Credit for, or conniving by, Madigan?

It hasn’t even been a full week since the Illinois House Democrats had to fire its long-time chief of staff because of behavior considered by some to be demeaning to women; yet da Dems already have a replacement in place and the new caucus operative is a “she.”

MADIGAN: Does he deserve blame, or praise?

Is that evidence House Speaker Michael Madigan (also the Illinois Democratic chairman) is a conniving political operator masterful in covering his own behind? Or someone who addressed a problem in a prompt manner?

I’M SURE THE way one views this issue is going to depend entirely on their ideological leanings. Because some people are determined to view several incidents of sexual harassment by political people solely in terms as an issue to be used to dump Madigan from political power.

Along those lines, I couldn’t help but notice the stories getting prominent play Tuesday morning about the woman currently suing Madigan because she claims he didn’t do much of anything to stop one of his political aides from his constant barrage of flirtations and sexual harassment.

The Chicago Sun-Times had it as their top story for a few hours that Alaina Hampton herself (the woman with the pending lawsuit) wanted to be the new chief of staff.

Yet I’m also wondering how many people learned of reports about Madigan’s response before they learned of Hampton herself.

BASHAM: The new Dem powerhouse

FOR THE RECORD, the new chief of staff is Jessica Basham, a former director of the Illinois House research appropriations unit – who issued a statement Tuesday saying she’s looking to hire a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer in hopes of creating a more fair working environment for the roughly 200 people whose jobs require them to call Madigan their “boss.”

Of course, Madigan will claim he didn’t hire Basham. He actually appointed a committee last week that was to review candidates for the chief of staff post. And yes, the committee was composed entirely of women – although they all were politically connected and most were themselves elected legislators.

With the head of that committee being Juliana Stratton – the woman who currently is running mate to gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker for the Nov. 6 general election.

STRATTON: Had a say in her pick

So the people who were hoping that Hampton’s plea in the press for the political post would help keep alive the stories of Mike Madigan being an insensitive boss who allows his people to harass women and treat them like objects will have to wonder.

IS MADIGAN SERIOUSLY addressing the issue of a problem within his staff (which I really don’t think is confined to the Democratic caucus, or to Illinois state government officials)?

I’d say that argument could be made, with how quickly a new chief of staff was hired.

While I’m not about to say that the “problem” is solved just because a woman is in the position of running the daily operations of the Democratic Party in the Illinois House of Representatives.

The critics (the people who want to go about screeching and screaming “Dump Madigan!” as their solution to all of government’s issues) may well claim that the women who had a say in picking a new chief of staff are too connected to the Democratic Party establishment to be objective.

WHICH MAY WELL be the big objection I have to the notion of sexual harassment being used as an issue to dump political people.

RAUNER: Would he be the only winner?

I suspect the people who are most behind this are the ones who can’t otherwise defeat the Dems on Election Day. I also suspect the last thing they really care about is the plight of women who are getting mistreatment on the job – no matter how hard they work.

Which as far as I’m concerned is the real injustice that we ought to be trying to resolve within our government – and within our society at-large.

That resolution likely involves people with serious approaches that go beyond a partisan attempt to dump someone from office come Election Day.

  -30-

March 20 Dem primary getting closer

Tuesday was the day we, the electorate, could start signing nominating petitions to get any of the dreamers who wish to be Illinois governor an actual slot on the ballot for the March 20 primary elections.

STRATTON: Establishment Dem pick?

It will be intriguing to see who candidate Chris Kennedy comes up with to be a running mate, since as of now he's the only significant candidate who has yet to name a potential replacement candidate to serve as lieutenant governor in the event that he becomes incapacitated.

GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL J.B. Pritzker gave us Julianna Stratton -- a state representative. While candidate Ameya Pawar chose Cairo mayor Tyrone Coleman, and hopeful Daniel Biss just last week let it be known he's going with Chicago alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa.

He being the one who got elected in 2015 as the first openly gay Latino alderman and who since has made a name for himself politically by shifting from the Democratic Party to the Democratic Socialists -- meaning he wants to be aligned with the political element that thinks Bernie Sanders would make a fit president of this nation.

How will Kennedy counter those choices? Since his pick is going to be studied for clues as to what kind of public official he would be if actually elected by the voters.

