Only 49 more days ‘til “real” election cycle begins – the Chicago mayoral

Is political matchup between Preckwinkle … 

Seven weeks from Wednesday is a date that I’m sure many people will be awaiting, depending on their own political perspective.

It is either seven more weeks until the current election cycle – the one that will give Illinois a governor, legislators and other constitutional officers – is over and done with. Or it is seven more weeks until we can forget about this layer of government and get on with what they want to believe is the real government.

… and Daley more intriguing … 

AS IN THE election for mayor and the 50 members of the City Council who will oversee the municipal activity of Chicago.

Yes, it is an overly parochial attitude to take that people who live outside of the Chicago city limits have government that doesn’t mean a thing. And that our state officials ought to be subservient to those officials from the city.

But I also don’t doubt there are people who are tired of the rhetorical trash talk coming from the governor candidates and will never get intrigued by who is running for attorney general or comptroller.

They probably don’t have a clue who their state legislators are.

… than the 'millionaires' brawl … 

FOR THOSE PEOPLE who want to think the state government doesn’t matter, just keep in mind that Bill Daley has kicked off his own campaigning for mayor in the Feb. 26 elections (with possible run-offs April 2) by saying he expects newly-elected Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be supportive of initiatives that will help Chicago resolve some significant financial issues the city has.

A concept that I’m sure grossly offends Illinoisans from that one-third of the state’s population lying outside the Chicago metropolitan area’s boundaries.

I actually wonder if Bruce Rauner’s lone chance of prevailing on Nov. 6 and getting himself re-elected to a second four-year term as governor is if enough non-Chicago voters decide to band together and Vote for Bruce to keep the city from becoming – from their perspective – too powerful.

… we're now getting between Rauner/Pritzker?

So long as ideologues getting all worked up about social issues such as abortion or immigration see flaws in Rauner because he hasn’t been hardline right-wing enough to appease them, then Pritzker is likely to prevail.

WHICH IS WHY many voters are acting as though Nov. 6’s Election Day is already a done deal; and why they’re probably waiting for the activity that decides who will be the replacement as mayor for Rahm Emanuel – who already has made public his first act.

He has a book deal – one that will let him settle scores against everyone who he thinks has wronged him during his eight years as mayor and will keep his name in the public eye while he decides what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

That book, which Emanuel has yet to write, is expected to be published by the year 2020 – around about the same time that Chicago White Sox fans think their favorite ballclub will morph itself into a contending ballclub.

Which may, or may not, be a fantasy in its own right.

WITH THE MAYORAL election cycle turning into a brawl between Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, with former school board President Gery Chico saying Tuesday he’s interested in getting into the mix and others speculating about likely Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza becoming involved, the upcoming political fight is taking on a heft that will make many eager to see this “governor nonsense” over and done with.

What if Mendoza  swings ahead of all?

It definitely has taken on more heft than it had just a couple of weeks ago when it was Emanuel likely running for re-election against a dozen or so lightweights whose only real strategy for winning was that they could force Emanuel into a run-off election and beat him by taking the “Anybody But Rahm” vote.

Now, it’s more likely the Chicago city elections will produce a mayor who actually has people intrigued by his/her qualifications for the office – instead of feeling like a default choice.

And as for governor? It would amuse me if Pritzker wound up spending all those millions of dollars of the family fortune to buy himself a political post, only to have someone like Mendoza (who currently holds a post four notches below his in the state pecking order) somehow swing around him and gain the more prestigious (to some) political post for herself!

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Do we really give police officers this much authority to use physical force?

Perhaps it is only appropriate that on the first day of activity in the criminal trial of police officer Jason Van Dyke, attention was brought to the concept that the alleged criminal activity was captured on video.

Serving and protecting us? Or harassment?

Let’s be honest – if that video from a police officer’s own camera didn’t exist, it’s very likely that there would be no trial and Van Dyke would have spent the past four years continuing to work his beat and be one of the officers allegedly enforcing the laws for the people of Chicago.

WHEN OPENING STATEMENTS were made Monday at the Criminal Courts building (Judge Vincent Gaughan ultimately rejected all notions of moving the trial outside of Chicago), special prosecutor Joseph McMahon emphasized the video and the number of shots (16) from his pistol that Van Dyke fired into the body of Laquan McDonald.

In a touch of hamming things up a bit, McMahon literally pounded his fist on a lectern to do a count-down of each shot, and even emphasized the point when the eighth shot was fired – so as to imply that Van Dyke wasn’t even close to finishing his gunfire at that point.

