Chicago Megathread: With CTU on strike, Lightfoot lays out her budget

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I heard from a friend in Chicago that petitions are circulating for Mendoza, even though she's not publicly running right now.

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the "Republican" in the race is not Daley, and certainly not Wilson. Daley stands for the interests of the city's wealthy elite, but that's not synonymous with Republicans, especially in Chicago -- it's more or less a lot of the same people who backed Rahm. The candidates who are actively attempting to court Republicans (appearing at GOP events, targeting GOP voters, etc) are Joyce, Fioretti, Kozlar, McCarthy and Vallas, the latter two of whom are the most serious. Vallas, hilariously, showed up at my college's College Republicans meeting, and recently received the endorsement of Bruce Rauner. McCarthy, meanwhile, is pursuing the votes of every cop in the city

if you're a Republican in Chicago, you're probably voting for McCarthy if you're one of the northwest side Republicans, and Vallas if you're one of the rich Republicans who wants to privatize every function of city government. Also a decent chance of voting for Joyce or Kozlar, depending on neighborhood ties (southwest side for the former, Canaryville for the latter). No idea who's voting for Fioretti, but someone is lmao

What do you mean "certainly not Wilson"? Rauner praised Wilson on multiple occasions. Also, Rauner did not only endorse Vallas. He said he thought Vallas or Wilson would make the best Mayor. Whether or not Wilson is actively courting Republicans, he's certainly a candidate that appeals to Republicans.

Also, re:your next comment, Eniya is a complete non factor who will finish like 12th, and I would certainly add Mendoza is a progressive liberal.

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the "Republican" in the race is not Daley, and certainly not Wilson. Daley stands for the interests of the city's wealthy elite, but that's not synonymous with Republicans, especially in Chicago -- it's more or less a lot of the same people who backed Rahm. The candidates who are actively attempting to court Republicans (appearing at GOP events, targeting GOP voters, etc) are Joyce, Fioretti, Kozlar, McCarthy and Vallas, the latter two of whom are the most serious. Vallas, hilariously, showed up at my college's College Republicans meeting, and recently received the endorsement of Bruce Rauner. McCarthy, meanwhile, is pursuing the votes of every cop in the city

if you're a Republican in Chicago, you're probably voting for McCarthy if you're one of the northwest side Republicans, and Vallas if you're one of the rich Republicans who wants to privatize every function of city government. Also a decent chance of voting for Joyce or Kozlar, depending on neighborhood ties (southwest side for the former, Canaryville for the latter). No idea who's voting for Fioretti, but someone is lmao

What do you mean "certainly not Wilson"? Rauner praised Wilson on multiple occasions. Also, Rauner did not only endorse Vallas. He said he thought Vallas or Wilson would make the best Mayor. Whether or not Wilson is actively courting Republicans, he's certainly a candidate that appeals to Republicans.

Also, re:your next comment, Eniya is a complete non factor who will finish like 12th, and I would certainly add Mendoza is a progressive liberal.

No, she is certainly not. She has fallen in line with Madigan and the rest of the machine every step of the way. She cites Madigan and Ed Burke as her mentors. She is no reformist nor progressive.

What kind of metric is that? You don't necessarily have to be a reformist to be a progressive or liberal. Preckwinkle, for example, is also a machine politician... and is far more dependent on her machine ties than Mendoza (Mendoza actually has a strong personal brand at this point. Without her machine ties Preckwinkle would have no hope of making the runoff.)

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What do you mean "certainly not Wilson"? Rauner praised Wilson on multiple occasions. Also, Rauner did not only endorse Vallas. He said he thought Vallas or Wilson would make the best Mayor. Whether or not Wilson is actively courting Republicans, he's certainly a candidate that appeals to Republicans.

There's a difference between being a conservative, which Wilson is, and being a Republican in the particular sense of today's Republican Party, which is what I assumed the poster was asking about. Wilson specifically has embraced an odd blend of generally "pro-business" policies that appeal to conservatives (a property tax freeze, for instance) with policies that are anathema to everything the GOP stands for (sanctuary city, ending police brutality, free CTA for seniors). It's correct to understand him as one of the more conservative candidates among the members of the field, but it's very odd to call him a Republican (a lot of this also applies to Daley, for that matter)

Well, I don't think any major candidate is a "normal" Republican. If we're talking about candidates above asterisk level that Republicans might support, Wilson is definitely up there.

Edit: I mean, Vallas, who you listed, was literally Pat Quinn's running mate in 2014.

Also, re:your next comment, Eniya is a complete non factor who will finish like 12th

She's fourth in the most recent polling.

