In 2018 Chicago was at the crossroads: politics, money, and fed raids

2018 was a year that Chicago lost more than it gained in almost every area: population, revenue, (other than taxes), the continued erosion of confidence in public officials, dents in public education, and personal safety.

First, and foremost, was the startling news, in September, that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was not going to run for reelection, seemingly, because he saw the writing on the wall, and it was not a good script: the political fallout after the Laquan McDonald shooting, and the infamous police videotape that critics said he suppressed, with the help of former states Attorney, Anita Alvarez, until a judge ordered its release; and, all ending with a tattered reputation, and a loss of confidence, from many residents, especially from African Americans, who have repeatedly called for his resignation.

With the trial verdict pending of McDonald’s shooter, Jason Van Dyke, the city was tense and relentless, and there were calls from activists, nation wide, to come to Chicago, in a show of defiance and solidarity, and many expected violence.

In sum, perhaps, and fearing the spectacle of street rioting, and noisy demonstrations, filling the national media, Emanuel bade his adieu, and still others, without evidence, saying that his former boss Barack Obama advised him to do so.

Emanuel was taking heat on many sides, but also for becoming Version 2.0 of the Daley mayors, both father and son, replete with an ironclad will, and a rubber stamp city council.  And, adding to the list of complaints, for his critics, was that he was holding fast to Tax Increment Financing monies, as a slush fund, as his predecessors had done.

Going even further, there was a feeding frenzy, when private emails of Emanuel were released, after a lawsuit by the Better Government Association  and reported by a Chicago Tribune investigative report, and the Chicago Sun-Times, as evidence of influence peddling.

Here they all come

Emanuel’s  decision, not to seek reelection, opened a floodgate of mayoral candidates, mostly familiar names to any Chicagoan, including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza, ex police chief Garry McCarthy and some old school names, such as Paul Vallas and Gary Chico, plus Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who later dropped out.

City cynics have labelled them as beholding to the machine, while stating that they have no ties to established politicians, such as Ed Burke and notably after the Fed raid of his city hall and ward offices there were predictions, by some, that he would  skate away unscathed, with others saying, it was a move, by the Feds, to clean up our city’s legendary corruption.

But many of the above mentioned candidates had long-term ties to him, and all were noticeably quiet, after the event, except, Lori Lightfoot, who gave it to the press, straight, when she said: “It seems all these other folks are running for cover and don’t want to talk about him, but frankly, that underscores the fact that we’ve got different factions of the political machine manifested in Mendoza, Preckwinkle, [Bill] Daley and Chico and others who don’t want to rock the boat because they are very much wedded to the status quo.”

Preckwinkle through her spokesperson said that she did not know Burke, yet the Trib, revealed that Burke had thrown a recent fundraiser for her at this South Side home, a move that Tribune columnist Kristen McQueary called in a recent Op-ed piece, an “anointment.”

As to be expected, once the candidates amassed the required 25,000 ballot signatures came charges, and counter charges, of fraudulent and questionable signatures, with Preckwinkle leading the pack, only to later back down, as the designated, some say, self-designated, front runner.

Notably, in a race featuring prominent women, the back and forth among them seemed to be bad form, but the fight was on, and the battle not yet won but “Lightfoot called the move a win for the democratic process, and predicted Preckwinkle’s attempts to knock candidates out of the race will backfire with Chicago voters by showing her to be “a party boss” rather than a progressive, reported the Tribune.

“What it’s done, I think, is give me an opportunity to demonstrate to people all over the city that the Toni Preckwinkle they may have been nostalgic for, that presented herself back in the day as a reformer, is gone,” Lightfoot said outside the hearing room in the basement of the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building downtown.

Shots were also fired, from Preckwinkle, to Mendoza, even after she ended the challenge to her signatures, saying through a spokesperson, that the latter was ill-prepared for the challenges of the mayoral office.

Issuing a Parthian shot, Mendoza shot back via her campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, framing the challenge as yet another machine political tactic:

“Despite what boss Preckwinkle hoped, there will be an election and voters will hold her accountable for her record of raising taxes first and providing transparency last,” DeMont said, and added, that “Her political games are exactly why Chicago needs a mayor focused on the next generation, instead of just the next four years.”

Taking some heat after news of the fundraiser and Burke’s appearance at Mandoza's wedding reception, they both decided to not spend, monies given to them by Burke, and instead donated them to nonprofits, and the families of fallen police officers, but, for many, the damage was done.

