Irish luck tops electoral enthusiasm?

This weekend is going to be an event of great cultural significance to the reality of Chicago; something that gives us a large part of our character. Something that will get people nationwide talking about us. 

The Chicago River won't be the only body of water turning green -- the Daley plaza fountain also likely to take on color. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

Oh, and by the way, the early voting for the mayoral election run-off also starts this weekend.

BECAUSE ALL THOSE crowds coming to downtown Chicago on Saturday sure ain’t a gonna be headed for the Loop supersite, at 175 W. Washington St., which will be set up so that anybody living within the Chicago city limits can cast their ballots for mayor.

Lori Lightfoot, or Toni Preckwinkle?

Personally, I expect the pathetically low, near-record-setting, turnouts that we saw on Feb. 26 will recur themselves again for the April 2 run-off, with the early voting portion actually beginning Friday.

So yes, people can take a trip downtown Friday, Saturday or Sunday to cast their mayoral vote. Maybe even do so Saturday in and around attending the St. Patrick’s Day parade – the annual tradition that now takes place along Columbus Drive.

Will Lightfoot top Preckwinkle (below) … 

BUT I DON’T expect a lot of people to turn out to cast their ballots. The Luck of the Irish will probably mean too much green-dyed beer being consumed for people to even want to think of casting a ballot.

Even though all those Irish politicos of the past would probably think that casting a vote, particularly if for a “Machine” candidate of Irish-American ethnic origins, is the ultimate gesture of cultural support one could show.

Perhaps if it were Toni O’Preckwinkle on the ballot, she’d be able to get more excitement from would-be voters. Or if Alderman Edward M. Burke hadn’t have won his Feb. 26 election so handily?

… for public attention, or … 

But I suspect this weekend will be about people trying to find the appropriate way of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, the date upon which the saint used his shillelagh to whack at snakes and chase them out of Ireland.

OR AT LEAST that’s what we were taught when I was in grade school. I suspect the reality of the holiday is to have an excuse for beer companies to push their product, similar to the way in which they have turned the Cinco de Mayo holiday into a generic Mexican fest.

Only I’ve never seen anybody dye the Chicago River a Red, White and Green tri-color mixture the way the city every year turns the city’s namesake river a bright, obnoxious Kelly green that in some ways looks even more sickly than the dingy shade of green the river takes on the rest of the year.

Seriously, those people who miss out on Saturday’s downtown parade can always venture out to the Beverly neighborhood’s South Side Irish parade for a chance to see the Irish bands and dancing girls work their way along Western Avenue, and the local residents will have to spend the rest of the day (and night) chasing away the overly-imbibed partiers who don’t have a proper sense of when it is to go home.

I’m sure all of this will be more on people’s minds than their mayoral vote. For all I know, they may view the St. Patrick’s festivities as an escape from the political nonsense that wishes it could overtake our lives for the next couple of weeks.

… will Madeline Mitchell top both on Saturday?

MAYBE THIS WEEKEND would be more intense if we’d have got a Daley, a Joyce or a McCarthy into the run-off election. But we didn’t. They didn’t have the Luck of the Irish back on Feb. 26

But we are getting closer to it all being over.

For Monday is the day that early voting extends to the neighborhood polling places. One site in each of the 50 wards, so that you can cast your vote without having to make the trip downtown.

Then on Election Day, you can go to the polling place located in your neighborhood proper. A chance to take part in this great American experience of Democracy – which also includes the four-year follow-up period of voters ranting and raging on how stupid the electorate was for choosing the nitwit who ultimately prevails April 2.

  -30-

Annexation into suburbs historically sound, but more likely to p-o people

Mayoral hopeful Garry McCarthy may have history on his side when he talks about Chicago annexing the suburban communities directly adjacent into the city limits, but I can’t envision an idea that would cause more contempt to be felt all the way around.