Kennedy, who has never held public office but was most prominently president of the company that managed the Merchandise Mart in Chicago until the Kennedy family sold the property back in 2012.

WE'RE BEING ASKED during the next couple of weeks to sign petitions for gubernatorial candidates and also for their running mates.

ROSA: Enhancing rep for future electoral bids?

Who, strictly speaking, aren't paired with their partners. For in Illinois, the lieutenant governor candidates run separately on the primary ballot. You could technically vote for Kennedy to be the Democratic nominee for governor, and Ramirez-Rosa for lieutenant governor.

It's only in the general election that the Democratic gubernatorial and lieutenant governor candidates get paired up to run against the Republican team of Bruce Rauner and Evelyn Sanguinetti -- who both are going to have their own political baggage weighing them down.

Unless the Democrats create so much baggage for themselves during the primary that even Rauner/Sanguinetti comes off as more appealing to Illinoisans.

ONE THING TO keep in mind as we contemplate Kennedy's pick -- which he has hinted could come some time this week. He technically doesn't have to name anybody.

COLEMAN: Voter appeal in Illinois' Egypt?'

I still recall 1994 when Dawn Clark Netsch won the Democratic primary for governor and never did name anybody as her preferred running mate, saying she thought the voters should be able to choose her potential replacement in the event of an emergency situation.

She wound up being paired with Penny Severns, a state senator from Decatur, who had been the running mate choice of Richard Phelan, the Cook County Board president who had hoped that post would be a springboard to the Executive Mansion.

Only it wasn't for him, and Netsch in her gubernatorial campaign could never shake the perception that the Netsch/Severns ticket was a mismatch.

SO WE'LL BE curious to see who Kennedy tries to anoint with the family "aura" so he can have his own "top of the ticket." Particularly curious since there have been reports indicating that many political establishment types are rejecting the idea of a Kennedy pairing, fearing he'd go down to defeat and drag them along with.

KENNEDY: Who will he add to lt. gov. mix?

It is interesting in that we're now within the time cycle where it is no longer ridiculously early to be contemplating who will be the candidates in the 2018 election cycle.

But the reality is that Rauner has been campaigning unofficially for so long it seems like this election cycle is old news. How many of us wish we could just cast our vote today and be done with it?

For some of us, the March 20 primary election and the Nov. 6, 2018 general election can't come soon enough.

  -30-

Dem ‘top of the ticket’ that 99 percent of voters likely know nothing about

The jokes already are starting up about gubernatorial hopeful Ameya Pawar’s choice for a lieutenant governor running mate – he picked a mayor from the southernmost tip of Illinois.

 

PAWAR: Went far beyond Sout' Side for running mate

Which certainly gives a geographical sense of balance; an alderman from the 47^th Ward up on the Northwest Side of the city and a mayor from the town where both Kentucky and Missouri lie on the other side of the rivers that create Cairo’s location.

BUT JUST AS most people don’t have a clue who Pawar is (the first Indian-American individual to serve in the City Council), I suspect most are going to be equally clueless about Tyrone Coleman – who is in his second term as Cairo mayor and also cites that he used to be a full-time Baptist minister (he's now an interim minister of a different congregation) and is founder of a community organization that serves young people as being amongst his credentials.

Although the Internet already is buzzing with the snide remarks of some who point out that Coleman is one of those African-American individuals who cites his religious faith as justification for snubbing (to put it mildly) gay people.

Which could be a factor that tanks this particular ticket amongst the kinds of people who vote in Democratic primaries. Although I’m sure others will look at this non-white ticket and be skeptical of its chances for succeeding.

It will be interesting to see just how many people do wind up casting votes for Pawar/Coleman – since I’m not kidding when I say that many would-be voters are not aware of the pair, who had their first public appearance Tuesday night at the German/American Cultural Center near Pawar’s home neighborhood.

 

Will we get a Coleman/Stratton ...

IT SEEMS THAT many people are thinking of this as the J.B. Pritzker/Chris Kennedy campaign, with those aware enough to want to have a third option focusing their attention of Daniel Biss – the one-time math teacher from Evanston who serves in the General Assembly and is willing to openly criticize Dem leadership.

Which could be the reason that Pawar felt compelled to publicly name a running mate. It creates the impression that his campaign has something resembling a full structure and ought to be taken seriously.

