Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Luis Gutierrez won’t run for reelection

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

[Bumped up for visibility.]

* This will change some things in a hurry…

NBC 5 has learned Congressman Luis Gutierrez will announce Tuesday he is not running for re-election after 24 years on Capitol Hill, sources say. Gutierrez telephoned key democratic leaders late this afternoon to let them know of his plans. Calls to Gutierrez tonight have not been returned.

Already printing petitions Monday night– to begin the process of getting signatures before next Monday’s deadline — is Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia. Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa is considering a congressional race. This will also leave an opening on the county board should Garcia opt for Gutierrez’s seat.

…Adding… This is confirmed, as is the Chuy angle.

…Adding… More…

Confirmation that Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Joe Moreno and Cook County Comish Chuy Garcia to circulate petitions to run for Congress in wake of expected @RepGutierrez retirement announcement

— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) November 28, 2017

…Adding More… Tribune…

But sources said that Gutierrez was planning to endorse Garcia, who in 2015 forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election. Garcia lost, but in recent weeks told the Tribune he was contemplating a mayoral bid in 2019.

Winning a spot in Congress likely would remove him as a potential opponent to Emanuel. Two years ago, Gutierrez backed Emanuel for mayor over Garcia and others in the field.

Gutierrez informed Emanuel of his decision Monday afternoon when the two recorded a joint radio interview in the mayor’s office, said a source with knowledge of their meeting. Emanuel also joined Gutierrez for a tour of the Humboldt Park Welcome Center for Puerto Rican evacuees who departed the U.S. territory in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

Sun-Times…

Gutierrez and Garcia are scheduled to appear at a campaign kickoff event for Garcia at Mi Tierra restaurant in Little Village — Garcia’s neighborhood — at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 1:19 am

Comments

I would be proud to have Carlos Ramirez-Rosa represent me in Congress. I sincerely hope he runs.

Carlos is a true progressive who is committed to Medicare-for-all, comprehensive immigration reform, and funding public education. We need a lot more people like him in Congress.

Comment by Daniel Weber Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:26 pm
While I respect the Congressman’s history of great work, I must say this reeks of politics as usual. This is something he should have announced months ago, not days before the filing deadline. The only people who have the chance to file in time are people with strong organizations, and/or someone that the Congressman tipped off ahead of time.

This isn’t how democracy is supposed to work.

Comment by Just Me Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:26 pm
What’s up?

Comment by I said it Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:32 pm
–Already printing petitions Monday night– to begin the process of getting signatures before next Monday’s deadline — is Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia. –

At first blush, this last-minute announcement seems like a Luis gift to Emanuel, getting Garcia out of the way.

But nothing would prevent a Rep. Garcia from running for mayor. He wouldn’t risk his seat, and DC might give him a higher profile.

Harold was re-elected to Congress in Nov. 1982 and won the primary for mayor in Feb. 1983. It’s been done.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:34 pm
Maybe Luis is moving to Puerto Rico. he’s long said that he is a supporter of independence.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:42 pm
===I would be proud to have Carlos Ramirez-Rosa represent me in Congress…. Carlos is a true progressive … We need a lot more people like him in Congress.===

Where do I begin?

To start with, Ramirez-rosa’s behavior during the Biss/BDS debacle showed that he is not up to the job of public office.
Secondly, CRR’s far left views do not reflect the average IL democrat– nor are his views rational. It’s kinda ironic that a self described environmentalist is focused solely on one country in the middle east: No, not the largest producers of fossil fuels in the world (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, UAE, etc), but Israel. Yes, the sole democracy in the region and the only country with protections for the LGBT community.

Comment by Red fish blue fish Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:48 pm
===To start with, Ramirez-rosa’s behavior during the Biss/BDS debacle showed that he is not up to…===

… handling the big stage, isn’t someone to be trusted in a political play, is not a team player, and has an oversized ego that his experience and skills mock with his stretching for things, the next step.

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa may run, may win, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready FOR the job or a bigger stage.

The Biss fiasco, his part, not a great look.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 8:53 pm
Not a Carlos run, please!

Comment by LaPolix Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:01 pm
What a loss. A FALN anarchist, caught in a quid pro quo, approving a contract’s project in exchange for work done..

A great loss yes, channeling almost half of his campaign funds to wife, and daughter, giving both a job… oh my they are going to be unemployed..

Using taxpayers money $500,000 to pay a Chicago lobbyist.

In bed with a Chicago contractor, making $400,000 on deals he reportedly influenced.

He is a disgrace to the office, but then most elected officials fall in that category.

Comment by Tinsel Town. Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:26 pm
“Amalia - Maybe Luis is moving to Puerto Rico. he’s long said that he is a supporter of independence.”

I think you hit the nail.. Perhaps he will join San Juan’s mayor in fighting for a new political relationship between PR and USA.

