Emanuel remains ambitious in his final months serving in his mayoral post

I’ll say one thing for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel – he’s an ambitious S-O-B.

EMANUEL: Won't depart a failure

He’s not seeking re-election, and in fact the process of picking his replacement is now underway. People interested in mayoral politics are focused on the dozens of people with dreams of replacing Rahm.

EMANUEL IS ABOUT as “lame” a duck as one can be. Not exactly someone who’s capable of going out with a “bang,” because most people are determined to ignore anything he says or thinks.

Yet perhaps it’s just evidence of the political-style “fighter” he always was. The guy once nicknamed “Rahm-bo” isn’t going to let himself be turned irrelevant.

And he also seems determined to impose policy changes for Chicago’s betterment; although I have no doubt there will be critics of everything Emanuel suggests – particularly if they’re the type who’ve been complaining about him for the past just under eight years that Rahm served as mayor.

Just the other night, I happened to be in attendance at a suburban City Council meeting where the focus of discussion amongst those aldermen was Emanuel. Let’s just say that Rahm’s name most definitely was taken in vain.

WHAT IRRITATED THOSE suburban municipal officials? Gas prices.

For it was on Tuesday that Emanuel suggested an increase in the gasoline tax – possibly 20 to 30 cents more per gallon, to help raise money for mass transit and road improvements.

By the way, the mayor isn’t talking about having Chicago raise its gas taxes. He’s talking about having the entirety of Illinois do so.

Which makes sense, in one way. If this were merely a Chicago city gas tax hike, it would balloon the price of gasoline at Chicago-based fueling stations so high that no one would ever buy gasoline again in the city.

MAKE IT A statewide thing, and you wouldn’t have such a drastic gas price differential that motorists would find it worth their while to drive out to suburban gas stations in order to load up their tanks on the petrol that enables them to function.

But while Emanuel has some suburban municipal officials on his side, there are others grossly offended. Mainly because they know their local voters will hate the idea of anything that makes gasoline prices go higher.

Usually, the local politicos can make outlandish claims about Arab oil sheikhs enriching themselves. They certainly don’t want anybody doing anything that would make it appear as though blame should be placed locally for rising gas prices.

Particularly since it isn’t just Chicago that has municipal elections come February and April of 2019 – just about every suburb has a mayoral post up for grabs. I don’t doubt many local political people will want to see this suggested gas tax hike fail.

IT ISN’T JUST gas that gets Emanuel worked up. He followed up that idea with suggestions that marijuana be legalized (and taxed, appropriately) and a casino opened in the city. All to try to raise money to pay off a public pension debt that has risen into the billions of dollars.

Those are both issues that will stir up a stink amongst some people in good times. They’d be a test of one’s political strength.

Yet Emanuel is trying to do them at a time when he’s on his way out the door and most people would rather he just pipe down! Does Rahm have the political skill to get any of these goals accomplished? Can he overcome those people who would consider it their own political goal to see Emanuel leave office a failure?

Or perhaps we should consider one other outcome – some of these issues eventually get enacted, but not quickly enough for a “Mayor Emanuel” to be able to take credit. How many might support a Chicago casino, for example, if it means Emanuel’s mayoral successor gets to take credit?

  -30-

Sour grapes? Or just downright truthful!

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

Will people believe Wilson really a Republican?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Green fighting back against challenge ...

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

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

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

… by Hendon on Wilson's behalf

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

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

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

MENDOZA: Also fighting for political life

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

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

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

Will Daley prevail by default?

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

  -30-

“Harold, Harold” – Baines will force many to reassess their baseball thoughts

Long-time Chicago White Sox outfielder-turned-designated hitter-turned coach and now team ambassador Harold Baines is now a Hall of Fame member, and that fact is confounding the way many people view the game of baseball.

Which, more than anything, is the reason why so many seem to be so miffed that Baines will get the national pastime’s version of immortality – a bronze plaque at the Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. that will proclaim him to be a significant figure within baseball history.

WHILE TOO MANY more likely didn’t pay much mind to Baines back in the 1980s – when he was a star outfielder with the White Sox. One who managed to keep playing all the way through 2001 as he bounced around the American League as a designated hitter with the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians and two returns to the White Sox, along with three stints with the Baltimore Orioles.

Where his performance was significant enough that the Orioles themselves inducted Baines into their team's personal Hall of Fame back in 2009.