Still crying broke, Chicago is singing the pension blues

Not to be outdone, by any one person, or events, was the dark cloud of city finances, notably pension obligations for firefighters and police, and the decision of Emanuel not to float a 10 billion bond, or did he?

When the idea became news, his critics accused him of kicking the can down the road, for his successor to deal with. But later there were rumors, to maybe adopt it, or at least, some of it, only to not entirely disown it, and then later to maybe keep it.

“Chicago's four pension systems are about $28 billion short of promised benefits, prompting Emanuel's financial team to consider a risky fix: borrowing more than $10 billion by issuing bonds to help lower that debt.”

Crain’s Chicago, then shared an article from Bloomberg Financial News, on its website, who said it is “a well tried tactic, and one that has met with success, according to a 2014 study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, which found that governments on the whole came out ahead by doing so. But there’s a big caveat: Those that sold so-called pension obligation bonds after the dot-com and housing bubbles found themselves deeper in the hole when stock prices collapsed.”

Considering the volatility of the bullish market, it seems like a risky proposition, and "Historically, the timing of pension obligation bonds to seize the right window has played out fairly poorly," said Dora Lee, vice president at Belle Haven Investments. "Right now, going into 2019 and 2020, it doesn’t look like you’ll have the stock market that will be able to generate the returns necessary to make it economically feasible."

Crime lessens, then increases, but still higher than in other major cities

Crime, a major problem, for many years, in Chicago, has the good news of an abatement: 4th quarter results from the Pew Research Center, based on FBI reports showed, 1,900, and the label of “murder capital”, on a per capita basis, cannot be hung around the neck of Chicago, with Baltimore leading, followed by St. Louis.

Chicago, according to early data, showed a crime drop to 18.1 percent, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported in September that “Chicago saw 765 murders in 2016, the most in two decades. In 2017 that number dropped to 653 — a rate of about 24 murders for every 100,000 residents. That’s a drop in the city’s murder rate of 14.6 percent, outpacing the 1.5 percent drop nationwide.”

Among cities of comparable size the reduction in New York was the most dramatic, and “Even if 2018 [Chicago] comes in at a 25 percent reduction by the end of the year, that gets us back to roughly where we were in 2015, before the spike happened,” said Max Kapustin, the research director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab. “Which is a vast improvement, but still very far from a city like New York or Los Angeles, which is, I think, where Chicago ought to be,” he said in a Chicago Sun-Times interview.

“The 292 murders that took place in the Big Apple in 2017 were down from a peak of 2,245 in 1990. In fact, New York’s murder rate – 3.4 homicides per 100,000 people – is now below the national average,” noted Pews.

An exception is the recent surge in robberies in the Loop, the city’s business district, which has seen a dramatic rise in robberies, even in broad daylight, with cell phone thefts being most prominent.  There were 86 robberies there, the highest in the first quarter in 15 years, compared with 49 in 2017, and 52 in 2016.

In rapidly gentrifying Edgewater, a neighborhood on the city’s far North Side, a popular Thai restaurant, on Bryn Mawr, had a plate glass window broken, in the small hours of the morning, and according to the manager, “they stole everything,” prompting other area restaurants to post signs, in their windows, up and down the street, and its intersecting street of Broadway, stating that no cash is kept on the premise, after closing.

Our emailed inquiry to the aldermanic office of Harry Osterman received a tardy, and lukewarm response; surprising, considering the increasingly high residential and commercial rents, not to mention the new construction, featuring two residential high rises.

The city’s iconic El trains have also seen an increased spate of robberies, about 40 per week on the Red Line, according to one area detective we spoke with; and, some are attributing it to the holiday season, plus the usual pickpocketing, that we observed this summer, first hand, as attendees boarded the Red Line, after a country and music concert.

Adding further to CTA passenger concerns, there has been more than one shooting, one during rush hour, and one just before; with the former occurring in a connecting tunnel, between the Blue and Red Lines; one that is used by many travelers to and from O’ Hare airport.

A recent train robber was apprehended, by one quick footed policeman, and the cell phone returned to its owner, giving some residents a sense of relief. CPD has also announced that in addition to the annual New Year’s Eve stop points for drunken drivers, they will be a visible preference on the CTA trains.

For 2018, overall Chicago robberies are down by 19 percent, CPD stated in a recent report.

