Chicago Daily Observer

Should Arne Duncan be praised for taking a school system that’s been failing for decades and trying to do something, anything, with it? Or is it simply troubling that Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of education oversaw a system where, even after some progress, nearly half of all ninth graders fail to get their diplomas—and even fewer make it through college?

Based on the clues, here are some educated guesses on the identity of each. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald emphasized this morning that none of these individuals has been accused of any criminal conduct:

Senate Candidate 1

CLUES: Described as “an advisor to the President-elect, was interested in the Senate seat if it became vacant, and was likely to be supported by the President-elect.” Blagojevich was considering her—the candidate is identified as a female—if Obama would name him secretary of Health and Human Services in return.

GUESS: Valerie Jarrett

Senate Candidate 2

CLUES: The complaint says, “On November 6, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Spokesman. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Spokesman to leak to a particular columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, that Senate Candidate 2 is in the running for the vacant Senate seat. A review of this particular Sun-Times column on November 7, 2008, indicates ... Read More...

We know it’ll cost more to park on major city streets, and lots of minor ones as well. What’s not certain is whether the parking meter lease deal is good one for taxpayers. The mayor and his administration argue that it is; next the city council will have the chance to weigh in. But the whole billion-dollar agreement could be wrapped up as soon as Thursday morning—just three days after city officials first viewed the bids on it. Here’s the timeline of the deal:

Friday, February 8, 2008: The city issues an RFQ inviting firms to bid on leasing the meters. Chief financial officer Paul Volpe says it’s a way “to be innovative in our approach to managing city assets.” Final bids are due December 1.

February-March: City officials review initial application information submitted by potential bidders to determine whether the firms are qualified. The city won’t say how ... Read More...

Chicago forks over more money in lawsuits—especially lawsuits against the police—than LA, Houston, Phoenix, Philly, and Dallas put together.

In January, after years of legal and political battles, the city agreed to pay $19.8 million to settle lawsuits by four men who were tortured by police under former commander Jon Burge. Signing off on the deal, aldermen condemned the abusive officers and hoped aloud that the settlements would let the police department start a new era. “I’m glad this is over,” said the Fifth Ward’s Leslie Hairston. “It’s definitely a black eye on Chicago and on our history. But it’s also an opportunity for us to get a chance to turn the page.”

Among the 49 aldermen who voted in favor of Mayor Daley’s hard-times 2009 budget were a couple dozen who delivered impassioned and often defensive speeches explaining their support. And within this group were a few aldermen who also used the occasion to share a few thoughts about pet issues, from problems with education funding (Sixth Ward alderman Freddrenna Lyle) to the perils of abandoned homes (33rd Ward alderman Richard Mell) to the necessity of firefighters (29th Ward alderman Ike Carothers). But no one made a more vehement, controversial, or interesting appeal than Howard Brookins Jr. did when he stood up and renewed his years-long call for help in bringing a Wal-Mart to the 21st Ward [PDF].

“Out of all the retail stores, all of their profits are down except for Wal-Mart, whose third-quarter profits are up 10 percent,” Brookins said. He noted that Wal-Mart stores are thriving in suburbs that ... Read More...

Mayor Daley and his top aides—and by extension most aldermen—are big on the idea of making Chicago the greenest city in the country. In fact, some seem to believe it’ll be true if they simply say it enough. The incantations are now uttered at just about every city event remotely linked to an environmental issue—it doesn’t take much except a nearby trash can and accompanying blue recycling bin—and Tuesday’s joint meeting of the City Council’s finance, environment, and economic development committees was no exception. One after another, aldermen and business leaders described their city as green and getting greener: “one of the world leaders in the green and sustainable economic market . . . ”; “the premier green market for the world . . . ”; “a model for the world . . .”; “a huge success . . .”; “a leader in the environmentally friendly green cities in the ... Read More...