Once regarded as a suburb with Chicago far off in distance

There was, once a time when the street now known as Pershing Road was the southernmost boundary of Chicago, with Hyde Park Township stretching south to 138^th Street. It was regarded as a place to escape urban congestion and noise, but it became a full-fledged part of Chicago in 1889 and added the bulk of what we now think of as the South Side.

SO IN THAT sense, McCarthy saying that places like Oak Lawn, Oak Park or Norridge ought to be taken into the city of Chicago proper isn’t outrageous. Although I don’t doubt one bit that the people currently living there will regard it as such.

McCarthy claims this is an easy way for the city to see a population increase, while also adding to the tax base. While officials in these suburban communities are quick to claim they have solid bases of life and aren’t the least bit interested in becoming a part of the city’s ongoing problems.

Personally, I happen to think there are many suburban communities that would benefit from being a part of a larger entity – because the local services they are able to offer on their own are usually miniscule.

I really question if there are 130 distinct municipal identities within Cook County – which is the number of incorporated villages, towns and cities within the county. With Chicago being merely one of them.

THE FACT IS that most of the suburbs’ true identity lies in their proximity to Chicago. Whether their officials want to admit it or not, they’re a part of the area.

There is a sense in which a place like Dolton might as well just be another neighborhood within Chicago; something along the lines of Hegewisch.

I also find it odd that officials in Oak Lawn and Norridge, in particular, are speaking out against McCarthy’s concept. In the case of Norridge, it is an incorporated community surrounded on all sides by Chicago. Once one summer, I lived on the Northwest Side where literally all I had to do was cross the street and I’d be in Norridge.

McCARTHY: Looking to boost city population

Although I suspect anybody driving through the area would have no clue they had departed, then re-entered, the city limits during the few minutes they passed through.

WHILE IN THE case of Oak Lawn, the claim I often hear from people who live there is that their community is different because it’s so close to Chicago. One can actually enjoy an urban lifestyle, unlike the sense some suburbs offer of being so isolated from the rest of the world.

It’s like they want Chicago benefits without being a part of Chicago. Which to my mindset is mere nonsense!

There is one thing I couldn’t help but notice about McCarthy’s plan, which may be the aspect that kills off any chance of it being taken seriously. The communities he rattled off by name – the ones that would boost the city population by about 160,000 people – are ones with predominantly white populations.

It’s as though by taking in those towns, he can bolster the Anglo part of Chicago’s population. Is his real sentiment one that Chicago has too many non-white people living here?

HECK, I GREW up in suburban Calumet City, whose northern boundary bumps up against Chicago’s Far South Side. Yet Calumet City has changed, developing throughout the years a sizable African-American population (about 72 percent, according to the Census Bureau). I don't hear anyone talking of taking in the suburb's roughly 37,000 residents.

Is McCarthy trying to cherry-pick the kind of people he’d want in an expanded Chicago? If he really were serious, he’d talk about annexing all of Cook County – creating a megapolis of some 5 million people. It would bolster the city tax base and would actually fit into the mindset of many downstate Illinois types who tend to think the whole of northeastern Illinois is all Chicago.

Could this someday become a neighborhood, rather than a village, sign?

Do that, and we’d not only crush Houston’s dreams that they’ll someday be bigger than us, while regaining our spot as the “Second City” by topping Los Angeles’ mere 4.03 million.

Instead, we’re destined to be the 2.7 million portion of metro Chicago, which when you add in all the inner and outer suburbs totals out at over 9 million individuals – none of whom want to give up their community name for the sake of progress.

  -30-

Everybody upset w/ Van Dyke verdict

I suspect there was a moment, however brief, of joy when Judge Vincent Gaughan said “81 …,” giving people the impression that a former Chicago cop convicted of the shooting death of a 17-year-old black teen was about to put the 40-year-old cop away to rot in prison for life.

VAN DYKE: Nearly 7 years

But then, Gaughan continued with “… months,” not years.

AS IN GAUGHAN decided that his prison term will only last a period of just under seven years – of which he’s already served three months in the county jail out in Rock Island, Ill.