Compared to everybody else except for Pritzker, who as of yet have not paired up with anyone for the second spot within Illinois government.

 

... debate for lieutenant governor?

Biss’ big move for Tuesday was to announce his “The Road Forward” tour that is meant to be a 2,000 mile trip across the state so he can meet with people everywhere.

A NICE GESTURE, to be sure. But there are those same snide Internet commenters who are saying that Pawar has just one-upped Biss and shown himself to be the guy whom voters ought to focus their attention upon if they absolutely can’t stomach the thought of voting for either Kennedy or Pritzker.

Could this be what gives Pawar’s campaign chances a jolt of attention – even if just for a few days?

He is the guy who has been going about this campaign continuously offering up what he calls his own “New Deal” of ways to improve the quality of life in Illinois. Although I really doubt anybody thinks he’s the Second Coming of FDR.

They’re probably not thinking of him much at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn if down in the land of Southern Illinois, Tuesday’s announcement by Pawar about Coleman was the first time they ever acknowledged his existence.

BUT THEN AGAIN, the fact that Pawar may be able to take the majority of votes in Cairo may not mean much. Because Cairo is a shrinking community – largely due to the historic racial hang-ups of area residents.

 

BISS: Is he now lagging behind Pawar?

The one-time city of some 20,000 people had, in 2016, an estimated population of 2,359 – with 69.62 percent of its population being African-American. Much of the white population of Southern Illinois fled the city long ago and is content to let it rot – similar to the attitudes felt by some Chicagoans toward select South and West side neighborhoods.

So maybe Coleman has a life experience (he was born-and-raised in Cairo, left for 10 years to serve in the military, and says he was shocked by how decrepit his home city had become during his absence) that some in Chicago can identify with.

For those of you not quite sure of Cairo's location

At the very least, Chicagoans may finally figure out the local pronunciation of the municipality named for the Egyptian city on the River Nile. Because it sure ain’t “KY-ro.”

  -30-

Can Stratton help Pritzker jump ahead of pack to take governor’s post in '18?

I’ve always had my own theory about Illinois state government posts – Democrats win them when Chicago city voters are motivated enough to care about who wins.
 

STRATTON: Illinois' next lieutenant governor?

Which can be a challenge. Because the city perspective is that the mayor and aldermen are all-important, while there’s some attention as to who gets sent “up and out” to Washington.

BUT AS FOR the clowns in Springfield? It’s easy for those elections to become after-thoughts to Chicagoans, while they’re way more significant to those in the rural parts of the state. Whichever one of the half-dozen or so Dem candidates dreaming of becoming governor needs to do something to get city residents to care, or else we'll get "four more years" of Gov. Bruce Rauner -- regardless of how much that thought appalls some urban voters.

Which is the reason why candidate J.B. Pritzker’s announcement Thursday that he will have state Rep. Julianna Stratton, D-Chicago, run with him as a lieutenant governor makes any sense.

It’s actually way too early to be thinking about running mates. Besides, the lieutenant governor candidates actually runs separately during the primary election cycle. So anyone who votes for Pritzker in the March ’18 primary could easily decide to ignore his choice of a running mate.

But Pritzker is trying to give Chicago voters, particularly that segment of the city that lives on the South and West sides, a reason to care about whether or not he winds up winning the election.

 

PRITZKER: Trying to jump to head of Dem pack

THERE MAY BE some city voters who will be motivated merely by the fact they want to dump Bruce Rauner as governor. But their contempt for the governor and the alternative being yet another rich billionaire who thinks it’s a strength he can pay for his own campaign is a perfect recipe for voter apathy!

Stratton is the legislator who has already been through a tough, big-money campaign. She was the woman who defeated Ken Dunkin, the South Side legislator who got challenged for his Illinois House seat because House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, was disgusted with Dunkin’s continual undermining of his authority. She’s also the one who can claim a personal endorsement from Barack Obama himself in that election cycle.

RAUNER: Counting on rest of Ill. to back him

Plus, she is a black woman – which could have an impact in making the African-American segment of the electorate care enough to vote for somebody. Would they really care about two rich white guys?

There are those political observers who think former Gov. Pat Quinn’s biggest mistake in his failed re-election bid of 2014 was dissing black voters by picking a white guy (former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas) as his running mate instead.