Al Sharpton has now endorsed the call by Reverend/state senator James Meeks for students to boycott the first day of school, a protest against education funding disparities. Sharpton’s political allure being what it is, his announcement isn’t going to convince the likes of Mayor Daley, Governor Blagojevich, or Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan to drop their opposition to the plan—all have said they want to fix the funding gaps but don’t like the idea of keeping kids out of school, even though they’ve previously shown no reluctance to do it themselves when the rally is for a cause they want to be seen showing “leadership” on, such as tougher gun laws.

By the logic of Cook County politics, it makes perfect sense. Republican state’s attorney candidate Tony Peraica is vowing to use his independence to put away criminals and fight political corruption, so of course it was just revealed that he accepted $2,700 in contributions a couple years back from several felons. His Democratic opponent, Anita Alvarez, has promised to bring the office a fresh perspective—integrity—even though she’s worked in it for 20 years; she’s been under fire for taking donations from prosecutors who’d report to her if she were elected, and from at least one attorney whose firm reaped millions in a lawsuit against the county.

Peraica returned his scrutinized money; Alvarez kept hers, brushing off conflict-of-interest allegations.

Alvarez was mostly quiet about the controversies. Naturally, Peraica tried to rally his supporters to battle.

Arguably the biggest local election this fall will be for Cook County state’s attorney, where Democrat Anita Alvarez will try to hold off Republican Tony Peraica. If you think about it, Alvarez is kind of a Peraica Bizarro (if it’s not the other way around). Peraica, a former precinct captain for Bill Lipinski, lost a couple runs for office as a Democrat before switching parties and winning a suburban seat on the Cook County board in 2002. Now he encounters the stench of Democratic Party corruption everywhere he turns, and without fail finds it loathsome and campaign-worthy—he just can’t find enough opportunities to talk to the press about problems with the county jail, the county sales tax, or the county board president.

On Tuesday Cardenas and aldermen Manny Flores and Toni Preckwinkle were flanked by activists from the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights when they announced a City Council resolution condemning what Flores called the “race-baiting” portrayal of immigrants by right-wing TV news personalities.

Like all resolutions, this one is nonbinding—it functions as an official statement of outrage but doesn’t actually do anything about the issue.

Fair enough—legislative bodies at every level of government pass resolutions mostly so they can tell their backers they did. And in this case, no one in the room was willing to argue that Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck don’t misrepresent immigrants. Cardenas and his colleagues even appeared to have answers for skeptical reporters.

Cook County voters could be forgiven for not remembering they’re supposed to elect a new top prosecutor this fall.

Since her solid win in the nasty, expensive Democratic primary for state’s attorney, career prosecutor Anita Alvarez has kept a pretty low public profile. That’s because she’s been playing it safe and smart, traveling the county to meet with party committeemen and raise money. After all, if she gets the Democratic organization behind her she’ll win handily, especially with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket.

Some critics say Barack Obama is too inexperienced and naive, while others say he’s too closely entwined with treasonous radicals. Months ago he could have countered both attacks at the same time by showing the country a religious mentor who knows how to talk like a progressive, appeal to the center, and quietly make political deals.

And he still could if, as Mary Mitchell speculates, he ends up joining the Apostolic Church of God.

Chicago is a big city that often seems like a small one, especially when you realize how many of its powerful political and business interests intertwine. The relationship between the city government and the Illinois Restaurant Association, the nonprofit organization that helps run the Taste of Chicago, is yet another example.

Lobbying by the Children’s Museum and mayor’s staff obviously had a bigger impact over the last few weeks—especially the last few hours—than the push from 42nd Ward alderman Brendan Reilly and other opponents of the museum’s Grant Park plan.

A couple of aldermen said Wednesday that mayoral aides offered them administration help for projects in their wards in return for their votes. While horse trading is part of politics, some of the projects probably would have—and almost certainly should have—received city help without the promise of a vote on a citywide issue. As one alderman put it: “I just wonder if they cashed in for too little.”

