May 31, 2023
POLITICAL COLUMNIST RUSS STEWART STARTS 51ST YEAR AT NADIG NEWSPAPERS
This is not a farewell column, but there will be one in the not-too-distant future. Consider this a self-authored obituary. June will mark the beginning of my 51st year as political columnist and analyst, and also Nadig Newspaper’s 83rdnd year of publication. By my calculation, it’s my 2,550th political article, which means having written 51 per year over 50 years, since 1973. By my calculation, June will mark a word count of over 4,000,000. That’s 2,550 articles at 1,550 words, or a total of 3,952,500 as of right now. This longevity was not intentional. It just sort of started and never ended. Fortunately, I never worked for Nadig Newspapers. I just wrote for Nadig. Today Nadig is the area’s last-existent print newspaper. The rest of the area’s newspapers folded in the 2000s or earlier or where bought out by the larger dailies and conolsidated. Print media is on the verge. “It’s pathetic,” said Mike Kaage, owner of Kaage’s News-stand in Edison Park concerning circulation of the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. Note that in the 2023 mayoral race NO candidate spent money on print media. It was all mail, TV, digital and social media. However, after a half-century in the journalistic business, here are the lessons I’ve learned and can pass along to aspiring writers. Full Article...
May 24, 2023
2023'S AWARDS FOR BIGGEST LOSERS, WINNERS/WHY IS SEN. PACIONE-ZAYAS KEEPING TWO JOBS?
Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed. In Chicago’s 2023 municipal election there were quite a few candidates on the ballot, 11 for citywide office and 181 for alderman. 53 of them won, or 27 percent. The rest were not blessed. As a final rehash of the Feb. 28 and April 4 outcomes before moving on, here are my “Sour Raspberry Awards” for those whose obvious mistakes compounded by poor judgment made them this year’s “Biggest Losers” politically. The Top Eight Bust-Outs include Lori Lightfoot and Chuy Garcia, plus Jessica Gutierrez, Megan Mathias, Chris Taliaferro at the ward level, plus – though not on the ballot -- George Cardenas, Iris Martinez, and Mike Quigley. Their endorsees got pounded. METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT (MWRD): Most Cook County politicians want to get out of Springfield, with its 200-mile drive (one way) 35 weeks per year, $77,000 salary, monotonous committee meetings and, if a Democrat, being told by Speaker Welch how to vote as part of the veto-proof 78D-40R majority. But MWRD commissioner Kim DuBuclet, the MWRD VP and ex-Preckwinkle staffer, resigned May 13 to be appointed to replace state Rep Lamont Robinson (D-5), who resigned his Hyde Park seat after moving on up to be 4th Ward alderman. By every conceivable guidepost DuBuclet is moving in the wrong direction. ANDRADE WATCH: You can’t be a senator if there’s still a senator. Cristina Pacione-Zayas was appointed to Martinez’s 20th District seat in 2020, elected in 2022 and was named Johnson’s first deputy chief-of-staff in mid-April, a policy-making job which pays over $150,000. According to Jaime Andrade Jr. (D-40), whose state rep district covers half of the 20th, Pacione-Zayas is still collecting her state pay, has not resigned, shows up for work since May 15 at City Hall but is NOT collecting her city paycheck. “Can you imagine if I did that?” asked Andrade. It’s OK for state Rep. Brad Stephens (R-20) to be the $265,000 mayor of Rosemont, but it’s dubious that 20th District voters want a senator who is MIA. Full Article...
May 17, 2023
BIDEN VS. TRUMP IS NOT A "GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE" MOMENT FOR AMERICA
Here are voters’ apparent options for 2024. Choose a 4-year Trump rerun with the accompanying polarization, political chaos and cable news media blathering. Or choose another 4 years of Biden-Harris with the accompanying incompetence, political and economic chaos, ongoing migrant influx and questions about the president’s cognitive capacity. Without question, Donald Trump, age 76, is a greedy, narcissistic megalomaniac and an obvious sociopath. Without question, Joe Biden, age 80, is beginning to show his age. Every minute a “senior moment” is imminent. Too bad we can’t just fast-forward to 2028 and be done with this. DeSantis is claiming Trump's 2024 nomination and candidacy will cost Republicans their 222-213 U.S. House majority. But paradoxically Republicans will offset this loss by winning a U.S. Senate majority. Gridlock will persevere. Full Article...
May 10, 2023
LEFTISTS PLOT "PEOPLE'S FORUMS" AS STATE REP ANDRADE MULLS SENATE PICK
Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. And you might regret it. Rumors abound that state Representative Jaime Andrade Jr. (D-40) will be the area Democratic committeepersons’ pick to fill the soon-to-be-vacant 20th District state Senate seat, from which incumbent Cristina Pacione-Zayas will depart on May 15. The senator will become new Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first deputy chief-of-staff for policy and director of intergovernmental affairs. For an Illinois state rep, who represents half of a state senate district, being, as they say, kicked upstairs, has long been deemed a promotion. It’s more prestigious. Instead of being one of 118 they are one of 59. Instead of five 2-year terms over a decade, a senator gets two 4-year terms and one 2-year term. Not so fast, said Andrade, who is not sold on the idea. “There is no vacancy yet,” he said. Besides, he added, he would take a pay cut and double his district workload. All Illinois legislators are paid a flat $67,836-per year and a $111-per day per diem when in session. Full Article...
May 3, 2023
JOHNSON, TRUMP PRECIPITATE "INDIVISIBLE" LEFTIST LAKEFRONT SURGE -- HARRIS WILL REPLACE FOXX
Those of my dwindling generation still vaguely remember the old Revolutionary War yarn about Paul Revere’s midnight ride through the streets of Boston shouting “the British are coming.” I’m sure there was some crazed but patriotic, anti Marxist-Leninists who galloped through the streets of Moscow in 1917 yelling “the Bolsheviks are coming.” That was right before he was greeted by the friendly neighborhood firing squad. But nobody need have driven their non-EVs up along DuSable Lake Shore Drive from screaming “the Leftists are coming.” And that’s because they already arrived thanks to the political imbecility of Donald Trump. Attached is a CHART detailing the 4/4/23 runoff vote in the 9 Lakefront wards. It's different worlds north and south of Fullerton. Now that Kim Foxx is officially exiting, the likely slated Democrat will be Clayton Harris. Full Article...
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