* These Stroger/Fritchey signs began mysteriously appearing on light posts and street signs on the Northwest Side this weekend…
Rep. John Fritchey, you already know, is running for the county board against former Ald. Ted Matlak - a supreme hackmeister. Fritchey responds on FaceBook…
Leave it to an old-school hack opponent to resort to old-school dirty tricks like this one. Let’s put an end to this nonsense tomorrow. Vote for Toni Preckwinkle for Board President and for me for County Commissioner. It’s time for change.
* In the 47th Ward, Ald. Gene Schulter put the official City of Chicago Seal on his election day mailer. That would not be legal. Click on the pic for the full thing…
Sheesh.
* As I told subscribers this morning, Ald. Ed Smith did a robocall into the 10th House District slamming the only white candidate, Jonathan Goldman. Listen…
From Goldman’s weekend press release…
On Jan. 30, many 10th District voters came home to a thinly veiled racist robocall on their answering machines from Alderman Ed Smith on behalf of State Rep. Annazette Collins.
In the 48-second recording, Smith states that Bucktown resident Jonathan Goldman, the only white opponent of Collins in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary, “lives in the Bucktown and Lincoln Park areas but wants to take over the East and West Garfield Park areas.”
The racist tactic incensed a multicultural group of political and community leaders that gathered for a press conference Jan. 31 to denounce it. Goldman was joined by 26th Ward Ald. Roberto Maldonado, West Side activist Virgil Crawford, Rev. Charles Walker, Jr., and other district residents.
“The State of Illinois is facing serious problems, and I have been talking about my plans for solving our fiscal crisis, creating jobs and reducing gun violence,” said Goldman. “Unfortunately, Ald. Smith and Rep. Collins don’t have any plans, so instead all they want to talk about is the race of the candidates opposing her. Isn’t it time we put the politics of racial division behind us?”
Ald. Maldonado called for an immediate end to the divisive tactics: “I hope that Ald. Smith will really come forward and apologize for the tone of that robocall and hopefully these acts of desperation will not continue through Election Day.”
Rev. Walker agreed, saying, “What difference does it make what color the person is as long as he can get the job done? The job isn’t getting done right now.”
Neither Angela McMahon, of Evergreen Park, nor Karen Sullivan Casey, of Oak Lawn, circulated a single petition sheet herself to get on the ballot in the 36th District. The seat is open due to the retirement of state Rep. James Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park).
Wouldn’t you think if you were running for office for the first time you might ask your neighbor, even your husband, to sign a petition sheet? Host a coffee? Attend a debate? Neither did.
More than 80 circulators who live outside the district in the 13th and 23rd wards of Chicago descended on Evergreen Park in the fall to collect signatures on McMahon’s and Casey’s behalf. Keep in mind they’re supposedly “competitors” for the seat, but the same troops helped them both get on the ballot. Those would be House Speaker Michael Madigan’s troops, along with 23rd Ward Committeeman Michael Zalewski’s. […]
Meanwhile in the 37th House District GOP primary, Jeffrey Junkas of Tinley Park faces Molly McAvoy Flynn, of Orland Park. The winner will try to unseat state Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) in November.
Flynn - notice the Irish female thing again - has run a campaign in name only. She also didn’t circulate a single petition sheet herself.
The same 13th and 23rd ward foot soldiers who worked the Evergreen Park district gathered signatures for Flynn to get on the ballot in Orland Park.
Defending his handling of the state’s deficit-plagued budget, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said today he’s “cut all the frills” out of state government but more tax money is needed to fund essential services. […]
“What I basically have done is cut all the frills out of state government — more than $2 billion of cuts of non-priority items,” Quinn said.
That’s pretty easy to disprove, discredit and ridicule. Anybody can find a bit of “frills” in the budget. It ain’t hard. Take, for instance, the money he’s spending on airplane rides.