“Anyone who pays a dime of city taxes should be dismayed by the conduct of these city employees,” city inspector general David Hoffman said at a press conference at the federal courthouse Thursday afternoon. He spoke just after “Pat”—as he called U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald—announced bribery charges [see links on right] against 15 people, including seven city employees, stemming from an investigation that started in Hoffman’s office more than a year ago.

“These employees of the buildings department and the zoning department are paid good salaries with excellent benefits,” Hoffman said. “Their jobs were to make sure that the building codes and the zoning ordinances were laws that protect city residents. But what they actually did with their jobs was to make sure the laws were violated. Everything was the exact opposite of the way it should be. The people who we the taxpayers were paying to protect us were ... Read More...

How long before the national media and Republican strategists start openly wondering if a guy who’s allied with this city’s mayor—with his long list of achievements and rhetorical flair—is indeed a ”hack Chicago-style Daley politician”?

The Trib reports that among those in attendance at the epic Plan Commission meeting Thursday were Children’s Museum “proponents” bused in by the Woodlawn Organization, which is led by plan commission member Leon Finney Jr.

You and I and every other taxpayer in the state helped finance the organizational efforts and transportation costs needed to get the Woodlawn cheerleaders downtown.

Here’s how: the Woodlawn Organization is a tax-exempt, 501c3 nonprofit organization, and according to its most recent filings with the IRS, the vast majority—more than 80 percent—of its annual revenues come from government grants, most of it federal money handed out by the state and city. That amounted to $4.6 million in taxpayer money in 2006, the most recent year available.

The Chicago Plan Commission is set to take up the Chicago Children’s Museum’s plans to move into Grant Park at its May 15 meeting, and the safe bet is on the museum getting its way. Why? Well, the commission rarely sees a high-powered zoning change it doesn’t like. Then there’s the rather vocal position of its most important member, Mayor Daley. And finally there’s the matter of the individual loyalties and ties of all the other commissioners:

• Linda Searl, chair: A partner in the respected Searl Lamaster Howe architectural firm, Searl is ten-year veteran of the commission, a donor to Daley’s campaign committee, and a longtime adviser to Daley and the city’s planning department.

• Mayor Richard M. Daley: Didn’t we hear something about how he’s going to look out for the children?

• Arnold L. Randall: As the commissioner for the city’s planning department, he reports ... Read More...

The dozens of acres of open space at 83rd and Stewart were once home to a steel plant that employed hundreds of workers. But in a story that’s been repeated across the rust belt, the plant steadily lost business and shed jobs until it finally closed in 2002.

Howard Brookins Jr. was elected 21st Ward alderman the next year, and ever since he’s been working—and sometimes battling—with city officials, developers, and unions to lure some kind of job-producing business to the site. In 2004 it looked like Wal-Mart might be coming, but the City Council voted the plan down, eventually leading to the big-box minimum-wage battle of 2006 and the contentious municipal elections of 2007, which Brookins narrowly survived. Earlier this year the alderman lost his race in the Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney, but now he says he’s going to revive his original battle: winning support for ... Read More...

The urge probably hasn’t struck you in awhile, but if you decide you need to address the board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago at an upcoming meeting, you may or may not be allowed to. If you do get the go-ahead, you may or may not have three minutes to say what you may or may not need to say, and you may not be allowed to continue.

District officials say they’re changing some of the procedures for public meetings in response to the deadly shooting at a City Council meeting in Missouri in February.

