John Bracken

As I mentioned on Twitter last week (and on this blog last year), I suffer from mayoral race envy, for I live in a town that hasn’t seen a competitive contest since Richard Daley was elected 19 years ago. This jealousy was only heightened by listening to the Guardian’s special Politics Weekly podcast on Boris Johnson’s electoral triumph. Rather than leave Chicago, I’ve begun to imagine what a real 2011 mayoral election might look like.

Obviously, should Mayor Daley decide to (or, pending ongoing corruption investigations, not be able to) run for re-election, he will be the favorite to be re-elected. Whether or not that would be the best thing for the city, it is not a particularly exciting prospect for a political junkie daydreaming about 2011. So let’s ignore him.

After Daley, any list of 2011 candidates begins with two Congressmen who came close to challenging Daley last year, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Luis Gutierrez. As Walter Jacobson pointed out on Chicago Public Radio,, and as was pointed out here, one of them could end up being our next Senator– of the two, I’d bet on Gutierrez. City Clerk Miguel Del Valle has been turning up at several benefit dinners in the Loop this spring, and I trust that it’s not due to a love for rubber chicken and weak coffee. I’d place Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool into a non-Daley second tier with Del Valle. Two wild cards who may be better off waiting for 2015, are SEIU favorite Ald. Sandi Jackson (Jesse’s spouse) and States Attorney nominee Anita Alvarez. For a wild, wild card, let’s toss U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s name into the ring.

February 2011 seems like a long ways away, but it will be here before you know it.

When I heard the news today that an 11% sales tax could be around the corner in Chicago, I thought of an earlier report that China will be “loaning” $5 billion to the Congo to “be spent on building roads, hospitals, health centres, housing and universities.” We don’t have much in the form of precious metals in the city, but perhaps there’s something we could drum up something in exchange for a similar investment in our decrepit public transit system, failing public school system and unsafe streets [Update, and a collapsing "health care safety net"]?

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was surprisingly candid in explaing the need for that tax increase: “We need to make sure we keep the system going.” Indeed.

Robert Sharoff (via Romenesko) profiles a journalism pioneer, Windy City Times publisher Jeff McCourt. Sharoff chronicles the McCourt’s 1985 founding of the WCT during– an eventful era for both Chicago and gay politics. According to Sharoff, McCourt and his colleagues created a paper that was both a journalistic enterprise and and advocate for the gay community during the first years of the AIDS crisis.

The highlight of the paper’s early years was undoubtedly the passage of the Human Rights Ordinance. The bill had been languishing in the city council since 1973, when it finally came up for a vote in the summer of 1986 and was solidly defeated. Within days, a lobbying effort began to reintroduce the bill, with McCourt playing a leading role. “I remember Jeff saying, ‘Here are the desks, here are the phones, here are the typewriters. Whatever you need, do it. Get it done,’” says [activist Rick] Garcia. “We called Windy City’s offices Ordinance Central,” says [journalist Albert] Williams, who was one of a number of activists working on the campaign.

Two weeks before Christmas in 1988, the slightly retooled bill sailed to passage. The subsequent victory party—held that night at Ann Sather on West Belmont Avenue—felt like a watershed moment. Among the dozens of politicos and media figures who felt compelled to make an appearance and offer their congratulations to McCourt and the assembled crowd were the two most powerful politicians in the city: the then mayor, Eugene Sawyer, and the future mayor Richard M. Daley.

Suddenly the people “who know nobody and who nobody knows” were being perceived as an important swing vote well worth courting in future elections.

Sharoff also makes the case that the Windy City Times was an innovator “on the business side.”

“He recognized that we needed to bring in standard publishing ideas,” says [Wall Street Journalist reporter and former WCT editor Mark] Schoofs. “We were one of the first gay papers in the country to have a real-estate issue, a fashion issue. Jeff’s thinking was that if we created these advertising venues, the advertisers would come. He also wanted straight advertisers like car and beer companies. He understood that this is journalism, it’s a business, and it needs to be done right.”

