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The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

I’ve long been on record as opposing early voting because of the interceding events that could – and do – happen between the start of such voting and Election Day. The campaign season isn’t over until it’s over, and the full facts of what will be known during a campaign aren’t fully delivered until it’s time to punch the ballot. A scandal may erupt, a gaffe may be committed, or something worse may occur. In the case of the 16th Ward, something worse has occurred.
In this case, only a day of early voting has been completed. Next time that may not be the case.


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With all due respect. I realize a death has occurred and I tried to write that item with the requisite sensitivity.
Clamp Clout
“One of the first hires in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is the sister of a top aide,” AP reports.
“Emily Clamp has been hired to a $70,000-a-year position with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. She is the sister of Sarah Clamp, who is the governor’s director of special projects and was political director for Rauner’s campaign.
“Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly says Emily Clamp’s degree from Cornell University and experience ‘make her well-suited for the position.'”
I didn’t know a degree from Cornell carried so much weight.
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At least the degree is potentially relevant.
“Her degree from Cornell University in environmental engineering and experience in corporate sustainability, and environmental engineering make her well-suited for the position,” Kelly said in an e-mail to Lee Enterprises reporter Kurt Erickson.
The e-mail did not respond to questions such as who else was considered for the job and how Clamp compared to other candidates, if there were any.
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Her other experience?
“Prior to working for Rauner, Sarah Clamp, 27, worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C.”
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Look, a guy who picked up the phone to Arne Duncan to get his daughter into Payton Prep shouldn’t be expected to behave any other way, regardless of his rhetoric. That’s what always made his attacks on Quinn administration patronage such a laugh.
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Here’s Clamp’s LinkedIn profile, which actually isn’t terrible. Doesn’t mean she should’ve gotten the job.
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I never had a desire to attend a school that had a Headmaster.
Daley Double Take
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spent the last four years criticizing the financial shape predecessor Richard M. Daley left Chicago in, though rarely mentioning him by name,” the Tribune reports.
“On Monday, Daley endorsed Emanuel for a second term.”
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Of course he did; the train’s left the station and he doesn’t want to be left on the tracks.
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Here’s my favorite part:
“[Emanuel campaign spokesman Steve] Mayberry declined to answer a question on whether Daley’s backing will help or hurt Emanuel.”
Ha.
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“Last August, the Tribune asked voters who was more responsible for the city’s current financial problems. Fifty-four percent blamed Daley and 21 percent blamed Emanuel.”
So 75 percent of voters are unhappy today.
Rush Job
“U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush on Monday endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel, months after condemning Emanuel’s decision to close 50 schools and the mayor’s insider-deal appointment of City Treasurer Kurt Summers,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Rush said he still believes Emanuel made a huge mistake by closing 50 schools all at once. But he’s prepared to move beyond that two-year-old controversy and work together with Emanuel to solve Chicago’s daunting problems.

“I disagree with the mayor. However, the total is greater than the sum of its parts. My point is this: If there are 10 items on the table and we agree on eight of the 10, why would we bicker about the other two?” Rush said Monday.

Fine. What are the eight issues you agree on?

“We’ve got so many issues out here in my community. It’s not intelligent for me to focus on the things [where we disagree]. If the mayor and I can agree on economic development and the strategy to create jobs and begin to pursue bringing better transportation and a trauma center to the South Side, why would I allow points of disagreement to get in the way?”

Um, last time I checked, Bobby, you and the mayor were not on the same side when it came to economic development and a trauma center on the South Side. Try again.

“When the leaders of my city, when the mayor stands proudly and takes credit for closing 54 public schools that are mostly on the South and West sides of the City of Chicago, there is nothing but a continuation of the decades-long disinvestment in good-quality schools.”

That’s what I thought. That was last summer, though.
What changed?
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I suspect Rahm called Bobby and not the other way around. I suspect it went something like this:
RAHM: Bobby, your mayor needs you.
RUSH: Um, okay. What’s up?
RAHM: I want your endorsement.
RUSH: [silence]
RAHM: It would be to your benefit to endorse me.
RUSH: [silence]
RAHM: Know what I mean?
RUSH: [silence]
RAHM: [silence]
RUSH: Okay.
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Bobby Rush on Rahm Emanuel, 2011:
“I have served with him in Congress directly and the image you see in these slick TV spots is not the real Rahm Emanuel.”
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“[He also said] the Rahm Emanuel that he served with in Congress clearly showed that he is only concerned about the elite, not the common people, and definitely not Black people, and Rahm specifically led a Congressional delegation to vote against The Congress Black Caucus OVER 120 TIMES, including The Red Line Extension that he voted against yesterday and now tell the Black community he supports today; he voted against funding for Chicago State University yesterday and today now wants to visit; and he voted against humanitarian food aid to South Africa, and over 100 more votes against Congressional Black Caucus legislative efforts for Black and poor communities.”
Charlie Brown
“I think a lot of people expected Rauner to move back to the middle after the election so he could govern as a pragmatic and moderate businessman,” Mark Brown writes for the Sun-Times.
Have I used up my allotment of “Really?s”?
After all, it was the Sun-Times itself in its endorsement of Rauner that said “State government is the plaything of union bosses . . . ”
(By the way, everyone’s link to that endorsement is broken; way to go, digitally savvy Sun-Times! Pretty much every link to the Sun-Times is broken – and if it isn’t, it will be soon.)
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The Beachwood Radio Hour #43: The Endorsement Charade
Watch the Tribune and Sun-Times pretend the script wasn’t already written.
Plus: Chicago Whines; Fire Brian Williams; Journalism Under Attack From The Inside; The Lyingest Administration In Chicago History; and Me And My Medicaid.
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David Haugh Is Just The Worst
Tribune’s Lead Sports Columnist Says We Should Be Grateful To Shut Down Congress For The NFL And Deliver Blue M&Ms To Roger Goodell.
See also: Exclusive! Inside Chicago’s NFL Draft Bid.
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BeachBook
* Brian Williams And The ‘Gangs’ That Terrorized The Ritz-Carlton During Katrina.
* New Premium Uber Service Lets Users Commandeer Any Car.
* Wisconsin Lip Balm Maker Builds Giant Theater Pipe Organ.
* Rich School, Poor School.
* Cathy CK.
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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Back and never went away.

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Posted on February 10, 2015