Comment by Robero Cofresi Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:27 pm
Classic Chicago political move. Announce this with less than a week for a replacement to file. There’s maybe two potential candidates who can pull that off in this district. This is going to be crazy in the streets.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:29 pm
I still don’t get the Chuy hype.

He was unprepared and unimpressive in his run against Rahm. His only argument was “My name is not Rahm.”

That district can do far better.

Comment by Gooner Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:42 pm
I smell more information coming…

No one bolts from a secure seat at the last second without a reason, but it is a crazy time.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:46 pm
I am thinking of running

Comment by Soto's Staple Gun Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:47 pm
Just a reminder that you do not need to live in the district to run to represent it in the U.S. Congress. Given the complexity of that district’s shape (one of the worst in the nation), anyone nearby could easily respond to any scrutiny about being a carpet bagger.

Comment by Just Me Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:53 pm
===Classic Chicago political move. Announce this with less than a week for a replacement to file===

The real classic was Bill Lipinski waiting until after the primary to get out of the race.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 9:55 pm
According to Pew, about 80% of Chicago Hispanics are of Mexican origin with about 10% of Puerto Rican origin.

With the “Hispanic seat” now in play for the first time, that could be a factor.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:05 pm
Two horrible choices to succeed Luis: a disastrous candidate for Mayor with little record of leadership, or a disastrous candidate for Lieutenant Governor with no record of leadership, but brimming with ego and demagoguery.

Proco Joe, a district turns its lonely eyes to you…

Comment by TKMH Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:05 pm
Are we sure Roland Burris can’t run?

Comment by DuPage Bard Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:17 pm
Word, 100% of Puerto Ricans over 18 are eligible to vote; for Chicago’s Mexican population that number is much much lower.

Comment by Chi Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:23 pm
The “disastrous candidate for mayor” got 44% in a runoff with the lid still on the McDonald coverup.

A coverup, by the way, that got blown by an independent free-lance journalist, not any of the posers in troncslyvania who write grievance-peddling columns about personalities, rather than do actual journalism.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:25 pm
chi, sure about that? It ain’t 1992 anymore, when Luis was first elected.

According to Pew, 75% of Hispanics in the Chicago metro are U.S. citizens. And 80% of them are of Mexican origin.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:40 pm
Rich post a part of the Politico article with a link. It says that U.S. Rep. Gutierrez is endorsing Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, and part of the deal is that he will not be challenging Emanuel in 2019. That leaves the role of strong challenger to either an alderman or another elected official. It seems that Gutierrez is looking out for Emanuel.

Comment by Chicagoan C Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:42 pm
I think Rich’s post about Lipinski hits the nail on the head. (Same could be said about Evans when he left). Luis figured that he wasn’t going to be able to hand pick who replaced him, since he doesn’t have the best relationship with the committeemen. This was the best/easiest way to do that.

Comment by Juice Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 10:50 pm
Man, I really wish Moreno and Rosa would have to give up their seats to run… and get smashed by Chuy. They are two of the most self important elected officials I’ve ever met.

Comment by Rahm's Middle Finger Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:05 pm
Both Luis and Chuy have long records of leadership, from their time as aldermen in the progressive coalition of Harold Washington to Gutierrez’s tenure as advocate for an inclusive American society in Congress and Garcia’s work as a reform progressive in the Illinois Senate and his work to improve local schools as the director of Enlace.

You may not like their politics, but most of the complaints here sound like the sour grapes of Vrdolyak lovers.

Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:06 pm
@Precinct Captain: Don’t know if you were referring to me, but I was born after the Council wars. I can assure you I harbor no Vrdolyak-era grudges…

Rahm was a weak candidate in 2015. Had Karen Lewis run against him, there’s a strong possibility it would’ve been a lot closer than 55-45.

Chuy took an opening and squandered it. He was unprepared, constantly talking about creating some vague commission with union seats as the end-all be-all end to the city’s fiscal problems. Emanuel, as lackluster as his some of his first-term decisions were, somehow ended up looking like the only adult in the room.

And yes, I do happen to virulently disagree with the Chuy/Ramirez-Rosa wing of the party.

Comment by TKMH Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:17 pm
Moreno is toast in the next round of aldermanic races, he knows it and he’s looking for an out but he will never get elected to Congress.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:18 pm
You sir are a big piece of work.

Chuy was unprepared in 2015 because he started running in late October instead of the summer. He ran for mayor in a passionate campaign, which is more than I can say about others who constantly drop their name in articles and suddenly decide to run for another office with the party’s endorsement.

Comment by Chicagoan C Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:24 pm
There is an aspect of this that hasn’t been mentioned yet. Money. Chuy is going to have to raise federal dollars. He can’t just have SEIU and CTU hand over the keys to their bank account. And do they really want to spend money against their golden boy, Rosa? That leaves an opening for Ald. Moreno in the raise. He has actually been successful at fundraising for himself. Raising with federal caps, in a race no one will really care about. Moreno will have a steep hill climb in terms of name ID, but it could be done.

