… Speaker Madigan…
“I want to thank Rahm Emanuel for his service to our city as a member of Congress, as chief of staff to President Obama, and most notably as our mayor.
“Mayor Emanuel offered steady leadership through difficult times. His efforts to balance the budget, stabilize pensions, and make tough decisions consistently reflected his commitment to do what was best for the future of our city, not what was easy. As Chicago continues to move forward and grow as an international city, we will remain grateful for Mayor Emanuel’s leadership.”
…Adding… The Sun-Times is compiling more react. Click here.
…Adding… Comptroller Mendoza…
Mayor Emanuel and I had some lively arguments when I first took office as City Clerk. But we respected each other’s work ethic and were united by our mutual love for the City and the people of Chicago. He made tough choices that needed to be made and I admire his conviction and force of will that drove him to see many projects through for the good of Chicago. Knowing that there’s still so much more work to do and so many critical challenges that would require a 100% focus, his decision to not seek re-election means that Mayor Emanuel is putting the City before himself. I admire him for that. As Rahm said, “It has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime.” I thank Rahm for his dedicated service to Chicago as its mayor and I hope we find a worthy successor.
* JB Pritzker…
“Mayor Emanuel has dedicated his life to public service and I want to thank him for his commitment to Chicago and to the nation. I also want to express my gratitude for his work expanding universal Pre-K, a priority that is personally important to me. Every elected official makes personal sacrifice to do this work and Mayor Emanuel honored the legacy of his family with his service to our city and our state. Illinois faces real challenges, and should I be elected governor, I look forward to working with the mayor in his final months in office and with new leadership to move our state forward.”
* And with Rahm out, I would expect several Latinx candidates to express interest…
22nd Ward Ald. Rick Munoz says on WGN just now that he's running for mayor
A good thing to do if you talk to a resident of the City of Chicago – just go ahead and ask if they're running for mayor so we can start crossing names off the list.
“I have not been running against Rahm Emanuel but rather to offer fresh and realistic ideas for the future of Chicago. From the outset of my campaign in April, I have been detailing with great specificity how I will address the unprecedented and complex problems facing Chicago. And I will continue to do so on issues including rebuilding Chicago’s forgotten communities on the South and West Sides, making Chicago safer for all its citizens and repairing the City’s tattered finances. As the only candidate with a successful track record of running multi-billion government agencies, I am the only candidate in this race who will be ready from day one to get Chicago on a new and more successful path.”
…Adding… Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady…
“I want to thank Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his service to the residents of Chicago, and for his decades of public service as a whole,” said Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington). “I wish him nothing but the best as he begins the next chapter in what’s already been an amazing journey.”
…Adding… Senate President John Cullerton…
“Rahm Emanuel has been a tireless advocate for the City of Chicago. His commitment to education will be felt for generations to come, as will his positive influence on our great city. I’m honored to have worked with him and proud to call him my friend. I wish him and his family the best in their next adventures.”
Even though, as the challenger in 2014, Rauner blasted Quinn as “a miserable failure on jobs” and promised “I’ll get results,” his employment results have been worse than Quinn’s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Specifically, Illinois added 209,000 jobs in the first 42 months of Rauner’s administration, according to the most recent finalized figures from the BLS. In a comparable period — the last 42 months of the Quinn administration — Illinois added 241,500 jobs, or 16 percent more.
There was some pushback on that particular comparison.
Rauner’s excuse to [WCIA’s Mark Maxwell]: “We have had the headwinds of a tax hike from (Democratic House Speaker) Mike Madigan.” […]
With the higher tax rates in effect during Quinn’s last 30 months, Illinois added 173,500 jobs. With the lower tax rates in effect during Rauner’s first 30 months, Illinois added 151,600 jobs. […]
This doesn’t show that Quinn’s policies were better for business or better for jobs than Rauner’s are. There are too many economic crosscurrents and outside forces at work to credit or blame any governor for these sorts of movements in the job market. It simply shows that, by Rauner’s own standards, he’s a bigger failure than his predecessor.
An Illinois county has approved a memorial honoring three former governors from Kankakee, including convicted ex-Gov. George Ryan.
The Daily Journal reports the Kankakee County board endorsed it in a 10-to-2 vote last week. It’ll be on the Kankakee courthouse lawn. It’ll also be dedicated to Len Small, governor from 1921 to 1929; and Samuel Shapiro, governor in the late 1960s.
Member Michael LaGesse opposed it, saying he didn’t get one call in favor.
Board member Robert Ellington-Snipes expressed reservations, citing Ryan’s corruption convictions. But he said Ryan also did some “good.” He voted for the plan.
Hey, it’s their county, they can do what they want. And it is most definitely unusual for a county of 110,000 or so people to have been the home to three governors.