“Jeff always said, ‘My competition is not GayLife. It’s the Reader and the Tribune,’” recalls Williams. Over the years, McCourt would get almost every advertiser he wanted—everyone from Neiman Marcus to IBM.

McCourt, who died earlier this year of complications from AIDS, comes across as sad and lonely. Jennifer Vanasco remembered him after learning of his death:

Jeff was the first person to take a chance on me, a young writer, eventually giving me the column I still write.

Jeff was difficult, needy, an asshole, a bastard. He would storm through our windowless office sucking on cigarettes and booming out curses or praises, depending on his mood. I am grateful for his early support—and I wish I could be sorry about his death. When I was hired, he was already deep in decline, from drugs, from AIDS, from his pinwheeling narcissism. But it’ thanks to him that the WCT—and eventually the Chicago Free Press–became the papers they did.

Michael Miner announced McCourt’s death in the Reader; the piece includes remembrances by former colleagues in the comments section.

My neighbors across the street are able to select their alderman in a run-off election. (I don’t have to worry about choosing, thanks to the diligence of my alderman who knocked all her opponents off of the ballot.) My friend E., who lives in the 49th ward, said her final decision was influenced by this Google video of last week’s debate between incumbent Joe Moore and Don Gordon. (Alas, it’s not citizens journalism, but perhaps Jarvis will be happy anyway.) Meanwhile, a couple of friends have been supporting Naisy Dolar’s  attempt to unseat Bernie Stone, who has represented the 50th ward since 1973.

Georgia Popplewell reports that it’s election season in Trinidad. She wonders:

whether it might not be a good — or at least amusing — idea to set up a parallel music truck/sound system to rove the country during the campaign season, pumping out tunes which would counteract the effects of rum and roti and free t-shirts and over-exposure to re-jigged Iwer songs.

Sounds good to me. My friend Mark’s scholarship reminds me that back in the day, that’s the way we campaigned, too– albeit with beer and corned beef. In any case, I’d take rum and roti over attack ads anyday.

One rather obvious candidate for such a playlist would be Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin’“, from 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale, (arguably) Stevie’s greatest album.

(I do argue–I go with Songs in the Key of Life.)

I was in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago where they are in the midst of a real mayoral election with all the trappings: several  viable candidates (a couple of them sitting Congressmen), debates, issues, press attention, blogs, engaged community organizations, even student engagement. I returned to Chicago with a picture of what a contested city-wide election. Not even my local 48th ward aldermanic race was worth paying attention to as the incumbent, Mary Ann Smith, managed to knock all her challengers off the ballot (including Iraq War veteran Chris Lawrence apparently for his failure to file a receipt with his economic disclosure form.)

Nevertheless, or perhaps out of frustration at the lack of meaningful politics at my own polling place, I followed with interest coverage of Tuesday’s elections in Chicago. (Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I found the Sun Times more useful than Trib.)

I found lots of discussion of the prospect that Daley will break his father’s record as the longest serving mayor of the city but nary a mention of the man will may have a large say about Daley’s ability to finish his term: U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who continues to investigate City Hall after already convicting some of his closest aides. For example, here’s Fran Spielman’s synopsis of Hizzoner (Junior?)’s triumph:

Tuesday’s landslide was vindication. Daley’s toughness and ability to adjust to new political realities has long been underestimated. He has proven once again how resilient he is.

Spielman‘s look at Daley’s next (final?) term focused more on political maneuverings than on possible policies. She reveals that CTA head Frank Kruesi may finally be on his way out to placate Springfield, but suggests no other possible policy implications:

the mayor knows better than anybody that the time has come to remove his longest-serving adviser. Kruesi has made so many enemies in Springfield — including powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan — state lawmakers won’t even think about helping the CTA until he’s gone. Look for Kruesi to make the long-rumored move to the O’Hare Modernization Program and Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez to replace Kruesi at CTA, where she got her start.

Spielman also gives us this tease about the future of Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan:

City Hall sources said Duncan fell out of favor for a while last year, but he may have worked his way out of the doghouse.

