Does this weekend -- filled w/ events that have seen better days -- matter?

Perhaps it’s all too appropriate that the Taste of Chicago and the Crosstown Classic (the silly pseudo-title given to the times of year when the Chicago White Sox take on the Chicago Cubs) are both taking place this weekend.

Will this be accurate again soon?

I didn’t feel the need to make it out to either event in person because they both seem like they have experienced better days. Even though they would have been distractions from the political nonsense that has taken up too much of our attention in recent weeks.

AS FOR THE Taste of Chicago, the event was interesting enough that I had a cousin who felt compelled to go; in large part because it was a chance to see and hear Erykah Badu perform live.

Then again, she is from San Antonio, Texas, and was in town for the week as a tourist. Which means she was probably in similar company.

The Taste of Chicago just doesn’t seem the same as its glory days of the 1980s into the early 1990s when major restaurants all used their political clout to be included and it was a part of the way Chicago celebrated Independence Day.

Now, it’s just a shell – only five days, and scaled back to the point where I suspect there are suburban festivals that come across as more interesting. Maybe even the Air Show in Gary, Ind., that may wind up costing the city government more money than it brings in?

THEN, THERE’S THE head-to-head competition between Chicago’s two major league ball clubs – the mediocre Cubs vs. the grossly underachieving White Sox.

Not exactly the matchup that’s going to inspire anyone to care – except for the fact that it provokes the standard South Side vs. North Side rivalry that exists in just about every aspect of Chicago’s nature.

Now I don’t know if I agree with one-time Chicago Tribune sports columnist Bernie Lincicome, who wrote a commentary for Friday implying that the match-up is lame and never mattered worth squat. Even though I’ll agree that interleague play feels like a distraction from the regular season games that matter!

BADU: The weekend's highlight?

I’d agree to the degree that being able to say you’ve beaten up on the Cubs isn’t any great achievement – every other ball club does the exact same thing. Why should this series be any different?

BUT THE FACT that neither of these teams is in any serious contention makes the matchup seem all the more cheap. It would be sad if the White Sox wind up saying that their Friday 1-0 victory was the season’s highlight. (A hit batsman, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly provided the lone run – Wee Willie Keeler would have been proud).

I didn’t even feel compelled to watch much of Friday’s White Sox victory on television. I actually caught a portion of a rerun where Buffy beat up on some ridiculous demon once again, before changing the channel to WGN where I caught the end of the White Sox’ broadcast.

The Cubs’ broadcast, by comparison, was relegated to Comcast Sports Network. Now I realize times have changed and the W-G-N call letters are no longer synonymous with baby blue baseball, but it still feels like a flawed juxtaposition.

I may not catch any of the other games. I have family obligations (my other relatives beckon on Saturday) that may keep me away from a television.

BESIDES, WHAT COULD have been the key baseball story of the series won’t happen. White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija last pitched on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays (winning 2-0). The former Chicago Cub from Valparaiso, Ind., won’t go against his former ball club.

That would have been interesting, because I wonder if the Cubs who fantasize that they still have a shot at a playoff spot this season ought to try to acquire Samardzija from the White Sox, who may wind up unloading ballplayers in hopes of saving money and picking up potential prospects for the future.
 

Will Chris Sale be the star of Tuesday's game?

It would be hilarious if Samardzija (who was supposed to bolster White Sox pitching for their ’15 pennant chances) wound up accomplishing the same thing for the Cubs instead.

Besides, the real meaning of this series is that we’re at the unofficial mid-point of the baseball season – the All Star Game will be played Tuesday in Cincinnati. Maybe the second half won’t be quite as depressing.

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Illiana lingers in limbo?

Who’s to say anymore what the fate of the proposed Illiana Tollway is.

RAUNER: What's his Illiana point?!?

Gov. Bruce Rauner gave the project a kiss-off long desired by environmental activists and rural residents who resent the idea of the Chicago area growing further and further into areas once considered solidly rural.

BUT THEN, JUST a few weeks after issuing an order saying state spending for the Illiana was done, Rauner gave his approval to a bill that provides – amongst other things – $5.49 million to be used for the Illiana.

Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Rauner justifies the expense as being needed to cover any legal costs associated with killing off the Illiana. After all, you don’t just suddenly stop a project that has been ongoing for years.

Or else you wind up violating commitments that were previously made, and wind up getting sued by the entities that were counting on the project being built someday.

For all we know, this money will pay for the legal fees to defend Illinois government from those very lawsuits.