But while lots of folks may remember George Ryan’s tenure, Len Small was about as corrupt as they come.
Len Small was governor throughout the Roaring Twenties — that gilded age of prohibition and lawlessness.
Small was a close political ally of Chicago Mayor “Big” Bill Thompson, who was the Mafia’s chief enabler in this state. Small was also closely affiliated with Johnny Torrio, the guy who united the city’s innumerable rackets and gangsters under one umbrella during the beginning of Prohibition. Al Capone was Torrio’s top lieutenant, and when Torrio split town, Capone further refined his vast organization.
Len Small was known as the “pardoning governor.” He is alleged to have sold hundreds of pardons, mostly to gangsters. He even went so far as to pardon cop killers. In 1922, a group of Torrio’s bootleggers were on their way to Chicago when they shot and killed a motorcycle cop who was in full pursuit. Small pardoned the whole bunch.
Walter Stevens, the “dean of all Chicago’s gunmen,” was Johnny Torrio’s top trigger man. Stevens bumped off many of Torrio’s rivals. The murder of an Aurora policeman landed Stevens in prison, but Governor Small dutifully pardoned him. There were reports at the time that Stevens played a crucial role in helping Small beat an embezzlement charge. Some key evidence was “accidentally” burned by a janitor, who died soon afterwards.
The malfeasance charge alleged that Small, when he was state treasurer, loaned state money to an outfit-connected company at 6 percent interest, but turned over just half the profits to the state’s bank accounts. He was acquitted, but he lost a subsequent civil case and had to pony up several hundred thousand dollars.
Small was widely known as the “Roads Governor” because he passed a $100 million bond issue to build thousands of miles of roads. Not often mentioned is that the mob controlled many of the road construction unions and, by extension, the companies they organized. You can bet your house that Torrio and Capone pocketed a big chunk of that bond money.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker is hitting back at remarks made recently by Gov. Bruce Rauner on the campaign trail and through TV ads in which Rauner said Illinois will experience “higher taxes, more corruption and fewer jobs” if Pritzker is elected.
Speaking Monday at the Rock Island County Democrats’ annual “Salute to Labor” picnic, Pritzker said Rauner has been “an utter and complete failure, and now he’s lying. I put out a plan that will lower most people’s income taxes and lower property taxes, which is one of the biggest scourges we’ve got in the state. And it will help us pay for schools.”
Pritzker has not “put out a plan” on taxation. He hasn’t even put out an outline.
* Also, it’s never wise to count on your opponent to self-destruct. I don’t think that’s what he means here, but a whole lot of his supporters are putting a lot of faith in this happening…
“I believe in standing up for job creation and for workers,” Pritzker said. “I believe Bruce Rauner has been an utter disaster for working families across the state of Illinois. That’s why he’s going to lose in November.”
* Related…
* Word on the Street: Wondering about JB Pritzker’s tax rates, Bruce Rauner’s tax relief
* Fact-check: Pritzker won’t like this headline, but he’s wrong about Rauner ad: We checked the entire string of cited articles and located the quoted lines in all of them. So it’s clear Rauner isn’t pulling words out of thin air. When we asked Pritzker’s campaign to explain how Rauner erred, spokesman Jason Rubin wrote in an email that the ad “misquotes articles by repeating lines out of context and in a way that misrepresents J.B.’s vision for putting Illinois back on track.” … It’s a complicated scenario, and Rauner’s ad ignores all the nuance by suggesting Pritzker seeks to raise taxes across the board.
* Like four years ago, Illinois’ governor’s race could take nasty turn in stretch run: “This looks a lot like the Quinn-Rauner race in a sense that neither one of them really had a lot positive to say. When you’re the challenger without a record, and sort of a rookie candidate, all you’ve got is promises that anybody can make. So really, the only thing that has any meat to it typically is reading the record of the incumbent. That’s what this is all about, being in office and being held accountable,” Mooney said. “In both (2014 and 2018), the incumbent has little to show for and the challenger is a neophyte candidate who had nothing except promises to offer,” he said. “You knew at the beginning of that 2014 race, as soon as Rauner won the nomination, it was going to be just terrible negative ads the whole time because both sides, that’s all they got. And at this point, this time around, it’s probably going to be very similar.”
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new TV ad titled “No More Extra Money.”
The ad features Denise Smith, a lifelong Illinoisan who is worried about the potential for new taxes if JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan take total control of Springfield. Specifically, she focuses on the Vehicle Mileage Tax, a new tax that would force Illinois families to pay for every mile they drive. Pritzker expressed an interest in the idea during a Daily Herald editorial board.
Pritzker would not only raise income taxes on hardworking Illinois families, but also push new taxes like the Vehicle Mileage Tax, taxes Illinoisans can’t afford.
