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That toddlin’ town roundup
Monday, Mar 27, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* NBC Chicago | Johnson and Vallas Return to the Campaign Trail Sunday, Secure Major Endorsements: After the announcement with Durbin, Vallas watched Chicago’s Greek Independence Day Parade while newly-minted Congressman Jonathan Jackson spoke in support of Johnson at a campaign event in South Shore. * Sun-Times | Rev. Al Sharpton joins Brandon Johnson at get-out-the-vote rally in West Garfield Park: Sharpton stopped just short of endorsing Johnson, but he did tell the hundreds gathered at New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church to note which candidate joined them at the rally. “Let the record show who showed up,” Sharpton said to loud cheers from the crowd. * Greg Hinz | This is what the mayoral choice comes down to, Chicago: But misstatements and bad quips are just a sideshow in the mayoral election. What’s at stake is the city’s future — the direction we should go at a critical time after a long period of real but uneven progress. The two finalists offer wholly differing answers. To my mind, the person you should vote for is the one who will best preserve but also expand that progress. * Slate | Paul Vallas’ Trail of School Privatization: The mayoral candidate has opened dozens of charter schools around the country, and is opening a militarized school in Arkansas even while campaigning in Chicago. * Tribune | Chicago’s next mayor could determine fate of controversial Near South Side high school plan: “We are saying we want housing in our community,” Wilson said, arguing the city had fallen short of its promise to rehouse residents displaced during public housing demolitions during Mayor Richard M. Daley’s years in office and had since prioritized the wealthy. * Sun-Times | Add the environment to items at the top of new mayor’s agenda: Lake Michigan and the Chicago River will need help. Scientists say future lake levels that fluctuate to a greater degree, along with stronger storms, will threaten shoreline infrastructure — including homes and businesses — erode beaches and cause flooding. Part of the solution, which the new mayor should pursue, is to continue to develop a regional watershed plan that eliminates combined sewer overflows into waterways and the lake. * Sun-Times | Bridgeport runoff: One more round for Daleys in 11th Ward race?: With former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson’s conviction, it may seem that the Daley family’s grip on the 11th Ward is slipping. But despite boundary and demographic changes in the ward, the Daleys and their allies are still exerting influence. * Block Club | Ald. Timmy Knudsen, Brian Comer Spar Over Policing, Development In 43rd Ward Debate: Knudsen and Comer shared different strategies on improving police staffing and revisited a controversy about Comer posting a video that had false information. * Tribune | Development, gentrification focus of aldermanic runoffs in South Side lakefront wards: The lakefront wards are home to historic housing stock and city landmarks including the Museum Campus and Soldier Field, the University of Chicago and the South Shore Cultural Center. A future landmark, the Obama Presidential Center, will have a much-discussed but still to be defined impact when it opens in 2025. * Block Club | How Monique Scott And Challenger Creative Scott — No Relation — Plan To Bring Investment To 24th Ward: The two longterm residents of the West Side ward hope to bring change and investment to a neighborhood that has long been underserved by the city. * Sun-Times | Incumbent Ald. Chris Taliaferro in runoff to keep 29th Ward seat: Taliaferro, chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, faces CB Johnson, leader of a nonprofit that helps people recover from drug use. On Feb. 28, Johnson ran strongest in the ward’s lowest-income areas. * Sun-Times | Scandal-prone Ald. Gardiner mum about reelection bid against rival who feels ‘great about going into the runoff’: Ald. Jim Gardiner did not respond to the Sun-Times’ requests for an interview about his runoff campaign. Challenger Megan Mathias said many residents complained to her about Gardiner’s inaccessibility but hesitated to donate to her campaign because they “feared retaliation.” * Block Club | What’s Next For Ald. Roderick Sawyer? For Now, Longtime 6th Ward Leader Says He’s Focused On Backing Vallas: Sawyer, who will step down in May, supported efforts to remove police officers from schools, create local police councils and establish long-term solutions for gun violence. * WBEZ | The most Chicago thing ever happened 20 years ago — an airport was bulldozed overnight: Under the cover of darkness, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley made it clear who ran the city when he ordered the destruction of Meigs Field on Northerly Island without alerting the City Council, the statehouse or the Federal Aviation Administration. The former airport is now a park, which the mayor had wanted for years. * Crain’s | A rare statue of Buddha fails to sell at auction as questions swirl around a renowned art collection: The Buddha was on loan to the Art Institute beginning in the late 1990s and was last on display in 2018 at the museum, which has galleries dedicated to the Alsdorfs’ vast Asian collection. Marilynn Alsdorf, who died in 2019, left much of the collection to the museum. James Alsdorf, who once led the museum’s board of trustees, died in 1990.