Considering that the family of Laquan McDonald came out and said Friday that they thought a prison term of at least 20 years was essential for Van Dyke to be properly punished.

And, in fact, prosecutors themselves made a recommendation of an 18- to 20-year prison term for Van Dyke.

But Gaughan ultimately chose to concoct a prison term based off the fact that Van Dyke was found guilty of a second-degree murder charge, and not to factor in all those additional counts of aggravated battery with a firearm – which in theory could have made for a prison term of nearly 100 years possible.

“A JOKE AND a slap in the face,” along with a slew of obscenities, was the reaction of McDonald’s family to the prison sentence after the sentence was handed down following a day-long sentencing hearing that occurred Friday.

McDONALD: Gone nearly as long as Van Dyke

But Gaughan made a point of saying he figured “100 percent” of people were going to be offended by his sentence. I don’t doubt that, because Van Dyke’s family made emotional pleas saying they have already suffered severely by the loss of Jason to incarceration for any length of time.

As it was, they argued that a sentence of probation would have been appropriate. Which I don’t doubt was an idea of great offense to the McDonald family. As it was, Laquan’s uncle read a letter into the record on Friday that was written as though it was crafted by McDonald himself.

Telling us that he was trying to make something of his life, give up his drug addictions, and that Van Dyke, by firing the 16 shots into his body, deprived him of that opportunity.

GAUGHAN: Upset 100 percent of people

THERE IS ONE thing that has to be conceded – it could have gone much worse for Van Dyke. He’ll be about 46 years old when he is released from prison. In short, he has a chance to put together a “rest of his life.” Even though I don’t doubt he’ll view the next six or so years as the most hellish experience he’ll ever have to endure.

It’s not going to be a pretty experience for a law enforcement officer. But some people see this whole Van Dyke ordeal as being about making police suffer.

If anything, they’re even more upset by the ruling earlier this week that three police officers facing criminal charges for filing false reports about what it was Van Dyke did to McDonald were NOT guilty.

There are those who wanted Van Dyke to rot in prison, and see a complete crackdown on the Chicago Police Department. Anything short of that is going to cause them to feel nothing but contempt for our legal system.

THEN AGAIN, THERE probably is nothing that would please those individuals. Some people get way too hung up on the concept of retribution. Even though what we as a society ought to be trying to do is figure out the way to move beyond this incident.

McCARTHY: Would win be seen as police victory?

Because the reality of the whole affair is that there’s nothing that can be done to bring Laquan McDonald back to life. There’s nothing that will restore the type of life that Jason Van Dyke had, or will protect his family from the harm they’re suffering as a result of what happened on that October night of 2014.

Of course, there could be one coming blow in the near future that would further “rub it in” the very notion that law enforcement is protecting itself, and NOT the public. What happens if Garry McCarthy somehow wins the mayoral election of February and run-off of April?

For McCarthy was the police superintendent who lost his job because of Van Dyke’s actions. Would the people eager to protect the police image be strong enough to make him our city’s mayor?

  -30-

Police replacement a political perk of winning, holding elective office

It’s one of the perks of being elected mayor of any community – you get the power to have your very own uniformed, professional law enforcement type as your police chief, and that chief is totally susceptible to your whims.

JOHNSON: Politics puts job on the line

Whoever wins the office of mayor of Chicago come the Feb. 26 election (and likely April 2 runoff) is going to have the fate of Eddie Johnson in his/her hands. In all likelihood, the police superintendent of Chicago is likely to be unemployed shortly after the May inauguration.

IT’S JUST THE way it is. Being a police chief isn’t a lifelong appointment. It is a job you hold so long as the mayor is approving of you.

So when Toni Preckwinkle comes right out and says she’s going to replace Johnson if/when she becomes mayor, a part of me wants to credit her for being incredibly honest.

Not that I necessarily approve of the reason she has for wanting Johnson out on his keister. But at least she’s not trying to engage in some political rhetoric or high-minded doubletalk about her intentions.