Could you link me the poll? The best poll I've seen for Eniya was the recent CTU poll that had her at 7%, behind Preckwinkle, Mendoza, Daley, and McCarthy. And I expect her to fall, not rise, during the campaign because she has no money and barely any campaign infrastructure.

I would certainly add Mendoza is a progressive liberal.

No

I can't imagine thinking Mendoza is to the right of, say, Preckwinkle. Could you expand on your thoughts here?

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the "Republican" in the race is not Daley, and certainly not Wilson. Daley stands for the interests of the city's wealthy elite, but that's not synonymous with Republicans, especially in Chicago -- it's more or less a lot of the same people who backed Rahm. The candidates who are actively attempting to court Republicans (appearing at GOP events, targeting GOP voters, etc) are Joyce, Fioretti, Kozlar, McCarthy and Vallas, the latter two of whom are the most serious. Vallas, hilariously, showed up at my college's College Republicans meeting, and recently received the endorsement of Bruce Rauner. McCarthy, meanwhile, is pursuing the votes of every cop in the city

if you're a Republican in Chicago, you're probably voting for McCarthy if you're one of the northwest side Republicans, and Vallas if you're one of the rich Republicans who wants to privatize every function of city government. Also a decent chance of voting for Joyce or Kozlar, depending on neighborhood ties (southwest side for the former, Canaryville for the latter). No idea who's voting for Fioretti, but someone is lmao

What do you mean "certainly not Wilson"? Rauner praised Wilson on multiple occasions. Also, Rauner did not only endorse Vallas. He said he thought Vallas or Wilson would make the best Mayor. Whether or not Wilson is actively courting Republicans, he's certainly a candidate that appeals to Republicans.

Also, re:your next comment, Eniya is a complete non factor who will finish like 12th, and I would certainly add Mendoza is a progressive liberal.

No, she is certainly not. She has fallen in line with Madigan and the rest of the machine every step of the way. She cites Madigan and Ed Burke as her mentors. She is no reformist nor progressive.

What kind of metric is that? You don't necessarily have to be a reformist to be a progressive or liberal. Preckwinkle, for example, is also a machine politician... and is far more dependent on her machine ties than Mendoza (Mendoza actually has a strong personal brand at this point. Without her machine ties Preckwinkle would have no hope of making the runoff.)

Preckwinkle actually has a record of progressive opposition. As alderman, she voted many times against Daley's budgets. One time, she was the only one to do so. As Board President, she has made significant investments in criminal justice reform and restorative justice/recidivism reduction programs. She has a strong record on affordable housing. She opposed the parking meter deal.

Preckwinkle has certainly made friends with certain individuals in order to avoid conflict with those individuals, but that is trumped by her progressive record. What is Mendoza's progressive record?

Well, she supported moving to a progressive income tax system and raising the minimum wage. Opposing Madigan is just political suicide, especially if you're a state representative.

I want to be clear I'm not against Preckwinkle or disagreeing that she's a solid progressive. I just can't see her as being that different on the issues from Mendoza, and I really can't see her being more of an outsider.

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Willie Wilson was endorsed by the Cook County GOP.

Still think he's not going to get the most Republican support, sjoyce?

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WTF!!!??? I thought Mendoza was a shoe-in, against either Preckwinkle or Daley. What happened, and where did Lightfoot come from?

The top candidates were too effective in nuking each other. Lightfoot never got attacked and had broad appeal to many different demographics.

Unfortunately, Mendoza's campaign was not good at all. Her campaign was light on substance and she focused on attacking Preckwinkle and only switched strategies a week or so before the election, when her campaign was obviously in free fall.

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1) Lol what? I don't speak for her motives. I just give my opinion on her actions and their impact. My opinion is that it is a great pick. Why are you questioning it? I can tell you that if Toni Preckwinkle were elected, we'd have gotten an old establishment friend to chair it. In fact, if Burke hadn't been indicted, she'd have gladly kept him in place. O'Connor, too, if he hadn't lost.

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

... and what's wrong with this exactly? Why wouldn't she appoint a fellow progressive who supported her progressive campaign? Should she have appointed someone who opposes her and her agenda? What a bizarre criticism.

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She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

... and what's wrong with this exactly? Why wouldn't she appoint a fellow progressive who supported her progressive campaign? Should she have appointed someone who opposes her and her agenda? What a bizarre criticism.

"what's wrong with appointing people based solely on their loyalty"

Yes, that's my question. Do you want to answer it?

In order to get things done in politics you need allies. If you don't reward your allies, they won't remain allies for long. I guess you'd prefer Lightfoot to remain pure as the driven snow and never get anything done?