In reviewing possible candidates to replace Phil Cline as Police Superintendent, she mentions that “former Deputy Police Supt. Charles Ramsey, a runner-up in past police searches, is available again after a stint as police chief in Washington, D.C.” Spielman doesn’t mention it, but perhaps Ramsey’s approach to dealing with political protesters will give him a leg up. From Ramsey’s Wikipedia entry:

…[O]n September 27, 2002, the MPD made a mass arrest of a large group of demonstrators who had assembled in DC’s Pershing Park to protest the World Bank and IMF meetings. The police enclosed over 400 people in the park and arrested them without ever ordering them to disperse or allowing them to leave the park. Many of the arrested were not actually demonstrators, but were journalists, legal observers, and pedestrians. On January 13, 2006, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the arrests violated the Fourth Amendment and that Chief Ramsey could be held personally liable for the violations.

The aldermanic results send a nuanced message, one that does not fit easily into the “SEIU v. Daley & the Chamber of Commerce” meme. As Steve Rhodes noted this morning, “the incumbents who lost their seats were more the victims of their own special circumstances than hacks punished for doing the Daley Machine’s bidding.”

For one, the SEIU was not successful in its efforts in Latino wards, where both Danny Solis held his seat. From the Sun Times:

Mass mailings against Solis, who was appointed to the post by Daley in 1996 and serves as his president pro tem in the City Council, were launched by unions that supported Cuahutemoc “Temo” Morfin, a youth probation officer, who got 21 percent…”I’ve taken on some unions … I feel vindicated,” said Solis. “The neighborhood is with me.”

Blogs, and the media in general, for that matter, were irrelevant in this campaign. Reporters made a valiant attempt in the final days to pretend like Daley had a race (the Trib’s free Redeye carried all three candidates on its front page on Tuesday) but came across sounding silly. Eric Zorn penned an Election Day mea culpa that included a pledge to vote against Da Mayor as

“a call for change this time, not just another a warning shot across Daley’s bow. I’m tired of the “Oh, but the city looks so good” mantra of complacency that consigns us to praying for benevolence under autocratic rule.

The lackluster race is enough to make us ponder 2011, an election which will contested whether or not Daley runs. Mark Brown Ponders the possible role of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (and husband to an alderman-elect):

you have to wonder how far the Jackson family can take its dynasty. It seems unlikely it will want to stop with a congressman and an alderman and a man who ran for president.

Jackson’s House colleague Luis Gutierrez is likely to consider a race, as will City Clerk, and (independent) Miguel Del Valle. ESTHER J. CEPEDA AND ART GOLAB note that “Daley’s hand-picked city clerk, Miguel del Valle” didn’t meet with city-wide success, winning 58% of the vote compared to the Mayor’s 71%. Most notably for 2011, “Diane Jones, a 45-year-old water reclamation district employee who spent less than $7,000 on her campaign, won a third of the votes and beat del Valle in every African-American ward by margins of 200 to 2,000 votes.”

All of which points to a likely Latino v. African American contest. Would that kind of race, with overt Chicago-style ethnic and racial turf fights be better for the city than another placid coronation? Outgoing Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesmanTom Leach seems to think so in Carol Marin’s column. He fondly recalls the tense, and groundbreaking 1983 Harold Washington-Bernie Epton race: “Despite the fact there was a lot of racial tension, it was a great election. We had an 82 percent turnout. The highest turnout we ever had for a municipal election. We brought people into the electoral process who had never voted before . . . complaints about fraud diminished.”

The last time we had a contest to succeed a mayor in Chicago, following Harold Washington’s death, we witnessed City Council arm wrestling, yelling and desk dancing over several hours. This time, the process is likely to play out over four years largely behind closed doors.  

The best thing about this (Cook County Board President) Todd Stroger parody blog is that it reallly sounds like Stroger’s voice:

I have accomplished having the Cook County Board working together in a bipartisan manner. They have every right to work together to come up with a better solution for the budget. I give them credit for all their hard work. Some things I will agree with some I will not. I appreciate all their efforts.