YET THE ACTIVISTS who long saw no need for a highway connecting Interstate 65 near Lowell, Ind., to Interstate 55 near Wilmington, Ill., are upset. Crain’s reported the Environmental Law & Policy Center literally wants no more spending on Illinois to mean no more spending.

Nada! Nothing!

Now some might wonder why there hasn’t been more of an outcry in recent weeks to Rauner acting to end the Illiana – which is a project that south suburban Cook County has long considered to be a priority to spur economic development.

That, and the long-proposed airport in rural Will County near Peotone. Which Rauner also gave a serious blow to a month ago.

THEN AGAIN, THE south suburbs of Chicago were a part of the state that gave its overwhelming support in last year’s election cycle to Gov. Pat Quinn. It also is a part of the state that will more than eagerly be willing to believe that it’s Rauner’s fault the state lingers in a financial mess due to the inability of officials to put a budget together for the current fiscal year.

So is it believable that Rauner wouldn’t care much what the south suburbs think about this particular issue – or any other? Of course.

The routes that may be resurrected as a political power play

But the rumor mill also has speculation that this is a power play – keeping the Illiana alive in some form so that it can be resurrected in full. IF local officials learn to play ball.

Could it wind up being that those African-American legislators from the south suburbs (the dominant group amongst the local population for the past two decades) defect from the Madigan bloc on this issue?

COULD THEY WIND up supporting at least some of the ideological measures Rauner is touting to benefit his business buddies – in return for the Illiana project coming back to life?

Anything is possible. I have no doubt that those officials, who always talk about Illiana and a new airport in terms of job creation rather than any transportation benefits they would provide to the Chicago metro area, could be easily swayed.

Because what Rauner needs is to create fractures within the Democratic caucuses of the Illinois House and state Senate, which otherwise have such large Democratic-leaning composition that Dems will override any effort by Rauner to use his veto power. I’m sure for the long run, he’s focusing on getting more Republican members come the 2016 election cycle so he won’t have to make any political concessions.

But for now, Rauner wants political relevance – which only the Chicago Tribune seems to want to think he has. In which case, Illiana still serves a purpose.

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It’s no wonder Rauner and Madigan don’t play nice. Pols don’t like each other even when they’re alleged allies

I still remember a former television reporter at the Statehouse in Springfield who quit the news business for a time to become a government spokeswoman.

Sheriff Dart doesn't really speak to the mayor ...

Because she took me out for lunch one time, and then proceeded to tell me about her biggest shock in the new job – her boss didn’t really like being around all the Republican government officials who theoretically were allies.

... nor the police superintendent

AND THOSE OFFICIALS really didn’t like having her boss around. These government people whom some of us thought of as being in some sort of ideological conspiracy with each other actually barely tolerated each other.

It’s probably naïve of us to think these people like each other.

So it probably shouldn’t have been any surprise that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart gave an interview to Crain’s Chicago Business recently where he said he and Mayor Rahm Emanuel “probably haven’t spoken for four years.”

EMANUEL: Who does mayor talk to?

Also, it seems that Dart doesn’t have much of a relationship with Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Instead, district commanders for the Chicago police usually meet with their equivalents with the Cook County sheriff’s police.

THAT’S THE DEGREE to which there is cooperation within the two top law enforcement entities that serve and protect (sort of) the state’s largest (by far) county.

QUINN: How long did he not speak to gov?

The Chicago Sun-Times went so far as to publish an editorial blasting the two officials, claiming they’re letting personal differences interfere with performing their sworn duty.

How sweet! They probably also believe in unicorns.

It is a shame that the leadership lets itself get thwarted by such political concerns. Then again, it’s not surprising in the least.

BLAGOJEVICH: Did he have any allies?

LET’S NOT FORGET that Dart is an ambitious sort who back in the 2011 election cycle gave serious thought to running for mayor himself. He ultimately backed off and settled for the sheriff’s post – citing the fact that he and his wife had so many young children (five) who needed their attention.

But it wouldn’t be surprising if Dart has some thoughts of running for mayor in the future – particularly if/when the day arrives that Emanuel decides to step down from being the “Man on Five.”

I suspect Dart doesn’t want to do anything that might make Emanuel look good and prolong his time in the fifth floor City Hall office to a point where Dart would be too old to be a credible candidate for mayor.

More importantly, he probably doesn’t want to get himself tied to Emanuel or McCarthy (who is, after all, a mayoral appointment) so closely that when the day comes Rahm steps down, Dart gets tagged with all of the current mayor’s misfortunes.