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- Keyrock - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 10:56 am:
Great story in the TRiiBE, reprinted in Slate.
Vallas’ school record is clear. No wonder he doesn’t want to run on the details of his record.
- Forever906 - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 11:19 am:
There needs to be more polling. So far, there has been little to no neutral polling in the runoff. Where are 1983 Labs and M3 Strategies? Why have none of the local network affiliates sponsored a runoff poll?
The momentum is with Johnson, but he too has had issues with hitting a ceiling. He hasn’t been able to show he can overtake Vallas in the polls outside of his own campaign polling. Vallas has yet to show we can get above 47%. This is going to be a nail biter either way.
- OneMan - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 11:25 am:
I think I could fit the number of voters in Chicago who are swayed by a Durbin endorsement into a medium-sized conference room.
- Techie - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 11:35 am:
One more thing I dislike about Durbin.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 11:52 am:
===Paul Vallas is a lifelong Democrat committed to democratic values===
This is a “where’s the beef” moment in a state where the state party hasn’t produced a platform recently. Since there’s no statewide platform of issues there’s no actual metric to determine who is a “better” Democrat by comparing them on the issues or on the record.
For all I know, Senator Durbin may think some of Vallas’ unsettling behavior is just the “good politics” of cozying up with fascists. Never mind that Vallas, if elected, will have to cater to that base for support and coming down on the wrong side of extrajudicial killings by police officers in the City of Chicago has ended the careers of better politicians.
So — here’s Senator Dick Durbin saying something that is both meaningless and empty.
For the sake of popcorn, I do hope that Durbin’s endorsement causes the Governor to endorse Johnson.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 12:30 pm:
I live in the collars, and was a Durbin supporter. Now I’m not so sure. This endorsement disturbs me… it is misplaced. He should not have taken a position. He likely lost my vote if he runs again…
- 47th Ward - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 12:38 pm:
Durbin has a residence in Chicago. Like a lot of us Chicago residents, I’m sure Durbin has seen the direction the city has been going in for some time, and doesn’t like what he sees.
We need a safe and functioning city, not a progressive experiment to build a utopia. Johnson is as inexperienced as Lightfoot. I don’t want to go down that road again.
For all of his many faults, Vallas is the only candidate with experience managing large bureaucracies. I’m voting for Vallas to save the city, not because I like him.
I just don’t want to have to move to the suburbs if we can’t get Chicago back on track.
- Mark - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 12:48 pm:
I was no fan of Durbin before, and this only furthers the case that he’s out of touch. Would love to see him challenged from the left in the next election; I think many progressive voters would be eager to see fresh state leadership, especially in light of JB’s successes.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 12:57 pm:
-47th Ward
Completely agree that Johnson is not a be all, end all candidate. Obviously he is not. But he hasn’t repeatedly lied about who he is. Vallas has lied repeatedly. He’s shown us who he is… I believe him. I’ll choose naive and inexperienced over dishonest every time. Vallas doesn’t respect us… he’s using us to get what he wants. Haven’t we had enough of that of late?
- Mark - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 12:59 pm:
=== We need a safe and functioning city, not a progressive experiment to build a utopia. ===
We’re already living in a failed experiment - decades of unabated crime and disinvestment in poor communities. The results of policing and incarceration as the primary instruments of public safety speak for themselves. Vallas is deeply committed to maintaining the status quo; why should anyone expect any improvement with him at the helm?
- 47th Ward - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:00 pm:
Vallas reached out to the right to build a coalition. He’s said some dumb things and hasn’t owned what he’s said. I get that, and I hate it. I could have voted for Lightfoot or Garcia over Vallas, but I can’t vote for Johnson. I won’t. I live here and the first rule when you’re in a hole is to stop digging.
Brandon Johnson, I fear, is going to dig the hole deeper.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:03 pm:
===I just don’t want to have to move to the suburbs if we can’t get Chicago back on track.===
The “before it’s too late” take is that hybrid of “Daleyite” experiences to Bernie Epton worries.
