EDITOR’S NOTE: On September 7th, Mayor Richard Daley announced in a brief news conference at City Hall that he will not seek re-election in 2011. The story below appears in our current issue.
I thought I had it figured out. The respected good guy Jerry Stermer, Pat Quinn’s chief of staff, resigned the post last week after acknowledging that he inadvertently sent political e-mails using his state account. Next to no one seems to understand why Stermer, who has spent much of his career advocating on issues involving the health and education of children, especially poor children, would leave over such a measly infraction—three e-mails out of some 39,000…
It’s a whopper of a public relations blunder.
Speakers for Right Nation 2010’s “evening extravaganza” on September 18th at the 10,000-seat Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates include Glenn Beck, gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, blogger Andrew Breitbart, Rep. Aaron Schock, and Tea Party leader Herman Cain. One problem: the evening convention, which follows an afternoon “activist training conference” for conservatives at the nearby Marriot Chicago Northwest, is on Yom Kippur, the holiest of the Jewish High Holy Days.
In the Senate race between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias—a contest labeled “a toss-up” by Rasmussen—a leading political prognosticator in Washington gives the edge to the 10th District congressman. Stuart Rothenberg—a frequent guest on Sunday morning talk shows, an on-air election night analyst, and editor of the Rothenberg Political Report—is one of the go-to guys for nonpartisan predictions…
Is Berrios conducting political and personal business on government time?
THE INSIDER: With a background as a Democratic Party boss, a lobbyist, and a powerful commissioner of a property tax appeals board, Joseph Berrios now wants to be Cook County assessor, a role that will give him even more sway in picking winners and losers among local taxpayers. Chicago magazine’s political editor—working with the Better Government Association—argues that Berrios shines as a vivid example of the clout-infested politics for which Illinois is famous
CURIOUS DEALS: The murky dealings at the Cook County Board of Review—some of them linked to the commissioner Joseph Berrios through friends and aides—have drawn the scrutiny of prosecutors.
THE FRIENDLY BAR: A county effort to cap campaign donations by property tax attorneys turns out to be toothless
Confidential transcripts from the board’s investigation
JUSTICE IS BLAND: I eat Nutraloaf, the all-in-one “disciplinary loaf” served at Cook County Jail