I have lived in Illinois all my life. Our taxes have been growing for decades. JB Pritzker wants to raise our income taxes, but worse yet he wants a car tax which will also come along with a tracking device. How much is that going to cost us, just to drive to a family member’s house? There’s no more extra money in my budget to start paying additional taxes. If JB Pritzker gets in office, I think we’re going to seriously consider leaving Illinois.
Pritzker has said he’d consider a pilot project, but voters don’t do nuance.
Have you heard of QAnon? It’s a bizarre conspiracy theory that’s turned into something of an online cult. Its adherents believe there’s a person with ultrahigh Q-level security clearance sending them messages on the internet.
They believe Hillary Clinton and other Democrats and Hollywood types are involved in a massive pedophilia ring. The first dispatch from “Q” claimed Clinton was about to be arrested. That didn’t happen, of course, but it didn’t deter the cultists. They’ve gone on to accuse a congresswoman of plotting to kill a party staffer. They think Clinton, George Soros and former President Barack Obama are plotting a coup against President Donald Trump.
As the online movement has grown, the QAnon conspiracists have been roundly and rightly ridiculed and criticized in news stories and on social media for their hateful gullibility.
You may not know this, but we’ve had similar conspiracy theories in Illinois politics for years, and its messiahs are the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties. Both parties routinely whack legislative candidates on the flimsiest evidence for cozying up to pedophiles and sexual predators.
I’ve told you about the non-binding referendums to be held in dozens of Downstate counties designed to entice pro-gun voters to the polls, but that’s not the end of the story.
“Shall the [local county board] pass a resolution that opposes any gun control legislation in the Illinois General Assembly?” most of the Downstate ballot questions will ask. The Illinois State Rifle Association, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign and several Republican legislators have all worked to get the question on ballots in Downstate counties.
But a ballot question like that in the suburbs would run the risk of backfiring by attracting voters who might not be voting for Republican candidates. So, a different tactic was required in that part of the state.
“Shall [the county] oppose the General Assembly instituting a property tax increase equivalent to 1 percent of your home’s value to help retire state debt?” is just one of the questions that will appear on ballots in Republican-controlled DuPage and Kane counties this fall.
The 1 percent tax surcharge was first broached by a few economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago back in May. The Illinois Policy Institute and its allies (including former Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Jeanne Ives) whipped up some public furor against it, but the idea wasn’t ever going anywhere.
Property taxes are already way too high in this state and are not based on the ability to pay. So, tacking on a state tax surcharge that could add as much as 50 percent to a homeowner’s local property tax bill would bring out the torches and pitchforks — and maybe even tar and feathers.
The Republicans need to counteract what looks to be a coming Democratic wave election. They have to do whatever it takes to get “their” people to the polls. And property taxes are most definitely a huge issue in the suburbs.
DuPage County will also ask its voters about a proposal to tax vehicle mileage — another tax that has so far gone nowhere in Illinois. Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has said he’d consider a study of the idea, but it has not gained much if any traction in the General Assembly. Senate President John Cullerton briefly flirted with the idea, but dropped it because the state still didn’t have a budget (among other reasons).
And several suburban Cook County townships will ask their voters a version of this question being asked in Schaumburg Township: “Should the Cook County Board of Commissioners reinstate the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax Ordinance (also known as the Soda Tax) to fill an $82 million county budget deficit?”
Elk Grove, Palatine, Lemont and Maine townships will also ask the question, according to a report in the Daily Herald last week (I’m told Palos is also on that list), even though the pop tax has been thoroughly killed beyond dead after the county board imposed it and then backed off in the face of a public uproar.
A Rauner campaign official told me last week that voters in more than 60 counties and townships will have a chance to express their non-binding opinions on hot-button issues favorable to Republicans.
So, will this work? Well, it likely depends on your meaning of “work.” This is just one piece in a much larger puzzle. But, either way, it probably can’t hurt. And if they put some money and effort behind it, some folks who might not be planning to vote could be convinced by the ploy.
“The statewide Republican operation is going to use paid advertisement to target Republican voters with this referendum to turn them out and vote for all of us,” according to a text sent by Rep. Dave Severin, R-Benton, to one of his local county board members, according to published reports.
House Speaker Michael Madigan has admitted to using non-binding statewide referendums to get Democrats to the polls, including in 2014, when he added questions about increasing the minimum wage, taxing millionaires and requiring insurers to provide birth control coverage.
Rauner and the Republicans couldn’t possibly put questions favorable to them on the statewide ballot because that would require the General Assembly’s approval, so they’ve had to improvise locally. If nothing else, it at least shows some gumption on their part.
Now, to a bit of housecleaning. A couple of weeks ago I told you that Comptroller Susana Mendoza didn’t appeal a court ruling on legislator pay. That was wrong. She did appeal. I’m sorry.
