Chicago mayoral candidate and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza played coy this week about her connections to embattled Northwest Side Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno. Her name turned up as an "honored guest" on an invitation for an upcoming Moreno fundraiser and, when asked about it, she sounded as if she was unaware of it before saying she wouldn't attend. Police said they're investigating whether Moreno filed a false police report after claiming his Audi was stolen, and Mendoza said on Wednesday that she wouldn't be able to make the fundraiser because she'll be in Springfield. At the Capitol, Democrats have introduced a bill to hike the Illinois minimum wage to $15 by 2025. One lawmaker said the goal is to shore up a bill that can be sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker in time for him to sign it into law ahead of his Feb. 20 budget address. And Muslim leaders want to meet with the Cubs-owning Ricketts siblings after their father's racist and Islamaphobic emails were made public this week. One leader said: "I would like to see some reconciliation, some proof the Cubs' (slogan) really is 'Everybody in,' that they are inclusive, that they want their fans there, no matter where they come from, no matter what they believe in." Welcome to The Spin. |
 From the Tribune's John Byrne: "Mayoral candidate Susana Mendoza held an event Wednesday to promote her public transportation plan, but ended up addressing her connection to an alderman who's being investigated by police for possibly filing a false report about his car being stolen." Mendoza was asked about a Feb. 20 fundraiser for Ald. Moreno in which she is listed as an "honored guest" on the invitation. "I've got a lot of fundraisers, so, yeah, I'll take a look at that," Mendoza said. "Oh, I'm not going to that, by the way, that's, I'm going to be in Springfield for that. So I think he probably just put my name on there. But I'm not going to be at that event." Early last month, Moreno reported his leased black 2016 Audi A6 sedan stolen, but this week authorities tracked the car to Moreno's on-again, off-again girlfriend who says he loaned her the vehicle, according to her and Chicago police. Now authorities are investigating whether he filed a false police report. Read Tribune reporter Elyssa Cherney's story here. Mendoza-Moreno connection: Little more than a decade ago, the two dated, she told me in 2012 when I wrote a profile of her political career for Illinois Issues magazine. They parted ways but remained friends and supportive of each other's political careers. The election: Moreno is facing a challenge for his City Council seat from political newcomer Daniel La Spata in the Feb. 26 city election. U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia calls for election monitoring in Burke's 14th Ward: From the Tribune's Gregory Pratt: Garcia, who is backing civil engineer Tanya Patino against longtime Ald. Edward Burke in the high-profile Southwest Side race, sent letters to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Chicago Board of Elections Executive Director Lance Gough and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx asking for monitoring assistance stemming from Burke's alleged activities during the Nov. 6, 2018, election. Read the story and catch the video of Burke at a precinct handing out tote bags with his name on it here. Lori Lightfoot's new ad takes aim at public corruption: From Pratt: "Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot unveiled her mayoral campaign's first television ad Wednesday, calling herself an 'independent progressive' and shaming rivals for their ties to embattled Ald. Edward Burke." Read the story here. |   |
 From the Tribune's Dan Petrella: "Illinois' minimum wage would increase to $9.25 per hour on Jan. 1 and $15 per hour by 2025 under a Democratic plan introduced Wednesday in the state Senate. Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Maywood Democrat who for years has been attempting to raise the minimum wage from $8.25, filed her proposal after a week of behind-the-scenes negotiations with labor leaders, business groups and Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration." Read the full story here. The Senate could vote as early as Thursday. | |
