September 26, 2007
HUBERMAN MAY BE NEXT POLICE SUPERINTENDENT
Chicago is in the throes of a police superintendent "controversy." Top Cop Phil Cline resigned in April 2007 amid headlines of barroom brawling by off-duty officers. Interim replacement Dana Starks is acting like he's more than just a caretaker; in fact, his detractors say he is out of control. Mayor Rich Daley rejected all the superintendent applicants put forward by the recruiter, including just about everybody among the police brass. Word is that Daley was incensed when finalists Hiram Grau and Charles Williams gave their ideas about how to combat police "corruption." Sayeth Daley: What corruption? In the CPD, rank matters; family history matters; political connections matter; and rank matters. But in Daley's City Hall, loyalty matters.That's why the frontrunner for Top Cop is CTA president Ron Huberman, a former Daley chief-of-staff and onetime patrol officer. Daley asserts that the CPD is "not out of control." But Daley wants to be in control. Daley "insider" Huberman would be deemed an "outsider" if chosen superintendent, since he is not a rank officer. But he's the odds-on favorite at this time. Full Article...
September 19, 2007
"DOOMSDAY SCENARIO" FOR GOV. BLAGOJEVICH IN 2010?
How low can Rod Blagojevich go? That's a political and metaphorical question, not a moral inquiry. Blagojevich refuses to learn how to govern. Democrats lament: "What's wrong with him?" He is in a perpetual campaign mode, and believes that confrontation and stalemate, not conciliation and accomplishment, are what captivates voters. Polls show he is embarrassingly wrong. Blago once had aspirations to run for the presidency in 2008; now he'll be fortunate to get re-elected governor in 2010. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll, in late August, gave Blago a 22/78 approval/disapproval rating. That's ten points lower than Republican President Bush, who had a 32% approval. Yet Blagojevich is unfazed. He figures that the 2010 primary is 30 months away, and that his universal health care plan will give voters fits of delight. Yet Blago is fast becoming another Dan Walker -- adversarial, scornful, hostile. You can't be a Democratic governor and demonize fellow Democrats in the legislature. On every issue -- RTA/CTA bailout, budget cuts, infrastructure upgrades, stupid lawsuits, new taxes -- the governor's credibility evaporates. A Doomsday Scenario is shaping up: Blago will lose the 2010 primary to Lisa Madigan. Full Article...
September 12, 2007
ALLEN HAS TENUOUS BASE IN PROSECUTOR'S RACE
Will Tom Allen be the Pat Levar of 2008? Levar, a Northwest Side Chicago (45th Ward) alderman, was the slated Democratic candidate for Clerk of Circuit Court in 2000. Despite party backing, he got just 27.5%, losing to black independent Dorothy Brown. Allen, also a Northwest Side (38th Ward) alderman, was not slated, but is running for state's attorney in the 2008 Democratic primary, and faces white independent Larry Suffredin and black Ald. Howard Brookins. The bad news for Allen is that he wasn't slated, isn't well-known, lacks gravitas and crime-fighting credentials, and has a puny (Northwest Side) political base. The good news is that nobody was slated, and that his foes are equally unknown and under-credentialed. But Brookins has the early edge, simply because he will win the black vote overwhelmingly, while Allen and Suffredin split the white vote. Allen must spend the next four months trekking all over Cook County, beseeching ward and township Democratic organizations to endorse him; he also has the backing of the labor unions, which will aid in fundraising. Suffredin will have a liberal/Lakefront/North Shore/gay coalition. To win, Allen needs 75% of the white ethnic vote, 60% of the suburban vote, half of the Lakefront vote, and 10% of the black vote. That's just not doable. If Allen exceeds Levar's 27.5%, deem it a minor miracle. Full Article...
September 5, 2007
2010 CENSUS, REMAP THREATENS 38TH WARD
For politicians on Chicago's Northwest Side, 2010 is not a lifetime away, nor is 2001 a millennium, nor is 2015 an eternity. They are quickly becoming a reality. 2010 is the next census; 2011 is the next ward boundary remap; and 2015 is the end of the terms of aldermen elected in current wards. One almost certain casualty is the Cullerton Dynasty, which has ruled the 38th Ward for 72 of the past 76 years; in fact, a Cullerton has sat in the city council for 119 of the past 136 years, since 1871. Demographic changes are the cause. Belmont-Central, once heavily ethnic and Polish, is now heavily Hispanic; the area between Addison and Belmont, west of Cicero to Narragansett, and between Belmont and Irving Park, from Cicero to Laramie, is also heavily Hispanic. The latter is the corridor which connects Mayfair to Portage Park. Ald. Tom Allen (38th) is running for state's attorney in 2008; if he loses, he'll run for judge in 2010 or 2012. His successor will be P.J. (Patty Jo) Cullerton, daughter of the late Ald. Tom Cullerton, who died in 1993. The west end of the 38th Ward will be combined with the white (non-Hispanic) areas of Ald. Bill Banks' 36th Ward. Expect a showdown in 2015 between Cullerton and Banks -- with Banks as the winner. Full Article...
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