DSA gains ground in aldermanic races
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
If their success on Tuesday carries over to the April runoff elections, there could be as many as five card-carrying democratic socialists on the City Council this Spring — which would be the most on the Chicago governing body in more than a century.
Members’ victories in two aldermanic races and ballot success putting them in three runoff contests have already led to talk of an incoming socialist caucus. […]
[Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa] is one of the members of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who won outright on Tuesday: New member Daniel La Spata upset Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno in the Near Northwest Side’s 1st Ward. […]
Socialist Rosanna Rodríguez-Sánchez will head to April’s runoff against incumbent Ald. Deb Mell in the 33rd Ward. Rodríguez-Sánchez broke into tears of joy several times at her watch party at Chief O’Neils in Avondale after hearing she’d earned the most votes in the three-way race. […]
Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who heads the Pilsen Alliance, credited the party for helping him in the race for the seat vacated by retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th). Sigcho-Lopez will face Alex Acevado in April.
* Sigcho-Lopez faced allegations of shenanigans in the closing days. From Friday…
Byron Sigcho Lopez, a candidate for 25th Ward alderman, denounced allegations that his supporters engaged in ballot theft at a Chinatown senior center.
Earlier this week, candidate Hilario Dominguez, a former teacher and activist, along with State Rep. Theresa Mah, whose 2nd District seat includes Chinatown and Pilsen, leveled the allegations at Sigcho Lopez’s supporters.
They alleged his supporters took incomplete vote-by-mail ballots from seniors at the Chinatown Elderly Apartments, 300 W. 23rd St. They were then told their ballots would be filled out for Sigcho Lopez because they had previously received a free meal at Phoenix Restaurant from Sigcho Lopez’s campaign, the state representative and the aldermanic challenger alleged.
* Yesterday…
The Illinois Attorney General’s office and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office are investigating a complaint that alleges supporters of candidate Byron Sigcho Lopez were buying votes in the 25th Ward Tuesday.
A complaint was filed with the agencies after voters were seen requesting gift cards after casting ballots at Barbara Jean Wright Court Apartments, 1354 S. Morgan St., in the 25th Ward’s 4th precinct.
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, which staffs a hotline where voters can report electoral abuse, initially sent poll watchers to the site after receiving complaints that the precinct was refusing to let people register to vote, said Ami Gandhi, an attorney with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
During the visit, poll watchers observed what they described as “strange” behavior — voters entering one room, casting their ballot and then entering a separate room across the hall where they allegedly received $20 gift cards in exchange for a vote for Sigcho Lopez, said Matt Owens, an attorney and field captain for election protection with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
Results for that race are here.
…Adding… Related…
* Hours after historic election, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle each argue they’re more progressive than the other: Preckwinkle attempted to take what has been a political weakness — her ties to party establishment amid strong calls for change at City Hall — and turn it on its head by noting that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Mayor Richard M. Daley had appointed Lightfoot to positions. “While my opponent was taking multiple appointments in the Daley and Emanuel administrations, I fought the power elite who have been trying to hold this city back,” Preckwinkle said during her election night speech.
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Never tweet
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* How’s that Latino outreach going, ILGOP?…
Oof. The ratio.
* They eventually offered up an explanation…
It didn’t work.
…Adding… From comments…
“We doubled down on the thing we said was a jerk move”
Yep.
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* From a recent Chicago Tribune editorial entitled “4 closing arguments: The case for Bill Daley”…
Daley is the only leading mayoral candidate who talks candidly about the city’s and state’s pension systems. The only way to keep high local and state taxes from skyrocketing and to save pensions for retirees is to amend the Illinois Constitution’s rigid pension clause. That requires action in Springfield. It’s a big lift, but Daley is the only candidate willing to try. “Our pension system is broke,” Daley says. “We cannot tax our way out without making Chicago unaffordable. We can’t cut our way out without compromising our quality of life.”