These thoughts came to my mind Monday night while watching one of Preckwinkle’s many mayoral opponents on the WTTW-TV program, "Chicago Tonight." Susana Mendoza had the question put to her directly – would she be intent on picking a new police chief? And who, pray tell, could it be?

PRECKWINKLE: Wants points for firing chief

MENDOZA TRIED TO make it seem as though it is to her credit that she wouldn’t answer – offering up a high-minded rhetorical rambling about how it’s premature to be engaging in such talk about replacing public officials since she’s not actually elected mayor yet.

That sounds nice. In a certain goo-goo mentality way of thinking, it might be admirable.

Yet it also strikes me as being a load of, how shall I say it, horse hockey!

The simple fact is that a police chief post of any type is – by definition – one in which the person serves at the will of the elected official. Invariably, a new mayor brings in a new person to run the police department for them – in ways that are befitting the persona of the new mayor.

MENDOZA: Wants points for not saying

IN FACT, ONE of the few police superintendents in Chicago I’ve ever heard of who didn’t immediately get replaced upon the election of a new mayor was that of LeRoy Martin – who gained the post from Harold Washington and remained in charge of the police even after Richard M. Daley was elected in 1989.

Of course, Daley the younger wound up serving more than two decades as mayor and wound up going through his share of police superintendents after Martin retired in 1992.

The point being that it’s pretty much a sure thing that Eddie Johnson’s time as superintendent – which dates back to 2016 – will end some time next year. The new mayor is going to view having a police chief who owes their presence in the job to her/him as one of the perks of the job!

Particularly if Garry McCarthy winds up somehow winning the mayoral election. Being a former police “chief” in both Chicago (where Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired him in a move he wrongly hoped would make the “stink” over the shooting death of Laquan McDonald fizzle away) and Newark, N.J., I’m sure he’ll have strong thoughts about how his superintendent should behave – and will expect his new “top cop” to follow instructions from City Hall very closely.

AS FOR PRECKWINKLE, she’s admitting she wants to replace Johnson because she says she thinks he is a significant part of the problem in terms of the distrust a portion of the population has for the police department in Chicago.

McCARTHY: Cop turned mayor? Maybe!

“He refused to acknowledge that there was a code of silence in the police department,” Preckwinkle told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t think that’s an honest statement.”

Of course, there are those who think this attitude is more evidence of Preckwinkle behaving like a political “boss,” which is exactly what they’d really like to see removed from municipal government.

Some people may even vote against Preckwinkle for this very attitude. Although if we want to be honest, Johnson’s 30-year career with the Chicago Police is likely to end in retirement – regardless of who prevails on Election Day.

  -30-

Did McCarthy single-handedly win, or lose, the mayoral election on Monday?

Chicago woke up Monday morning to the first significant snowfall of the season, which of course got some more trivial-minded broadcast types determined to ask the ultimate political question.

McCARTHY: Cracking down on 'dibs'

Dibs, or no?

AS IN SHOULD people be allowed to stake out a parking spot near their homes and claim it for their own, just because they managed to clear it of snowfall.

Because it also was a day for many of the mayoral aspirants to file their nominating petitions to get on the ballot, it meant candidates got the question put to them – yea or nay?

And no pussyfooting about how it’s a stupid non-issue meant to divert attention away from serious problems confronting Chicago. Which is the way I feel about the issue – a stance that I’m sure will cause some to want to mock me.

For the record, most of the candidates tried to get out of answering the question, but ultimately wound up deciding that people have a right to stake a claim to a parking spot come winter weather.

ALL EXCEPT FOR Garry McCarthy – the one-time law enforcement official from metro New York who came to Chicago to be police superintendent, then got fired by soon-to-be-former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to try to divert criticism from himself over the police shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald.

McCarthy is likely to be he preferred mayoral candidate of those people eager to express support for law-and-order and police above all others, and who see anything less than such an extreme attitude as being chaos run amok upon our society.

