Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“At a time when leading legislators’ private side jobs are increasingly under scrutiny, newly elevated state Senate President Don Harmon will step down as a partner at the law firm Burke Burns & Pinelli, Ltd. to focus full-time on his new leadership position,” WTTW reports.
The Beachwood gets results! (See “Oak Park Lawyer Gets Big Side Job.”)


*
“Harmon told Chicago Tonight on Wednesday he met with the firm’s founding partner Mary Patricia Burns on Tuesday to discuss his exit.

“We began the discussion of me stepping away from the practice in order to devote more time to the Senate presidency,” said Harmon, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 39th District, which covers parts of Oak Park. “We’re working out all those details but I’ve recognized that I just don’t have the time capacity to be a good senate president and to practice law the way I practiced it.”

So it’s about time, not the myriad conflicts of interest. That doesn’t exactly signal a new era in ethics. I would’ve preferred Harmon acknowledging that at the least, legislators’ side jobs are a bad look, and at the most, we all know it’s a dirty business that has hardened voters’ cynicism, hobbled democracy and made for bad government. So let’s call it a half-step, at best.
*
Via the Sun-Times:
“I was very careful to manage the conflicts, and my firm was incredibly committed to making sure I had the chance to maintain my integrity,” Harmon told WTTW. “The simple fact of the matter is I just don’t have the time to be a good Senate president and live up to my responsibilities to my partners and my clients.”
To which Rich Miller at Capitol Fax replied: “The headline of that article was nonsense, by the way. “Illinois Senate President Don Harmon ‘stepping away’ from law firm job amid conflict of interest scrutiny.” Somebody does the right thing for a change and that’s the response? Yeah, that’ll encourage more of this sort of behavior.”
But Harmon didn’t stay he stepped away from his law firm because it was the right thing to do – he clearly said he simply wouldn’t have the time to continue practicing law as the state senate president.
In fact, if Harmon was stepping away to do the right thing, as Miller presumes, he would’ve done so before now. So his motive may be time or, more likely, because (particularly at the moment) it’s a bad look. Neither of those constitutes being the right thing to do. (And the notion that the Sun-Times headline would discourage others from doing the same is silly and backwards.)
–
Juice WRLD
“Juice WRLD, who rapped about his struggles with substance abuse and achieving meteoric success, died of an accidental drug overdose during a December drug raid at Midway Airport in Chicago, a medical examiner ruled on Wednesday,” the New York Times reports.
“The rapper, whose real name was Jarad A. Higgins, died on Dec. 8 as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said. He was 21.
“The autopsy findings corroborate law enforcement accounts that Mr. Higgins had gone into convulsions while officers searched a private jet that had been carrying the hip-hop star for drugs and guns.”
*
“The raid turned up 70 pounds of marijuana in 41 vacuum-sealed bags and six bottles of liquid prescription codeine cough syrup that were hidden in unmarked luggage, according to the authorities, who said they were tipped off about the drugs.”
–
Previously in the Beachwood: Remembering Juice WRLD.
–
See also:
* XXL: Juice Wrld’s Family Releases First Statement Since Rapper’s Death.
* TheThings: Eminem Song Shatters Records And Immortalizes Juice WRLD.
–
Peddling Pot
“Saying they have years, and, in some cases, decades of experience selling marijuana, a group of black citizens say they cannot wait on delayed government bureaucracy to establish policy for them to land jobs in the lucrative new legalized cannabis industry. They need and want jobs now,” the Defender reports.
“The men and women, some ex-felons, have turned to Tio ‘Mr. Ceasefire’ Hardiman, executive director of Violence Interrupters, to assist them in their quest to secure permits, just like food vendors, to distribute and sell marijuana legally in their neighborhoods.”
This is amusing yet common sensical, though ultimately the social equity piece of the current cannabis law has been worked out over years and seems well thought-out.
–
ChicagoReddit

What messes up the CTA bus tracker? from r/chicago


–
ChicagoGram

View this post on Instagram

Look, a bird with arms #pilsen #birdswitharms #streetart #chicago #throwback #nicefit

A post shared by Sven (@officersnickersoffduty) on


–
ChicagoTube
Austeros de Durango – Andamos Por Chicago

–
TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


*


*


–
The Beachwood Script Line: Go off.

Permalink

Posted on January 23, 2020