Almost as though he thinks (and wants the jury to believe) that everything else is irrelevant, and we all ought to just issue the “guilty” verdict right now – saving us all time and hassle by carting Van Dyke off to prison right now.

But the legal process instead will be spending the next few weeks trying to establish whether there was any justification for the police officer’s actions.

WHICH ACTUALLY MADE another remark McMahon made all the more interesting.

He tried to summarize the incident of Oct. 20, 2014 (the night McDonald died) as one where Van Dyke saw, “a black boy (McDonald was 17) walking down a street with a chain-link fence with the audacity to ignore the police.”

But the reality is that we do give police significant authority to stop people. While they’re supposed to have “probable cause” to justify their actions, the reality is that it really doesn’t take much to give a cop the ability to question someone they find suspicious.

Trying to walk away from the police can be construed as resisting arrest. And if McDonald really was carrying a knife (as has been reported), that may well make this an “open-and-shut” case of a police officer being justified in using force – which would make the case one of justifiable homicide.

NOT THE “MURDER” that many have spent the past few years decrying the death of McDonald as being.

Now I’m not in the courtroom to see any of this. I don’t doubt that the jury is going to manage to offend some people – no matter how they choose to interpret any of this. I don’t expect anyone will be satisfied by the ultimate outcome of this trial.

I suspect the eventual verdict will offend the beliefs of everybody who wants to think this is a clear-cut case.

In reality, there is only one definitive “fact,” Jason Van Dyke did fire 16 shots from his weapon that killed Laquan McDonald.

THE REST OF the story? We’re going to get an up-close lesson as to just how much force police are allowed to use in the act of doing their jobs; which amount to that old cliché about “serving and protecting” the public.

On the one hand, we wouldn’t be issuing police officers those pistols and other countless weapons if we didn’t expect there would be circumstances upon which they would have to use them.

Then again, we do need to have some sense of restraint – otherwise our “protectors” would be nothing more than the official city-sponsored goon squad. Certainly not something anybody with sense would want to see.

Where is the “line” between force and abuse? That question really is the key to comprehending everything that we’ll see and hear during the trial’s coming weeks.

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It’s gonna be a long, long, long strike

It never fails to amaze me the degree to which some people have no respect for those individuals amongst us who actually have to work for a living. 

Picketers could be in for a long-drawn-out dispute over insurance benefits for hotel workers. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

As in doing forms of labor that are tiring, grueling and are the kind of jobs that nobody really willingly takes on for themselves.

I’M REFERRING TO the people who are part of the UNITE HERE Local 1, the union the represents hotel workers at various establishments around Chicago.

They’re the ones who have been picketing for the past 10 days outside all of the upper-crust hotels, trying to make a nuisance of themselves in hopes that they’ll shame the hotel owners into meeting their demands.

Yet I get a sense from the complaints I have been reading in recent days that most people who stay at those hotels are going to be merely appalled by whatever amenities are being tampered with as a result of the striking workers.

Heaven forbid that some hotel patron who was too lazy to go outside missed a meal because they couldn’t get room service. Or that someone had to wait a little while longer while checking in to their hotel because the short-staffed businesses are behind on having their rooms ready for them.

YOU’D THINK HOTEL management would see the activity of the past week-and-a-half and come to the realization that their staffs are essential parts of being able to provide the quality of service they think they offer – and ought to be offering for the absurd rates they often charge for a room there.

Instead, they’re more than willing to try to shift blame to those workers for not doing work.

Did any of these people care at all about the picketing taking place just blocks away?

Which may be appropriate since we’re now in an Age of Trump, with a president who made his personal fortune by building all those allegedly-upscale hotels that egotistically bear his name.

I don't doubt that Donald Trump himself views the staffs of all his Trump Hotels as being totally-replaceable minions who ought to be grateful to wear work uniforms bearing the “T” (for Trump) and think their affiliation (no matter how superficial) with his name is compensation enough for their grueling labor.

I FULLY EXPECT it’s just a matter of time before the public turns on those hotel workers who are now making a racket outside the so-called elite hotels.

Just as how whenever the issue of the minimum wage and the notion of raising it to $15 per hour comes up, some people are quick to go on rants about the unmitigated gall those people have thinking their labor ought to be compensated appropriately.

We’ll also hear arguments made about how keeping employee wages and other compensation is absolutely essential to maintaining the current status of the economy. Almost as though they think underpaying the hired help is essential to preserving the “American Way” of life.