Daley supports a mix of new taxes to prop up pensions — but he also understands that loosening the language of the Illinois Constitution is the only route to long-term stability. No gimmicks. Real change. We’re hopeful Daley would persuade other leading Democrats, Gov. J.B. Pritzker included, to put pension reform on the ballot.
Daley was by far the best hope for Illinois proponents of an Arizona-style pension reform plan. He supported a similar constitutional amendment to Arizona’s that would ostensibly allow this state to reduce all benefits moving forward. But the plan was never remotely feasible here, and Arizona’s amendments have not yet been tested by the courts. Even so, Daley would’ve been the highest profile mouthpiece for the Tribune, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Civic Committee and others who have been banging the drum on this topic for years.
Now, with Daley’s loss, they’re gonna have to find somebody else.
And, by the way, the pundits can blame Jerry Joyce all they want for Daley’s loss. But Daley got smoked in the wards best known for being populated with city workers and retirees. That was no coincidence.
…Adding… Greg Hinz…
Daley got clobbered in sections of Northwest and Southwest Side that are home to many police, firefighters and other city workers by attorney Jerry Joyce. Daley should have done well in such areas in the same way that his brother and father did when they ran for mayor, but the pension issue hurt. Ironically, all of those cops will have to live with a new mayor in Lightfoot or Preckwinkle, both of whom strongly back tough police reforms and increased accountability. But in Springfield, where pension reform already is a very tough sell, Tuesday’s totals will make it even tougher. The message will be: don’t fight the unions. You can’t win.
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Afternoon precinct reports
Tuesday, Feb 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
…Adding… Hmm…
But…
* Seniors dominating morning vote [updated with noon totals]…
* More…
So far the 19th Ward on the South Side has seen the highest turnout, with 26 percent of voters turning in a ballot. That’s followed by the 41st Ward (23 percent), the 47th Ward (22 percent) and the 13th Ward (20 percent).
The 22nd Ward (8 percent) and the 24th Ward (8.1 percent) have seen the lightest turnout so far.
* Early voting stats as of yesterday…
* Things are a bit different in the 13th Ward…
* Magnanimity (or total indecision, or a very large and diverse family) in the 19th Ward…
* What’s happening out there?
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* From last Tuesday…
Flooding along the Ohio River forced crews to close roads in Hardin County Tuesday. They shut down Route 1 where the road is submerged.
“The last couple days, the water really started coming up on both side of Route 1,” said Hardin County Deputy Sheriff Joe Jenkins. “It’s completely over the road.” […]
The high water levels along the Ohio River are expected to last at least through the rest of the week.
But the river didn’t recede.
* Saturday…
Massac County officials have declared a state of emergency as the Ohio River continues to rise.
The county’s Emergency Management Agency says they are over extending their resources.
The river is currently less than a foot away from major flood stage and is expected to rise two more feet and crest at 53.5 feet on Saturday, March 2.
* Sunday…
The Ohio River is now at a major flood stage and is continuing to rise.
The National Weather Service predicts the river will crest Saturday, March 2, making it one of the top five historic crests.
As water levels continue to rise, volunteers in Brookport and Metropolis continue to fill sandbags to give to residents.
* Monday…
High flood waters have left residents at six units with no choice but to evacuate a Metropolis, Illinois apartment complex. […]
White says volunteers will be out all-night sandbagging. The residents who evacuated will stay at the hotel until Friday unless conditions get worse.
* Also from Monday…
Senator Dale Fowler said a meeting between lawmakers, first responders, IEMA, and the Army Corps of Engineers will take place Wednesday. They’ll be working to figure out if and when state resources can be deployed to help with damage.
* The governor apparently decided not to wait for Wednesday’s meeting…
Daily Public Schedule: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019
What: Gov. Pritzker to hold media availability after surveying flooding and receiving an emergency response briefing in Metropolis. The governor will then depart to Cairo to survey flooding.
Where: Metropolis Fire Department, 213 West 7th Street, Metropolis
When: 11:30 a.m.