I remember when you - 47th Ward - reminded me of Dominick and Ronnie and the Daley bad that even thinking of “Daley 95” was at its peak.
I’m glad I don’t have this electoral struggle between these two.
I do know that all the hand wringing about Proft, Ives, Bailey… saving Illinois from them is predicated on an idea that Johnson “to the left” is too much for voters who also felt Bailey was “too far to the right”.
I truly feel for you - 47th Ward - and all Chicago voters, I just hope next time Republicans nominate Bailey there’s a realization of what it means when “too far” is also put into the discussion.
My hope too, as was yours and I can’t agree more, that if Vallas wins, Vallas completely, unequivocally, and expediently denounces Bailey, Proft, Ives, the FOP Prez, and does it without reservation, exception and unprompted.
Be well. I hear ya
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:03 pm:
===Vallas reached out to the right to build a coalition===
“Build a coalition” is doing some very heavy lifting in that comment. To what end? Or was he just spouting off on right-wing radio, etc.?
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:12 pm:
What’s Brandon Johnson’s plan when he cannot find $500 million in efficiencies (how’s that for neoliberalism?) and cannot get legal authority to tax all the things he wants to tax? Basically, what’s the plan when the stated plan fails?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:15 pm:
===what’s the plan when the stated plan fails? ===
He was asked that last week. He said there’s no Plan B.
lol
- Rogo - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:21 pm:
===naive and inexperienced over dishonest===
Brandon Johnson hasn’t made dishonest statements as a candidate?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:22 pm:
===hasn’t made dishonest statements as a candidate?===
Only if you think denying he ever said defund the police when he clearly did was dishonest. lol
- ChicagoVinny - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 1:32 pm:
Last few years Senator Durbin has increasingly seemed out of touch to me. A million ways he could have phrased this endorsement but calling Vallas a “bridge to uniting” reinforces the impression of someone who is out of touch.
- Back to the Future - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:38 pm:
I am going to vote.
I always vote.
Voted for Chuy, but did like King and Sawyer.
If the choice was between Mayor Lightfoot and Johnson I would have voted for Lightfoot.
47th ward makes a lot of good points.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:41 pm:
Seems to me that Vallas has had so many jobs because he wears out his welcome… he will in Chicago as well… Likely happens quickly too.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:43 pm:
A lot of people voted for Trump thinking he was the best of two bad choices… dishonesty always sounds good if you check integrity at the door. How’d that work out? Lol…
- James the Intolerant - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:48 pm:
Vallas led the charge on the pension holidays, which set the tome for the city being in the dire financial straits it is in. Daley was 5 for 22. Vallas wants to take credit for all the good things under Daley, so own this policy wonk.
- Roadrager - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:49 pm:
==For all of his many faults, Vallas is the only candidate with experience managing large bureaucracies.==
This sentence appears to be missing a prefix.
- SWIL_Voter - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:52 pm:
“the first rule when you’re in a hole is to stop digging.”
Aren’t you voting for the candidate promising to make Chicago safer by throwing more money at the police? Isn’t that continuing to dig the hole? That strategy already failed a million times
- Big Dipper - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 2:54 pm:
==has had so many jobs because he wears out his welcome==
Jack of all trades. master of none.
- Amalia - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 3:07 pm:
Durbin and White were for Valencia too….
- 47th Ward - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 3:40 pm:
===Aren’t you voting…===
Who are you voting for SWIL?
- SWIL_Voter - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 3:49 pm:
“Who are you voting for SWIL?”
I don’t vote in Chicago elections. Your turn to answer
- 47th Ward - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 4:02 pm:
===I don’t vote in Chicago elections.===
It was a rhetorical question. My preferred candidate lost in the first round, so now I have a choice between a horribly flawed, awful candidate, and a worse candidate. I’m planning to vote for the horribly flawed, awful candidate because there isn’t a third choice and I have to live with the outcome.
- Pundent - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 4:02 pm:
It seems that the only compelling reason to vote for either mayoral candidate is “he’s not the other guy.” I guess that’s what happens when you have two really flawed candidates with indefensible records.
- Chicago Blue - Monday, Mar 27, 23 @ 8:06 pm:
@ 47th Ward
Can you point to the progressive mayors that have dug this socialist hole you say Chicago is in? I only see right of center mayors that have been in charge since Harold died.