| | | | |  | | By Shia Kapos | Happy spring, Illinois. “We may get bent, but we will never be broken,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said three years ago before the city shut down due to the pandemic. What a time.
|  | TOP TALKER | | | 
Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson, left, and Paul Vallas share a light-hearted moment before the March 16, 2023, debate on ABC 7. | Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool | Early voting starts today across the state for municipal elections. We’re focused on Chicago because it’s Illinois' most powerful city. The outcome of the Chicago mayor’s race is an indicator for many as to where the country might be heading ahead of the 2024 General Election. Back to school: We know Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson differ greatly on their approach to crime, but they also have vastly different views on education. Where they’re coming from: Vallas is a former Chicago Public Schools chief who supports school choice. And Johnson is a former schoolteacher and organizer and lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union, which opposes parental school choice. Interesting point made by Sun-Times/WBEZ: CTU “keeps paying [Johnson] between $83,000 and $103,000 a year, public records show.” Deep dive: Their backgrounds explain their clashing views, by Sun-Times’ Nader Issa and Lauren FitzPatrick and WBEZ’s Sarah Karp. What they agree on: Vallas and Johnson both see their experience in education as an attribute to understanding how to improve education — and agree that education is part of the solution to helping control crime by getting young people off the streets. But they disagree on the CTU’s efforts to keep schools closed during the pandemic. Vallas has blamed Johnson for the closure, saying it's had “devastating consequences” to young people, including increasing crime. Johnson, meanwhile, has criticized Vallas for embracing charter schools in Chicago and in New Orleans, where he worked after Hurricane Katrina. They both say the other’s union support is a problem. Vallas questions Johnson being able to make independent decisions given the CTU is bankrolling his campaign. And Johnson has criticized Vallas' endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police, though Vallas has not taken campaign cash from the organization. Voters who haven’t made a decision can tune in to a debate Tuesday on WGN 9 and in-person Saturday at 11 a.m. at UIC Forum. It’s sponsored by One Chicago for All Alliance. At a debate Saturday: Vallas and Johnson clash over race, taxes, CTU, violence: ‘Don’t shake your head,’ report Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and Alice Yin The gospel truth: On Sunday, both Johnson and Vallas stopped by churches on the South and West sides in an effort to woo Black voters. Willie Wilson, a former mayoral candidate, was joined by Black clergy backing Vallas: “We should not look at color,” Wilson said, via Sun-Times’ David Struett. Essay: Along with policing and education, this election also touches on power, identity, and of course, race, WBEZ’s Natalie Moore writes Endorsing: Latino Leadership Council is backing Paul Vallas for mayor. The organization endorsed Congressman Jesus “Chuy'' Garcia, a co-founder of the group, in the first round of the race. Last week, after his loss in the first round of the race, Garcia endorsed Brandon Johnson for the job. Also endorsing: Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York endorsed Brandon Johnson. Why it’s interesting: Bowman, like Johnson, is a former elementary school teacher.
| | THE BUZZ | | | 
Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, testifying in 2019 on behalf of the Reproductive Health Act, wants state law adjusted to protect same-sex marriage in Illinois. | Cassidy Facebook Page | State Rep. Kelly Cassidy is carrying legislation that would eliminate 1900s language in Illinois law that could threaten gay marriage today. It’s a response to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning abortion rights. Nestled in that decision was conservative Justice Clarence Thomas’ push to revisit cases that have already been decided related to same-sex marriage and other issues. It prompted Cassidy and other Illinois lawmakers to revisit and clean up legislation on the books to keep marriage equality in Illinois intact. “We’re scouring statutes to find these pieces that could come back and haunt someone, whether it’s in the abortion space or in the marriage space or anything that’s potentially at risk, such as birth control,” Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat, told Playbook. House Bill 1591 also omits language in Illinois law that says wedding officiants could be found guilty of a Class C misdemeanor for blessing such marriages. Illinois is one of five states with similar antiquated legislation that prohibits people from getting married in the state if they intend to live somewhere else, reports WAND TV’s Mike Miletich. There’s opposition: Members of the conservative Illinois Freedom Caucus criticized Cassidy’s measure saying the legislation is “circumventing” laws in other states. “It is not the place of Illinois state government to do an end run on the laws of other states just because the radical left might not like the laws the duly elected officials in these states enact and enforce,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement. House Bill 1591 now heads to the Senate. If you are Justice Clarence Thomas, Playbook would like to know what you meant exactly by revisiting other laws on the books. Email skapos@politico.com.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | WHERE'S JB | | No official public events.