But on this issue, he came out in favor of cracking down on people who think they have a “right” to a particular parking space.

“That’s a bad idea. It causes conflict. Anything that causes conflict, I think, is a bad idea,” McCarthy told reporter-type people.

NOW I’LL BE the first to admit that it’s a total pain in the behind to have to use a shovel to clear one’s car free from heavy snowfall. It takes time, it can be freezing, and one comes off totally soaking wet – then having to get into the car and tend to whatever business they’re doing.

To then come back home to find out someone else took the space for their own automobile? I can comprehend how some people would be p-o’ed.

But it’s one of the realities of urban life. Parking one’s car is always a problem. If you want to have a guarantee of a private spot, then you have to pay for it.

Either that, or go move to a suburban area, or some part of the country where snowfall just isn’t much of an issue. My guess is that if you go out there, you’ll find out just how preferable your life situation is better off here, and your complaints about winter-time parking will come off as downright petty.

BUT THERE ARE those people who want to view it as some sort of inherent right, somewhere along their ability to own a firearm, to have a personal parking spot and stake a claim to it. Almost as though they think they’re 19^th Century prospectors panning for gold in isolated spots.

So I have no doubt that McCarthy’s comments, no matter how trivial they truly are, will instigate some people to vote against him, Heck, I’ve already seen one anonymous commenter label McCarthy a “communist.”

Which I’m sure would grossly offend Sen. Joe of Wisconsin, as though his name were being taken in vain.

But the fact that some voters will make their Feb. 26 decision based off of the early Monday snowfall is the fact that actually grossly offends me – quite possibly more than those who think they have the right to vandalize a car that dared to park in a spot they think is theirs!

  -30-

Chicago mayoral pack to whittle its way down to more manageable pack

The days of having 30 to 40 people claiming they’re candidates for the post of Mayor of the city of Chicago are soon to be through.

Chicago's next mayor will be, … who knows?

Next Monday is the deadline for candidates for the Feb. 26 municipal elections to file their nominating petitions to even get on the ballot, and we’re going to learn how many of those people were politically incompetent enough that they couldn’t get the 12,500 signatures of support needed to qualify.

WE’RE GOING TO see how many of the so-called candidates of earlier this year will not even be a factor in the final discussion over who should replace Rahm Emanuel in the mayor’s office.

If anything, I gained some respect earlier this week when I learned that Troy LaRaviere, head of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, was giving up his campaign before it even began.

He was honest enough to admit he couldn’t get a sufficient number of signatures of support, thereby making any effort to run for mayor an exercise in futility.

Of course, he’ll probably be remembered in this election cycle as the guy whose farewell to the campaign season was to take a pot shot at entertainer Kanye West – who apparently reached out early on to the LaRaviere camp with thoughts of publicly supporting him.

LaRAVIERE: First to see jolt of reality

WEST, OF COURSE, is one of several entertainers who are now backing the mayoral dreams of Amara Enyia, an experienced public policy professional who has never actually run for office herself.

LaRaviere let it be known he couldn’t accept West’s support because the man’s too friendly with President Donald Trump (remember that goofy Oval Office meeting between the two of a few weeks ago?).

The trick of anticipating the upcoming week is to figure out how many of the mayoral dreamers will come to their senses before the Nov. 26 deadline. Of course, people with political aspirations usually are delusional enough to think so highly of themselves they can’t see their own flaws.

So we may get a lot of them fighting for a ballot space, just so they can take 1 percent or so of the vote come the end of February.

FIORETTI: Latest with mayoral dreams

TAKE ROBERT FIORETTI – the one-time outspoken alderman who has since run for mayor and Cook County Board president. He let it be known this week he’s getting into the mayoral mix again.

I understand that having a political post is more interesting for a legal-minded person than having a mere law practice. Yet Fioretti comes across these days as somebody who runs for office because he needs a job! Not necessarily because he has ideas beneficial to our society at-large.