When combined with the fact that Baines had his uniform number “3” retired by the White Sox back in 1989, it seems that Harold played a significant part of baseball history – and that too many of us, for whatever reason, missed it.

But rather than admit that we might have missed out on something special, we’d rather claim it really didn’t mean a thing.

I’LL BE HONEST. I was surprised Sunday night to learn that Baines actually was chosen to be a Hall of Fame member. I knew his name was up for consideration, but I figured the baseball-types who made the decision would overlook him.

I can even comprehend why he was regarded as a long-shot for induction. His most significant statistic was 2,866 – as in the number of base hits he got during his athletic career.

It’s not far from 3,000 – which usually is regarded as an exalted figure whose achievement makes one Hall of Fame-worthy. But it still falls short, so I’m sure there are those who figure Harold Baines came close, but just wasn’t good enough.

Although back in 2014 when manager Tony LaRussa became a Hall of Famer, he actually gave Baines a plug for Cooperstown-induction by saying Harold suffered from extensive knee injuries which were the reason he had quit playing the outfield full-time.

“IF HE HAD kept his knees together, he’d have had his 3,000 hits,” said LaRussa – who apparently meant what he said because he was amongst the people who had a vote on Sunday and not only used it for Baines, he also lobbied his colleagues on Harold’s behalf.

Of course, the news reports from Sunday also indicated Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf also had a vote – causing some to claim this is merely more Chicago-style politicking and perhaps as outrageous as that 1919 White Sox team that saw eight team members indicted for criminal conspiracy to throw the World Series.

Perhaps it’s because some paid too much attention to those years where he bounced around the American League – rather than the ‘80s when he got Most Valuable Player votes every season from 1982-85 and was a top hitter for the 1983 White Sox team that was the first Chicago ballclub to ever make it to a postseason playoff spot.

Either that, or they were paying way too much attention to the Chicago Cubs – and maybe they’re miffed that Cubs star relief pitcher Lee Smith from that same era will have to share his “big day” of Hall of Fame induction with Baines.

ONE THING WILL be interesting – how much of an induction speech will Baines deliver? Since as a ballplayer, he was so low-key and quiet that part of the reason he isn’t better remembered by fans is that his ego was way under control to the point where he was easily ignored.

Although it should be noted that on Sunday when interviewed, Baines actually became choked up emotionally and had to fight back tears.

There is one thing that baseball fans will have to change – one of the stories commonly told to mock the White Sox of the Bill Veeck era was how back in 1977, they did not use their first pick in the nation for amateur ballplayers to pick a future superstar like Paul Molitor – who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Milwaukee Brewers – but instead picked a player whom Veeck had seen play as a local Little League star, which turned out to be Baines himself.

Now, people are going to have to say the White Sox used their rare opportunity to pick a franchise icon and Hall of Famer himself. Which also will explain how come July 21, the streets of Cooperstown will echo with the “Harold, Harold” chant so reminiscent of the old Comiskey Park itself.

  -30-

Will Blagojevich be one of President Trump’s holiday season clemencies?

The name “Rod Blagojevich” has been all over the place this weekend – what with the fact that Sunday was the 10^th anniversary of the day that FBI agents showed up at the governor’s Ravenswood Manor neighborhood home to arrest him.

40892-424: From days when he was gov

Thereby beginning the saga that resulted with the governor’s impeachment and removal from office, followed with his incarceration at a federal correctional center in Colorado – where he remains to this day.

THERE ARE THOSE who would prefer to forget that Rod ever existed, and would probably hope there is some way his incarceration can be extended beyond his prison term that currently has a 2024 scheduled release date.

But I couldn’t help but notice a Chicago Sun-Times story, quoting one-time Illinois first lady Patti saying she’s holding out hope that her husband will be free and back home with the family for this year’s Christmas holiday.

Which ties into that freakish statement made back by Trump earlier this year where he hinted that he’s inclined to grant some form of presidential clemency on Blagojevich’s behalf.

Remember how much of a stink that stirred up? It was seen as more evidence of how unfit Trump was to be president that he would think Blagojevich was worthy of any form of early release from prison.

ADMITTEDLY, WHEN TRUMP made the statement, he had just done a few other clemencies and pardons – and the feeling then was that Blagojevich could be released from prison any day now.

That part didn’t come true. Blagojevich remains in the suburbs of Denver incarcerated. No one has said or done anything to indicate that activity on Blagojevich’s part is imminent.