* Harrah’s Casino closed on the 18th. The governor’s folks sent me this pic today…
* And here’s one of Pritzker with Sen. Fowler and others…
More often than I care to remember, I’ve brow-beaten governors into traveling to flood zones. I didn’t even know about this flood until today.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker has directed the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in Springfield to monitor flood conditions in southern Illinois and quickly deploy state assets and personnel if local officials request assistance as they battle floodwaters.
Gov. Pritzker and Illinois Emergency Management Agency Acting Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau met with local officials and emergency management officials in Massac and Alexander County today as the communities continue to prepare for significant river crests this weekend.
“I want all of our communities that have been impacted by recent flooding, from northern Illinois to southern Illinois, to know we are taking this very seriously,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The state will do everything we can to help communities experiencing these extreme conditions this upcoming weekend and beyond. It’s important we work together in the days and weeks ahead to keep families safe and protect our communities.”
On Tuesday, a crew from the Illinois Department of Correction’s Shawnee Correctional Center began sandbag operations to aid the flood fight in Alexander County. Additional sandbags and pumps have also been deployed to Massac County and Alexander County. IEMA staff have been deployed to southern Illinois to help local emergency management officials assess the need for state assets or personnel. The American Red Cross is also working throughout the area assisting residents and attending to the needs of volunteers.
Public safety officials also want to take this time to remind motorists to be on the lookout for road closure postings. Residents are urged to avoid areas already flooded and never cross any barriers that are put in place by local emergency officials.
“Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other thunderstorm related hazard,” said IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “Over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood waters. Please heed the warning from your local officials. Turn around, don’t drown. It is never safe to drive or walk into flood waters.”
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A very troubling DCFS statistic
Tuesday, Feb 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked about this yesterday…
Nearly 100 Illinois children who died within the last two years were involved with the state’s Department of Children and Family Services. That’s according to a recent Inspector General report. […]
Past Inspector General reports reveal the seemingly-high number to be average by comparison. Within the last 10 years, between 84 and 113 children have died while being supervised in some capacity by DCFS.
* But that’s not the most worrisome number, as Hannah Meisel points out today…
However, the number of children who died after a DCFS caseworker investigated a claim of abuse or neglect, but was not able to substantiate the claim, continued to rise in 2018, as in years past.
Thirty-seven children died after a caseworker had investigated either their parent, guardian, home or other situation related to the child but classified the complaint as “unfounded,” according to the report.
Oy.
* Also from Hannah’s report…
[Inspector General Meryl Paniak] pointed to a memo sent anonymously from the agency’s Joliet field office to Gov. JB Pritzker, Paniak, the agency’s former acting director, Beverly “BJ” Walker, several other administration officials and members of the Chicago news media describing a severe understaffing in the office.
The unsigned two-page letter, which is dated “February 2019,” describes the Joliet field office as in a “major crisis,” and says caseworkers who live within miles of the Joliet office are so “stressed and overwhelmed” with their jobs, they’ve found other jobs much further from their homes.
The letter says the Joliet office should have 30 child protection investigators, but in reality has “less than half” the staff needed.
“We are continuing to lose investigators weekly,” according to the letter. “This is a safety concern and unfair to the current staff.”
* This isn’t the first time the Joliet office has been in the news. From 2017…
As state child welfare investigators probed allegations of abuse in the Joliet Township home where 17-month-old Semaj Crosby would later be found dead, their supervisor was launching a contest that awarded $100 gift cards to the two workers who closed the most cases in a month, according to agency interviews and internal emails examined by the Tribune.
The 3rd place winner would get a $50 gift card.
Evidence of the Joliet office contest emerged as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services faces mounting criticism from state lawmakers that it is quickly closing abuse and neglect investigations even when basic information has not been gathered and children are left in harm’s way.
If you promote an atmosphere like this, then you can’t be surprised when more kids die every year after their cases were deemed unfounded.
…Adding… More from Hannah…
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