Sour grapes? Or just downright truthful!

Mayoral hopeful Ja’Mal Green is one of the fringe candidates in next year’s municipal cycle – in fact, there’s a good chance he won’t even be on the ballot come Feb. 26.

Will people believe Wilson really a Republican?

So perhaps it only makes sense that Green is bitter about the person who is supporting work to get him kicked off the ballot – which would be mayoral hopeful Willie Wilson.

KEEP IN MIND that Wilson himself did not file challenges to anybody. In fact, Wilson is good about spewing rhetoric saying he does not believe in the concept of ballot challenges – he thinks everybody should be permitted a ballot slot, if they’re interested in running for office.

Which is why it was Rickey Hendon, a one-time alderman and state senator who now regards himself as a political operative who supports Wilson’s mayoral dreams, who actually filed the challenges on Wilson’s behalf.

It allows Wilson to claim some high-minded principle, while also having political dirty work done on his behalf.

Of course, this is the way all political challenges are done – the candidates are allowed to remain above the fray of such nasty business, while still benefitting from it.

THE POINT OF all this is that Green is now in a process where he has to be prepared to fight for his political existence – and he may not be capable of surviving the process.

He definitely isn’t going to be capable of campaigning seriously for office. All of his time and money will be spent on fighting the process by which electoral officials will kick him off the ballot.

Green fighting back against challenge ...

Even if he somehow survives the ballot challenge process, he isn’t going to have a lot of time or campaign funds left to campaign. Attorneys fighting on his behalf will manage to eat up any campaign money he ever had.

Which is also the strategy being employed against Susana Mendoza’s mayoral campaign. She’d be capable of running a serious campaign, except she’s going to have to fight just to stay on the ballot.

BUT BACK TO Green, who seems to have engaged in his own unique tactic for fighting back against Wilson – a campaign ad trashing Wilson. Since Green doesn’t have a lot of campaign cash, he’s putting the spot on YouTube and other sites on the Internet.

… by Hendon on Wilson's behalf

Hoping that people interested in casting ballots for the mayoral race manage to stumble across it while searching the Internet for whatever sports scores, cutesy video snippets of puppy dogs and (when they think nobody’s paying attention) pornography they are interested in viewing.

Green seems determined to take down Wilson’s reputation by reminding us that he viewed soon-to-be-former Gov. Bruce Rauner as a political friend – even though Rauner is a Republican.

It goes so far as to imply that Wilson is a closet Republican – which may as well be the kiss of death for a Chicago municipal election. Seeing we haven’t had a Republican as mayor since the late 1920s days of William Hale Thompson, and even Bernard Epton’s political ties were too much for him to overcome in that 1983 race he ran against Harold Washington.

MENDOZA: Also fighting for political life

IT MAY NOT help Green fight off the ballot challenge he faces. But it may well stir up enough hostility to Wilson that Willie will have next to no chance of being eligible to appear in a run-off election come April 2.

Which would be the real goal – political payback for not putting a leash on Wilson’s operatives to keep them from playing hardball politics.

This may actually be typical of this electoral cycle – with no incumbent and so many dreamers, nobody is going to get a large share of the Feb. 26 vote. It also may turn out that the two run-off qualifiers will have built up so many enemies amongst the people who get kicked off that the idea of unifying behind anybody will be hard to achieve.

Will Daley prevail by default?

It’s why I wonder if we’re destined to get another “Mayor Daley” (as in William) because the vast majority of voters who would be appalled by such an idea won’t be able to get behind any other candidate in large-enough numbers to top the kind of people who'd be totally pleased by the idea of "Daley III."

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Speculation stories – Deep thoughts of news, or just whole load of hooey?

At heart, it’s just a speculation story, as in the Chicago Sun-Times thought they could sell newspapers on Thursday with a story about the load of people who could possibly be considered as contenders for the post of Mayor of Chicago.

Will they really ALL run for mayor?

The newspaper went so far as to publish a front page depicting 38 people they’re saying are potential mayors (or “may nots,” to use the Sun-Times’ bad pun).

I’M INCLINED TO think that Rahm Emanuel is telling a tidbit of truth when he said this week the person who will replace him in the mayor’s office is someone who has yet to declare themselves a candidate.

As in the dozen or so people who have publicly stated a desire to run for mayor aren’t really credible candidates. Which means we should probably give more credence to all of the last-minute arrivals to the mayoral competition front – rather than taking seriously anybody who’s been campaigning for months, but has yet to capture the public’s imagination.

Now I’m not bashing the Sun-Times as somehow publishing nonsense information. I’m sure there are some people eager to pick at the newsgathering organization who will toss out the “fake news” label and try to proclaim this the ultimate evidence.

In reality, it is the work of some of the Sun-Times’ more experienced political reporters dredging up the information they do have to try to figure out who might well become the next mayor of Chicago following the February election and potential April run-off.