Some residents have had enough and are leaving town

Population erosion continued even further from 2017, and one source, cites that, on the average there were 156 people that left the Windy City; some for even the even colder climate of Minnesota, a fact, claimed one report, to gain better, and more consistent employment, and safety.

“Chicago’s black population has declined every year since at least 2005, something researchers believe has to do with housing, a perception that there are more opportunities elsewhere and safety, said the Minneapolis Post, in an economic report on its website, earlier this month.

Chicago is also losing its white population, especially those that are low and middle income, accompanied by working professionals with at least an associate’s degree seeking, like their black counterparts, safety, and greater job opportunities.

According to U.S. Census estimates, Greater Chicago lost more than 13,000 people between 2016 and 2017.

“That’s not a huge share of the population of the metro area of 9.5 million, but it does represent the third year of declines, and it comes at a time when most big U.S. metros are seeing their populations grow. Chicago is the only one of the 10 biggest U.S. metro areas to have seen population loss between 2016 and 2017.”

We noted two years ago that, ”While the amount lost was smaller - in thousands compared to millions of residents - “The City of Chicago itself lost 6,263 residents. Nevertheless, the Chicago Tribune notes that this is the first decline in population for the city since 1990.

“By almost every metric, Illinois' population is sharply declining, largely because residents are fleeing the state,” and the Tribune surveyed dozens of former residents who've left within the last five years, and each offered their own list of reasons for doing so. Common reasons include high taxes, the state budget stalemate, crime, the unemployment rate and the weather.

Certain demographics now stand out: a greater loss of those aged 35 to 49, with a corresponding decrease in families, and those 19 years old, and lower, suggesting that careers will be forged elsewhere.

For many, the bottom line may be the lack of affordable housing, a fact that many residents are struggling with, especially older residents.

MinnPost noted that “Significantly more Chicagoland residents are spending a bigger share of their paycheck on housing than are Minneapolis-St. Paul residents, according to a report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

In Chicago, 50 percent of renters are cost-burdened — defined as paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs — 28 percent of them severely, which means they spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. In Minneapolis, 46 percent of renters are cost-burdened, 23 percent of them severely. When it comes to home ownership, 28 percent of Chicago homeowners are cost-burdened, 12 percent severely, while 20 percent of Minneapolis-St. Paul homeowners are cost-burdened, 8 percent severely.”

Challenges to Education: not making the grade

Chicago Public Schools took a drum beating with credible accusations of sexual abuse of students, and the continued opening of schools in gentrified areas, while schools in some black neighborhoods are slated to close, even after the 2013 closings of over 50, by Emanuel, and with decreased enrollment, overall in the classroom.

While plans to close a popular elementary school, the National Teachers Academy, and reopen it as a high school, was met fierce opposition by parents, and a judge’s order later prevented it. 

The move, say observers, was so that white parents in the area, (near South Michigan Avenue), would not have to send their teens to the black High School in Bronzeville, the heart of a once vibrant African American neighborhood; once again showing the sharp intersection between race, class, and political power in Chicago.

Chicago’s charter school teachers were the first to strike, and while it was short lived, it was enough to make headlines and cause tempers to flare, in a hotly debated discussion of which was better for students, and teachers; most of whom were lacking salary parity, with their CPS peers, while administrators and executives were earning six figure incomes.

Having sat  under a cloud, CPS now has a budget, it says is the most stable in years with increased money for universal pre-K education, with an approval for $6 billion, and an operating budget of $285 million.

Concerns remain about hiring enough special education teachers and social workers to meet the legal requirements, and many parents continue to have long standing concerns, if these can be met.

CPS said it carried $8.2 billion in long-term debt as of June 30. But, not so fast, say some, and “those debts will increase in order to finance Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s election-year proposal to take on a $989 million infrastructure spending plan that has been met with growing complaints about inequitable distribution,” Crain's Chicago said.

“The district says much of that money will come from new long-term debt, a strategy that provoked concerns from the Civic Federation budget watchdog organization.

The group endorsed the overall CPS spending plan — but worried about the district’s growing expenses in the face of dwindling enrollment and continued uncertainty over state government’s ability to keep promises to better fund education and grapple with its own financial problems,” reported the Tribune.

“With CPS’ finances just barely having reached more stable footing, the Civic Federation does not believe this is the right time to be issuing massive amounts of additional debt with only a portion going to the District’s most critical facility needs,” the watchdog group said in its annual assessment of the district’s budget.”