At least not publicly. Patti Blagojevich claims she’s heard some things privately. But those could be vague tidbits that her wishful thinking is exaggerating into word of his imminent release.

TRUMP: Is he preparing a pardon?

My gut feeling? Back then, it was that Trump was making outlandish statements related to Blagojevich because he sensed it would “tick off” the Chicago political establishment that dumped all over the former governor and was glad to see him pushed out of the way.

WHY SHOULD ANYTHING have changed?

It may well be that Trump is waiting for a moment when he needs to distract attention from himself and his own activities – something so bad that he needs everybody to “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” and think about someone else, instead.

Someone such as Blagojevich, whose actions are going to forevermore be pondered by our political establishment as to just how venal they truly were.

Did he really try to solicit bribes in exchange for political appointments? Was it all just the realities of politicking – extended to a higher level? Or was it just the usual petty political poop; performed by a man who had managed to alienate those who should have been his political allies.

WHICH IS WHY they were more than willing to see him carted off to prison!

All of that is now a decade in our past, although some of us are determined to want to see eternal punishment. I’m not kidding when I say there will be those who will get all upset some six years from now when Blagojevich’s prison term expires. They’ll want to see it extended for whatever excuse possible. Some people are just overly bitter.

BLAGOJEVICH: Wants her husband for Christmas

Patti Blagojevich may well be the only person who cares personally about her husband’s fate. If she led a larger group capable of offering support to Trump to guide him through all the upcoming calamities he’s going to endure, he probably would rush to grant clemency.

But she’s only one. The idea of messing with the minds of Chicago by granting clemency may turn out to be not worth the hassle Trump would get from taking such actions.

  -30-

Celebrating Chicago baseball, '80s-style

The Baseball Hall of Fame will take in at least two new members come 2019 -- and it seems the inaugural day in Cooperstown, N.Y., will wind up as a tribute to the baseball played at Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field back in the 1980s.

Harold Baines, the outfielder-turned-designated hitter, and the relief pitcher, Lee Smith, are now amongst the baseball "immortals" whose memories will be preserved in bronze.

BAINES LIKELY WILL have a plaque depicting him as a Chicago White Sox player, for whom he played three stints between 1980 and 2001 while Smith says he wants to be depicted as a Chicago Cub -- for whom he began his career that lasted 18 seasons and saw him pitch for eight different teams.

We'll be able to remember the 1983 White Sox, for whom Baines was a star hitter and right fielder, and the 1984 Cubs, for whom Smith established that he was a top-level relief pitcher.

Those two teams both won division titles and made it to the playoffs. Although the names Jerry Dybzinski and Leon Durham will remind the hard-core of Chicago baseball fandom of why those two teams didn't make World Series appearances -- and why we had to wait until 2005 and 2016 for World Series victories.

I can already hear the complaints of some crackpots who will claim neither Baines nor Smith are worthy of Hall of Fame recognition. But I suspect those people would have been peeved no matter who got chosen. Just think how p-o'ed they'd be if the announcement had been long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner (who also once had a stint as a Chicago Bulls minority owner) been inducted into Cooperstown.

  -30-

EXTRA: It's Christmas? in Chicago

Just a few notes about a Saturday sojourn into the heart of Chicago to try to capture a bit of the Christmas holiday flavor -- as it still exists in the 21st Century.

At least this window had a Chicago theme. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

I couldn't help but feel saddened by one teenage girl whom I happened to overhear as she and her friends were checking out the holiday windows of the one-time Marshall Field's department stores.

AS SHE WALKED along State Street, disappointment was what she felt. "There's no story here," she exclaimed, in a loud-enough voice that I'm sure much of the crowd gathered along the one-time Great Street could hear.

Digital technology on display at Macy's, if little originality

For sure enough, some of the windows were decorated in individual scenes. But there was no continued theme connecting all the windows together. There was no holiday story being told. The overall theme couldn't help but come across as holiday lame for those of us old enough to remember the Marshall Field's holiday windows of old.

Bring back Field's!!!

Not that she was alone. I also couldn't help but notice the guy along State Street in front of Macy's with his picket signs demanding the return of Field's, whose memory continues to live on in the form of the old brass signs and the clock on the corner.

Those details are considered part of the building's historic character, and Macy's couldn't dump them no matter how much they'd want to.

I'M STILL TRYING to figure out what the best bit of street life I saw on Saturday was.

