Tom Carey, 56, has been working for candidates here—from Rich Daley to John Stroger—since he was 25. One day in January, the political strategist received a call from a local lawyer who was volunteering for Carol Moseley Braun. The man told Carey he would pick him up to take him to a meeting, but didn’t say with whom. Carey was soon in the Hyde Park home of Moseley Braun, talking politics with the woman who, at the time, was hoping for a runoff with Rahm Emanuel... Read more
Hermene Hartman, publisher and editor in chief of N’DIGO, angered some members of her African-American community when she endorsed Rahm Emanuel over Carol Moseley Braun. She told me recently that the black political/business/religious leaders who selected Moseley Braun had better move aside, or, at least, rethink their strategy. “We are not training people to run for office,” she laments. Her case in point: LeAlan Jones... Read more
ABC7’s Chuck Goudie reported Wednesday the possibility of a coming together between the Jewish community and the Nation of Islam’s Minister Louis Farrakhan. “The Anti-Defamation League seems open to a meeting with Farrakhan and Chicago mayor-elect Emanuel,” Goudie said. The ADL’s regional director, Lonnie Nasatir, said that’s not so. Nasatir told me today... Read more
Mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle says he declined an invitation from Rahm Emanuel to co-chair the mayor-elect’s transition team. Del Valle told me in a phone interview that he turned the position down because—after his term as City Clerk is over on May 15th—he will work on other projects “organizing around progressive issues in the neighborhoods.”... Read more
Rich Daley suffered his share of controversial stories about his brothers Bill and John, but they were not nearly as dramatic as what awaits us with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Last night on WIND’s Mike Gallagher Show, the conservative host was in full outrage mode over a story... Read more
While it’s true that Rahm Emanuel leads his three main rivals in the race today to succeed Richard M. Daley as mayor of Chicago, there are some people in this city who cast a ballot for someone other than Emanuel. Perhaps not, according to an Associated Press story picked up by many media outlets, including Crain’s. The piece, which did not have a byline, includes interviews with six voters—and five are voting for Rahm. (One voter doesn’t say whom he’s voting for.) Read more
At the ABC7 debate Thursday, the candidates for mayor were asked whom they would name to their “kitchen” cabinets—their unofficial group of advisers. Not surprisingly, Gery Chico named two men whose endorsements are crucial: Congressman Luis Gutierrez and the Reverend B. Herbert Martin, Sr., longtime pastor of the Progressive Community Church in Bronzeville. Martin, 68, is best known for being Harold Washington’s close friend and pastor—and for standing with Steve Cokely in 1988 after Cokely, then 37, made inflammatory recorded lectures at Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam headquarters. Read more
Rahm Emanuel and his surrogates have been pounding relentlessly on Gery Chico for accepting—sort of—the endorsement last month of the Chicago Tea Patriots, an offshoot of the main Chicago Tea Party group. But late last year, before a new campaign finance reform law kicked in, Donald Trump contributed $50,000 to Rahm’s campaign for mayor. This is the same Donald Trump who appeared in Washington earlier this month before the uber-right group... Read more
Last night’s ABC7/League of Women Voters mayoral debate, the final one before Tuesday’s primary, featured the same back-and-forth we’ve heard before. As usual, some of the most enlightening moments came post-debate, when the candidates descended into the “press room” for 10 minutes each. Read more