Do the governor and speaker have ...

IT MAY BE petty, but it is real. It also is not unique.

Let’s not forget the days when Rod Blagojevich was governor and, in the midst of all the turmoil, it came out that it had been years since then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn had been able to speak directly to the governor.

I remember even Howard Stern (whose attention span usually doesn’t go beyond lesbian sex) feeling compelled to mock Quinn for being unable to pick up a telephone and give his governor a call.

... the most honest political relationship?

Of course, that may have been more of an example of how Blagojevich didn’t trust anybody else – not even the guy who was supposed to be his running mate. Even though if we’re honest, Quinn was the guy whom circumstances forced upon him – there was no reason to think the two ever thought very highly of each other.

BUT THAT SHOULD have been the odd exception. Instead, it’s the rule. Which may make the relationship between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, the real exception.

The two men don’t even put up pretenses of trying to work together, openly showing us how they’re more interested in their own political power grabs than the good of the people.

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Putting pressure on the pols to resolve Illinois state budget (or lack thereof)

Let’s hear it for Cook County Circuit Judge Diane Joan Larsen, who on Tuesday took action that puts pressure on the political people who currently are finding ways to avoid getting serious about putting a budget together for the state’s fiscal year.

Will anything significant happen here Wednesday?

Larsen issued the ruling that is the worst nightmare to Gov. Bruce Rauner – who had hoped he could continue to make the state payroll even though there is no budget in place.

WHICH IS SOMETHING the Illinois Constitution requires before any government expenses can be paid. It is a logical requirement – spending government money without a plan would be irresponsible.

Larsen ruled that the state payroll can’t be made come July 15, or any other time, until the state gets its act together and officials pass a balanced budget.

Since Rauner and the General Assembly’s leadership aren’t in any mood to get serious (they’re more interested in one-upping each other), there won’t be a budget in place by next week.

So state workers are likely to miss a paycheck (or a few if this political fight lingers on).

IT BECOMES LIKELY they’re going to blame the new guy for stirring things up with his desires for anti-labor and other ideological measures. Even though Rauner desperately wants everybody to believe that it’s the fault of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who has taken on the role of leader of the legislative fight against the governor’s ideological battles.
 

Couldn't we just put gov and speaker ...

It’s just a matter of time before Rauner or his allies start taking pot shots (they may be already) at Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose staff argued before Larsen that the state payroll can’t be made.

It will be Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger who will lead the political rhetoric – although there will be others who will spew claims of “Daddy’s girl” against the attorney general. Her office will file the appeal in court, although the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has its own legal action planned to try to keep workers getting paid.

The rhetoric is going to get ugly, and I’ll be the first to admit sympathy for those state employees who are showing up for work these days without knowing if they’re going to be paid on time.
 

... in a boxing ring to slug it out?

IF EVERY JOB has a perk to make it worthwhile, there also are drawbacks. And one of those for state workers is that there is always the risk of the payroll getting entangled in partisan politics. It has happened in the past.

What makes this year’s situation seem so pathetic is that it seems that Rauner was too eager to bring it on.

So what happens now?

The Illinois House of Representatives is scheduled to convene on Wednesday, which means the high and mighty speaker of the House will have his opportunity to make a statement of sorts that denounces the governor for not getting serious about putting together a budget that fulfills all of Illinois government’s obligations for the upcoming year.

WHICH MEANS MORE rhetoric with little action. Although even if the Illinois House were to pass something on Wednesday resembling a budget, there’s still the fact that the state Senate won’t convene until next week.
 

MADIGAN: A win for father also benefits state?

Nothing can happen until at least then. Which makes it highly unlikely that anything will happen before the July 15 payday that is the newest “drop dead’ date in this political fight.

Yes, I’m being critical of the governor for prolonging this issue – instead of realizing that his political fight to pass his ideological fantasies is over for this year and that he ought to focus his attention on how to resume the battle come next spring.

If he were serious, he’d realize that is the best tactic to get a political win for the long-term. Instead of threatening the state payroll and angering his employees to the point where they’ll actively work against him to make sure he never achieves his desires.

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EXTRA: Suburban gun runners?!?

It seems the Rev. Michael Pfleger has come up with a new tactic, both to get his name in the public eye and to try to go after gun shops that for decades have managed to frustrate himself and others who are concerned about the number of firearms that are currently spread out amongst the public in Chicago.