Robert Sorich and three other former Daley administration workers were convicted of fraud or perjury charges in 2006 after a federal investigation into illegal patronage hiring at City Hall. Today their appeals were denied [PDF] by a federal appellate court that reiterated how for years they helped politics trump policy:

“Sorich was the mayor’s so-called ‘patronage chief,’ and held the title Assistant to the Director of IGA. Defendant Timothy McCarthy was Sorich’s deputy from 2001 to 2005 and often stepped into his shoes. Campaign coordinators would pass Sorich lists of campaign workers and volunteers, whose names he would then send to the heads of various city departments—Aviation, Streets and Sanitation, Sewers, Water, etc.—for jobs. Defendants Patrick Slattery and John Sullivan held high positions in the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

Earlier this month Seattle mayor Greg Nickels proposed slapping a 20-cent tax on disposable plastic shopping bags as a way to encourage retailers and shoppers to switch to reusable alternatives. Meanwhile, Chicago’s approach to plastic bag problems is alternately being characterized as a great first step and a missed opportunity.

Governments around the world have been working to reduce litter, cleanup costs, resource waste, and ecosystem damage caused by plastic bags, in most cases by implementing bans or heavy taxes on them. In Chicago, 39th Ward alderman Margaret Laurino has convened meetings with environmental advocates and business leaders to try to come up with a city ordinance mandating that they be recycled.

Forty-second Ward alderman Brendan Reilly says he didn’t get very far when he sat down with officials from the Chicago Children’s Museum earlier this week to talk about potential sites for their new facility. They’re only interested in one: Grant Park.

“They’ve refused to consider any other locations, and they’ve defined their parameters so narrowly that it will be practically impossible to find a place for them anywhere but Grant Park,” he says.

For obvious reasons, Todd Stroger is an easy target for critics of patronage hiring and public waste. But it’s not like he’s the only elected official who’s hired political allies and relatives for jobs that don’t always add up as necessary to outside observers.

Among the 220 employees on the staff of Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore is his son, Eric, listed in payroll records as an administrative assistant paid about $53,000 a year. But according to other records and a spokesman for the recorder’s office, Eric Moore spends his days transporting documents and computer equipment from the county building to the recorder’s five suburban branches.

Want to know how hateful and destructive the Trinity United Church of Christ has been under Reverend Jeremiah “God damn America” Wright? So much so that over the last two decades it’s received millions of dollars in grants from both Democratic and Republican administrations at the federal, state, and city levels. Most of the money has gone to provide community child care, HIV and AIDS programs, food services, and Head Start. Here’s a sampling from the city of Chicago (which includes federal and state grants the city administers):

Just asking: Will alderman Ed Burke actually follow through on his latest environmental proposal?

Burke, the longest-serving alderman in the council, is widely assumed to have more clout than anyone else in city government except the mayor.

Over the years he’s proposed a series of an impressive environmental reforms, from tightening restrictions [PDF] on the city’s two heavily polluting coal-fired power plants to limiting the use of dangerous dry-cleaning chemicals to banning plastic shopping bags.

While John Daley was recently leading the county board through bitter budget negotiations, one of his most impassioned enemies was officially launching a revolution to seize control of the 11th Ward. Of course, even Carl Segvich would admit that these plans are—well, let’s just say they might take a little while to come to fruition. As followers of Chicago politics know, the 11th Ward, centered in Bridgeport, is the home base of the Daley clan, and by extension the Chicago Democratic machine. And John Daley, in addition to being the finance chairman of the county board, is the ward’s longtime Democratic committeeman—the official title for what amounts to “ward boss.”

Larry Suffredin reminds us once again that there is no such thing as an effective and pure reformer in Chicago. And anyone who claims to be one is going to end up a liar.

True, in certain parts of the Chicago area, it’s helpful to campaign as a reformer. Voters think they want someone who will talk about standing up to machine Democrats, fighting for fairness and openness, and trying to cut waste out of government.

Remember Tony Peraica?

He’s the Republican nominee for state’s attorney who waited about four seconds after first-time candidate Anita Alvarez won the Democratic primary before he began attacking her, charging that she’s a product of the Machine and a big reason the county’s criminal justice system has been “turning a blind eye to corruption and putting politics over public safety.”

