* Agreed…
* And to help prove Mark’s point, here is the Chicago Tribune from February 10, 2015…
25th Ward: Ald. Danny Solis tells you exactly what he thinks. He’s all in on a casino for the city of Chicago. He doesn’t apologize for being an ally of the mayor. He says resolving the city’s pension crisis means that city workers “are not going to get the same deal they have now.” He defends tax increment financing and for good reason: The Pilsen Industrial Corridor TIF has helped bring hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs to the ward, he says. TIF money has helped pay for an expansion of Benito Juarez High School, for a library and field house in Chinatown, and for sidewalks, streetlights and other improvements — “10 times what I could have done with my menu money,” he says. An impactful community organizer before he joined the council, Solis deserves credit for steady progress. He is endorsed over four opponents.
* And here’s the Sun-Times endorsement from the same year…
25th Ward
Pilsen, Chinatown
Pilsen has grown to become one of Chicago’s most vibrant neighborhoods, still solidly Hispanic, but increasingly home as well to artists and young professions of all backgrounds. Daniel “Danny” Solis, who gets our nod, has been the alderman for 19 years and deserves a share of the credit. Solis’ challenge is keep the comeback going while preserving the neighborhood’s rich Latino cultural core. We appreciate Solis’ honest take on how to tackle the city’s crisis of underfunded pension systems — “Everybody is going to have to give something,” including city employees, and a property tax hike is “probable.”
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 10:56 am:
Of course they endorsed him.
Both papers didn’t know about the Federal investigation and he realized the pensions are unsustainable unlike most politicians.
- Not a Billionaire - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:08 am:
Remember Alderman Larry Bloom …Hyde Park similar story….Burke and Madigan seem obvious in Burkes case it was ….But you can’t judge book by it cover and so on.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:10 am:
That’s all Mark Glennon seems to want to talk about, the Burke Mendoza wedding connection. He seems a little obsessed. https://twitter.com/glennonmarke/status/1082298572010373125?s=21
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:12 am:
===Both papers didn’t know about the Federal investigation===
And nobody else did, either, including Daley and Mendoza and, for that matter, MJM. That’s the whole point of this post.
- Regular democrat - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:13 am:
I have known solis for a number of years. I had no idea he was acting in this manner and i find it deplorable. I am returning his donations.
- Regular democrat - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:15 am:
Why cant that be mendoza statement? Not sure but she looks rather silly lately blaming everone else. Dont think she ready for prime time yet
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:17 am:
===And nobody else did, either, including Daley and Mendoza and, for that matter, MJM. That’s the whole point of this post.===
Ball game, and to that, the Larry Bloom example is top shelf.
You look at that situation, Bloom’s reputation and apparent image that was thought… there’s a reason surprises happen in life, it’s because what is happening is unexpected.
Did anyone expect Burke and Solis specifically in this situation?
Read… this specific situation…
Not what you “think” or “what to believe”
The real, the now, the here and now.
Alderman Bloom. Good example.
- Amalia - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:17 am:
saying the same thing in Penn. with this union leader indictment. Interesting. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/31/pennsylvania-democrats-indictment-union-political-boss-1138312
- Arsenal - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:20 am:
==Both papers didn’t know about the Federal investigation and he realized the pensions are unsustainable unlike most politicians.==
You’ll forgive quite a bit if it means keeping that boot on the workers’ necks.
- Steve - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:23 am:
Thank you OW for bring up the sainted reformer Alderman Larry Bloom. The reason why this is important is probably by the end of the year we will again hear how some politicians were considered a modern day Larry Bloom but “mistakes were made”.
- TopHatMonocle - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:39 am:
Well guess who’s playing the blame game. Mendoza. She’s going around pushing stories that everyone but her is somehow more connected to Burke and Solis than she is. It’s absurd, disingenuous, and clearly false.
- Proud Sucker - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:42 am:
To the point about not knowing a pol’s true being…I voted for Hastert…twice.