 From the Chicago Tribune's Mark Gonzales: "An apology won't be enough for Muslim leaders in Chicago should they get their wish to meet as soon as next week with Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts after the publication of racist and Islamophobic emails connected to family patriarch Joe Ricketts. The elder Ricketts, 77, and his son Tom issued separate statements Monday after SplinterNews.com posted emails that showed Joe Ricketts sharing and endorsing racist and Islamophobic language, jokes and conspiracy theories." Read the full story here. To be clear, it was Joe Ricketts who offered the apology. Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts said his father's language and commentary in the emails "have no place in our society" and that his dad had no hand in operating the team. Cubs owners need to apologize for Joe Ricketts' racist emails: Cubs beat reporter Paul Sullivan writes: "It's going to be impossible for the Cubs to spin their way out of this nightmare. Tom Ricketts can't totally disassociate the organization from the disturbing beliefs of the man whose fortune helped him and his three siblings — Pete (the governor of Nebraska), Laura and Todd — buy the team, whether his father is still involved in its operation or not." He goes on to state the first thing Tom Ricketts and his sibling co-owners "need to do is apologize to Cubs fans — and everyone else — for Joe Ricketts' hurtful words. Read Sullivan's column here. Joe Ricketts' emails are offensive, inexcusable and, alas, likely to be overlooked by Cubs fans: The Tribune's Phil Rosenthal notes in a column that the Cubs "want people to ignore the racist jokes, fanciful conspiracy theories and out-and-out Islamophobia found in the emails of Joe Ricketts, the billionaire patriarch who bankrolled his family's 2009 purchase of the ballclub. They may get what they want ..." Read the full story here. | |
 It's safe to say there were no poker faces as President Donald Trump gave his State of the Union address Tuesday night. There were eye-rolling Democrats and "USA"-chanting Republicans — though at one point both parties were in chorus, as if they were at an Olympic wrestling match. And then there was U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. A shot of him sitting, stone-faced and arms folded, was tweeted during the midst of the Trump's speech by Jennifer Bendery, senior politics reporter at HuffPost, with the quip: "Rep. Bobby Rush not feeling Trump tonight #SOTU2019." The response from Rush — whose account is handled by spokesman Ryan Johnson — was "not particularly." Johnson said Rush reacted at about the time "President Trump (was) bragging about undermining the Affordable Care Act." The statement was particularly striking because he wore white, as his staff told The Spin he'd do, in solidarity with Democratic congresswomen who sported all manner of white outfits. They were nodding to the early 20th century suffragette movement when women would don formal white clothes — hoping to catch the eye of media and photographers in particular — as they demonstrated and participated in parades to get out their right-to-vote message. Trump EPA confirms Sterigenics is emitting alarming levels of cancer-causing gas in Willowbrook but still won't take action: From the Tribune's Michael Hawthorne: "Sterigenics is still venting ethylene oxide into neighborhoods surrounding its facility in west suburban Willowbrook, according to federal testing that revealed spikes of the volatile, cancer-causing gas higher than concentrations detected before the company installed new pollution-control equipment last year. But a top Trump administration official told residents on Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't have enough evidence to take action against the company." Read the story here. | |
 In a new article he penned in The Atlantic, outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the 2012 Chicago teachers strike made him rethink his belief that the "gospel of education reform" followed these tenets: "Hold teachers solely accountable for educational gains. Expand charter schools. Focus relentlessly on high school graduation rates. This was the recipe for success." It was during the strike, Emanuel notes, that he crossed paths with Mahalia Ann Hines, a onetime school principal and mother to musician, actor and activist Common, who talked up principal autonomy — not in the gospel — and how it would allow each school leader the ability to hire his or her staff and hold them accountable rather than, as Emanuel put it, tapping candidates "from a limited pool maintained downtown with the union's strong input" as the union preferred. He pats himself on the back for battling the union and winning on that issue, saying that school reform under his two terms in office saw graduation rates climb and a growing number of Chicago Public Schools students enrolling in college. Check out the essay, which you can read here. 'No teachers, no school!' striking Chicago charter educators say: From the Tribune's Juan Perez Jr.: Unionized educators at four Chicago International Charter School campuses went on strike Tuesday, launching the city's second work stoppage at independently operated campuses after hours of negotiations failed to reach a last-minute contract agreement." It continued Wednesday. Read the story here. | |
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