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* Former Sen. Rickey Hendon will tell you until his dying day that he did more to elect Pat Quinn governor in 2010 than anything or anyone else. You may recall that Hendon called Quinn’s Republican opponent Sen. Bill Brady an “idiotic racist” while introducing Gov. Quinn at a campaign event.
The resulting uproar was huge and Hendon claims it broke through the clutter and allowed black folks to hear it loud and clear.
Much of Chicago’s African-American political establishment united around mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle at a raucous South Side campaign rally Saturday that aimed to convince the city’s black voters that her opponent, Lori Lightfoot, wouldn’t look out for their best interests. […]
The most fiery speech of the day came from [Congressman Bobby Rush], the 72-year-old South Side congressman and former Black Panther leader. He repeatedly dismissed Lightfoot’s campaign for change, referring to her as “symbolic change,” “counterfeit change” and “chump change” in comparison with Preckwinkle, who he said represented “real change.”
Rush said he considered Lightfoot “chump change,” because she has the backing of 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea and, by extension, the city’s police officers, many of whom live in those predominantly white Southwest Side neighborhoods. Rush also told the crowd that Lightfoot wouldn’t demand strong changes as part of the federal consent decree, in which a federal judge will oversee reforms in the Chicago Police Department following a civil rights investigation that found widespread excessive force and misconduct by officers against the city’s minority residents. […]
“The opposing candidate is representing the FOP,” Rush said as the crowd booed. “If you want the FOP, then you’ll vote for Lori.”
* Media advisory…
To: ALL MEDIA
From: Familia Latina Unida/Sin Fronteras
Re: Press Conference, Monday, 3/25/19 10 A.M. Rudy Lozano Library, 1805 S Loomis
Contact: Rev Emma Lozano, 773/xxx-xxxx, Sara Walker 773/xxx-xxxx
TONI PRECKWINKLE: CANDIDATE OF AN HISTORIC MOVEMENT
Congressman Bobbly Rush and Congressman Danny K Davis will join Rev Emma Lozano to endorse Toni Preckwinkle for mayor in the upcoming election. “We are here in front of the Rudy Lozano Library,” said Rev Lozano, to remember and to revive the historic coalition my brother, Rodolfo Lozano, began with now Congressman Danny K Davis to launch the Harold Washington Campaign.
That Black/Latino Coalition turned the City back towards its neighborhoods – and towards our Latino community. It began the policies that have made Chicago a sanctuary city and brought new respect to the Latino community.
Toni Preckwinkle is the right person to lead that movement back to City Hall. She is a fighter, a machine buster – and a consistent friend of our community.
Lozano concluded, “Politics sometimes get people confused. Don’t worry, Toni. WE ARE ALL COMING HOME!
So, they’re gonna do it again.
* Preckwinkle is not spending a dime on TV ads and Lightfoot’s lead looks insurmountable…
Half of Chicagoans believe the city is “on the wrong track,” according to a new poll of registered voters, which also indicates that Lori Lightfoot will win the charge of getting the city on the right track as Chicago’s next mayor.
Lightfoot leads Toni Preckwinkle by a whopping margin of 53 percent to 17 percent, according to the results of a WTTW/Crain’s Temkin/Harris poll, released Monday.
But with another 29 percent still undecided in the runoff race for mayor, Preckwinkle stands to gain ground enough that Lightfoot won’t necessarily cruise to a 36-point victory.
“The 29 percent of voters who say they are undecided are more likely to be black or under age 50,” pollster Jill Normington said via email. “Both of those groups are stronger supporters of Preckwinkle than the overall electorate indicating that she has more room to grow among the votes that are left.”
But this stuff works.
* So, Lightfoot’s new ad has perfect timing…
Wow.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:25 am
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I saw the Lightfoot ad last night. It was powerful.
