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2019年2月13日 星期三

What Griffin's $1M donation means | O'Hare's hush-hush plan | A year after Cmdr. Bauer's death

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Chicago Tribune

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February 13, 2019

chicagotribune.com

The Spin by Lisa Donovan

Mayoral candidate Bill Daley fended off criticism Wednesday over a $1 million donation from the state's wealthiest businessman Ken Griffin.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who in a week will give his first budget address, is likely holding his nose over two public policy groups recommending the state tax retirement income to close the budget gap. Just what he'll trot out is something of a mystery at this point — but not as weirdly mysterious as the selection process for an architect for the planned expansion of O'Hare International Airport.

And today marks a year since Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer was gunned down in broad daylight across from City Hall, while tomorrow marks a year since the deadly Parkland, Florida, high school shooting. There were thoughts and prayers and promises from politicians. A look at what has and hasn't happened in Congress.

Welcome to The Spin.

1

What Ken Griffin's $1M donation to Daley means

From the Tribune's Gregory Pratt: "Billionaire hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, who has given tens of millions to former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and supported Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is donating $1 million to Bill Daley's mayoral campaign." Read the full story here.

What it means to the campaign: "Griffin's donation is a major boost that will help him flood the airwaves in the final 13 days before the Feb. 26 mayoral election with ads touting his promised property tax freeze and "no more excuses" tagline as he seeks to finish in the top two and make a nearly certain April 2 runoff," Pratt writes.

What's the deal with Ken Griffin? Founder of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, Griffin has given nearly $59 million to Republican candidates in Illinois and related committees between 2013 and 2018, including former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy businessman booted out of office by Democrat and Hyatt Hotel heir J.B. Pritzker, said Kent Redfield, University of Illinois at Springfield political science professor emeritus. These donations weren't about being a social conservative — but about giving money to pro-business candidates.

What's Griffin donation mean? There's no reason to believe Griffin's signaling that this is the business community's candidate, Redfield said. Though other members of the business community are throwing their support Daley's way.

Griffin "is someone who has an economic business agenda, is looking at the candidates and saying, 'this is where I can put some money, and it will make a difference in the campaign,' " Redfield said. "And Daley comes out of a family background with a father and brother who were mayors who were pro-growth, pro-economic development and open to the kinds of activities that created a fair amount of cooperation between business investment communities and trade unions."

More Daley dough: In addition to Griffin, philanthropist Anne Edwards kicked in $25,000 to the Daley campaign. She and husband Donald J. Edwards, the private equity executive, had been reliable backers of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Meredith Bluhm-Wolf, the daughter of casino owner, developer and longtime Democratic donor Neil Bluhm, donated $50,000 while the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney each wrote $10,000 checks to Daley's campaign.

Daley tally: He leads the pack of 14 mayoral candidates in fundraising with $7.5 million and counting.

Campaign finance: You can look at all the zeroes on the Griffin donation (and others) here. *Track campaign contributions, maintained by the Illinois State Board of Elections, in real time here and here.

The joke: At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Daley said he was honored that the Chicago Tribune editorial board – which is separate from the newsroom and this newsletter – endorsed him for mayor. He quipped: "I said, 'Russians must've hacked the Tribune website.'"

2

Budget watchdog says Illinois should tax retirement income, but Pritzker unlikely to go along

From the Tribune's Dan Petrella: "A second public policy organization is calling for Illinois to tax retirement income and expand the sales tax to some consumer services as part of a sweeping plan to fix the state's fiscal woes.

"The recommendations from nonpartisan budget watchdog Civic Federation come one week before new Gov. J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to present his first budget proposal to lawmakers. The Democratic governor backs legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana and sports gambling, as well as overhauling the state income tax system in two years. But he hasn't endorsed taxing retirement income or gotten specific on taxing services." Read the story here.

The Lake Shore Drive effect?: It's been nearly a decade since Illinois passed a capital bill to fund major improvements to the state's roads, bridges and other infrastructure. As lawmakers and Pritzker gear up to discuss a public works program during the spring legislative session, a new coalition wants some of the money to go to Brookfield Zoo.

The call for funding comes just two days after steel beams supporting part of Lake Shore Drive cracked, temporarily closing a portion of the road and calling attention to the state's aging infrastructure.

The zoo, managed by the nonprofit Chicago Zoological Society on land owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District, received $17 million from the state's 2009 capital bill and has identified $260 million in needed improvements — a figure sure to catch the eye of budget hawks. Stuart Strahl, president and CEO of the Zoological Society, said in a news release that receiving state funding to address issues such as leaky roofs and gas lines, electrical failures, flooded paths, and potholes would allow Brookfield Zoo to focus on its mission of education and conservation. (Dan Petrella)

3

City Council's Black Caucus leader rips white aldermanic candidate for 'racist' costume photo

From the Tribune's John Byrne: "The head of the City Council Black Caucus ripped a white aldermanic candidate Tuesday for a picture showing him wearing a banana costume while posing with friends in monkey masks and African-American youths. South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, reacted to the 2013 picture of 1st Ward candidate Daniel La Spata that appeared online by saying, 'I have no interest in having a colleague in the City Council who would participate in this sort of bigotry.'" Read the full story here.