A literal street 'artist'

The group of "drummers" (actually playing overturned buckets) gathered along State Street? Or was it the guy near the one-time Carson, Pirie, Scott (now Target) who was literally creating street art -- as in he was drawing pictures for hire, while sitting on the street corner.

Rhythm? Or clamor?

One could watch him create his so-called masterpieces-to-order.

Vote for Willie!

I also couldn't escape politics. For one wreath-covered lamp-post also managed to slip in a little Election Day related message. Vote for Willie Wilson! As opposed to any of the 20 other political geeks who have dreams of filling the seat once held by Richard J. Daley. Will this be the biggest, most prominent, Wilson campaign display we'll see between now and Feb. 26? Or will this campaign season fit in perfectly with the Macy's generic version of Christmas?

The modern Macy's in Chicago

What's left of Field's

  -30-

How fancy is too fancy for a hot dog?

I couldn’t help but be amused to learn of a new study that proclaims Portillo’s, the Chicago-area-based joint specializing in hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches, to be the nation’s favorite restaurant.

Would this 'stand' have been worthy of honor?

As in TripAdviser, a website catering to tourists who wouldn’t have a clue where to go outside of their home communities, said the chain of Portillo’s restaurants are the best in the country when it comes to Fast Casual – as in food nice enough to be more than fast food, but not so elite you have to get all dressed up in order to eat there.

IT SEEMS SOMEBODY is trying to push the idea that Portillo’s is the ultimate experience in hot dogs, and that one has to have their take on a sausage dragged through the garden before they can truly know what the Chicago hot dog experience is.

This amuses me because I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find that just about everybody with any experience in consuming a “Chicago-style” hot dog could rattle off a whole slew of places that they would prefer, rather than making the trip to whatever Portillo’s franchise happens to be closest to their particular neighborhood or suburb.

While there’s nothing wrong with Portillo’s, I just think there are many other places that are better.

Particularly when one considers the cost of a Portillo’s dog ($2.65 each, fries and drink extra). It ain’t cheap. In fact, I definitely feel like we’re being asked to pay premium prices for the Portillo’s décor – which is meant to display various memorabilia with a Chicago atmosphere.

IT’S ALMOST LIKE we’re visiting a Chicago-inspired theme park. Whereas I’d argue that a true Chicago experience would include a visit to an actual neighborhood hot dog stand – which likely would be so tiny that these tourism-based websites would never find it.

Not that it would be a bad thing. If anything, it’s the obscure neighborhood joints that offer up the best experiences, and the larger places somehow manage to lose something in the process of business growth.

It makes me wonder if Portillo’s itself, which originated in suburban Villa Park and displays a photograph of the original “dog house” motif hot dog stand in every one of their stores, may have actually deserved the accolades way back when.

Proclaims Portillo's the best 'fast casual' restaurant

Now, it’s just a generic chain restaurant. And a highly-priced one, at that.

I STILL RECALL the last time I went to a Portillo’s. I had the barbecue ribs meal – and paid close to $25 for it. Not exactly eating on a budget.

As for a hot dog, I don’t feel compelled to seek out my local Portillo’s joint whenever I feel the need for one. Because for me, the whole concept of a hot dog and fries is that it’s supposed to be a cheap meal.

A couple of “dogs,” fries and a coke for about $5 sounds about right (I'm sure people of my parents' generation could remember a time when the cost would have been closer to $1) – with the understanding that eating too many meals like that isn’t doing my overall health any benefits.

Anyway, my own personal favorite of hog dog stands is actually the Boz’ Hot Dogs scattered throughout the southern end of Chicago metro. I particularly like the way they use cucumber slices, rather than pickle spears – a personal quirk that some may not enjoy as much as I do.

I’M ALSO ONE whose memory still salivates at the notion of Gold Coast Dogs. I’d probably eat hot dogs more often if I could still get a char dog or two with everything (and everything does NOT include ketchup, which they had enough sense to realize).

Would Boz ever make the list?

So the idea of Portillo’s as the best Fast Casual restaurant in the country? I doubt it. Because any place serving a hot dog of any quality whatsoever would probably never be deemed worthy of any type of “best” list.

Now if you really want to talk off-beat foodstuffs, consider the “chocolate cake shake” that Portillo’s offers up.

At 850 calories in their small-sized shake, it most definitely is not something to eat if one wants to be in good standing with “Weight Watchers,” but is something unique-enough to make the occasional trip to Portillo’s worth one’s while.

  -30-