Rauner trying to make us think he’s a legit candidate before we see reality

I find a little amusement in an event I covered last autumn for one of the daily newspapers in the suburbs – one involving venture capital firm manager Bruce Rauner who was touting his connections to a group promoting Chicago-area tourism.

RAUNER: Wants to be guv; do we want him?

At the time, I didn’t realize that he saw himself as Illinois gubernatorial material. Although I learned that fact about three days after his event in suburban Oak Lawn.

IF I HAD known he was to be a factor in the upcoming campaign cycle, I’m sure I would have asked different questions. And as things have turned out, I haven’t encountered Rauner since.

Although I suspect it’s just a matter of time, since he seems to be one of these business-types who thinks he can become the CEO of Illinois Government. Which is a mistaken attitude for anyone to take.

I’m being barraged by his e-mails, all of which are meant to make it seem that it is inevitable that Rauner will be the Republican nominee for governor in the 2014 state government elections.

Just on Tuesday, he sent out a missive to make us realize he managed to raise about $470,000 during the past month-and-a-half – and has a total campaign fund of about $1.75 million.

NOT EXACTLY ENOUGH for a serious, fully-funded, campaign for statewide office. But it is a significant start. I’ll concede that point.

But it seems like he’s trying to get himself set to overwhelm the opposition – making anyone who tries running against him in the primary cycle to be on a fool’s errand.

“For any Republican to stand a chance against the Quinns, the Madigans and the powerful labor union bosses who control Springfield, they will need to be very well-funded,” Rauner said in a prepared statement.

True enough. Although the reason those organized labor groups go out of their way to fully fund their campaign efforts is that they want to counter the big bucks that business interests are more than capable of putting into the campaign of any candidate who they think will do their bidding.

SO POOR, LITTLE Bruce Rauner wants us to think he’s looking out for the little guy? It’s probably that little guy who has the most to lose if someone like Rauner actually manages to gain the gubernatorial nomination.

Personally, I’m not sure what to think of Rauner’s chances. I suspect that the people who actually pay attention to state government are inclined to think that next year’s nominee should be Dan Rutherford. He was a long-time state legislator from near Pontiac who is currently serving a term as Illinois state treasurer.

There is a sense among people whose particular interest is state government (and not just electoral politics) that Rutherford has some experience and has waited his turn. It’s the same logic that got Jim Ryan the gubernatorial nomination in 2002 – and look how he turned out.

There will be other candidates in the GOP primary whose role will be to appease the ideologues who want someone willing to spew conservative viewpoints on ALL issues and will be more than willing to govern in ways that dump on people who aren’t exactly like themselves!

SO UNLESS RAUNER gets a lot of money to buy himself tons of name recognition, who else is going to vote for him – except for a few CEOs who want a governor whom they can control.

Of course, things can also go wrong with the idea of buying name recognition. Because the least little thing can trip it up.

Let’s not forget the 2004 campaign for our state’s U.S. Senate seat – when Blair Hull thought he was going to be able to use a similar strategy to get the Democratic Party nomination, and Jack Ryan thought he’d be the Republican.

I’m not saying that Rauner is going to encounter the same kind of scandalous details that took both of those men down and gave us the concept of “U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.” for four years.

BUT TRYING TO run for government office without any kind of government record makes one extremely susceptible to the whims of the electorate – which can turn on you quicker than you could ever imagine.

So much so that Rauner – who boasts about having more than 11,000 people “liking” his campaign page on Facebook – could find out how quickly (and easily) those people can “un-like” him without giving it a second thought.

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Will medical marijuana be Quinn’s concession to ideological opposition?

Gov. Pat Quinn has made it clear he is eager to have the General Assembly send him legislation approving marriage for gay couples and limiting the size of ammunition magazines for firearms – both measures that will draw him the ire of the ideological right.

QUINN: Has yet to make up mind

But he is reluctant to say what he will do with the issue of medical marijuana – which the Illinois state Senate gave final legislative approval to last week.

WHICH MEANS IT is now in the hands of the Mighty Quinn to decide whether Illinois should become the 19^th state to let people use marijuana without hassle by police – IF they can get a doctor’s consent for a legitimate medical problem!

