All Articles Tagged "mayoral race"
Gaffes Continue to Hamper Braun
(Chicago Tribune) — Carol Moseley Braun sat with her back straight and her hands folded on a table, surveying a North Side breakfast spot on a Sunday morning with the trademark smile she wears on the campaign trail. Two young women cut through the bustle and asked if they could take a cell phone snapshot with her, sheepishly saying they would leave if they were being annoying. ”No, no, it’s OK,” Braun said cheerily as she waved them to her side. “I live for this.”
And indeed she seems to. Braun is an able campaigner, often spending long minutes chatting with voters as her staff waits — and waits — to get her to the next stop. With an outsize personality and one-on-one likability, Braun’s problem has never been connecting. But the bright smile isn’t the only thing Braun brought on her return to politics. There’s also a track record of public relations gaffes and inattention to detail.
She has struggled to project a clear message for why she thinks she is the best successor to Mayor Richard Daley after more than a decade out of public life. A series of flippant remarks have prompted her biggest headlines and she has lagged in polls and fundraising, even after other African-American candidates dropped out to improve her chances.
She is running for mayor more than 18 years after becoming the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, a landmark moment that followed stints in the Illinois House and as Cook County recorder of deeds. But that triumph was tarnished by accusations that she improperly spent campaign funds on luxury items and travel, and her momentum was lost completely with an infamous unsanctioned trip to visit a Nigerian dictator.
Watkins Preaches Redemption in Mayoral Bid
(Chicago Tribune) — Community activist Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins preaches the importance of redemption wherever she goes in her run for Chicago mayor — a campaign that has become an extension of her evangelical mission. ”Every one of us has committed some kind of crime in our lives. We just didn’t get caught,” Watkins said last week at a community forum at the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Her message that day — helping ex-offenders remake their lives when they return to their communities — is a theme for both her campaign and her work in the impoverished Englewood and Gresham communities on the South Side. Watkins says the communities she speaks to and works in every day are at risk of being ignored by the other candidates who are seeking to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley.
“It was clear not one of them would carry our voices,” Watkins said. “Politicians always talk up here. Skip that stuff. Let’s talk about what’s really happening on the ground.” So at 53, she is making her first bid for public office. But her own voice may not have been heard without the substantial support of her pastor, the Rev. Joseph L. Stanford, who leads the Ambassadors for Christ church she helped found. Stanford encouraged her to run and bankrolled her campaign with $296,000 in donations — more than half of her contributions.
Mayoral Candidates Go after Emanuel on Taxes, Slavery reparations
(Chicago Tribune) — Rahm Emanuel found himself criticized on issues ranging from taxes to reparations for slavery Wednesday night during the first forum featuring all six candidates for Chicago mayor. The former White House chief of staff mostly ignored the barbs, especially those from Gery Chico, former Chicago school board president. He contended that Emanuel would burden taxpayers with a service tax Emanuel has proposed as part of a plan that would include a quarter-point cut in the city sales tax. Two other candidates, William “Dock” Walls and Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins, slammed Emanuel for his positions on tax increment financing districts and reparations. Emanuel agreed with most candidates in supporting reparations for descendants of slavery, but said that all citizens need to keep in mind that the city has a significant budget deficit to tackle. Watkins, a community activist and one of three African-American candidates, said she was offended by Emanuel’s comments because the nation was built “on the backs” of slaves. It’s unclear exactly what a mayor could do on the issue. Previous efforts at City Hall have been mostly symbolic. The question came up at a debate hosted by the Chicago Defender newspaper at the DuSable Museumof African American History. The candidates also discussed changes to TIF districts, with Walls hammering Emanuel’s plan to use the funds to hire more cops.
N’DIGO Endorses Rahm Emanuel for Mayor
(Huffington Post) — Chicago is at a major crossroads in its development. The city faces massive budget deficits and has been privatized to the point of no return — the parking meters were simply a dreadful deal. Taxes are high and TIFs needs to be equally distributed and reconsidered in their allocation. The crime rate may be down overall, but not for kids in certain parts of town who keep getting shot for no cause. There are union problems, neighborhood re-development issues, and major questions as to what to do about the Chicago Public Schools and the City Colleges of Chicago. It will take innovation, extensive knowledge of the public and private sectors, proven management experience, political adroitness, and steely determination to solve the major issues facing Chicagoans as we move into an uncertain future. At this point in time, and among this particular set of candidates, Rahm Emanuel is the person who most embodies these qualifications, and therefore, I am endorsing Rahm Emanuel for Mayor of the City of Chicago. Of the six mayoral candidates, he has demonstrated a vision for the city that will continue to move us forward in a world class direction, and his leadership, business, and political acumen simply outshines the rest of the field by far.