Comment by James the Intolerant Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:29 am
It probably kills Rush, and the like minded, that he can’t call Lightfoot a racist. It always gets the results he’s seeking.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:32 am
===The resulting uproar was huge and Hendon claims it broke through the clutter and allowed black folks to hear it loud and clear.====
Rickey is one of the best in getting out the vote no matter what you think of his tactics. He was the main reason Willie Wilson did so well. He knew how to spend Willie’s money. I know Willie endorsed Lightfoot but did Rickey follow along?
Comment by Been There Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:32 am
@Been, Willie backed Toni not Lightfoot
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:45 am
I dont think it will work this time. I dont think i have ever seen a candidate or a campaign that has been so poorly run and handled. Like you said worst campaign ever
Comment by regular democrat Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:46 am
Only in Chicago could Preckwinkle and her supporters be considered a reformer
Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:48 am
The only path I can see for Preckwinkle is a very depressed turnout with at least half of Lightfoot supporters staying home assuming she wins in a walk. People have known Toni forever, both the good and the bad. And with that, most seem to want to take a chance on a much lesser known person.
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:48 am
===@Been, Willie backed Toni not Lightfoot===
Nope. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/elections/ct-met-chicago-mayors-race-willie-wilson-endorsement-20190308-story.html
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:54 am
The African-American “establishment” sold out to the Machine, Daley and Burke years ago.
Comment by Fuel For the Fire Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:55 am
in the murder where Cleveland got off, who was the victim? forgotten, as usual. stop that.
Comment by Amalia Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 9:59 am
Wow. That’s an “A” ad if I’ve ever seen one.
Comment by JJJJJJJJJJJ Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:00 am
–“Her opponent was not elected by the South Side. Her opponent was not elected by the West Side,” Chance said of Lightfoot. “Her opponent was elected by the North Side, and there’s two of us and one of them,…”–
The Chicago equivalent of the thickheaded “but he only won four counties.” And no one’s been elected anything, yet.
Gee, I wonder what he means by “us” on the West and South Sides and “them” on the North Side? Shades of Fast Eddie V. in 1983 against Harold.
I don’t think that kind of appeal won the senate race for Obama when Chance’s parents were working for him.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/9cc84016-e413-48cb-958f-096bb7b7e292
Bizarre and sad to see
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:01 am
Bobbly indeed.
Comment by City Zen Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:04 am
==in the murder where Cleveland got off, who was the victim? forgotten, as usual. stop that.==
Did you expect a political ad that had nothing to do with the crime in particular (it’s about exoneration and empathy) to launch into a soliloquy for the victim? Of course it’s sad to be a murder victim. But that’s a silly angle of attack.
Comment by PJ Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:12 am
==in the murder where Cleveland got off, who was the victim? forgotten, as usual. stop that.==
The ad was about Lightfoot helping someone wrongly accused of murder. Why would they spend time talking about the victim he had nothing to do with?
Comment by Montrose Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:21 am
Can’t stand Rush. That he’s endoring Preckwinkle makes me hope all the more that Lightfoot pulls this out.
Comment by Fixer Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:23 am
I admire Chance because of his longtime personal engagement in the community. It is obvious he is quite intelligent because he is a Sox fan.
But I think his actions have been somewhat unexpected and uncharacteristically strange in the past few weeks with respect to this election. Perhaps he is carrying the Southside - Northside thing a little too far beyond baseball.
Comment by Responsa Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:26 am
Powerful ad. Lori was putting her time into the justice issue, not just words.
Preckwinkle seems incapable of giving a reason to vote FOR her.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:32 am
Toni’s team allowed this race to fall apart. Their messaging was always confrontational. They missed opportunity after opportunity to highlight accomplishments.
Yes they had to damage control but instead of worrying about their own message they would try to bring others down as well.
There’s a reason Mendoza went with Lightfoot. There’s a reason Wilson went with Lightfoot. There’s a reason Daley’s business money is going to Lightfoot.
Distasteful messaging and bully tactics are ending up showing bad polling numbers and a desire to take down the bully.
Bobby Rush today doesn’t make this better.
