By Steve Rhodes

I highly advise you to think long and hard about how you engage with me, and about your role in this Village moving forward. If you (or any one else, for that matter) continue to expend your energy attempting to derail me, you will be highly, highly disappointed and in fact, you will be damaging not only your career, but your quality of life. I guarantee it. I will be merciless and relentless in ensuring that you, and any other people of ill character – not acting in good faith – are dealt with appropriately; for the sake of this Village – and it will be unlike anything you have ever experienced.
– Amara Enyia, then acting village manager of south suburban University Park, in an e-mail to trustee board member (and lawyer) Oscar Brown Jr., under the subject heading “Potential Legal Action Regarding our Conversation on Thursday 15th.” (Boldface in the original.)
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When the Tribune reported its takeout of Amara Enyia in early February – one in a series the paper has done on mayoral candidates – it focused mainly on her tax problems, or at least that’s what seemed to get the lion’s share of everybody’s attention. But the paper also showed discrepancies between Enyia’s claims of accomplishment and reality. I encourage you to click the link and review the story again – or for the first time if you missed it!
Curiously, Enyia never talks about her brief time as the interim village manager of University Park, the closest job she’s had to mayor of Chicago. (If that sounds absurd, that’s because it is, even though it’s true.) Now we know why.
Enyia took on the assignment in 2017 – two years after her first run for mayor of Chicago. She is now, of course, running again to lead the nation’s third-largest city. But to be frank, Enyia’s time in UP was a shitshow well beyond what the Tribune has already reported.

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Posted on February 24, 2019

By Steve Rhodes

Barring developments of the unforeseen kind, I mentally locked in my vote for mayor two days ago and ended up where I started: Lori Lightfoot.
She’s far from perfect. But not as far as Toni Preckwinkle, to whom I gave the benefit of the doubt for a long time even as she seemed to do everything she could to lose it with each passing week. Plus, Berrios.
I briefly considered Paul Vallas, but this is not the time for a white male who chartered the entire New Orleans school district, even if he is a budget whiz.
Gery Chico isn’t actually altogether horrible, but that’s about the best I can say about him at this point.
I never really considered anybody else.
In a post-Laquan era, a believer and practitioner in police reform is exactly what the city needs – and Lightfoot is someone who understands that fixing our police department can go a long way toward not only driving down crime but uplifting communities and creating an environment in which other issues like affordable housing and neighborhood schools can really be addressed.
Bill Daley likes to say, “If we we don’t get crime under control, nothing else matters.” He’s wrong. His top-down law enforcement approach is exactly what we’ve had enough of. His specious calls for “tougher sentencing” and putting more people in prison goes against everything we’ve learned in recent years. Instead, we need to reverse direction, and that’s what Lightfoot (and, frankly, Preckwinkle) is advocating. Daley (among everything else that is wrong with him) is still stuck in the mindset that the only problem with the police are the few bad apples who spoil it for the bunch. That’s just sophistry. Lightfoot understands in her bones how systemic and institutional racism coupled with a sick organizational culture have created the environment we’re in – even as she’s spent a large portion of her career as a federal prosecutor and has even defended cops in court. Lightfoot, then, is uniquely positioned to be the mayor this city needs as it falls under the pall of a federal consent decree. This is Chicago’s chance to get this stuff right.
Now, I’ve been around long enough to know I should never allow myself to actually like a politician. They will always let you down. But Lightfoot is the candidate I find least undesirable. And this week she seems to have finally passed the viability and plausibility test. I’ve come to believe she might actually be able to do the job.
Of course, if she wins, I’ll be on her case from day one, when deserving. I’m not “backing” her. I’m not invested in her. I’m just voting for her.
So let’s take a look a long look at Lori Lightfoot.

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Posted on February 22, 2019

By The Office Of Inspector General

The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General has completed an audit of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners which found that the Board: spent taxpayer money on unnecessary expenses, did not extend benefits to some entitled employees, did not budget accurately for personnel nor align hiring and compensation with best practices, and could not assure the public that it would be able to maintain election operations in the event of an attack or disaster.
The audit found significant gaps in CBOEC’s financial administration, including:

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Posted on February 4, 2019