Goodbye Sears

Saying goodbye is hard, and even harder when the iconic Sears is leaving town, and its ill-fated marriage to K-Mart has hit the skids after the former filed for Chapter 11, and the iconic brand, the Amazon of its day, made some bad decisions, under the direction of CEO Eddie Lampert, who had no previous retail experience, and now says, Sears will come back; with few believing him.

The Economist notes that its stock market value fell from $30 billion dollars in 2007, to $69 million in mid-October of this year.

Such hemorrhaging was accompanied by the sale of the legendary Craftsman brand, and now we hear that in a $4.4 billion bid, Lampert wants to rescue the ailing retailer, who has been hit by options form online retailer, the demise of department stores, and of course,  Amazon.

An amazing year of losses, except the good news: The Chicago Bears are going to the playoffs.

Urban Prep West Campus closing, another dent in Chicago education

Wikipedia Photo

Continuing the further erosion of education on Chicago’s South and West sides, and what many observers are seeing as a concerted effort to reduce Chicago’s black population, the Chicago Public School announcement, this week, that Urban Prep Charter will close, brought both shock, and concern, to local educators and community leaders.

Coming closely on the heels of the end of the victory of a new contract that ended, the nation’s first charter school teacher strike, at Acero, another charter, serving mostly Latinx students, has now shown, to many education advocates, without a doubt that the effort to preserve schools for mostly black students is tenuous, at best.

The Chicago Teachers Union,  in their statement, noted that they were “disappointed to learn of Chicago Public Schools’ plans to close Urban Prep Academy’s West Campus. The Union’s position on school closings has long been clear: We oppose the closure of any school for the same reasons we oppose charter expansion. Both have destabilizing effects on communities and lead to privatization of public education at the expense of those our schools should serve.”

While the value of charter schools, versus neighborhood schools has been part of a long simmering debate, across the nation’s urban cores, they are also acknowledged to have become a part of  America’s educational landscape, it has also resisted unionized teachers, offering both educators, and staff, lowered salaries, and benefits, which was the dominant issue with Acero.

The end result, as we have seen, has been frequent teacher departures, less academic cohesiveness, and a decline in test results; which have consistently been higher, (especially in Chicago), in traditional neighborhood schools.

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools, during 2013, in predominantly black neighborhoods under the guise of improving them, only to have some turned into North Side luxury condos, (as was done with Uptown’s Graeme Stewart), or had money earmarked for other schools siphoned off to real estate developers, the effect has devastated these areas, not only for the students, but also as an anchor for their communities.

Added to the economic disinvestment, and high crime, and decreased housing value, that these neighborhoods, and their students face, the situation is dire: another nail in the coffin for community disenfranchisement, and one that reached its peak in the administration of the incumbent, and now departing, Emanuel.

An earlier report, this year, from the Washington  Post noted. “Schools officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel made this promise to nearly 12,000 mostly African American students from families living in poverty: When you are sent to a new school, there will be better opportunities for academic success. But a new report says that isn’t exactly what happened.”

“Closing schools has been a favored tool among school reformers who have tried to operate public schools as if they were businesses rather than civic institutions. Though research has shown that promised academic gains don’t materialize, reformers have closed schools anyway, sometimes because they were underused or persistently low performers, or to address financial woes,” The Post added..

Citing a University of Chicago report, “researchers looked at the short-term and multi-year effects of the closures on students’ academic, behavioral and other outcomes. They sought to answer two questions about the school closings, which were strongly opposed by the affected communities.”

They discovered, in part, the following:

●     School staff said that the planning process for merging closed schools into welcoming schools was not sufficient, resulting in staff feeling unprepared.

●     When schools closed, it severed the longstanding social connections that families and staff had with their schools and with one another, resulting in a period of mourning.

●     A lack of proactive efforts to support welcoming school communities in integrating the populations created challenging “us” vs. “them” dynamics.

●     Students affected by school closures did experience negative learning effects, especially students from closed schools.

●     The largest negative impact of school closures was on the test scores of students from closed schools; their scores were lower than expected the year of the announcement.

“But the closure of Urban Prep West, a school serving a student population made up entirely of African-American males, goes one step further in its negative impact as it represents another chapter in the wholesale removal of Black and Brown people from our city,” CTU said.