Comment by DuPage Bard Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:37 am
==Rush said he considered Lightfoot “chump change,” because she has the backing of 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea and, by extension, the city’s police officers, many of whom live in those predominantly white Southwest Side neighborhoods.==
Areas– wait for it — within Bobby’s Congressional District. That’s hubris.
Comment by A guy Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:37 am
“The African-American “establishment” sold out to the Machine, Daley and Burke years ago.”
I’m black and wouldn’t dispute this at aii
Comment by Deejay726 Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:43 am
===they would try to bring others down as well===
That’s standard procedure, but they didn’t pull it off very well and it has apparently backfired. This Bobby Rush thing is their last gasp attempt at doing just that.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:45 am
I don’t often think Chance is wrong, but I do in this instance.
The guy who I didn’t vote for in my aldermanic runoff was campaigning at the L stop this morning. I said hi and ran for the train.
Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:47 am
Whew. That is a good ad.
Remembering how Chuy blew the shot to take out Rahm last time because he didn’t staff up and message, I was afraid Lightfoot might not be ready for primetime campaign-wise.
Nope. Running like clockwork. I don’t even know if she needs a closer or just keeps running this and her daughter ad in rotation.
Comment by lakeside Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:05 am
I’m not talking about the ad, although someone smart could say they are committed to finding the killer. I’m talking about in general. people forget victims. when a murder conviction is overturned, there is still a killer out there and grieving family and friends of the victims. we spend so much time talking about wrongly convicted when the numbers are so few compared to unsolved murders.
Comment by Amalia Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:19 am
I think Chance is still developing politically. He’s whip smart and lives on far on the left politically and is plugged into the youth.
I also think he is biologically (and somewhat professionally) the product of insiders. Right now he gets to play both sides but he should be careful how he’s using his political capital.
Comment by Hammer Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:22 am
Note to the Preckwinkle campaign: This crap is why I may very well end up voting for Lightfoot.
Comment by Northsider Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:26 am
I attended a candidate interview event with both candidates, and while I have some reservations about Lightfoot’s commitment to police reform, Preckwinkle’s answers did not give me any faith in her. Most distressing was her claim that she was hesitant to pursue police contract reforms because of fears of a police strike, which struck me as weak and also a total dodge, because police strikes are illegal in IL.
At the end of the day, both candidates live at least a little to Rahm’s left on the political spectrum, but neither is any kind of radical. We’ll probably see some changes and plenty of continuity no matter who wins. My concern now is that, if progressives who undoubtedly helped get Lightfoot to the runoff abandon her, she’ll end up governing more on behalf of the business interests that have lined up behind her since the first round. I have much more hope for change coming from the freshmen alderman.
Comment by Actual Red Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:36 am
Time for Rush to retire. “Chump change”. Really? Childish language about a serious issue.
Comment by Bourbon Street Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:43 am
Um, for those of us who have worked in and out of big law in Chicago know that Lori is no progressive or reformer. She committed years of her life to defending and supporting corporatism at the expense and detriment of the poor, working people, and middle-class. Once elected, she will continue Rahm’s grand plan for massive removal of Chicago’s black population on the south and west sides and extend it to any of Chicago’s remaining working and middle- class residents of whatever race or ethnicity.
But don’t worry, she’ll attend parties on the Northside where the cops are called and the incident is coded and they can live in harmony of the limousine liberal echo chamber.
Comment by Southside Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:44 am
Toni’s campaign’s ploy of direct racial (and indirect homophobic) appeals is really despicable. I didn’t think she would stoop that low.
At this point, it would be bad for the City if she won, following such a divisive campaign.
Comment by Keyrock Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:44 am
This is the same Bobby Rush who endorsed Bill Daley over Preckwinkle in the first round…and the same Bobby Rush who has appeared on several 19th Ward palm cards throughout his career.
Comment by FTR Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 11:46 am
Southside is exactly right
Comment by crazybleedingheart Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 12:27 pm
Chicagoans who think Lightfoot will be on even the good side of moderate as a mayor better adjust their expectations downward, big and fast.
Otherwise you’ll only figure out a couple of years in and after more damage is cemented that you should have been on her since day 1.
