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Musical interlude: Who’s zoomin’ who in Chicago?

Monday, Dec 3, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* With a big hat tip to Paris Schutz and Mary Ann Ahern, Toni Preckwinkle today filed challenges against three women candidates for mayor: Susana Mendoza, Dorothy Brown and Lori Lightfoot.

Willie Wilson challenged two fellow African-American male candidates: La Shawn Ford and Ja’Mal Green; and one African-American woman: Dorothy Brown. So, Brown is now facing two challenges.

Paul Vallas challenged Garry McCarthy. And Jerry Joyce challenged Bill Daley after some initial hesitation.

Those escaping a ballot challenge today included Gery Chico, Jerry Joyce, Paul Vallas, Toni Preckwinkle, Amara Enyia and Willie Wilson.

* On to the tune…

…Adding… Lori Lightfoot…

We’re confident that we’ve got the signatures necessary to get on the ballot, full stop.

Petition challenges are the old Chicago way—and so is Toni Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle lacked the courage to take on Emanuel and aligns herself with the likes of Berrios and Burke, so it’s no surprise that she’s trying to take out the only independent reform candidate in this race. It won’t work. While Preckwinkle plays the political games of the past, I’m looking towards the future and working hard every day to build a transparent and accountable City Hall.

…Adding… Daley…

The campaign of Mayoral Candidate Bill Daley announced that it is not filing any petition challenges in the upcoming mayoral election. Campaign manager Jorge Neri released the following statement:

“We went through a rigorous process to verify our signatures and feel confident with what we filed. Given Bill’s desire for greater access to the ballot, we chose not to file challenges against any candidate.”

In response to the petition challenge filed by the Jerry Joyce campaign, Neri said, “We have not seen the Joyce challenge. However, we are looking into questionable tactics surrounding the Joyce campaign’s challenge and our team will take appropriate action with the proper authorities as necessary.”

…Adding… Joyce…

The campaign of mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce on Monday filed a challenge against the petitions of William Daley, citing the lack of sufficient valid signatures.

Meanwhile, the Joyce campaign remained confident in the quality of its own submission, with some 30,000 signatures collected over months from all corners of the city by a team that was unpaid and 100 percent volunteer.

“This was the first real test of this campaign and our success demonstrates the strong desire for new leadership in this city,” Joyce said.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Pritzker says he wants to settle Quincy veterans home case

Monday, Dec 3, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WBEZ…

After lingering for more than two years, Illinois Gov.-elect JB Pritzker said Friday he intends to settle 12 negligence lawsuits brought by the families of those who died of Legionnaires’ disease at the state-run Quincy veterans’ home.

Pritzker’s comments come after state legislators this week approved raising the potential limit that the state could have to pay out in damages to $2 million.

“I think there’s the opportunity now for fair settlements to be reached, and there’s no doubt we’re gonna move forward and try to get justice for all the families affected,” Pritzker said. “There were mistakes made, and I think we’re gonna have to work out going forward on a settlement basis likely what each family will receive.” […]

“It’s incredibly refreshing to see that a governor will acknowledge mistakes occur,” said Steven Jambois, who represents the family of Korean War veteran Valdemar “Roy” Dehn. “The first step into preventing those in the future is acknowledging that they did occur and then make sure they don’t occur in the future.”

As Pritzker opened the door to settlement talks with the families, he was unclear on whether the state would continue to deny negligence in its handling of the outbreaks because he said there’s still a lot of information left out of the public eye.

This case should’ve been settled a long time ago.

*** UPDATE *** As it turns out, both JB Pritzker and I are unclear on the concept. The governor can’t settle these cases. Only the attorney general can do so. A “friendly” attorney general might have settled the Quincy cases early on to keep the nasty particulars out of view and protect the administration’s backside with confidentiality agreements. A not so friendly AG would allow the discovery process to advance until all the bad bits were known. So, it’ll be up to either AG Madigan in her final days or AG Raoul to get this thing settled.