Looking back at the recent gubernatorial campaign, then candidate Chris Kennedy “opined that the mayor’s planning policies were intended to drive black people out of town,” reported the Chicago Reader, recently, and CTU concurs when they emphasize that they “are steadfastly opposed to the school’s closure, which would only exacerbate the Negro Removal Act that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put in place since taking office in 2010.”

Bloated executive salaries seem to be part and parcel of many charter school criticisms, as they operate, for profit with tax payer money, and, as we saw with Acero, we now see with Urban Prep; only in this case they planned a Westward expansion.

“Urban Prep last year chose to expand its organization rather than invest in the classrooms, staff and students they currently serve. Urban Prep applied for, and was granted, a contract to run a charter school in Las Vegas under Nevada's Achievement School District. The Achievement School District operates much like other state takeovers of urban school districts, where privatized charter operators are hired to take over struggling, under-resourced public schools.

According to documents submitted to the Nevada Department of Education, Urban Prep management created a full-time, six-figure position specifically for its expansion effort, and top officials took numerous trips to Las Vegas over the past year to secure its expansion. Meanwhile, Urban Prep has one of the most bloated central office operations of any charter school in CPS, serving fewer than 800, yet spending $1.3 million on executive and central office administration (or $1,700 per student).”

The loss of funds to traditional neighborhood schools, by charters, has peeled away, both at the lives and fabric of American cities, plus its black and brown children, but also the social capital of cities, that are often economically marginalized; and the loss of Chicago’s Urban Prep, is another step in misalignment.

UNO/Acero begins first ever charter strike in Chicago

Updated 10 December 2018

In the ongoing tug of war between charter schools and their management, especially with the lower compensation, than their public school counterparts, it was recently announced that “CTU charter teachers and paraprofessionals at four CS/Civitas/Quest schools voted overwhelmingly to strike . . .in their battle for more classroom resources for students and better treatment of educators by the bosses,” in a statement released earlier this month.

On Tuesday morning, it began, the first ever charter strike, with demands for smaller class sizes, increase resources to meet federal guidelines for special education students, low pay for paraprofessionals, increased time for lesson planning, greater classroom resources, and sanctuary status for an increasing Latinx student body.

"Management had the power to settle a contract tonight—and instead they offered us more of the status quo that has plagued the charter industry for years," said CTU President Jesse Sharkey, who caucused with bargaining team members tonight. "We will be on the picket line until they come back with an offer that respects our students and the people who educate them."

In their media alert, UNO/Acero, via the Chicago Teachers Union, said: “Management has been denying resources from its schools, and ended 2018 spending $1 million LESS in staff salary costs for program services than in 2017, according to an audit that management provided Friday morning—months after educators first began asking for it. As of June 2018, ACERO had $24 million in unrestricted cash in its accounts, plus a separate reserve of $4 million in cash as part of its requirements to its bond holders.

They also stressed that “Overall, ACERO’s cash position increased by $10.6 million in just one fiscal year—yet they have said that they cannot give paraprofessionals ANY wage increase—even an increase that allows their wages to keep pace with inflation. Management also tendered a salary 'increase' for teachers so paltry that CTU members describe it as laughable. That move, say bargaining team members, was designed to pit teachers against paraprofessionals—a strategy educators reject.”

Last month, The Chicago Tribune reported that “The Acero charter school network, which serves about 7,500 predominantly Latino students at 15 campuses, has so far failed to negotiate a labor deal with roughly 500 teachers, counselors and office workers who are now affiliated with the Chicago Teachers Union.”

“Out of the four-school bargaining unit of roughly 150 union workers, 138 CTU members, more than 90% of the union workforce, voted. 133 CTU members, just over 96% of those who cast ballots, voted to strike. More than 70% of the schools' workforce is female, and over half identify as people of color, it was noted.

No less important was the top-heavy pay for managers; and, they noted that “Citing less money for special education students and more money for CEO salaries, “Charter managers admitted to teachers today that one school pays over 24% of its public education dollars directly to CICS and its 'manager' Civitas, instead of spending those funds on students in classrooms. CPS takes an additional amount—between 2.3 and 2.8 percent of public education dollars at each school—for its own 'fee',” they reported.

“UNO/Acero CEO Richard Rodriguez collects more per year in compensation than CPS CEO Janice Jackson, while overseeing just under 8,000 students at 15 schools. Jackson oversees more than 500 schools with over 350,000 students,” they

"Even after the Illinois' General Assembly passed new educational funding a year ago, there still aren't enough funds going into our schools," said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. "That is offensive to our students who need special education and other educational supports, and it is offensive to parents and educators who come out of their own pockets to pay for basic classroom resources that charter operators should be providing”.