Personally, I’ve always felt companies that manage to keep their employees satisfied are the ones that have the most productive workforces – and often have people wanting to work for them.

NO COMPANY THAT thinks its workers ought to be thankful anybody bothers to employ them in any capacity is going to achieve much in the way of success. Of course, their management later will “blame the workers” for not properly producing.

What if Trump workers tried striking?

Part of the reason I can sympathize with these hotel workers is because this particular strike isn’t about salaries (although I’m sure they wouldn’t object to a raise). It’s about health insurance – as in many of these hotel companies like to lay off staff during the winter months, which results in them losing health coverage.

You’d think that management would want to have a healthy workforce. At the very least, they wouldn’t want to encourage concepts that their workers could be carrying something that could be passed on to their customers.

And in the end, it’s the notion of serving those customers properly that is the reason those hotels are in business to begin with. Particularly at a place like the Palmer House hotel downtown – where the absolute cheapest room one can get there is $169 per night. Because if one is just looking for a night’s sleep that isn’t on a park bench, there’s always Motel 6.

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EXTRA: El Grito, Pritzker-style

I’m sure there are some people out there who are peeved (to put it mildly) at the very notion of “El Grito” being celebrated Saturday night within Chicago’s Millennium Park.

The ringing of the bell … 

Sure enough, the World Music Festival of Chicago held at the Pritzker Pavilion included an afternoon-into-evening of Mexican-themed musical acts, and ended with a ceremonial ringing-of-the-bell and the cry of El Grito – a recreation of the “Cry of Delores” action taken by Father Miguel Hidalgo on this date back in 1810 that began the fight for independence from Spain.

EL GRITO IS a demand for respect for Mexican people, and a recreation of it is usually a standard part of any celebration of Mexico Independence Day – which is Sunday.

But in this Age of Trump where the nitwits of our society want to use Mexican people as their punching bag, I’m sure it will bother them that such an act – along with a public singing of Mexico’s national anthem – occurred on what otherwise was a beautiful Saturday night in Chicago.

All of which was a part of the program put on by the Mariachi Herencia de Mexico – a mariachi band consisting of students from Benito Juarez High School in Chicago that actually has some talent, has made recordings and has even been nominated for Grammy awards.

… while waving the flag all part of Mexico tribute

Although I’m not about to claim that the Saturday evening program was totally inoffensive.

I’M STILL A little bit freaked out that their program felt the need to include a musical medley of songs en Ingles from that 1978 film “Grease.”

Somehow, the image of John Travolta’s “Danny Zucco” character just doesn’t fit into my notion of paying tribute to Mexico’s traditions through mariachi music.

Although for the xenophobes out there who are throwing tantrums about the notion of Mexican independence being celebrated in this country -- let alone in Chicago, keep in mind that the youthful mariachis also did a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that would have put to shame many a version done by Anglo-oriented musicians.

But Star-Spangled Banner got its moment too. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

And that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s public schedule for the weekend consisted of one lone event – an El Grito celebration Saturday night at Harrison Park in the Pilsen neighborhood. An event that has been an annual one for the man who has hopes Illinois voters will give him another term in office come Nov. 6.

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Is Chicago in for Daley III, with Daley IV waiting in the wings of City Hall?

We, the electorate of Chicago, may get to see just how addicted we are to having the concept of a “Mayor Daley” in charge of our city.

The next 'Mayor Daley?'

For William Daley, the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and a son of long-ago Mayor Richard J. Daley, is indicating that he now wants to get into the mix of people likely to run for Chicago mayor come the Feb. 26 municipal elections.

NEWS REPORTS INDICATE that Bill Daley likely will kick off his campaigning for City Hall come Monday; wanting to be the guy who replaces Rahm Emanuel – who back in 2011 was the guy who replaced his brother, Rich, at the helm of municipal government.

It seems that Bill thinks Chicago has gone long enough without a “Mayor Daley” in charge.

The trick would be to see whether Chicago voters really are that enamored of the Daley name to send another of the grandchildren of Michael Daley to City Hall – with Michael being the Irish immigrant father of Richard J. Daley – who rose high above his Bridgeport neighborhood roots to become the so-called “legendary” mayor of Chicago.

Of course, legendary is the polite way some people express the idea of tyrannical – as in a political boss who ruled with an iron fist for more than two decades until his death in 1976.

Hizzoner's son

I REMEMBER SOME speculation eight years ago when Rich Daley chose to retire following 23 years in office that even he was realistic to accept the notion that Chicago was tired of the “Mayor Daley” concept and in need of change.