Those people who oppose the idea are the ones who have come to think of marijuana as some sort of “hippie freak” drug – and they’re the ones who can’t stand the idea of doing anything that might be interpreted as supporting something they consider “liberal.” Even though I have known people of all parts of the ideological spectrum who have gotten stoned during their lifetimes.

That is what makes this opposition a totally nonsensical way to view this issue. But that has never stopped the ideologues before.

The fact that marijuana might have a legitimate medical purpose is something they don’t want to consider. I guess they think that some ideological views are more important to uphold than anything science might say.

SO WHEN STATE Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, said last week during legislative debate that, “for every touching story that we have heard about the benefits of those in pain, I remind you today that there are a thousand times more parents who will never be relieved from the pain of losing a child due to addiction, which in many cases has started with the very illegal, FDA-unapproved, addiction-forming drug you are asking us to make a normal part of our communities,” I’d retort that he’s bringing up two, totally un-related issues.

McCARTER: Speaking out?

Anybody who actually gets a prescription from a doctor for marijuana use is going to have their use controlled, which makes the idea of someone’s overdose irrelevant. And as far as the “very illegal” part, that is an artificial status.

It’s only illegal because someone said it should be for ideological purposes. Illegal is whatever our government officials say it is.

Now having said all that, I do comprehend the argument made by police that the tests for sobriety that are used to determine if someone is driving while intoxicated by alcohol do not have a corresponding test for drug use.

Too many people associate pot with '60s counterculture

THERE IS NO real way to say someone is “legally” stoned. So the idea of punishing people for being impaired by pot is a dream. We’d be trusting the police and their judgment to figure out who has had “too much weed” to be out in public.

But somehow, I wonder if that argument will wind up carrying weight with the governor. Because a part of me wonders if rejecting this bill will be the governor’s attempt to appease the ideological critics who are going to be outraged by him for being so outspoken about wanting to back gay marriage and restrictions on firearms.

He hasn’t said he would do that. He’s not saying much of anything. “Open minded” is what he says he will be, which can mean just about anything.

So considering that anything could happen to this bill, we all have to keep in mind that people who want to view this as a matter of medicine and science might get their desires cast aside in the name of partisan politics.

WHICH MIGHT OFFEND people who don’t pay much attention to the workings of government and might think that all bills before the General Assembly and the governor are ruled on based on their merits.

But that ugly partisan factor always manages to creep its way into the process.

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EXTRA: No major complaints from Red Line riders. Not yet, anyway!

This is encouraging. Now can the Chicago Transit Authority keep it up?

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Some people compelled to complain

Soon to be undergoing long-overdue repairs. Photograph provided by LHOON

I write this during the weekend anticipating all the rants and rages we’re going to hear Monday from South Side residents who have to rely on the Chicago Transit Authority’s “Red Line” trains.

That, of course, is the line that was shut down completely beginning Sunday so that crews can work around the clock (instead of in shifts around “el” trains) for the next five months to upgrade the track.

IF IT HAD been done in shifts, it would take years to complete the work. Which would mean years of inconvenience.

By doing an outright shutdown, the work can be completed sooner and the benefits to be derived from upgrading the train that runs down the middle of the Dan Ryan Expressway to 95^th Street will be felt sooner.

For what it’s worth, CTA officials claim that improved tracks will allow for the “el” trains to speed through the area faster – possibly reducing as much as 10 minutes off the total commute for anyone who goes from 95^th Street all the way to downtown.

Now as one who has, from time to time in my life, had to rely on commuter trains for transit (and still uses them on occasion), I comprehend that it’s going to be a pain in the behind for those people who are used to relying on the Red Line (which, in a sign that reveals my age, I still think of as the Dan Ryan Line).

THEY’RE GOING TO have to find an alternative. And I’m sure there are some for whom shifting to a Green Line (a.k.a., Englewood/Jackson Park Line) train or using the Metra Electric trains that make stops on the Sout’ Side between Michigan Avenue and Blue Island is not going to be practical.

Some people may have their livelihoods seriously interfered with by this repair work.

But the simple fact is that all things eventually wear down. Eventually, everything needs serious upgrades in order to keep them in use. Unless we want them to deteriorate to the point where they become unusable – if not downright hazardous!