When Mayor Daley says, “Ours is a 1920s system. It’s costly and inefficient,” you’d be excused for thinking he’s talking about local government.

Instead, it’s the CTA, which the mayor has suddenly realized is a mess.

This afternoon he announced that the agency will borrow and bond its way to improving service. This will be welcome news to riders who have watched the transit system deteriorate dramatically over the two decades Daley has been in office, and perplexing news to everyone wondering why Daley has been unable to find a management team interested in doing this before now.

Some of the winners and losers from yesterday’s primaries were obvious, others not as much. Here are a few we’ve noticed:

Winner: Sandi Jackson. She routed longtime Seventh Ward boss William Beavers by winning nearly three-quarters of the votes cast in their committeeman showdown—not a year after beating his daughter, Darcel, for alderman.

Loser: Jesse Jackson Jr. Sandi’s husband lost the other two races he got involved in: his friend Kenny Johnson fell to Will Burns in the 26th state rep contest while Larry Suffredin finished third in the Democratic campaign for state’s attorney. Maybe Sandi’s the legitimate mayoral threat from the Jackson family.

Winners: Incumbent water reclamation district commissioners. All three held on, turning back aggressive, big-spending challengers.

According to Phillip Jackson, the other candidates vying to be state rep from the 26th District would be wise not to discount Phillip Jackson. “Some people would say, ‘You’re too independent. You’re always doing what’s right for the people.’ That is correct,” he says. “The other guys, they’ve got billboards. They’ve got robocalls, they’ve got mailings—good! Keep it up! All we do is touch the people.”

“Candidates for commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District usually don’t have Web sites, don’t march in the Gay Pride Parade, and don’t receive endorsements from Democracy for America meetups. The board of commissioners is typically filled by Democratic organization veterans and longtime district employees, and campaigning typically means buttering up the committeemen who do the slating, passing out yard signs, and hoping your name comes first on the ballot.”

This just in: an alderman decides not to cave.

Forty-second Ward alderman Brendan Reilly has helped forge an agreement that allows Children’s Memorial Hospital to proceed with its plans for a new facility in Streeterville while requiring it to conduct additional studies on the safety of a proposed heliport, a demand made by neighborhood residents.

He didn’t call them racists this time.

But this week Mayor Daley chastised Gold Coast opponents of a helipad Children’s Memorial Hospital wants to build as part of a new facility on Chicago Avenue east of Michigan. Some area residents have raised concerns about the safety of helicopters taking off and landing from the area, which is packed with residential and commercial high-rises. The mayor, though, insinuated that their questions were petty next to the possibility that kids could be saved, according to the Sun-Times. “So, once in a while, we have a helicopter landing. Why? To save your child—not your child, in a sense. But your child really. Another child coming from another city [who] does not have a Children’s Memorial Hospital. ... We will look back in 20 years what we did with this new and wonderful hospital.”

A few minutes before Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” suddenly began to play over the PA system in council chambers.

It was a fitting prelude to the day’s political highlight: the introduction and quick ascent to the spirit in the sky of an alternative to Mayor Daley’s proposed property tax hike.

Whatever your tastes in music, you’re going to be paying more for the privilege of living in or around Daley’s Chicago next year. Aldermen can no longer even muster the energy to pretend they’re looking for budget cuts, and the plan of would-be independents to levy a new tax on downtown businesses instead of struggling home owners looks to be dead just hours after its birth.

Thursday night I took a group of journalism students to a community policing beat meeting in the hopes they’d catch a glimpse of how the Chicago Police Department works.

They did.

The police department began implementing its community policing programs, known as CAPS, in 1993 and ‘94, and officially it still touts the cops-and-residents-working-together approach as an effective way to keep city streets safer. “The City of Chicago has a new weapon in the fight against crime—and that new weapon is you, the community,” declares the community policing page on the department’s Web site. “By opening up the dialogue between police and community, CAPS is producing a number of important success stories at the neighborhood level.”