So Fioretti is working these days, as are other candidates, in gathering the necessary petition signatures to qualify. By Fioretti’s admission, he’s trying to gain some 30,000 signatures, because he knows the political powers-that-be are capable of having their people come up with ways to disqualify signatures so as to void them out.

Time for a new 'Mayor' Daley, … 

It may even turn out that some of those who do file their petitions next week will be unable to actually appear on the ballot.

PERSONALLY, I’M GOING to find it interesting how many of the candidates who have been talking up the mayor’s race for months on end will be amongst those who qualify. Will Rahm Emanuel turn out to be correct when he said upon his own announcement he would not seek re-election that Chicago’s next mayor wasn’t even in the race yet?

Implying that people like former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas were kidding themselves, and that the rest of the dozens of mayoral dreamers were truly delusional.

… or is Chicago ready for Mendoza's youth

Will this really become a campaign dominated by the big-time political names of Daley (as in William), Chico (as in Gery) and Preckwinkle (as in Toni)? With the real question becoming whether the kid (as in 46-year-old Susana Mendoza) can do enough to get herself taken seriously. Or whether Willie Wilson attracts any political support outside of a few select political precincts on the South and West sides?

There’s a lot of uncertainty be settled between now and April 2 – the date of the run-off election likely to be needed. I wonder if the only certainty now is the appropriateness of the election so close to April Fool’s Day. We may wind up feeling like the election results are a practical joke on all of us.

  -30-

EXTRA: Emanuel not a lingering loser; he’ll remain a part of political scene

There are those people who are going to be determined to spin things in ways that say that Rahm Emanuel fled politics because he could see he was destined for a butt-whuppin’ – that he saw he’d wind up losing any bid for re-election.

EMANUEL: Will remain in spirit, no matter who wins

Yet anybody who looks at the situation objectively can see Emanuel had his backers, and may have won despite all the hostile rhetoric he’ll face in coming months from segments of Chicago society.

ALL ONE HAS to do is look at the finances that would have been available to him and to the people who were inclined to challenge him.

Rahm would have been capable of out-spending anybody who dared challenge him come the Feb. 26 elections (with a possible run-off April 2). Even now that he’s out of the race for mayor, he’s going to be spreading his influence around.

It’s likely that our city government will continue to have large segments of people who will owe their presence in politics to Rahm Emanuel, and who will be inclined to pursue the same kinds of ideals that Rahm would have pushed for if he were still mayor.

That’s a thought people ought to keep in mind if they’re the types of individuals who seriously want to believe they’ve dethroned the tyrant by getting Emanuel last month to announce he’s not seeking a third term in office at City Hall.

TAKE THE REPORT by the Chicago Tribune, which indicated the financial support Emanuel is giving to just over one-third of the City Council – members whom he believes were supportive of him on politically-sensitive issues.

The newspaper reported how 20 of the 50 aldermen were invited to a breakfast meeting at a restaurant within walking distance of City Hall. In addition to a morning meal where Rahm picked up the check, he also handed out checks to individual aldermen.

Roughly some $20,000 apiece, made out to their individual campaign funds, so as to help them financially with getting themselves re-elected.

As the Tribune pointed out, the money totaled some $500,000 – money that would have been part of his campaign fund IF he were still seeking re-election as mayor.

INSTEAD, HE’S ENSURING that the powers-that-be won’t be able to forget that Rahm Emanuel ever existed. Just because he won’t be working out of the suite of offices on the Fifth Floor of City Hall won’t mean people inclined to support him will be gone.

Now Emanuel is going about making statements about how the bulk of the money he had raised for a re-election bid will be returned to the entities that donated it to him.

But if he was able to cough up about a half-million dollars in checks for personal donations, it makes one wonder just how much he could have had to spend on himself.

As reported earlier this year, Emanuel had one day back in April where he received $1.7 million in contributions, and at that point in time had some $5.7 million available for use during the upcoming election cycle.