- Matt Vernau - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 11:58 am:
Politics is managed in a way to make it nearly impossible to judge character. The party wants to pick “their man” and then sell him or her like toothpaste. Then the process of deal making and gathering the war chest for the next election further corrupts. Staying true to yourself is hard enough and we want people to do that while involved in remaining in power. I thing we need a different process for selecting and selling.
- Steve - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 12:03 pm:
What will be interesting to see in the coming months what politicians will be on on the Burke and Solis phone calls and who will not be.
- Colin O'Scopy - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 12:06 pm:
Means to an end. If a cozy political relationship helps one secure the objective, say using that relationship to win an election for example, then tearing apart that same politician when things break bad, is a political requirement.
Just don’t expect me to think you’re not a user or duplicitous.
- Ok - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 12:12 pm:
For the papers, someone is only “honest” when they agree with you.
- Annonin' - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 12:34 pm:
Speaking of venerated Aldermen how about Dick Simpson who whines about all things political from his taxpayer funded perch at the U of I?
- Bobby Beagle - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 1:47 pm:
The corrupt actions of Solis, Burke, and other southwest side pols was and continues to be widely understood/discussed by activists and others who get on the wrong side of the “machine”.
An afternoon of researching Illinois Sunshine with a few supplemental google searches is about all it takes to see a disturbing pattern of trading official acts for campaign donations, especially in terms of zoning decisions, selective enforcement of city regulations (over and under enforcement), approvals, and who gets special treatment in the case of a controversy or legal issue.
I approached the press about a highly suspicious pattern of donations to my Alderman and was told Committee Chairman routinely receive large donations from entities they regulate/make direct decisions about, this act was regarded as so common place that it was deemed un-newsworthy. It seems like the Alds became so confident with these acts that they stopped attempting to conceal them years ago, and likewise it was so widespread that the press figured there wasn’t much of a story even if the spirit and letter of campaign finance laws are violated regularly.
- Hieronymus - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 1:56 pm:
@LP “… and he realized the pensions are unsustainable unlike most politicians”
Just like a broken record. It’s not the pensions, themselves, that are unsustainable but rather the unrestricted borrowing from the pension funds that is unsustainable.
Eventually the unwilling lenders run out of funds for the unscrupulous debtor to borrow. Of course, now, that debtor has not only the principal, but also the compounded interest to pay. So, unless you want to argue that (constitutional issues aside), both the unwilling _and_ the willing creditors must take a haircut, please find some other schtick.
- Sonny - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 2:11 pm:
After being tailed by the feds for two years, Solis was more or less on revenge tour between 2016 and a week or so ago with the feds listening via his pocket, and following his every move so were those donations to Susana an expression of goodwill, friendship, and thanks? Don’t think so.
- AnneBancrupt - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 3:22 pm:
@sonny
What was he trying to avenge with her? They were very close.
- Shytown - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 3:40 pm:
Regular Dem, you’ve clearly demonstrated that you’re not a Mendoza supporter so you’re comment is a bit disingenuous re her handling of the solis revelations as she was pretty straightforward in returning the donations: https://abc7chicago.com/politics/mendoza-donates-$141k-from-ald-solis-calls-on-preckwinkle-to-donate-money-from-ald-burke/5104455/
not blaming anyone I think but pointing out pretty straightforward facts in follow up media stories when asked about them.
- AnneBancrupt - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 4:12 pm:
@shytown
No matter what, it’s not a good look when all these people you’ve surrounded you end up on a wire or are/were/perhaps will be charged.
Politics stinks.
But I agree with his point that by trying to distance herself from both and point the finger at Preckwinkle, it’s..kind of…why not just own up to knowing them? What better way to turn the page than by telling the truth. People are generally forgiving tht way.
I think it’s going to haunt her.
- Regular democrat - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 4:57 pm:
To shytown-i was a supporter of Mendoza but i soured after her latest handling of her problems. I woikd direct u to Greg Hinz article yesterday.
- jim - Thursday, Jan 31, 19 @ 6:01 pm:
only a fool would have thought ed burke was honest. or solis. at best one could be agnostic on the question.