SO COULD THIS be a move to try to make Pritzker stand out further in the Democratic field? Then also to stand above Rauner come the November 2018 general election?

KENNEDY: Flaky?

At this point, anything that gains him attention over the crowd could help. Because I sense many voters just see a mass of candidates, with nothing that really distinguishes them.

I recently had a conversation over dinner with relatives about the upcoming election, and the consensus was that Chris Kennedy was kind of flaky, Daniel Biss might have some potential and everybody else was kind of bland. Except for Ameya Pawar, of whom I was the only person who even knew who he was.

BISS: Maybe?

Stratton could be the jolt that helps Pritzker leap above being bland.

NOT THAT IT should be thought I’m saying she’s unqualified. She may have only one term in the Illinois House of Representatives. But she’s a former head of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Public Safety and Justice, and also with the Cook County Justice Advisory Council and Justice for Children.

PAWAR: Who?

She certainly has qualifications for a public post, and it is the lieutenant governor’s position – where she is the person to be on-call in the event that a “Governor Pritzker” were to become incapacitated. Take the current lieutenant governor, Evelyn Sanguinetti, whose qualifications prior to the post were being a municipal official in suburban Wheaton.

So now Democratic voters have a ticket of “Pritzker/Stratton” to consider, along with a batch of other stray candidates. I’m sure Pritzker will want us to think that means he’s better organized than his opponents.

As to whether the voters believe that sentiment, we’ll see come March and November following Election Day.

  -30-

Not a surprise Dunkin in target sights of his would-be Democratic allies

There’s something people ought to keep in mind – Democrats often are a cantankerous sort who can’t agree on much. They’re not of the single-mindset that Republicans are capable of being ideologically when it comes to uniting on issues.

OBAMA: Reminding us he's a Chicagoan?

So anyone who is surprised that the president of the United States would get himself involved in a state senate campaign from a district representing the part of Chicago that Barack Obama himself used to live and work in doesn’t comprehend the ways of partisan politics – particularly locally.

I’M SURE THE fact that Obama is publicly supporting Juliana Stratton for the Illinois House seat now held by Ken Dunkin is merely the president’s way of saying he hasn’t forgotten his long-time home city – and still has interests there.

Although some people are acting all shocked and appalled (and the Chicago Tribune itself took an editorial stance almost tsk-tsking Obama) at the fact that the president produced campaign ads praising the merits of Stratton.

I haven’t seen any spots where Obama trashes Dunkin – although the implication is that the president’s refusal to give a knee-jerk endorsement to the incumbent is, in and of itself, a trashing.

One more public than that moment a month ago when Obama publicly singled out Dunkin during his address to the Legislature in a moment interpreted by many as the president publicly holding Dunkin up to ridicule.

DUNKIN: Spanked publicly by president

NEWS REPORTS INDICATE that Obama got involved in the campaign at the request of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who hasn’t been the least bashful about bashing Dunkin – particularly since Dunkin hasn’t hesitated to publicly criticize Madigan on so many issues.

All of which has resulted in the desire to dump Dunkin from the Democratic caucus in exchange for someone who will be more supportive of the caucus’ larger goals.

Admittedly, the president usually doesn’t get this involved. Usually, his endorsement for a local post goes as low as the governor (Obama backed Pat Quinn in 2010 and ’14) and the mayor (letting it be known in 2011 and ’15 that we should back his one-time chief of staff).

Now I’m sure Dunkin is telling himself the voters won’t be swayed. They’re local people who will see this as some sort of meddling, and perhaps they will turn on Obama himself.

GARCIA: Got similar treatment as a senator

BUT DUNKIN WOULD have to be kidding himself if he doesn’t think this could have some harm.

Because it reminds me of the 1998 election cycle when Jesus Garcia sought re-election to a third term in the Illinois Senate. Only to lose the Democratic primary to Antonio Muñoz – who took a solid 54 percent of the vote.

In that case, it was then-Mayor Richard M. Daley who decided he’d rather have a more compliant individual in the state Senate than Garcia – who established back when he was an alderman that he wasn’t going to be a Daley lackey.

The then-existing Hispanic Democratic Organization (a group of Latinos that did Daley’s political bidding) would up working the legislative district so intensely that they turned out the vote for Muñoz, leading Garcia to a loss and his period out of electoral politics until he won his current Cook County Board post back in 2010.