BY COMPARISON, THE mayoral hopeful with the most money now is William Daley – who this week received donations putting him just over the $1 million total. Just behind him is Garry McCarthy, the one-time Chicago Police superintendent, whom the Chicago Sun-Times reported has about $830,000 and will soon be over $1 million himself.

Financially, Emanuel could have buried either of them. When combined with the fact that there are going to be so many mayoral dreamers going about, it’s possible that Rahm could have taken advantage of that partisan split and prevailed politically.

So whomever does manage to prevail in becoming Chicago’s new mayor had best understand there are going to be elements of the ‘old way’ remaining at City Hall.

Anybody who thinks they’ve “overthrown” Rahm may well find themselves frustrated beyond belief in finding themselves incapable of getting anything done, what with all the people in place who owe their allegiance to Emanuel.

  -30-

How quirky can partisan politics be? Consider possible outcome for Toni P.

It was just a year ago that political speculation was wondering about how Toni Preckwinkle, the one-time alderman from Hyde Park and two-term Cook County Board president, was finished.

PRECKWINKLE: Changing from county to city seal?

The voters, these speculators claimed, were going to cash Preckwinkle out on her behind – all because she had the nerve to try to stabilize Cook County government finances with that pop tax of a penny per ounce that offended so many people who they felt compelled to purchase their carbonated beverages.

WHAT WOUND UP happening was that Preckwinkle won the primary to run for a third term with ease – largely because the opponent she had was Robert Fioretti, a former alderman of no particular skill who couldn’t give voters a reason to pick him instead of her.

That means she’s up for re-election come Nov. 6. Yet Preckwinkle won’t be focusing much attention on being in charge of Cook County government much longer.

For it seems that Preckwinkle plans to make a formal announcement – the creation of an exploratory committee. As in she’s going to study whether the voters of Chicago would love her so much that they’d take seriously her bid to become mayor.

Could Fioretti again challenge Preckwinkle?

Yes, I write that with a touch of sarcasm. Because creating such a committee usually is evidence that the candidate, in her own mind, wants to run for the higher office.

“MAYOR TONI PRECKWINKLE” is a concept that I’m sure will grossly offend certain people – the ones who really wanted her to go down to political defeat on account of the pop tax that boosted the overall cost of a bottle of Coke (or whatever other flavor one chose to drink) by about 21 cents.

Instead, she’s got the potential to become the city’s (and arguably, the state’s) most important government official. Because hardly anybody thinks the governor is more important than “da Mare,” no matter who occupies either office.

With Rahm Emanuel making it clear he no longer plans to seek re-election to a third term for himself, it creates an opening. One that none of the dozen or so people who for months have tossed about their names amidst the political speculation have been able to fill.

Could Toni P. make McCarthy dreams fizzle?

Which could well lead to people like Preckwinkle, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., and soon to be retired Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., getting into the mayoral campaign.

ALL HAVE SAID in recent days they are considering getting into the campaign mix (although soon-to-be former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has specifically said she’s NOT thinking of running for mayor).

I guess the idea of a McCarthy/Vallas campaign for City Hall come 2019 just doesn’t sway anyone into being interested.

It will be interesting to see how quickly a new political presence can get themselves into the electoral mix. Particularly since there are some candidates who already are in the process of gathering the nominating petition signatures that would get their names on the ballot for the February election (which could lead to an April run-off if no one takes a clear-cut majority).

One thing that political people always get wary of is trying to do a rush job in piecing together those petition signatures. Because, all too often, the lack of time causes short-cuts to be taken that result in flawed petitions – which can get candidates kicked off the ballot even before Election Day.

SO AS FOR Preckwinkle, she could have the potential to bring an organized candidate to the Election Day mix. She could make the upcoming election cycle intriguing.

GUTIERREZ: Also may add to mix?R

Particularly if it means she has to address the issues that her critics wished they could have used against her in this year’s election cycle. Which they couldn’t because not only did she have a token Democratic opponent, the Republicans couldn’t even put up that much of a challenge.