He’s suing the suburban villages where he often has protested in the past, contending those municipalities are lax in their enforcement of firearms-related laws.

AS A REPORTER-type person, I have covered protests held in the past by Pfleger and the Rev. Jesse Jackson outside of Chuck’s Gun Shop in suburban Riverdale. Their objections to that shop are long-running – they believe the store’s owners let just about anybody buy a firearm.

Even if the few existing laws concerning firearms ownership would ban those individuals from having pistols of any type.

Because I have covered these protests, I also know the ownership of Chuck’s says it is in compliance. The letter of the law is being followed, they say. They’re probably telling the truth!

Which means the laws themselves are lax. In need of revision. Except that the NRA-types who want to believe that firearm ownership is a God-given right will go out of their way to intimidate political people from doing any serious revisions.

WHAT MAKES THIS particular store so unique is its location. Riverdale is right on the southernmost border of Chicago, not far from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex.

The store itself is about five blocks from the city limits. There likely are firearms originally purchased there that eventually wind up in the hands of Chicago residents who aren’t supposed to have them.

I suspect similar conditions exist for Midwest Sporting Goods in suburban Lyons and for Shore Galleries in suburban Lincolnwood.

So that led to the lawsuit filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court. Not against the gun shops or their owners. But against the municipalities themselves.

PFLEGER AND HIS allies on this issue want a judge to issue an order requiring the local governments to be more aggressive in policing those local businesses – even though in the past, local officials have said they’re doing everything the law requires of them.

WBBM-TV reported Tuesday that the lawsuit seeks to have the local governments require background checks of gun shop employees, more training for employees to prevent sales to people who intend to sell them to others who can’t make the buy themselves, keeping lists of those who are not allowed to buy firearms and also of all firearms they sell that later turn up as being used in the commission of a crime.

That’s a lot of work. I’m sure the store owners, when they eventually get around to responding, will claim it’s an undue burden being placed upon themselves.

Then again, there is the nature of the product that they’re selling. One that can be too easily misused to cause bodily harm to others in our society.

IT WILL BE interesting to see if the courts accept this line of logic. Even if a local judge does, how quickly will it wind up getting appealed to a court located outside of the city where the perception might be that someone will want to believe that some hunter seeking to shoot elk or deer or whatever is being denied his chance because of such restrictions?

This could wind up as a long-running battle – one that I wonder if it will outlast even Pfleger’s time on this planet.

There are certain issues that it seems will perpetually linger on; we’re never going to come to a resolution. Particularly since there are those in our society who believe that the solution to public violence is to require everyone to be armed.

Which is something the gun shops would probably like – more business for them and a boost to their financial bottom line.

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Will women’s pro soccer gain much in way of benefits from World Cup win?

The part of the world that cares much about professional soccer in this country will actually be paying attention to the Chicago Red Stars, if indirectly.

Chicago's new fabulous femme athlete?

For Chicago’s club in the National Women’s Soccer League has four of its players who were part of the team that represented the United States in the Women’s World Cup tourney this year.

OF COURSE, THE next time the team takes to the pitch, there will be even greater attention. Because they’re scheduled on Sunday to play the Houston Dash – the team for which Carli Lloyd plays for.

I’m sure the Red Stars are miffed that this particular match is being played in Houston. There’s no chance of a record-setting crowd for the Red Stars consisting of people who are curious to see what all the fuss is about.

The Dash won’t make their lone Chicago appearance for this season until Sept. 6 – their final regular-season match of the year. By which time, it’s likely that the public attention (some 26.7 million U.S. viewers Sunday on television, including the Spanish-language broadcasts) has passed, and the “Lloyd” name won’t be considered as big a deal.

Although it’s possible that every team in the women’s league will gain a bit of a plus. We’re likely for each team to go out of its way to let us know which of the U.S. team members are actually a part of their own ball clubs.

THE RED STARS (a reference to the Chicago city flag) were quick to put out a statement (picked up on by the Associated Press) letting us know of Shannon Boxx, Julie Johnston, Lori Chalupny and Christen Press.

The same Press who gained her own bit of fame in recent weeks from those Coppertone television ads where she “shows off” by heading a beach ball into the pool.

She may well become the glamour girl, of sorts, of the Chicago sports scene. Unless someone from the Chicago Sky (women’s professional basketball) manages to do something to catch on.

I may come off as a bit sarcastic here. It’s just that I’m fully aware of how fleeting “fame” can be, and how quickly it will be before the Women’s World Cup and the U.S. victory will become just a footnote in the public culture eye.