Comment by crazybleedingheart Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 12:30 pm
“The most fiery speech of the day came from [Congressman Bobby Rush], the 72-year-old South Side congressman and former Black Panther leader.” Give me a break with the Black Panther label. The Panthers walked around with rifles in Oakland in the 1960s, Bobby Rush votes for gun control (except for the police) and victim disarmament every chance he gets.
I spoke with Lori in 2016 at the community meeting at Kennedy-King college in Englewood re. search for a new Chicago Police superintendent to replace Garry McCarthy. Lightfoot was a federal prosecutor, and Rush says that she’s in the pocket of the police unions? I can’t wait until Lightfoot gets into office and sends a shiver down the spine of every potential Jon Burge cop in Chicago and the whole state of Illinois.
Comment by Payback Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 12:37 pm
@crazybleedingheart: what do you base your assessment of Lightfoot on? I’ve been following the #stoplightfoot comments closely and it seems full of distortion, misinformation and assumption. They misquote her, and seem to base a lot of their view on how she handled the public hearing with Rekia Boyd’s family. She could’ve handled it better, sure, but is that it? On the other side, she made a major contribution at the last mile to actually bring about the consent decree, as this testimony speaks to: https://www.facebook.com/LightfootForChicago/posts/i-came-to-recognize-lori-lightfoot-as-a-true-leader-for-the-people-she-valued-no/1018023185252144/. And then, she pushed AG Madigan’s office to go further on it than they wanted to? So why all the disparagement on this issue?
Comment by Confused by the activists Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 12:40 pm
–This is the same Bobby Rush who endorsed Bill Daley over Preckwinkle in the first round…and the same Bobby Rush who has appeared on several 19th Ward palm cards throughout his career.–
Exactly!
I am not sure if these tactics will work in Toni’s favor. There appears to be mixed feelings about Toni in the African-American community. People are still reeling over the failed “sugar tax”.
Willie has been taking Lori to many of the prominent black churches in Chicago, I don’t know how much that will help, but it certainly won’t hurt her campaign. If the turnout is similar to the primary election, then Lori will cruise to victory.
Comment by JakeCP Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 1:46 pm
Preckwinkle thinks we should fall for this urban myth about tracking 3rd graders to see which ones are going to become criminals when they grow up:
https://www.politifact.com/illinois/statements/2019/mar/24/toni-preckwinkle/preckwinkle-repeats-urban-myth-about-third-grade-t/
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 2:10 pm
Lightfoot led the Police Accountability Task Force, which led to the consent decree. (Rahm was no fan of what she did, as it boxed him into a corner.) The FOP was no fan of the PATF recommendations.
Take a look again at who was involved:
https://chicagopatf.org/about/task-force-members/
and what it said:
https://chicagopatf.org/
Look at the proposed changes to the FOP task force on pp.4-5:
https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF-Complete-Recommendations-.pdf
Now it may be that Lightfoot would be better for the police than Preckwinkle because she has deep experience in the area, was a prosecutor, and led OPS and the police board. But that’s not the same as saying that she’s in the pocket of the police unions.
Comment by Keyrock Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 2:48 pm
Rush endorsed Daley in 2007. Rush and White never endorsed Black or Latinx mayoral candidates: Davis usually did the same.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 3:37 pm
It is interesting to observe the activists attacking Lightfoot. I think they are wrong. One of the reasons they claim to be upset with Lightfoot is because Dante Servin could keep his pension when he resigned before a Police Board hearing. But how could Lightfoot stop Servin from resigning? She had no power to prevent him from resigning before the termination hearing. They are definitely lock-step in their opposition to Lightfoot.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 4:23 pm
Bobby Rush never had a problem with the 19th Ward endorsement when he ran against Charlie Hayes. Crazy old coot is losing his memory.
Comment by Southsider Monday, Mar 25, 19 @ 10:13 pm
What’s up with Rush endorsing Daley in 2007, while being his opponent in 1999?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 4:44 am