“Charter operators are failing charter school students," said CTU ACTS Division Chair Chris Baehrend. "They're diverting public funds away from education into private enrichment. We lack transparency, accountability and diversity. We're putting the entire charter industry on notice—public funds will be used for public services in our schools, and if we have to strike to make that happen, we will."

Charter schools have long been a bone of contention for Chicagoland, as educators have worked with reduced resources in Chicago Public Schools, while charters have frequently siphoned money away from neighborhoods schools, while, as stated, their teachers have made less than those in CPS.

Notably charter test scores have remained behind those of traditional neighborhood schools, thus increasing public scrutiny.

Besides better wages and more reasonable working conditions, CTU Acero educators are also fighting to make schools real sanctuary schools for a student population that is overwhelmingly Latinx. Special education needs and poor treatment of paraprofessionals are also critical issues.”

In June of last year, ASPIRA another charter averted a strike and it is hoped that the same will be true for Uno/Acero.

At the time, CTU President Karen Lewis said, “"It's not about destroying charter schools," she said. “Charter schools are here; they're not going anywhere. So the key is, how do you make them a bitter pill to their management companies? It's the management companies we have the issues with, not the charter teachers, not the students, not the parents. The key is, organize people to fight for fairer conditions of work, and then that's good for everybody."

Some of course have said that this is an attempt to destroy charters, which strikers have characterized as false.

“After the 2017 state funding change that sent over $38 million in additional funding to all CPS charter schools, ACERO saw a leap in its budget picture, its 2018 audit shows. ACERO closed out 2018 with over $89 million from CPS revenue sources, a 10% bump from the $81.6 million they received in 2017. But rather than investing that windfall in the classroom, ACERO chose to stockpile cash, and slash expenditures and resources to its schools and students,” they concluded.

On Sunday, a tentative agreement was reached to settle the strike. Here, in part, is the AP story:

CHICAGO (AP) — The nation's first teachers’ strike against a charter school operator will end after their union and management struck a tentative deal Sunday that includes protections for students and immigrant families living in the country illegally.

The Chicago Teachers Union said more than 500 teachers will return to classes Monday at Acero’s 15 schools with 7,500 predominantly Latino students. Teachers went on strike Tuesday and classes were canceled.

Robert Bloch, general counsel for the union, said that since the schools’ enrollment is “overwhelmingly low-income Latino,” the union felt it was necessary to have provisions to protect students, their families and teachers who may be living in the country illegally. The agreements prohibits Acero from collecting and distributing information about the immigration status of students, teachers and families and restricts access by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to schools except by court order, he said.

Acero said in a news release the two sides agreed to raises for teachers and staff annually over the four-year term of the contract and the charter operator agreed to the union’s request to shorten the school year to more closely align with the Chicago Public Schools.

Will Ed Burke join the list of convicted Chicago aldermen?

With the two federal raids of the city hall and aldermanic office of longtime Chicago pol Edward M. Burke, gave more credence to the reputation of Chicago, being corrupt, even in the previous absence of details on why the Feds did the raid, and what the consequences will be, added rumor to the long list of Chicago aldermen, and governors, tried, and convicted, such as former Governor Rod Blagojevich, and those before him.

Thursday's charge of wiretap fraud in an attempted shakedown of Tri City Foods and its Burger King franchise, has revealed that, not only was this egregious behavior, but now places Burke in a whopper of a mess, pun intended.

While no one can predict, what the outcome will be, it is noted that he has survived previous raids, and come out like the un-slaughtered lamb. But, some locals are saying that the Feds are coming into the Windy City to show that it’s time for a clean up, and the days of the political machine, are waning, and that with the departure of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a new sheriff can reform the old school play. And, that seems to have come into play as some feel that the tap revealed more than what has been stated, and that there was something even more solid; since the feds don't get a wiretap unless they are convinced, they have got something solid, say local media sources.

Paddy Bauler made the infamous quote: “Chicago ain’t ready for reform yet.” And, there are many that believe it, even in the age of Trump, and who had Burke, who is an attorney, lowered his tax bills. and that of other wealthy businessmen.

“A Sun-Times investigation found that Burke’s law firm had saved President Donald Trump $14 million after appealing property tax bills over seven years. Burke’s firm would stop representing Trump’s Chicago interests in 2018.”