NOW I’M SURE some will point out the fact that several HDO officials were later indicted, convicted and did prison time for some of their political activities. To my knowledge, there’s nothing as sinister involved with Obama’s willingness to back Dunkin.

STRATTON: A presidential beneficiary

Although some of the intimidation tactics being employed in that South Side legislative race aren’t the sorts of things people like to talk about in polite company.

But as author Finley Peter Dunne’s bartender character Mr. Dooley oft said, “Politics ain’t beanbag.” Perhaps the outspoken Dunkin shouldn’t be surprised that the president himself would feel compelled to give him the back of the hand in response.

And as for the president getting himself involved? There’s always the words of “wisdom” of one-time House Speaker Tip O’Neill, who informed us that, “All politics is local.”

  -30-

Should we care about ’17 budget when we still don’t have one for ’16?

Gov. Bruce Rauner gave us his budget proposal for state government’s 2017 fiscal year (which begins July 1), yet I have to confess to not caring in the least about the specifics of what he put forth.

These two still can't ...

For we’re now in month eight of a 12-month year of Fiscal ’16 without a balanced budget for our state government.

WE SEE THE ineptitude of our government officials to do the one basic duty that underlies the entire operation of our state. Why should we think the upcoming fiscal year will be any different than the current one?

... see eye to eye on budget issues

We also have to see now that the totally absurd, ridiculous conspiracy theory based in paranoia that some predicted early on has a very real chance of coming true.

Illinois Fiscal 2016 (which ends June 30) likely will become the year that Illinois government went without a budget. Which resulted in serious catastrophe for certain state agencies and programs.

While some functions of state government have court mandates to keep operating regardless of the state Constitution’s requirement that a balanced budget be in place before any money can be spent, there also are those that do not.

OF COURSE, MANY of those are the social service programs and the funding for higher education that enables colleges and universities to operate (no, the tuition charged to students is not the primary funding source that keeps those institutions alive, no matter what some students think).

DUNKIN: Dared to challenge the Speaker

The programs that some people of a certain ideological bent want to believe are a drain on government funding are the ones that are going down the drain. I don’t doubt some people are hard-hearted enough to think we’re better off without them.

I, however, am of the belief that our governments (at all levels) have certain obligations that must be fulfilled. Doing nothing amounts to failure.

Maintaining a government that does nothing serves no purpose – unless we really feel the need to puff up the egos of those officials by giving them titles and letting them run around thinking they’re all important.

SO OUR SITUATION is that the governor is presenting a budget plan for this year, when his plan for last year went over so badly that nothing happened. Even Rauner himself conceded the irony of the situation prior to giving his budget address.

STRATTON: Is her campaign political payback?

I really don’t know how this situation is going to resolve itself. Will we have some sort of break that causes our government officials to work together – regardless of political party?

Fat chance! No matter what President Barack Obama said to the Illinois Legislature during his address to them in Springfield earlier this month, we have partisan beasts at the Illinois Statehouse.

We’re at the point where our political people are locked into their positions so tightly that there’s no way either side can alter its stance without looking foolish. Also, I suspect that by this time it is important for both sides not just to win, but that they be able to crush their opponent and dance around their rotting corpse while singing out, “I win, I win, I win!”

IT’S BEING REFLECTED in the local elections this year. State Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, the legislator who dared to thwart Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s legislative control, is facing a serious challenge in the Democratic primary by Juliana Stratton – director of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Public Safety and Justice.

GONZALES: Can he dump almighty speaker?

While Rauner’s financial influence is bolstering the campaign of Jason Gonzales – who is showing the unmitigated gall to run against Madigan himself in the Legislature’s 22^nd district on the Southwest Side and nearby suburbs.

Personally, I think both incumbents will wind up prevailing – particularly in the Illinois House 22^nd, where the locals think it gives them more influence to have Madigan himself as their local representative. Even though the speaker is so absorbed with larger issues, I suspect he doesn’t give much thought to those local concerns.

And in the end, we may wind up moving into Fiscal ’17 without a budget. If we let our political paranoia run amok, we may also get budget-less fiscals ’18 and ’19. Now that’s a real nightmare.

  -30-