Who is Trump's anonymous critic?

PERHAPS EVEN GIVE the public a sense of just who these people are and what they might offer to the city of Chicago now that Emanuel has decided that a third four-year term as mayor just isn’t worth the electoral aggravation it would take to achieve.

Particularly since this particular election cycle in 2019 is going to be such a free-for-all – what with no incumbent and a batch of candidates with limited appeal amongst the masses of Chicago’s population.

Personally, I’m inclined to think one-time Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas is a part of Chicago’s political past, while former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has the stink of Laquan McDonald’s death on him just as much as those people who are determined to believe that Rahm Emanuel bears all the blame.

Gave competing paper some publicity

It’s only by comparison to those two so-called front-runners amongst the people willing to challenge Emanuel that potential candidates such as Amara Enyia or Ja’Mal Green can think they have much of a chance of succeeding.

OF COURSE, THE concept of speculation stories isn’t unique to this happening.

For another story I stumbled across on Thursday was off the CNN.com website – a piece of copy contemplating the anonymous commentary the New York Times published about high-ranking presidential staffers who supposedly are working to undermine the desires of Donald Trump out of a sense that they’re protecting the nation.

CNN decided to do a story that listed names of people who could potentially be the anonymous commentary’s author – the one who has committed an act of “treason!” (as Trump thinks it) or is the “rat” (as I’m sure a mob boss would term it).

I don’t think CNN has a clue, particularly since their list of potential political blabbermouths includes Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, or first lady Melania.

Is the public more interested in this?

I’D THINK THE chances of either Trump femme turning out to be the fink is about as likely as the Sun-Times being correct when they say one-time presidential advisor (during the Barack Obama administration) Valerie Jarrett or aging Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White (he’s 85) will become the new mayor.

It may be fun to contemplate – at least for politically-geeky types who take seriously the nuances of public policy.

Whereas I suspect many others will consider the big celebrity-style story of Thursday to be more interesting – actor Burt Reynolds died at age 82.

Perhaps they envision Reynolds approaching the pearly gates with the late actor Jackie Gleason’s “Buford T. Justice” character ready to resume their “Smokey and the Bandit” films pursuit?

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Who will prevail March 20, Nov. 6? How long ‘til we speculate about ’19?

We’re now in the new year, and the election cycles that seem to have been ongoing forever have actually now begun.

Will it be Rauner who fades into obscurity ...

Yet as far as who’s going to prevail come the March 20 primary, along with the general election come Nov. 6? That’s a crapshoot. I’m sure everybody amongst the occupants of political geekdom is convinced their side will prevail.

BECAUSE HOW COULD anybody with any common sense possibly side with the opposition? Are they mad!!!

... or will Pritzker wind up ultimate '18 failure

There are those who are convinced that the public’s regard for Donald Trump is so low that they will cast their ballots in ways meant to take out their hostility for the president on anybody perceived to be his ally.

Then again, the people who were inclined to support Trump back when he won the presidency in 2016 are most likely enjoying the fact that the people who oppose Trump are so infuriated by his presence. That thought may motivate them to turn out in great numbers to vote so as to ensure the Trump critics don’t make any political gains.

For the record, the Gallup Organization had Trump at a 40 percent approval rating as of Sunday – which is fairly stable for him. A solid majority of our society (or at least those who were actually contacted by Gallup) does not think much of this Age of Trump in which our society is now engaged.

Trump enjoys thought '18 will be all about him

WHICH MAY BE why Gov. Bruce Rauner is engaged in a battle royale for his own political fate – he desperately wants to distance himself from Trump’s most nonsensical acts.

Yet the fact that he won’t develop a tight bond with the president is considered one of the reasons why the conservative element of Illinois’ population is speaking out against him, and why the Republican primary campaign of Jeanne Ives isn’t being totally dismissed.

Could Rauner wind up being the equivalent of Dan Walker – that 1970’s era governor who in 1976 couldn’t even win his party’s nomination for re-election? Yes, then-Mayor Richard J. Daley despised Walker to the point where he backed -then Secretary of State Michael J. Howlett against him.

One lesson to Republican partisans who are inclined to back Ives/dump Rauner (however they choose to view it); the split amongst Democrats that year resulted in James R. Thompson winning the general election – and was the beginning of a 26-year run of Republican governors.

Will Rauner be compared to '76 Walker?

WHICH MEANS THE GOP may be wary of provoking a similar streak against themselves and may wind up holding their noses in voting for Bruce.

What actually makes me not totally disregard the chances of a second term of “Gov. Rauner” is the fact that I question the Democratic candidates. Thus far, it seems J.B, Pritzker of the incredibly-wealthy and politically-connected Pritzker family is the favorite to win the nomination come March.