The powerful head of the City Council Finance Committee has amassed a wealth of influence and his wife, Anne, is on the Illinois Supreme Court; he has also been a mentor to many, including much of the corral of the current mayoral candidates, including Susan Mendoza, Gery Chico, and bankrolled the Daley Dynasty, of whom, Bill Daley, another candidate, the son of one mayor, and the brother of another.

As the Chicago Tribune pointed out, there had been radio silence on their part, other than murmurs of hope, from most of them, and an unbelievable statement from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, another candidate, issued from her spokesperson, that she was not close to Burke, yet the record shows that he threw a pricey fundraiser at his home, last year, for her.

One candidate who did speak was Lori Lightfoot, who told the Tribune, ““It seems all these other folks are running for cover and don’t want to talk about him, but frankly, that underscores the fact that we’ve got different factions of the political machine manifested in Mendoza, Preckwinkle, Daley and Chico and others who don’t want to rock the boat because they are very much wedded to the status quo,” said former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot, one of the few mayoral candidates eager to discuss Burke. “It’s telling that they aren’t willing to step up and say, ‘Look, this guy has been in office way too long, he’s been allowed to amass way too much power.’ ”

Then came the revelation that the shakedown involved a $10,000 payment, air quotes, to a certain unnamed politician, who was later identified as Cook County Board President, Ton Preckwinkle, who initially denied the relationship, or the amount,  only later to give some of it back and then after public pressure mounted to give it all back.

She has since defended her role in providing affordable housing, and neighborhood schools, but the die is cast, and her critics are seeing blood in the water, as she gasps for political air.

Looks like Paddy may be right. And, If the city built on a prairie is a rule onto itself, and he is spot on, then what changes, even minor, can be expected, say city hall observers?

There are also religious ties, as part of the role, for many of these, but not all, are Irish Catholics, and in a city where being Catholic was once a pass to political power via the political superpowers, such as Mayor Richard M. Daley, this tie-in cannot be ignored.

Last year when the new financing for public school included a salve to get GOP votes in the state legislature, Cardinal Blase Cupich, was front and center in the negotiations, confident that the new scholarship, which opponents called a tax break, benefited Catholic schools.

While the words clan is often used to describe Irish-American politicians, it has had its humorous acknowledgments: In an aside, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy once affectionately called all of the Irishman, surrounding her husband’s administration, the “Murphia”, and the term seemed to fit old-school Chicago machine politics, and its members like Burke.

Perhaps one of the more outstanding examples of machine politics is when it rose up in protest, and furor, over the election of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, (the city’s only black mayor), and the scene of Edward Vrdolyak, rising in furor and anger during the Council Wars, and whose colleague in the battles, against Washington, was Burke.

The intersection of race, political power, religion, and money are a potent mix for any major American city, but in Chicago the four are so intertwined, as to be virtually indistinguishable.

The aldermen in Chicago hold near unlimited power, second to maybe those in Boston, and it’s easy to see that Lord Acton was correct, when he said, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

While Burke’s status as paterfamilias may be in jeopardy, if the goal of the raid is to “clean up Chicago,” then the Feds may underestimate the many headed hydra that make up machine politics.

In its coverage, the Associated Press, once noted that, “A long series of Chicago alderman have faced state and federal investigations going back decades. Since the 1970s, nearly three dozen aldermen have been convicted. A common joke in Chicago is that so many aldermen had gone to prison that when they saw each other behind bars they'd holler, "Quorum call!"

Among them were Wallace Davis, Jr, Clifford P. Kelley, and Thomas Keane, and countless others as seen above, mostly on bribery and extortion

Keane, having earned a reputation as the “professor” for has vast knowledge, had a public life that “ended in ignominy in 1974 with a federal conviction on mail-fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from some questionable real estate deals,” later served 22 months of a five year prison, said the Trib upon his death.

They also noted, “In his final years, Mr. Keane, though in failing health, regained his law license and was a regular visitor to the downtown restaurant haunts he had frequented for years when he dominated many of the activities in City Hall.”

While Emanuel demurred when asked for a comment, but for many, it seems as if history might repeat itself with Burke, whose attorney, Charles Sklarsky, noted that the "evidence" was not really that and noted, “The transaction described in the complaint does not make out an extortion or an attempt to extort,” Sklarsky told reporters. “We look forward to a prompt day in court to prove the innocence of Alderman Burke.”

Updated Jan. 6, 2018