A nasty hit piece hit residents of the 8th Cook County Commissioner’s district. Coming from the phantom “Taxpayers Coalition Initiative” which provides no return address, the piece delves into Nogueras’ tenure with the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce and unpaid water bills. The piece is huge–22×17–full color, glossy. The 60647 post office, from where the piece originated, did not provide information on the owner of the “Permit #1″ used to send the piece out.
Nogueras’ opponent, Ed Reyes, is an ally of 33rd Ward boss Dick Mell, who engineered his elevation to the seat after Roberto Maldonado was appointed by Mayor Daley to replace Billy Ocasio, who in turn was appointed to Governor Quinn’s staff after he replaced Rod Blagojevich. To get that straight: Blagojevich gets impeached, Quinn taps Ocasio, Daley taps Maldonado, Maldonado pushes for Nogueras to replace him but gets outmaneuvered Mell.
How does Quinn the Outsider choose Berrios the Insider instead of former Circuit Court Judge Raymond Figueroa, the only assessor candidate with any reform credentials? I just don’t get it.
Figueroa, you should know, is nursing a severely slashed hand after confronting a guy who was yanking down his campaign yard signs last Tuesday. The guy fled. Figueroa, 62, went to the emergency room and got bandaged up.
Mr. Quinn’s spokeswoman said he endorsed the candidate because he’s known Mr. Berrios for decades, when Mr. Quinn was a commissioner and Mr. Berrios was on the board’s staff, and “believes Mr. Berrios is qualified to be assessor.”
Uh-huh. And it has nothing to do with the fact that the Cook County Democratic Central Committee — Joe Berrios, chairman — has endorsed Mr. Quinn for governor?
And it doesn’t make Mr. Quinn — who always rails about how he’s on the side of the little guys against special interests — look like a raging hypocrite?
Sad. Sad. And, sad.
* This is not a hit piece, nor is it negative, but it is certainly one of the more hilariously bizarre stories I’ve seen in a while…
A longtime spokesman to arguably the state’s most powerful Democrat supports former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s trip to central Illinois as “a good thing.”
Steve Brown, aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, is vice president of the board of directors governing Five Points Washington, where Palin will deliver a speech April 17 kicking off the organization’s “Lessons from Leaders” series.
Brown, whose family has lived in Washington for the past five years, emphasized that the address isn’t a “political event” and should not be viewed as such.
“I think the governor has established a niche for herself,” Brown said. “I’m a person who believes there is a lot of room for different points of views.”
Brownie is not exactly known for his love of Republicans. I spit out my coffee when I saw that piece.
* Alderman Scott Waguespack Abandons Neutrality in Race to Succeed Rep John Fritchey to Back Ed Mullen
* In many legislative contests, Tuesday will decide who’s going to Springfield
* Watch state spend wildly at new website: A Web site launched by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago displays a ticker that counts up Illinois’ debt. On Friday evening, the number was around $128,586,300,000 and swiftly on the rise.
* Investigation Needed Into Governor Pat Quinn’s Personal Ponzi Scheme
* Veteran Dems point to differing backgrounds in Cook assessor race
* As I wrote over the weekend, Dan Hynes’ Harold Washington ad is so difficult to rebut not just because Washington’s words are so powerful and prescient, but because there is a legitimate disagreement over whether Washington really meant what he said. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington weighs in against Quinn today…
A pre-election postscript: There’s one political old-timer whose wisdom, even in death, is as relevant today as 22 years ago. Back then, I was privileged to serve as a spokeswoman for Mayor Harold Washington. Forever eloquent, Washington knew exactly what he was saying in that long-ago interview about firing Gov. Quinn. He meant every unequivocal word of it, and then some.
Washington doesn’t need to be rescued by craven politicians who feign outrage at that brilliant Dan Hynes campaign ad. The cynical rush by the pols to protect Washington’s name is a fig leaf for protecting the benefits of incumbency.
Like Quinn, Dan Hynes is an imperfect candidate. But that ad was not racist. It was right.
* We had several stories over the weekend about the new Burr Oak Cemetery allegations, but I shut down comments in the middle of it all, so let’s consolidate it all into one post for your commenting ease…