Candidates Grapple with Grim Budget Outlook
(Chicago Tribune) — Chicago’s next mayor quickly will be tested by a budget that experts say could be more than $1 billion short after years of one-time fixes, lagging revenue and soaring costs. The choices the city’s new leader makes in dealing with that major problem will go a long way toward determining whether he or she can live up to lofty campaign trail promises. The candidates vying to replace the retiring Mayor Richard Daley are pledging substantial savings, but so far none has offered a detailed plan for a combination of cutting costs and bringing in more money that matches the size of the challenge the city faces. It’s not difficult to see why. Laying out a line-by-line accounting of the painful truths that await could become divide-and-conquer campaign fodder for opponents.And voters aren’t in the best mood these days. A Tribune/WGN poll conducted Jan. 15-19 showed city taxpayers prefer service cuts to tax hikes. And in the wake of a despised parking-meter lease, they strongly oppose selling off more city assets that could raise billions in the short term. Given that, mayoral contenders are balancing their general talk of where to cut the budget with promises to spend more money on popular programs and scale back certain taxes.
How Mayoral Hopefuls Manage Their Own Money
(Chicago Sun Times) — Gery Chico’s income in 2005? Negative $165,996. Chico, though, has since righted his financial ship. He owns four homes — two of which he bought for more than $2 million apiece in 2009. Rahm Emanuel made millions as an investment banker, invested it and owns two houses. Chico, a lawyer, and Emanuel, President Obama’s former chief of staff, are the richest of the six candidates running for Chicago mayor, an examination of their tax returns and public records shows. A third high-profile candidate, small-business owner Carol Moseley Braun, has been struggling financially as she tries to sell her home for $1.9 million. A fourth, Miguel del Valle, has had a steady income from his job as Chicago city clerk and lives in a modest bungalow. The financial pictures for the other two candidates for mayor — Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins and William “Dock” Walls III — aren’t as clear. Watkins, a community activist, declined to answer questions about why she lives in a house that’s owned by a church whose leader is heavily bankrolling her mayoral run. Also, she has donated sizable chunks of her income to one or more charities that she declined to identify.
Braun Apologizes for Calling Rival a Crack Addict
(Chicago Sun Times) — After two days of controversy related to a verbal swipe she took at a rival for the mayor’s seat, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun Tuesday apologized for calling Patricia Van Pelt Watkins a crack addict. “I want to apologize to her, to the congregations and members of Trinity United Church … and to all of the families and friends of those who are, or have been caught up in the tragedy of drug use,” Braun said at the Mt. Pilgrim church on the West Side. Told of the apology, Watkins said, “Though I accept Carol’s media-issued apology, I believe she should seek sensitivity counseling and make restitution by volunteering at a recovery house as soon as possible. Carol’s reckless comments reveal her detachment from the experiences of the majority of Chicago families who just need a second chance.”
Mayoral Candidates Forum Gets a Bit Nasty
(Chicago Sun Times) — The gloves came off during a mayoral candidates forum at Trinity United Church of Christ Sunday afternoon when candidate Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins questioned opponent former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun’s commitment to working with Chicago’s African-American communities and Moseley Braun responded by calling her a former crack addict. “Carol Moseley Braun hasn’t been around for 20 years,” said Watkins, a community activist, prompting a verbal response from the crowd in the church. “We haven’t seen her.” Moseley Braun, allowed to answer later, listed her public service and told Watkins, “You were strung out on crack. I was starting a business on the South Side. I was hiring people.”
Emanuel Back in Mayoral Race after Ruling
(Chicago Sun Times) — Rahm Emanuel can run for mayor. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled 7-0 Thursday that Emanuel qualifies as a Chicago resident and can remain on the ballot for the election, which is now less than a month away. “I’m relieved for this. I’m relieved for the city. I’m relieved for the voters because they need the certainty that’s important for them,” Emanuel said after the ruling was handed down late Thursday afternoon. Emanuel said he immediately called his wife and parents upon hearing the news — and also took a call from President Obama.
Emanuel Back on Ballot – for Now
(Chicago Sun Times) — The Illinois Supreme Court threw mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel at least a temporary lifeline Tuesday, agreeing to hear his appeal of the Appellate Court order knocking him off the ballot. Chicago Board of Elections Chairman Langdon Neal called the Waukegan company that began printing the city’s election ballots Tuesday and literally told them “Stop the presses!” Based on Monday’s ruling by the state Appellate Court that Emanuel did not meet the state’s one-year residency requirement to run for mayor, the board had removed Emanuel’s name from the ballot. On Tuesday, after the state Supreme Court stayed the Appellate Court’s order, the board added Emanuel’s name back on the ballot and resumed printing.