But I don’t get any sense that his candidacy is beloved by anybody. It seems more a matter of people accepting the inevitability of a Pritzker win, rather than thinking he has any ideas that capture their fancy.

This could really wind up being the year that two self-funding billionaires blow their family fortunes to win election to a post that pays a salary of just over $177,000 – along with access to a mansion in Springfield that (by all accounts) is in serious need of repair.

IT MAY WIND up being that whichever candidate winds up taking the oath of office as Illinois governor come January 2019 will be taking on a massive headache, with the financial compensation hardly seeming worth the hassle.

Then again, it’s all about the ego for some people. Perhaps it is rewarding, in and of itself, to be able to walk around calling oneself “governor” and occasionally have commentaries written about speculation that you could someday become president.

Once Rauner/Pritzker is history, it'll be all about Rahm

Then again, it’s not like Trump ever went through the hassle of running for a government post to gain experience for a presidential run – and an experience that likely has three years remaining.

2018 has arrived, and about the only thing we can say for certain is that a year from now, either Pritzker or Rauner will be history. That, and we’ll be asked almost immediately whether we want Rahm Emanuel for a third term as the city’s “Man on Five.”

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Fioretti may be longer-shot political comeback than that of Pat Quinn

Robert Fioretti is ambitious, we’ll have to give him that much.

FIORETTI: Wants to be county boss

The one-time alderman of Chicago’s 2^nd Ward was among the people who tried challenging Rahm Emanuel for his mayoral post in the 2015 election cycle – finishing fourth with just over 7 percent of the non-partisan election that year.

NOW, HIS DESIRE to be able to call himself a prominent political person is being resurrected with his talk that he’ll run for the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board president.

In short, he’s willing to challenge Toni Preckwinkle – gambling on the fact that people so upset over the pop tax that will cease to exist in a couple of weeks will remain so peeved that they’ll vote for Anybody But Toni.

Maybe even Bob.

It’s obvious that Fioretti has no intention of letting this issue go. He kicked off his active campaigning for county board president with an appearance Monday at the Lansing Municipal Airport.

THE AIR STRIP in that south suburb literally has as its eastern boundary the Illinois/Indiana state line. Making it possible for Fioretti to engage in a lot of political trash talk about how the people of neighboring Dyer, Ind., have lesser tax rates than those who live in Lansing and Cook County proper.

PRECKWINKLE: Won't be unopposed

Ignoring the fact that Indiana-based municipal governments usually offer far less in the way of services to their residents than the ones in Cook County do. Which basically means you get what you pay for – and I view that as one of Illinois’ and the Chicago-area’s strengths.

But back to the voter choice coming up March 20 in Cook County as to who should be our county board president (the Republican Party structure is too weak to come up with a credible challenger, meaning the primary likely will be the election).

Maybe it’s because I remember Fioretti’s time as an alderman as being one where he was one of the most-outspoken of the aldermanic creatures in the City Council. It meant he got quoted in the news reports far more often than many of his colleagues – and it gave him a prominent name on the political scene.

EMANUEL: Beat Bob badly in 2015

BUT TO BE honest, a lot of his talk just came across as cheap. As though it was someone talking just for the sake of hearing himself speak. Not because he necessarily had much of anything worth saying.

Reporter-type people who cover government bodies at all levels learn to deal with such people. You learn to tell the difference between the people who actually have some comprehension of what government does and which ones are merely good for a quote that helps fill out space in the many stories that get written about government activity.

So was I shocked that Fioretti would be the type with the bloated-enough ego to think that all of Chicago (and not just the residents of the Second Ward) was ready for his feisty rhetoric about how fouled up Emanuel and everybody else was?

Let’s remember that when the City Council district boundaries were redrawn the last time, Fioretti was the one whose home suddenly wound up in a new district. He lost his supporters. He has to try to run for something different – or else face irrelevance.

SO WHEN HE couldn’t become mayor or even make it into a runoff election (the Anybody But Rahm voters preferred Jesus “Chuy” Garcia instead), he needs to pick another post so as to avoid irrelevance.

 

GARCIA: Rahm critics preferred Chuy to Bob

So now, he’s going for the county board, where without him it seems that Preckwinkle would be unopposed for the post she has held since 2010. Not that I think Toni is entitled to run unchallenged – competition is always good.

But it’s best if it is a serious challenger who has a vision for why we should vote for them – and not just “Dump Toni!” because she tried to plug a hole in the county financial picture that Fioretti himself might wind up having to concoct some sort of tax hike to fill if he were somehow capable of getting himself elected.

We’ll get to see for ourselves just how petty our electorate is capable of being come the 2018 election cycle – and whether Fioretti gets to become the Chicago version of Pat Quinn; the former governor who has run for so many offices throughout the years and will be making his own political comeback bid next year for state Attorney General.

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