| | WHERE'S LORI | | No official public events.
| | Where's Toni | | At the Cook County Building at 1:30 p.m. to announce an art exhibition featuring 300 hand-drawn portraits of Illinois service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries since 9/11. Have a news tip, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? I’d like to hear from you: skapos@politico.com
| | SPOTLIGHT | | — INVESTIGATION | Nepal wants a sacred necklace returned. But the Art Institute of Chicago still keeps it on display: “The Alsdorf collection, once so desired, has increasingly become a problem for the Art Institute as it faces questions of ownership history that cast doubt on the museum’s commitment to keeping its galleries free of looted antiquities,” by Crain’s Elyssa Cherney and ProPublica’s Steve Mills.
| | THE STATEWIDES | | — 3 years, 4M cases, more than 36,000 deaths: Numbers shape Illinois’ dismal Covid-19 story: “Statewide death toll now is nearing 37,000 — roughly the equivalent of wiping out the population of Calumet City. Chicago area accounts for nearly half the deaths — about 8,000 in the city, over 7,500 in suburban Cook County,” by Sun-Times’ Mitchell Armentrout. — Illinois sheriffs’ opposition to enforcing weapons ban signals rightward movement about constitutional authority: There’s been a shift over the past 10 years, “from county sheriffs respecting the courts’ role of determining a law’s constitutionality to now declaring themselves the arbiter of a law’s constitutional compliance,” write the Tribune’s Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner. — POT POURI: New customer-friendly legal recreational cannabis in Missouri cuts into Illinois’ market, by Tribune’s Robert McCoppin
| | 2023 MUNICIPAL RACES | | — GOOD READ: School board races rife with contention: “Across the state, from Antioch and Evanston to Naperville and Normal, the number of candidates running for school board are reaching double-digits and the campaigns seem more contentious than ever,” reports Margaret Rock for Center for Illinois Politics. — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Kim Walz picked up the endorsement of longtime former State Rep. and LGBTQ leader Greg Harris in the highly contested 46th Ward aldermanic race. Walz faces community organizer Angela Clay. — 11th Ward: Its complex history is ever-present: The ward is home to the Daley clan, and Ald. Nicole Lee even has the support of the former mayor himself. She faces Chicago Police Officer Anthony “Tony” Ciaravino, who says he’s got “more grassroots neighborhood support,” writes Tribune’s Hank Sanders. — 36th Ward: Villegas fights to hold onto ward called both ‘snake’ and ‘noodle’ against challenge from CTU-backed Torres Whitt: “The ward was redrawn to include more than a handful of communities in a nearly eight-mile stretch of Chicago that includes parts of the West Town, Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin and Montclare neighborhoods,” by Sun-Times’ Elvia Malagón. — 43rd Ward: Ald. Timmy Knudsen and Brian Comer are also touting their endorsements. Knudsen is backed by three former aldermen of his ward, including Michele Smith, Edwin Eisendrath and Marty Oberman. Also endorsing are former rivals Wendi Taylor Nation and Rebecca Janowitz. State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, who didn’t endorse in the first round of the election. Comer has been endorsed by Cook County Commissioner Bridget Degnen, the Chicago Tribune and the LiUNA labor union. The candidates will talk issues tonight, via Block Club.