I enjoyed learning of “Stroger’s” affection for 80s music. (Commenters at Bill Baar’s West Side apparently have such low opinions of Stroger that they think the blog may be genuine.)

(Earlier this month, Stroger appointed his cousin as the County’s CFO; the Daily Southtown has more details on the adventures of the first month of his leadership tenure.)

Update: Carol Marin summarizes Stroger’s 6 weeks in power:

In the short six weeks that he’s been in office, Stroger has behaved like an entitled brat. Private elevator. Entourage of bodyguards and coat holders.

He’s handed big salaries and ridiculous raises to his relatives and friends, while deriding questions about his mostly undelineated 17 percent cuts in vital services to the poor. He’s lacked the courage to face public criticism, skipping every public hearing on his budget where citizens were invited to attend. Hundreds showed up. Stroger never did.

Little wonder he was the lone elected official loudly booed at Barack Obama’s recent rally.

At the Broken Heart of Rogers Park, Craig Gernhardt did some accidental journalism when he broke the story of Friday’s gruesome triple murder– along with reports of an unrelated apparent shooting “around Ashland & Birchwood.” Gernhardt uses the report to tweak the incumbent 49th ward Alderman (”Remember, Alderman Moore tells us, “Crime is Down”!) and has been covering his re-election bid on YouTube.

After updating his report five times on Saturday, Craig turned it over to the pros, saying, “Major news coverage will begin this evening on the mainstream news. This is blog reporter Mr. ‘Broken Heart’ signing out.” This morning, the Tribune  and Sun-Times have details, naming Daryoush Ebrahimi as the suspect in custody. The Sun Times, citing an unnamed “law enforcement source” ,  reports that Ebrahimi “videotaped himself on his cell phone after the attack, apologizing and saying he felt he had been disrespected…”  From the Tribune’s report:

The rampage ended what had been a short-lived family reunion. Ebrahimi’s sister-in-law, identified by friends and her former husband as Karolin Khooshabeh, immigrated to the United States from Iran in the mid-1990s, leaving much of her family behind. Five years ago, she helped bring her mother and father to West Rogers Park.

In November she was finally able to help her sister, brother-in-law and his daughter make the journey from Iran to Chicago.

“She was overjoyed that after all these years her family was finally united,” said Joann Yousif, the former choir director at St. George’s Cathedral, an Assyrian church that the family attended. “It was the reunion she had wanted for so many years. She was happy, relieved to have them so close and, finally, safe in Chicago.”

Karolin Khooshabeh, 40, was found dead in the bathroom of the Washtenaw apartment about 7:30 Saturday morning.

The Tribune’s Todd Lighty, Laurie Cohen and John McCormickexamined Mayor Daley’s campaign funders going back to his 1979 race for State’s Attorney. Daley’s largest institutional donors, from ‘79 through last week, are the unlikely tandem of the Mercantile Exchange and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Intl. Union. Real estate mogul (and Tribune bidder?) ranks fourth among individuals, having given more than $200,000. Zell:

said the mayor’s contributions to Chicago might have exceeded those of his father, legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Zell cited the city’s political turbulence two decades ago, when Chicago was known as “Beirut on the Lake.”

“Do I have to remind you what the 1980s were like?” Zell said.

The story concludes with this note that speaks to the extensive legwork the reporters conducted:

Prior to the Tribune’s efforts, records of donations made before 1999 to Mayor Richard Daley’s campaigns existed only on paper and could not be analyzed electronically. The Tribune hired a firm to keypunch information from about 7,500 pages of Daley’s campaign finance reports. That data was combined with Daley’s electronic records on file with the Illinois State Board of Elections to form a single database of the money Daley raised and spent from November 1979 through December 2006.

So, the reporters pieced together an amazing set of data for the story.  Would’ve been great if the data could be presented in more dynamic version that the tables they give us. Further, why not open up that data base and let the rest of us play with it?