Now some people want to see a racial angle in this move because of the fact that this repair work is going to impact overwhelmingly African-American neighborhoods – since the reality is that many of the white people who use the southern extension of the Red Line (they think of it as the train that goes north to Howard Street and cuts through the Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods) are off the train by 35^th Street.

WHICH MEANS THE Chicago White Sox may be impacted – although many fans I talk with say they already try to avoid the Red Line crowds and prefer other ways (I’m inclined to try the Metra Rock Island line train with its nearby stop named for one-time state Rep. Lovana Jones) of getting to U.S. Cellular Field.

JONES: No, she didn't play for the Sox

I’m not sure I buy that angle. Although if there is a racial angle to this issue, it may well be that CTA officials were willing to let the southern part of the Red Line deteriorate to its current condition without having done these repairs much earlier.

The Red Line dates back to the 1960s, and there are parts of the track that are now going to be replaced that literally date back to the opening.

Although I suppose compared to how old the Green Line extensions to neighborhoods on the West Side were (just over a century) when CTA officials finally got around to doing upgrades on that track in recent years, the Red Line might be considered in prime condition.

THE POINT BEING that this work is long overdue. We never hear of the elevated train lines running through North or Northwest Side neighborhoods going that long a time period without repairs.

And if it had been done in a more-timely manner, the commuter inconvenience would be long past – a thing of history.

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Don’t conservatives trust the police? Or is this all just partisan nonsense?

There is one aspect of the political debate taking place these days concerning the ability of people to carry pistols on their person for self-defense – the fact that it has the “law and order” types now questioning the authority of the police.

These people can't seem to play nice

These socially conservative types are usually the first to claim that police need all these powers in order to do the job of offering protection to the populace from criminal elements.

EVEN IF THOSE powers cross over the line into violating the privacy of the public, these types usually claim that the police should be trusted. Heck, why should we worry unless we’re doing something wrong?

But when the issue of “concealed carry” comes up, they suddenly become critical.

That was evident in Springfield this week when an Illinois Senate committee gave its recommendation to a measure that would allow some people in Illinois to get permits to carry firearms in public.

Actually, what the bill by state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, would do is put it into the hands of local officials to decide whether people should be able to get a permit that is valid within their communities.

THAT’S ANOTHER “VALUE” that the conservatives usually claim to support – trusting local people to decide for themselves what they want. But in this case, they’re willing to throw that “value” into the trash can.

What Raoul’s measure – which still faces a tough political fight in the Legislature and may well fail to gain approval – reflects is the fact that Illinois is NOT a unified place on this issue. It concedes that there are different ideals at stake, and tries to let everybody have their view on their home turf.

Unlike the people who are being led by the nose by the National Rifle Association whose primary goal in all this political blather seems to be to impose their own small-town, rural viewpoint on a state whose population is overwhelmingly urban.

This particular measure would require anyone from Chicago who seeks a permit to carry a pistol publicly to first submit to a review by the Chicago Police Department – which would have the authority to reject it before the state could even consider it.

IT ALSO WOULD allow the “home rule” communities (larger municipalities of 25,000 people or more) to say for themselves if they also would like to impose restrictions on firearms within their own boundaries.

NRA-types say this is unacceptable. When their lobbyist, Todd Vandermyde, told the Chicago Tribune that he thinks places like Chicago and Oak Park will throw up so many procedural roadblocks that it will be next to impossible for people to get permits in those communities.

They also spew out the rhetoric that people who get a firearm permit in their home community would wind up being criminalized if they venture into Chicago – or some other community where firearms themselves are “non grata.”

Of course, these are the same kind of people who usually go on and on and on about how they want nothing to do with Chicago and go out of their way to never visit the place.

BUT NOW, WE’RE supposed to believe that they’re eager to visit? They probably would; only for the reason that they want to be seen in public carrying their holstered pistols.

Which as far as I’m concerned is the last thing we need to have – a bully who’s armed and thinks he has a “cause” to pursue.

I’m not about to venture a guess as to how this issue will be resolved. The Legislature has until June 9 (the deadline set by the U.S. Court of Appeals based in Chicago) to do something, but the General Assembly’s calendar only gives them 13 more days to do something.

Maybe we’ll get a legislative miracle – although it probably won’t occur until the final hours of May 31. More likely, our differences will keep anything from occurring – and we fall over the cliff into legal uncertainty.