Lloyd coming to Chicago Sept. 5

SO WHAT ARE the chances that much of anything will happen for the Chicago professional soccer scene as a result of Sunday night’s victory?

I’d be willing to guess that most people in Chicago don’t have a clue where the Red Stars play; even if they were interested in checking out a match or two.

While the Chicago Fire men’s professional team has rose to the point of having its own stadium – and a fairly nice structure at that – in suburban Bridgeview, the Red Stars use the athletic facilities at Benedictine University in suburban Lisle.

I’m not knocking the facilities there. But they’re worthy of a small-school athletic department, not a professional sports team that purports to represent the city of Chicago in its respective league.

WHICH THEY HOPE to move up from someday, just as the Chicago Bandits professional softball team used to play in Lisle until they eventually got better facilities in suburban Rosemont.

Although the small, suburban image will stick in the minds of fans who try to check out the league. After seeing the women’s national team win a World Cup in front of a crowd in excess of 50,000 people, will they take seriously a team that draws a couple thousand people (at best)?

To the point where they will wind up missing out on the quality of play on the pitch. Which is their loss more than anything else.

Particularly for those people who are interested in finding a diversion from the knuckleheaded budgetary activity our political people have been engaging in – and will continue to in coming weeks.

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Will we celebrate budget deal on Bastille Day? Only if we bring along guillotine to take off pols heads

We’re past the Independence Day holiday weekend. But those of us interested in figuring out when Illinois government will finally resolve its budgetary differences are focusing on a different holiday.

Also the day the Senate will try again to solve state budget

As in Bastille Day, that holiday on July 14 related to the French Revolution and the overthrow of King Louis XVI.

THERE WILL BE celebrations in Chicago (in the shadow of the Picasso at Daley Plaza – to be exact). But that day is also the date that the Illinois Senate is scheduled to convene again at the Statehouse.

Which means that legislative officials don’t foresee any reason to think that Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly will actually come to an agreement on anything they could vote for to implement a state budget for the fiscal year that began on Wednesday.

Barring a miracle, that session to be held a week from Tuesday will be nothing more than the senators meeting, formally telling each other that there’s still nothing to be done, then adjourning to go back home until a yet-to-be-determined date in the future.

Now I know some people are going to try to claim that it’s irresponsible for the legislators to hide back in their home districts and do nothing while the state lingers without a budget in place and the potential for agencies to have to shut down their activity because there’s nothing in place (except for public education) to tell them how to spend their money.

BUT IT REALLY isn’t. Because this is a dispute amongst the leadership over issues that really have nothing to do with budgeting.

RAUNER: Does he think he's Louis XVI?

I was actually pleased to see the Illinois House of Representatives last month reject an effort to implement a status quo budget that would only be in place for the month of July.

Keep government going while the officials talk seriously about the long-term budget, is their line of logic. Which is nonsense.

All that would do is encourage a sense of laziness amongst the political people – who probably are going to need to feel pressure and contempt from the public before they finally get off their derrieres and do something to resolve the situation.

MADIGAN: As revolutionary seems a stretch

AS OF NOW, I don’t have a clue when that will happen. Anybody else who says they know is seriously lying to all of us.

Because this is a partisan spat between people who are trying to assert their authority as “top dog” of the Illinois Statehouse scene.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, likes the idea of being the top guy whose intense knowledge of the workings of the legislative process makes him the guy who enables things to happen, while Rauner is the guy who thinks that having the gubernatorial title entitles him to call the shots to benefit the desires of his business-oriented buddies.

But Madigan does have that “veto proof majority” in his own chamber and in the Illinois Senate that enables him to thumb his nose at the governor

WHICH IS WHAT the two of them are doing to each other. It’s all about one-upmanship. Everything Rauner has done in recent weeks has been geared toward trying to place the blame for anything that does wrong on Madigan.

Because the reality is that the governor will be the one who gets smacked around once people lose a state payroll check or aid payment of some sort. It’s part of being the guv, which isn’t as good a post as being “king” – remember Mel Brooks as Louis XVI in “History of the World, Part 1?”

That could be all too appropriate. Since we have officials who currently are acting in a French Revolution mentality – they want to do the “Off with their head” routine to the other guy.

While the masses of Illinois get offended enough at politicians who tell us all the equivalent of "Let them eat cake" that we want to bring in the guillotine for use on everybody.

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