Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass takes on the Chicago mayoral election in his latest column:
Boss Madigan is a careful, disciplined and cautious man. Yet now he’s on federal tape, and he’s heating up at just the right, or wrong, time in the mayor’s race.
And just the idea of Madigan on federal tape sent shock waves of fear through the state’s political establishment.
Madigan can thank Ald. Danny “Happy Ending†Solis, who was wired up by the FBI on Madigan’s friend Ald. Edward Burke, another prince of the property tax reduction business in Chicago.
The FBI videotaped Madigan pitching for tax appeals legal business in a Chinatown hotel deal, and it all went public in the Sun-Times.
Now the four “establishment†candidates in the mayoral race — I prefer to call them the Madigan-Burke Gang of Four because that is what they are — are trying to distance themselves from Madigan-Burke. They’re sending out their wizards to shake rattles so voters might not connect the dots.
The Madigan-Burke Four are Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, lawyer Gery Chico and Bill Daley, son and brother of Chicago mayors.
Last night a pollster called me to get my opinion on the upcoming mayoral election. One of the questions was “If you had a choice among…for mayor, for whom would you vote?” I answered “None of the above” to the delighted laughter of the pollster and my wife.
There are presently 14 candidates running for mayor. I won’t vote for any of the “establishment” candidates. That leaves me with Jerry Joyce, the son of a former alderman, Garry McCarthy, formerly chief of the Chicago Police Department, Paul Vallas, formerly head of the Chicago Public Schools, and Willie Wilson, a businessman. I’m suspicious of Garry McCarthy and I have issues with all of the candidates’ stated positions. It’s not a happy time. I think that we need a candidate with a pre-built constituency who’s nonetheless willing to upset the status quo and I don’t think that characterizes any of the candidates.
