January 25, 2023
ALD. NAPOLITANO IS UNBEATABLE BUT PDC RACE IS CHAOTIC
The paramount goal of any journalistic inquiry is sometimes to just get a “yes” or a “no” for an answer. The paramount goal of a political candidate is to not directly answer vote-losing questions. A fudged answer, encapsulated in a mumbled innocuous platitude, is the best answer. Take Paul Struebing, a Democrat and Edison Park lawyer who is running for 41st Ward alderman against 2-term incumbent Anthony Napolitano on Feb. 28. “We need more affordable housing in the ward,” he said, raising concerns about an approved but not being built yet 51-home development behind the former Sisters of the Resurrection convent north of Talcott Avenue. But what about the city-approved 299-unit project on Higgins in the Marriott parking lot, with 59 “affordable” set aside units? Napolitano is against it. Are you for it, I asked Streubing? Give me a Yes or a No. “I am in favor of housing that fits into the fabric of our neighborhoods,” Streubing said. Say what? That ain’t a Yes or a No. That’s evasive lawyerspeak, which is just a bunch of mumbled platitudes. Attached are CHARTS of past 41st Ward aldermanic results and 2023 police district council candidates. Full Article...
January 18, 2023
ALDERMANIC "ABUNDANCE" WILL SPIKE BLACK WARD TURNOUT -- WILL EX-MAYOR LIGHTFOOT BE NEXT U.S. ATTORNEY?
Abundance is relative. Lots of money is great. Lots of debt is not. But in the context of the 2023 Chicago municipal elections, an abundance of African-American aldermanic candidates is great news for the seven Black mayoral candidates. It will spike turnout in the majority-Black wards, of which there are 17 (see chart). In those 17 there are 90 candidates. And in the open wards – 4th, 5th, 6th and 21st – there are 46 candidates. The opportunity to earn $520,000, which is the aldermanic salary over 4 years, is irresistible. The mayoral contenders – Lori Lightfoot, Willie Wilson, Brandon Johnson, Rodrick Sawyer, Sophia King, Kam Buckner, Ja’mal Green – are battling for a limited piece of the Black voter pie. The goal on Feb. 28 is to get more than 20 percent, with 25 percent a runoff guarantee. 2019 Black ward vote CHART attached and list of 2023 Black ward candidates attached. Full Article...
January 11, 2023
GARCIA BATTLES LEFTIST UWF/CTU/SEIU FOR LATINO WARD DOMINANCE
Chicagoans will likely discover that their next City Council and municipal government will be Left of Left. After the 2023 elections Chicago will rank among the Top Ten of Leftmost-run U.S. cities, joining San Francisco, Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, New York, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Los Angeles. To be the Left of the Left can sort of be seen as a Marxist-Leninist supportive of a totalitarian State. Communism is contrary to human nature, and that is why it has failed in practice and will continue to fail. Moving toward the center is Fabian Socialism, a fad in the 1800s which advocated State ownership of all land and all means of production, but with elections. Then there’s Leftism, which is now the country’s prevailing cultural force. And then there’s good, old-fashioned ideological liberalism, a vanishing philosophy among Democrats. The 2023 elections are a battle for control of Chicago, especially the council, between the Leftmost, as personified by the Chicago Teachers Union, American Federation of Teachers, SEIU Local 73 and their political front, United Working Families (UWF), and the Left-of-the-Mainstream-Left, as represented by mayoral contender Chuy Garcia. Full Article...
January 4, 2023
VALLAS STARTS TO SURGE AS LIGHTFOOT HITS ROCK-BOTTOM IN MAYORAL RACE
Politicians have a shelf-life and a brand. If and when the product or the brand become distasteful or unpalatable, then they’re off the shelf. That’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s problem. Her mayoral tenure has become so exceedingly distasteful that even when she Tweeted out “Happy New Year” many people did not have kind things to say to her. Her current attempt to re-brand and re-invent herself is way too late. The damage has been done. t’s not working and it’s not going to work. Chicago is in a crisis mode. Crime is not under control. It seems unsafe to walk in the Loop at night. Carjackings seem commonplace. There are more than a dozen homicides and/or shootings every weekend, and not just on the South and West sides. Lightfoot owns that. She says she’s going to do better but does not say exactly what and how. And voters refuse to trust her to fix things by rewarding her with 4 more years. Recent polling, just 60 days out from Feb. 28, indicate the mayor’s dire predicament. The scent of defeat and departure hovers. Full Article...
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