Toni for Mayor? I’ve already heard the speculation about how Chicago could be one of nine cities in upcoming elections that choose to put African-American women in charge of their municipal government. A first – although one that I’m sure will grossly offend those kind of people who believe in this Age of Trump we’re now in.

Will they be the ones screaming “Pop Tax!!!” the loudest? While also screeching in the future about how much “Crook County” isn’t meeting its financial obligations due to a shortage of funds.

  -30-

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 try to make bigger political hash of weekend incidents of violence?

One might try arguing that the protest march of last week to Wrigley Field was an over-blown event that didn’t live up to its hype. But then, we get weekends such as this past one that help underscore the serious problem that exists in parts of Chicago.

EMANUEL: Is it all his fault?

For this past weekend was one of many petty incidents that left people dead (12 in all) or wounded (71 gunshot victims). There was one six-hour period on Sunday when five of the fatalities occurred and 30 more were shot.

THE OVERALL TOTAL for the period from 5 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday is the 71 people shot – with 48 of those shootings occurring on Sunday. The so-called day of holiness, when we’re all supposed to rest (unless you’re Jewish, in which case it’s Saturday until sundown).

I’ve noticed that in recent stories, the emphasis is placed on the number of people who got shot – even though when I was a police reporter-type person, I usually focused on the number dead.

Which back then (the late 1980s) was an era when the homicide tally in Chicago usually came close to 1,000 per year. Trying to tally every person who got wounded would balloon the figure up to a ridiculous tally.

Although I suspect that’s what the people trying to use this issue for political purposes want to do. They probably want us to hear the number of people wounded, then make the assumption that it’s really the number dead. Former New York Mayor (and current Donald Trump apologist) Rudy Giuliani did just that in a series of Twitter tweets he sent out this weekend.

McCARTHY: Trying to bolster his campaign?

WHICH IF THEY were true would make this city a ridiculously violent place – instead of one that doesn’t even come close to leading the nation in a homicide rate.

Not that I’m trying to understate the problem. We do have parts of Chicago that are ridiculously violent, and the people whom life’s circumstances give them no other choice but to live in those neighborhoods, are enduring ridiculous conditions that no one ought to have to put up with.

But listening to the political people trying to use these figures to justify their own partisan rants strikes me as being even more vulgar than the fatalities themselves.

Garry McCarthy, the one-time Chicago Police superintendent who now is amongst the many running for mayor against Rahm Emanuel come next year’s election cycle, took his own pot shots.

GIULIANI: Bringing N.Y. to Chi?

HE CLAIMS EMANUEL’S efforts to improve urban life are ignoring the parts of the city where violence is the problem. Although I can’t help but think no one is going to take seriously this claim coming from McCarthy.

It may be true that those Black Lives Matter activists concerned about police brutality want Emanuel out! But those same activists also blame McCarthy’s police department for escalating their concerns. They’re certainly not about to want him to replace Rahm at City Hall.

McCarthy’s rants come off as trying to shift blame for a problem that escalated during the time he was police superintendent.

The fact that Giuliani (who was New York mayor back in the days when McCarthy was a New York Police Department official) is throwing in his own two cents merely makes the whole issue entirely partisan.

IT MAKES US wonder why Trump himself didn’t jump into the rants, since the man usually isn’t the least bit bashful about using his Twitter account to spew whatever nonsense happens to motivate him on any given day.

TRUMP: How long until he jumps into mix?

It also has us wondering how much any of these officials are really concerned about urban violence in Chicago.

Are they, on a certain level, thankful for weekends such as this past one; because it gives them something to complain about publicly with regards to Chicago? For McCarthy told the Chicago Sun-Times that he accused Emanuel of “mak(ing) everything a diversion” to avoid talking about crime. Listening to such rants makes me wonder if he’s just as guilty of diversionary tactics to focus entirely on this issue.

Although the sad part may be that, to a certain segment of Chicago, the most tragic death of the weekend is none of the above -- but instead that of the suburban Mundelein teenager who died Sunday night due to a seizure suffered while attending Lollapalooza.

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