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EXTRA: The beginning, or the end, for the Sox? Will we have to look to Gary, Indiana for a summer baseball fix?

The Chicago White Sox have won their past three games, and four of their last five.

Adam Dunn – the man who’s supposed to be the big home run bat in the White Sox lineup – managed to hit two in one game Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins and had a game-tying hit in the Thursday game against the Los Angeles Angels.

ALL IN ALL, it has been a good week for the White Sox; who continue as of Friday to be in last place in their division. Although the only reason for hope is that even as bad as they have played, they are only 4 games behind the tied-for-first place Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.

Meaning that nobody in that particular division (American League Central) is all that outstanding. And we’re not even at the Memorial Day holiday – which is the point when I start seriously paying attention to baseball standings (any earlier is just too early, not enough games played).

So what should we think? The beginning of the turnaround? Or is this soon-to-be completed week The Highlight of the 2013 season?

It may well be so. Which may also mean many of us wind up turning to the minor league ball clubs in suburban Joliet, Gary and Crestwood (all of which opened their seasons Thursday) for a live baseball fix this summer.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Rooting, for once, for the inmates

This might be the one time that the ideologues of our society who like to rant and rage about us being “soft on crime” might have been rooting for the inmates at the Cook County Jail.



Beats finding a 'shiv' in a cell

Then again, maybe they think chess is too soft an activity – and they’ll still rage!

I WAS AMUSED by the Chicago Sun-Times report about how inmates at the county jail this week played inmates held in prisons across Russia. It wasn’t face-to-face. Our inmates were in the jail’s law library, while the Russian inmates were in their own prison facilities. The games were played on-line.



Not the typical chess championship setting

And it seems that the criminal element of Russian society is just as masterful at chess as their international champions – as they beat the bulk of the Cook County inmates. One inmate went so far as to tell the Sun-Times that the games felt, “like an ambush.”

Personally, I find the idea of inmates spending all their spare time (which is what they have while being incarcerated) playing a board game to be encouraging. There are worse things they could be doing.

Although I couldn’t help but notice some people using the anonymity of the Internet to complain that these inmates should have been doing something that resembles hard labor.

THEY PROBABLY WOULD only be pleased to see inmates wearing black-and-white striped uniforms and swinging big hammers. Personally, I’d be concerned that they’d use those hammers as weapons against their guards.

As Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told the Sun-Times, chess is harmless because they can’t really, “beat someone with a rook.”

And as for those who wonder about the whuppin’ the Cook County inmates received this week, there’s one encouraging factor. They have nothing but time to continue to practice and get better – should there ever be anything resembling a rematch.

What else was notable amongst the activity taking place Thursday on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan?

SOME SENSE PREVAILS?: It has been a month since the Cook County courts imposed their new ban on people being able to bring their cellular telephones into the courthouses, and a part of me is relieved to see that some semblance of sense prevails in terms of that policy’s enforcement.



Deputies showing some sense in phone enforcement

My duties as a reporter-type person took me Thursday to the courthouse in suburban Markham, where deputies were allowing people to keep their phones on their persons inside the building.

They were requiring anyone wishing to make a call to go outside to do so. But the idea of people with business before the court having to surrender the phones wasn’t quite so rigid as the “letter of the law” implies.

Although within the courtrooms, judges were saying that anybody whose phones rang during session would have them confiscated. And I did see one individual try to use his phone during court. Deputies confiscated it from him, but returned it when he left for the day.

THE YOUTH VOTE?: It’s now in the hands of Gov. Pat Quinn as to whether 17-year-olds will be able to cast ballots in elections in Illinois.



Not the favorite setting for youth

The state Senate this week gave the final legislative approval required for a bill that allows 17-year-olds to vote in primaries – IF they can document that they will be 18 by the time the general election comes around.

Yes, I’m aware there are a few youthful types already on their way toward becoming government geeks who will be all worked up about the chance to cast their first ballot a few months earlier than the law currently allows.

But those officials who say they support this as a way of bolstering the percentage of those who vote? It sounds like wishful thinking to my mindset, since the rule of thumb for political professionals trying to turn out the vote is that it is the old folks, so to speak, who are the most reliable when it comes to showing up at the polling place.

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