But could eight years of Emanuel and his own strong-arm style of politics have been the key to get many establishment-minded Chicagoans ready to return to the idea of a Daley in charge?

Daley who avoided top spot

Could the Sout’ Side politicos be ready to reassert themselves as the ones in charge of Chicago – following eight years of a mayor from the Ravenswood neighborhood?

Not that Bill Daley is a political amateur. He served at the federal level during both the Clinton and Obama presidencies. Albeit, as the lesser of the two presidential chiefs of staff from Chicago that Obama employed. Along with being the campaign manager who desperately tried to get Al Gore elected president in 2000.

Could the Bridgeport alderman be next?

AND HIS MOMENT of “glory” during the Clinton years may have been when he was introduced as the new Commerce secretary – only to pass out unconscious during the introduction ceremony. Officially, the lights were on so intensely that the heat got to him.

My point is that both of these posts presented enough moments where Daley critics could find reason to ridicule Bill and to claim that he’s not even at the level of his brother, with neither reaching the stature while in office of their father.

What may actually be more significant is that Bill Daley is the guy who has often talked of wanting to run for political office in the past – most often putting his name out there as a possible governor of Illinois.

Yet Bill Daley has always found reasons to back out of actually running, making some political observers question whether he has what it takes to endure the gristle of an electoral campaign.

THEN AGAIN, BILL Daley in the past always talked about wanting to be governor. Perhaps the desire to run for the top post at City Hall could be what sways him to want to stay in the campaign all the way through Election Day.

It all originates with Dick Daley

Being “Mayor Daley III” could sound more important to him than that of “Gov. Daley,” even though that always had the potential for a political power punch since it could have resulted in a combination of Mayor Daley (as in Rich) and Gov. Daley (as in Bill), along with brother John Daley deciding to rise up from his Cook County Board seat to run for county board President.

A Daley trifecta, albeit one that would have terrified Illinoisans from outside of Chicago. But to those who would have been enamored by the idea of so many Daleys in charge, the idea of Bill Daley being on the ballot for mayor may be a fantasy come true.

That is, unless you’re willing to wait a generation for 11^th Ward Alderman Patrick D. (as in Daley) Thompson, a nephew to both Rich and Bill and grandson to Dick, to make a run for putting the mayoral post back in the Bridgeport neighborhood.

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Would Chicago be better off if Van Dyke were to get a bench trial?

Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer about to go on trial for a 2014 shooting death of a teenager, has until Friday to decide whether he wants his fate determined by a jury of his so-called peers, or by a judge.

GAUGHAN: Will he, or jurors, decide fate?

I can’t help but think we as a society would be better off if he were to get a bench trial – as in letting a judge decide his fate based solely on the merits of the law.

IT’S NOT THAT I have all that much faith in the mindset of the judiciary. It’s more that I suspect there’s no way any group of individuals will be capable of putting aside their emotions with this case.

We’re more likely to avoid offending the sensibilities of our society if we put this case into the hands of a judge.

Not that we can avoid offending people. When it comes to Van Dyke and the death of Laquan McDonald, there are going to be people who will be grossly offended – no matter how the case is resolved.

As things stand going into Friday, a 12-member jury has been picked, and officials say they expect four alternates who could be called upon if one of the dozen jurors winds up having to withdraw could be chosen soon.

WHICH IS WHY Judge Vincent Gaughan has given Van Dyke and his legal counsel until Friday to make the decision – jury trial, or bench trial?

If Van Dyke ultimately decides on a bench trial, then the outcome will be solely up to Gaughan. All of the jurors who have thus far been chosen will be dismissed – and they won’t ever have to make a decision on what should become of the cop who got captured on video firing 16 shots into McDonald’s body.

VAN DYKE:A decision to make by Friday

Defense, of course, sees this as a case of the teenager wielding a knife while walking down the street and behaving in ways that made it seem as though he was a threat to the public.

It’s apparent that Van Dyke took actions that resulted in McDonald’s death; although police officers are given authority to use deadly force on the job. Which makes this a trial solely about determining the line between justifiable homicide and murder.

IT’S SAD THAT this is going to become a race-tinged case. There already are those upset that the 12-member jury apparently has seven white people, three Latinos, one Asian and ONLY one black person.

The trial hasn’t even begun, and we’re already getting the accusations that defense attorneys went out of their way to eliminate as many black people from jury consideration as possible.

I don’t care if all four alternates wind up being African-American; we’ll get the claims that a group of white people refused to administer justice against a white cop. Although there will be others who will rant and rage about the notion of Van Dyke being prosecuted BECAUSE he’s white.