Last fall I pointed to the blog maintained by Carole Brown, the chairwoman of the Chicago Transit Authority. Today, after arriving late to work due to CTA delays, I noticed (thanks to Steve Rhodes) this blurb in the Tribune:

[CTA Chairwoman] Brown complained that she saw four CTA buses broken down on the street, with passengers inside, while she was driving home from work on Tuesday.”

[Update: Steve Rhodes points to a comment by Carole Brown on her blog where she implies that the Tribune misquoted her: "I did not drive to or from work on Tuesday. As I have said many times, I take the bus to and from work several times a week, depending on my travel schedule." As of Sunday afternoon, the Tribune article contains no correction.]

For the record, both Brown’s employer, Lehman Brothers, and the CTA offices (reportedly equipped with nearly $6 million in furniture) are located in downtown Chicago, near lots of public transport options. (I’m guessing that Frank Kruesi does not use the CTA for his commutes, either.)

Brown’s latest post is an attempt to mitigate the CTA’s crisis by comparing it to New York’s problems. “I thought it was useful to point out that CTA is not alone in wrestling with the challenges of underfunding.” Indeed. Of course, in New York, the Mayor rides the subway to work. Anyone seen Mayor Daley on the bus lately?

Also, for those who may have missed it: last week Zafer Liles died under a Red Line train last week; the week before a man fell onto the Blue Line’s tracks; and of course last summer a child fell apparently fell through the platform onto the street at Chicago and Franklin. Perhaps none of these incidents are the fault of the CTA, but, coupled with the occassional train running off the rails and ongoing delays, the accidents do not paint a picture of a healthy system.

As much as I would like to blam someone I can see, the CTA’s employees always seem to be doing their best to make increasingly difficult commutes as safe and efficient as possible.

(Other CTA-related posts.)

A friend from New York, who’s doing a stint in Chicago this winter, has been calling the our local transit system “third world.” I don’t know what he’s complaining about, he’s only been stuck on an underground train with no electricity for 25 minutes and had to wait a few times for an express bus not packed to the gills. So, it was with a chuckle that I saw that Alderman Joe Moore agreed with him on Thursday. The CTA Tattler has the text of Moore’s proposal for “City Council hearings on the general CTA nonsense.”

From the Sun Times:

“It’s unconscionable that a city as great as Chicago has a third-world transit system. That’s really what the CTA has become,” Moore said

From CTA Chair Carole Brown’s Thursday post announcing the good news:

CTA is also planning extensive community and customer outreach efforts to educate people about alternative service. I welcome your comments and ideas.

There is, naturally, lots of frustration, and some helpful thoughts, in the comment section. Chicagocarless’ Mike Doyle:

In a major highway project, which you keep comparing this to, people are urged to take transit instead, due to the reduced roadway capacity.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the reverse happens when 25 percent of transit capacity gets taken away for two years: people get in their cars.

This is perhaps the worst misstep in CTA history under Frank Kruesi. Telling 17,000 riders to take Metra instead is not how to run a world-class transit agency. If this is the best he and his management team can do, they need to go.

As a CTA rider, I am tired, simply and deeply tired, from having to suffer on a daily basis due to the mistakes of Kruesi and his management team.

There needs to be a better alternative service plan than this. I cannot believe that the CTA Chair would go along with this without a word of criticism about the significant effect this wrong-headed plan will have on riders.

I just wrote the Sun-Times asking Mayor Daley for Kruesi’s dismissal. I suggest others do the same. He cannot be allowed to do further damage to the CTA or inflict further, needless pain on CTA riders.

Enough is really enough.

The Neighbors Project “is supporting a local campaign to improve the Chicago Transit Authority” that encourages and enables us to email, and SMS, our local officials.

(And in DC, they’re getting wi-fi on the Metro. Fare increases as well, if I recall correctly.)

Here’s the Red Eye’s attempt to use YouTube to generate some CTA commentary. It doesn’t quite work, yet– maybe because there’s not sense that anyone is listenting.