| | CHICAGO | | — Chicago businesses adapt to outlast ‘agonizingly slow’ Covid recovery 3 years after shutdown: “Amid changes in hours and strategies, many still wonder about the future of urban life three years into the pandemic,” by Sun-Times’ David Roeder. — Watch for action this week on a move by some Chicago City Council members to take control of how the council's committees are organized. More than 25 council members have provided their preferences on committee assignments. The effort — led by Alds. Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Michelle Harris (8th), heads of the Finance and Rules committees, respectively, and Black Caucus Chair Jason Ervin (28th) — would make the council more independent of the mayor’s office. All three are allies of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The reorganization plan, usually controlled by the new mayor, has drawn criticism from former Inspector General Joe Ferguson, via Sun-Times. — CTA, city eye community-centric development around future Red Line extension stations, by WTTW’s Nick Blumberg — United Center concessions workers get a pension and wage hikes in new deal, by Sun-Times’ David Roeder
| | COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS | | — Disabilities watchdog group's report alleges ‘inhumane’ treatment of youth at Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, calls for its closure: “Physical restraint was used at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center,” according to Equip for Equality, a nonprofit and the federally appointed watchdog for people with disabilities in Illinois, Tribune’s Shanzeh Ahmad and A.D. Quig report. — Facing lawsuit by white business owner, Cook County retools grant program for minorities, women: “Source Grow Grants will accept new applications after an Edison Park chiropractor claimed bias in how county would distribute $10,000 grants from federal Covid relief funds,” by Sun-Times’ Andy Grimm. — Black-owned business in Oak Park ‘barely holding on’ 3 years into the pandemic, by Sun-Times’ Michael Loria
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | Reader Digest | | We asked about the last movie you saw at a theater. State Sen. Dave Koehler: “Champions.” Mayor Nancy Rotering: “‘When Harry Met Sally’ at the grand opening of Wayfarer Theaters, a new movie and event venue in Highland Park.” Matthew Beaudet: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Brian Berg: “Punch 9 for Harold Washington.” Robert Christie: “A Man Called Otto.” Eileen Dordek: “Cocaine Bear.” Ed Epstein: “Argentina, 1985.” Graham Grady and Daniel Goldwin: “Top Gun Maverick.” Kaye Grabbe: “‘Secret Life of Pets 2’ with my grandkids.” John Lopez: “Jesus Revolution.” Matthew McLoughlin: “The 1953 film ‘Roman Holiday,’ which was screened a month ago.” Alison Pure-Slovin: “My Happy Ending.” David Schaffer: “Elvis.” Raymond Sendejas: “Creed III.” Should lawmakers be allowed to vote remotely? Email skapos@politico.com
| | TAKING NAMES | | — Bobby Rush, the longtime former Illinois congressman, is chair of the Chicago host committee for the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, which is coming to Chicago in August. Details here — Sister Rosemary Connelly, a Catholic nun who ran Misericordia for decades, will be honored with a prestigious award from Notre Dame, by Sun-Times’ Mitch Dudek.
| | THE NATIONAL TAKE | | — Why an indictment may help Trump — and threaten the GOP, by POLITICO’s David Siders and Adam Wren — Check out our GOP presidential candidate tracker, via POLITICO’s Steven Shepard — Fear, burnout and insubordination: Insiders spill details about life at the top of FBI, by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney — Senate absences multiply headaches for both parties, by POLITICO’s Burgess Everett
| | TRANSITIONS | | — Cory R. Edwards is now an attorney at Blank Rome in Chicago. He was with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. His focus is litigation, patent prosecution and commercial licensing strategies. — Jeremy Lewin is a partner at Barnes & Thornburg’s Chicago office in the corporate department. He had been general counsel with the American Society of Anesthesiologists. It’s a full-circle for Lewin, who earlier in his career also was a partner Barnes & Thornburg.
| | TRIVIA | | FRIDAY’s ANSWER: Congrats to Jon Maxson for correctly answering that Carter Harrison Sr. and Carter Harrison Jr. are the father-son due who served a combined five terms. Only Mayors Richard J. and Richard M. Daley served longer — a combined 43 years. TODAY’s QUESTION: What did Gov. Jim Thompson use for a desk when he signed the Riverboat Gaming Act into law in 1990? Email skapos@politico.com
| | HAPPY BIRTHDAY | | Lincolnshire Mayor Elizabeth Brandt, Illinois Railroad Association President and former state Rep. Tim Butler, former state Sen. Terry Link, Kivvit Managing Director Maura Farrell and World Business Chicago exec Abin Kuriakose. -30- | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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