Preckwinkle gets heat from Fioretti over Berrios support

2018年3月8日星期四

Preckwinkle gets heat from Fioretti over Berrios support

Topspin

Former Ald. Bob Fioretti went on the attack in the final weeks of his Democratic primary campaign against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

He took her to task for backing county Assessor Joe Berrios during a forum on WTTW-TV's "Chicago Tonight." And Fioretti said the second-term board president had "isolated" herself from other elected officials and had jeopardized public safety by going too far with criminal justice reform.

For the most part, Preckwinkle defended her record during the 20-minute exchange by citing her financial, public health and criminal justice initiatives. But Fioretti appeared to get under her skin a couple of times when he tried to speak as she was talking.

"Will you let me finish?" Preckwinkle said to Fioretti, raising her voice. "I don't interrupt you when you're speaking. Don't interrupt me, please."

Host Phil Ponce gave Fioretti an opening at the start of the forum when he asked Preckwinkle why she continued to support Berrios after a recent study confirmed the findings of "The Tax Divide" series published by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois.

The series found that assessments under Berrios tended to make property taxes lower than they should have been on more expensive homes and higher than warranted on less expensive ones, with minority communities being hit particularly hard.

Preckwinkle praised Berrios for helping to get tax bills out on time and his part in creating a unified property tax technology platform and said they were working on plans to remedy the assessment problems "as a result of the Tribune story. ... This isn't gotcha. This is, 'How are we going to fix it?' "

But Fioretti shot back.

"Getting unjust discriminatory property tax bills out on time that hurt working class people, that hurt the poor — well, should we applaud that? No," said Fioretti, who contended Berrios and Preckwinkle knew about the problem when they first came into office nearly eight years ago. "All of the sudden, it's an election year and they decided, 'Well, we found out we've got a problem here.' " (Hal Dardick)

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in Atlanta and has no public events.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner will attend a cabinet meeting on children and youth services in Chicago.

*The Illinois House is in session, and the Senate will have a committee hearing in Chicago on various gun control proposals.

*U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will be on a roundtable talking about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the Loop.

*Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy will make campaign stops in Maywood, Chicago and Brookfield.

*Democratic governor candidate Daniel Biss will have a Reddit AMA.

*Democratic Cook County assessor candidate Fritz Kaegi will speak to the City Club of Chicago.

From the notebook

*Raoul gets southern Illinois help: The Southern Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association is endorsing state Sen. Kwame Raoul's attorney general bid.

The group said it was an attempt to head off former Gov. Pat Quinn's candidacy in the race.

"It is time for fresh faces in the leadership positions of Illinois and to move beyond the same-old-same-old so we can grow as a party," said Nancy Mitchell, chair of the White County Democratic Party.

The group represents Democratic organizations from Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White and Williamson Counties. (Rick Pearson)

*Durbin, Duckworth want Quincy details: Illinois' two Democratic senators pressed Gov. Rauner for more details about what he plans to do next at the veterans home in Quincy beset by deadly water problems.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth sent a letter to Rauner saying "we still do not yet have a detailed plan of action for ensuring the safety of residents, family, and staff at the facility going forward. Once again, we urge you to finalize such a plan without delay."

The home recently has been hit by four new cases of Legionnaires' disease, the malady that killed 13 Quincy residents in three years.

The Rauner administration this week said it's looking at razing the buildings where those victims stayed.

The senators suggest that state officials take an offer of help from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and said "vague assurances that next steps are forthcoming 'in the near future' are quite simply inexcusable."

*Quick spin: Cook County Clerk David Orr says 58 suburban polling places have changed for the March 20 primary. Affected voters will get postcards in the mail, but a list of the new locations is here.

What we're writing

*Lipinski challenger Newman went into restaurant business with convicted felon.

*Domestic battery case resurfaces as longtime Democratic lawmaker Robert Rita faces primary challenge.

*Judge orders Emanuel to undergo questioning under oath about controversial police shooting.

*"Cannabis candidate" for Congress touts service as an FBI agent. He wasn't an FBI agent.

*Rauner doesn't say whether he'll sign bill to license gun stores.

*Ald. Ed Burke takes nostalgic look at his 50 years in Chicago politics.

*CPS plans to get budgets to principals next month, makes key change on per-pupil spending.

*Striking U. of I. grad student workers stage sit-in at president's office.

*City officials to hear complaints about bike tickets in black neighborhoods.

*Expert on presidential pardons emailed life's work to others before apparent murder-suicide.

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