Also, don’t forget Chuy’s soda tax vote and recent endorsement of Joe Berrios. He was a blank canvass in 2015, not so much any more.

This opening is also an example of why I think it was dumb of Rosa not to figure out how to make things work with Biss. In 2017 you need to be able to fundraise, and Rosa doesn’t know how to do it (or doesn’t want to). He’s sitting on $36,000. Total. He could have had access to Biss’ donors, learned how to fundraise from Biss, and been able to set himself apart from other firebrand progressives. This seat could be his if Chuy wins, but he let his ego get in the way of a tremendous opportunity.

Comment by Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:27 pm
ADDING- I actually just looked at Rosa’s D-2s and they are a bigger joke than I originally thought. Last quarter, his second largest contribution was from the Admiral Theatre (you may have seen their advertisements on a truck driving around Rush and Division).

He raised $700 the first quarter of this year and $100 4th quarter of 2016. That would be pathetic enough, until you realize that he raised ZERO dollars the previous two quarters. That usually means the candidate either has a bad work ethic, doesn’t see fundraising as part of the job of a candidate, or has some weird aversion to it (Kennedy?).

Either way, not sure Rosa can be considered serious until he shows he can raise some money. And do more than give speeches.

Comment by Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:38 pm
Why do you think Luis waited until so late to say he wasn’t running for re-election? He got the signatures and had them filed Monday morning, only to flip in the afternoon. Any chance of a scandal popping up?

Comment by Lunchbox Monday, Nov 27, 17 @ 11:52 pm
Oh please God anyone but Proco Joe

Comment by FDB Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 3:56 am
A rumor in DC I heard this morning was that Politico is doing a deep investigation on several members in Congress and that Luis could be one of their big targets. Of course it is just a DC rumor.

Comment by CLJ Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 8:27 am
Ramirez Rosa is the worst. Chuy is hardly any better.

Proco Joe it is.

Comment by Ron Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 8:37 am
Who will don the 4th district earmuffs?

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 8:55 am
once again, a race with no names of women mentioned.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 9:54 am
===Proco Joe, a district turns its lonely eyes to you…====

LOLOLOLOLOL

He can’t tell, he’s too busy looking in the mirror or navel gazing. More self-important he could not be.

Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 10:00 am
25 years in congress is enough tenure for anybody. Many here and in Washington see Luis as a congressman who, while supposedly there to represent all the complexity and breadth and depth of his district’s interests has primarily been just a publicity seeking one trick pony for a very long time. I sincerely hope his imminent retirement is not due to health issues or scandal, but it is good that the district will soon have new representation in congress.

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 10:03 am
Richard Gonzales(?) filed this morning.

Comment by walker Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 11:25 am
==Richard Gonzales(?) filed this morning. ==

The Board of Elections filing info includes a website link that does not work. Whoever he is, he’s either lucky or can see the future.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 12:08 pm
The biggest election trick is available to sitting judges..”Three southern Illinois judges plan to retire in name only to avoid retention elections that require 60 percent approval rather than a simple majority of votes.” John Baricevic (Bahr-SIH’-vick), Robert Haida and Robert LeChien did it in 2015

http://fox2now.com/2015/08/27/retiring-southern-illinois-judges-avoid-retention-vote/

Comment by Texas Red Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 12:25 pm
Gutierrez has a scandal coming too big for him to handle.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 1:14 pm
I dunno, Rosa has that DSA enthusiasm and in a divided primary that can count for a lot. I was surprised how low turnout was for the 5th district - how much did Quigley get? I don’t think it was all that high a percentage. That said, I can’t imagine the party wants beyond-Bernie-left BDS’er in the seat. Proco Joe isn’t all that popular in his own ward, let alone the entire 4th. So Chuy it is.

Comment by lake county democrat Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 1:39 pm
There has been $17m paid out in 264 claims of workplace violations over the last several years.

It won’t be too long until the details of those are made public, and rightfully they should be made public.

Anyone who is on that list, one or more times, is going to have a little issue.

It would be safe to say that there is a chance there will be Illinoisan, or two, caught up in the unfolding drama.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/11/17/us/politics/ap-us-congress-settlement-payments.html

Comment by cdog Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 2:38 pm
@Texas Red:

The retention ballot has been around for decades. Judges seeking retention need 60% of the votes cast in their individual retention race. It is a simple
“YES” or “NO” vote. Judges seeking retention do
not have opponents.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Nov 28, 17 @ 3:45 pm
No one is mentioning the fact that Police Sergeant, Richard Gonzalez, was the only candidate that was set to run against Gutierrez before he announced his retirement. Gonzalez was a lone challenger.

Comment by Queenie Tuesday, Dec 12, 17 @ 5:43 pm