They’ll think acquittal is the only possible outcome that won’t be a travesty.

THAT IS WHY I’d prefer this to be a bench trial. Even though I’m sure the masses of Chicagoans who have taken an interest in this case will be prepared to decimate the legal reputation of Gaughan if he doesn’t ultimately rule in their favor with regards to Van Dyke. I actually have more faith in a judge to make such a decision than so-called civilians, and to understand the nuances of "the law" than some individual who likely is peeved that his/her life is being disrupted for a few weeks by being called upon for jury duty,

McDONALD: Chgo gets to relive his death

Because for every person determined to think Van Dyke is being unjustly prosecuted, there are also masses determined to believe that the only reasonable outcome is for Van Dyke to be brutalized while serving a prison term.

This truly is an ugly trial; one that will bring out all the nasty elements of our society. A part of me thinks we’d have been better off if Gaughan had accepted the suggestions that this trial venue be transferred to somewhere else.

It also makes me all the more grateful that my own name didn’t get called for consideration of jury duty because (with two uncles who served as Chicago police officers) I honestly don’t know how I’d have handled the questioning over whether I could be impartial in deciding between the gun-wielding cop or the knife-wielding teen.

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Singer Steve Goodman’s spirit rejoices (I’m sure), but will the courts agree?

I’m sure many people are hearing the spirit of folk singer Steve Goodman, what with the Illinois Commerce Commission making a (long overdue, in their opinion) ruling to take down the Lincoln Towing Company.

The long-time North Side-based business has developed quite a reputation throughout the years as an entity that is overzealous in the way it goes about towing automobiles that it contends are illegally parked.

THEN PUTS AUTO owners through quite an ordeal in order for them to reclaim their vehicles.

This reputation has been around for so long that back in the 1970s, the singer Goodman came up with his “Lincoln Park Pirates” song.

As Goodman put it in verse, “We plunder the streets of your town/be it Edsel or Chevy there’s no car too heavy/And no one can make us shut down.”

Personally, I feel fortunate to never have had to deal with Lincoln Towing (in large part because I go out of my way to do all my in-city traveling via the “el” or bus, along with the occasional taxicab). Although I have known people who had to endure the Lincoln Towing menace, going back several decades.

WHICH IS WHY the ICC actions of last year were long overdue.

The state agency that regulates interstate commerce (including utility companies but also services such as Lincoln Towing) has been investigating the towing service’s activities.

They contended there have been 831 violations of state towing laws between July 2015 and March 2016. I’m sure there are people who say that’s a miniscule accounting of all the improprieties they’d attribute to Lincoln Towing.

That resulted in the ICC ruling on Wednesday that the state license permitting Lincoln Towing to operate is revoked. The company has been silenced. Decades of the company’s victims may feel a sense of rejoice.

FOR ALL I know, Goodman’s song may well be playing in their mental jukeboxes over and over and over again to the point where they will become tired of the tune. Maybe they'll then switch over to his "Daley's Gone" tune that was a tribute (of sorts) to the old man, Richard J.

The sad part of this is that this issue is not resolved. Because the Chicago Tribune reported how an administrative law judge previously ruled that there were “inconsistencies” in those hundreds of alleged violations and that claims of illegal activity were actually, “without merit and not supported by the record.”

But that administrative judge’s legal opinion amounts to a recommendation for the ICC, one that the commission apparently chose to ignore.

Could it be that Lincoln Towing has developed such a negative reputation throughout the years that the ICC couldn’t bring itself to rule in their favor. Could Goodman’s tune have been playing in the mindsets of the commission members when they made their own decision Wednesday morning?

IT WILL BE interesting to see how this situation plays out, because Lincoln Towing now has the right to sue the state of Illinois to challenge the ICC ruling. Considering that it is the only way the company will be able to continue operating, a lawsuit is inevitable.

Will a Cook County judge ultimately restore Lincoln Towing’s “good name?” Which, quite frankly, isn’t all that good, because Goodman (who has been dead for more than three decades) has proven the power of the pen being mightier than the sword with regard to the “Pirates.” That song will influence more people than any court ruling that could be forthcoming in future years.

It may be the sad part about Goodman’s life and career that he died at age 36. He did songs about the Chicago Cubs (of whom he was a fan), but didn’t live long enough to see them win a championship.

And he didn’t come close to living long enough to seen Lincoln Towing get its (temporary, at least) comeuppance.

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