There were comparisons to the blackface scandal enveloping Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

So is it ever OK for a white person to wear blackface? That was one of the questions Chicago Tonight's Brandis Friedman posed to two African-American comedians, Anthony LeBlanc, associate creative director of The Second City and Aaron Freeman, the artist-in-residence of the Chicago Council on Science and Technology. Their sometimes opposing views and perspectives on the issue are fascinating and worth watching.

4

A peek inside Chicago's hush-hush competition to pick an O'Hare expansion

From the Tribune's Blair Kamin: "The shades were drawn last month when a glittering array of architects presented their plans for the massive O'Hare International Airport expansion in a high-ceilinged downtown lecture hall. Other glass walls that would have let people peek in were papered over. The architects included Zurich-based Santiago Calatrava, designer of the bird-shaped addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Chicago's Jeanne Gang, best known for her curvaceous Aqua Tower.

"At stake: A prestigious commission worth millions of dollars in fees and the right to reshape the core of the nation's busiest airport."

Really? "Even Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has made choosing the expansion architect a priority before he leaves office in May, insists he doesn't know when he'll announce the winner," Kamin reports.

5

It's been a year since slaying of Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer; mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida

From the Tribune's Madeline Buckley: A year ago today, "Bauer was downtown meeting with aldermen when he responded to a radio call of a fleeing suspect. He chased Shomari Legghette, 44, to the top of a stairwell and struggled with him. The confrontation continued to the bottom of the stairs, where police say Legghette took out a handgun and fired seven shots. Legghette has been indicted on 56 felony counts, including murder and gun charges." Read about the ceremony to honor Bauer here.

And tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 and injuring 17 others. Since the killings, congressional Democrats, including members of Chicago's delegation, have pushed to tighten gun control laws while working to streamline access to death benefits for families of fallen officers. An update on those efforts:

Background checks: Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's beltway show "Hardball" on Tuesday night pointed to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that showed more Americans want stricter gun control, but doubt lawmakers can get the job done. U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, a Matteson Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District, a guest on the show said she thinks there's momentum for the universal background check proposal, known as HR 8. If passed, it would require all gun dealers, including private vendors, to do background checks on customers. It will likely sail through the Democratic-controlled House, but the GOP-controlled Senate is another hurdle.

"Well, I definitely think it's going to pass the House, it's been bipartisan (effort) for a long time, we just could not get (previous) Speaker (John) Boehner or Speaker (Paul) Ryan to even call the bill," she said of the Republican speakers before Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who took the gavel after November's midterm elections. "It'll be tougher in the Senate, but I'm hoping all the advocacy, all the energy around this … they'll take it over to the Senate and put the pressure on, frankly, the Republican Senators."

Increasing benefits, cutting red tape: This week, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Illinois Democrats Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, introduced legislation to hike death benefits for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters killed on the job. In addition to increasing the death and disability benefit from the current $350,000 to $500,000 and hiking the education benefit from just more than $1,000 monthly to $2,000 per month, the aim is to streamline the application process for the "Public Safety Officers' Benefit" and to slash delays, according to Duckworth's office. The legislation was first introduced by California U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz to honor two fallen Palm Springs officers.

"Our nation can do much more to support the families of first responders who lost their life protecting us from harm," Duckworth said in a prepared statement.

6

Odds and Ends

Preckwinkle vs. Daley, Wilson: Cook County Board president and Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle is out with a new web ad going after Bill Daley and businessman Willie Wilson. The ad, paid for by her campaign, features pictures of Daley and Wilson and states in part that they both "oppose raising the minimum wage to $15" and that they're "hurting 400,000 minimum wage workers."

Mendoza vs. Daley: Illinois State comptroller and mayoral candidate Susana Mendoza,launched a new Jeopardy-themed ad that lays the blame for some of the city and state's fiscal problems at Bill Daley's feet. The interactive web ad models the gameshow's answer-and question style. Viewers can "play" by clicking on a topic, with (spoiler alert) with every answer "Who is Bill Daley?" Here's a sample: "He advised in favor of the city selling its parking meter system, then called it 'good business' and said he is 'open to privatization of more city assets.' " Watch it here.

Former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez released from hospital: Roughly a week after he was hospitalized in Chicago for "extremely high blood pressure and hypertension," former U.S. Rep. Luis Guitierrez is back home where he'll continue recuperating, his family says.

His wife Soraida Gutierrez said in an emailed statement: "Luis has been discharged from the hospital and will be receiving outpatient care for extreme high blood pressure moving forward. He is resting comfortably and doctors expect him to fully recover." Read the story here.

ldonovan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @byldonovan

 

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