The Cook County Assessor has his eyes on the office—whether or not Daley runs
On Wednesday, I met with outgoing Cook County Assessor James Houlihan at his spacious downtown County Building office. The last time I interviewed him was in July 2006, when I was writing about Bill Clinton’s post-presidency. (The two men are golfing buddies.) Houlihan is a big man with an open face and manner—a great talker who has the natural gift of remembering…
In May’s letters: New light on old relatives and blogger backlash
May 2010: Jonathan Eig, Tom Corbett, Esther Kang, Penny Pollack, Rachel Wolff
So Alexi Giannoulias demands that Mark Kirk, his Republican opponent in U.S. Senate race, return the thousands he has received from Goldman Sachs. The firm was just charged with civil fraud for allegedly misleading investors on a mortgage instrument that went south with the housing market…
I made my first visit of the season to Wrigley Field on Sunday, and everyone sent me off with the obvious question: How are they? Of course, the reference wasn’t to the Cubs—the standard collection of mismatched pieces destined to continue on the path of mediocrity that nonetheless disappoints. No, the world wants to know about the revamped men’s restrooms!…
If I ever land another interview with Rod Blagojevich—I suppose I could wait until next Sunday and call his weekly WLS-AM talk show—I’d ask him why he didn’t just serve his terms as governor in a reasonably honest manner and then do what legions of retired legislators do: grab a job at a law firm and rake in a seven-figure salary…
Toni Preckwinkle, almost certainly the next President of the Cook County Board, is backing Democrat Joseph Berrios—lobbyist, head of the County Democratic Party, toady of House Speaker and state Democratic Party chief Mike Madigan—for assessor.
When I read of Preckwinkle’s preference for Berrios over reformer Forrest Claypool (in Stella Foster’s Sun-Times column), I was surprised. Silly me. I must have consumed too many orgasmic editorials…
Tonight at the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago magazine honors the winners of our 2010 Green Awards. The thing about the event—which is really fun and always has great food—is that because it is, for budget reasons, closed to the public, our wonderful honorees end up mingling with us, their guests, and other leaders in the local green community…
THE INCREMENTALIST // Big Bowl
THE CONSOLIDATOR // Claretian Associates
