Chicago Sun-Times

Toilet paper drive leaves NW Side ward flush: Brown

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:16:58 -0500

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (36th) stood awkwardly off to the side late Monday afternoon as schoolchildren pressed forward for their chance to help unload boxes of toilet paper being donated to their schools. It took a young public relations representative from Procter & Gamble, flown in from New York for the occasion, to make sure Sposato took advantage of his own photo opportunity by posing him with the kids squeezing their rolls of Charmin. Some assumed it must have been a joke or a publicity stunt when Sposato put out the call in his ward a few weeks back for toilet …

Garden State judge’s ruling on same-sex marriages could serve as indicator of what happens in Illinois

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 02:35:31 -0500

BY MARK BROWN: Eight months after allowing gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey to proceed with a lawsuit seeking the freedom to marry, a Garden State judge ruled in their favor Friday and ordered officials to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples by Oct. 21. Assuming that the Illinois case proceeds at the same pace and with the same outcome, that could mean gays and lesbians in Illinois would be looking at a court-sanctioned right to wed by June of 2014.

Progressive charities to help groups Catholics penalized over gay marriage: Brown

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 02:25:39 -0500

Those immigrant advocacy groups that lost funding from a Catholic charity in a tussle with Cardinal George and the Archdiocese of Chicago over gay marriage may get their money after all — but from somebody else. A group of progressive charitable foundations — active in both the immigration reform and marriage equality movements — will step up Wednesday to announce creation of an emergency fund to replace the $300,000 stripped from member organizations of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights.I’m glad to see that somebody has got these folks’ back. As you’ve read here previously, the Catholic Campaign …

William Beavers: ‘I’m not begging’ at sentencing Wednesday

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:17:11 -0500

Six months after a federal jury found him guilty of tax evasion, a defiant William Beavers said Monday he’s not about to back down when he goes before U.S. District Judge James Zagel for sentencing this week. “I’m still the same Beavers: The hog with the big nuts,” the 78-year-old veteran politician told me by telephone, accompanying the declaration with his characteristic deep-voiced chuckle. I assumed he would be the same, but you never know. As the prospect of prison grows closer, even the toughest-talking guys can change their tune. Beavers’ sentencing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday. Federal prosecutors …

No good reason to keep Webb report secret: Brown

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 02:21:42 -0500

MARK BROWN: It’s unfathomable to me that an effort undertaken to shed light on the troubling inconsistencies surrounding the investigation into the death of David Koschman would result in a secret report.

Bill Daley faced bittersweet reality of realizing his dream was just that: Brown

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 02:21:32 -0500

There was one moment in Bill Daley’s speech Tuesday explaining his pullout from the governor’s race when his emotions got the better of his vocal cords. “Throughout my life,” he was saying, “I’ve looked forward to serving as an elected official. But that isn’t going to be.” He got through that sentence, but choked up just as he waded into the next: “As part of a family that has public service in its blood, a family of which I am extremely proud, I’ve always been motivated as each of them to serve.” When asked later what brought that on, Daley …

Navy Yard, Newtown, Chicago — all underscore same message: Brown

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 02:19:08 -0500

It’s just a coincidence Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly will be escorting a group of Chicago parents of gun violence victims to Washington on Tuesday to meet with parents of the Newtown school massacre victims — as the capital reels from the nation’s latest mass shooting. Only in America could we have such a coincidence. As I write this, too little is known about the shootings at the Navy Yard in Washington to be drawing any conclusions about how they fit into our ongoing national narrative on gun violence. But we are told there are 13 dead, including the suspected gunman, …

RTA should fight its public transportation battles in public: Brown

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 02:34:52 -0500

Rather than air his agency’s internal fighting in public, RTA Chairman John Gates abruptly cancelled an important board meeting scheduled for Friday. I hate that. Gates imposed the cooling-off period until Tuesday so that RTA board members and representatives of CTA, Metra and Pace can work out a behind-the-scenes compromise on how to divvy up a projected $3.9 billion budget for 2014. As an advocate of sunshine being the best disinfectant, I hate all that closed-door stuff, although if they can actually reach agreement, I can hardly argue it’s worse for the riding public than another year of budget brinksmanship. …

Dueling RTA letters show ‘reform’ debate really a battle over money and power: Brown

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 02:21:36 -0500

The debate over how to revamp oversight of Chicago area mass transit took an intriguing turn Wednesday with publication of a letter from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s RTA appointees taking RTA Chairman John Gates to task for suggesting an expansion of the agency’s authority. That letter, which appeared in the Sun-Times, was immediately answered by another from RTA board member Al Jourdan, a McHenry County Republican, lashing back at the city representatives for “political grandstanding.” Finally, the real fight is out in the open. What started as an ostensible effort to straighten out Metra after the second scandal in three years …

Legislators’ foot dragging on same-sex marriage has life and death consequences: Brown

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 02:25:56 -0500

Robb Smith and Steven Rynes would have liked to be married, but the State of Illinois never afforded them the opportunity. Now, it’s too late. While Illinois legislators continue to delay a vote on legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples so as not to draw opposition in the March primary, real life sets it own deadlines. Rynes died early Tuesday morning from the effects of metatastic melanoma, a particularly lethal form of cancer. “It’s fine while [legislators] waffle over it, but I think they forget that we’re really out here,” Smith told me later Tuesday. “It’s not just me …

Senate needs to get the lead out and confirm Fardon: Brown

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 02:21:00 -0500

You couldn’t have missed the big headlines back in May when President Barack Obama nominated Zach Fardon to be the new U.S. attorney in Chicago. What you might not realize is that Fardon, best known for his role in prosecuting former Gov. George Ryan, still has yet to actually become the U.S. attorney.Fardon has been left in limbo, as has the federal prosecutor’s office here to an extent, while waiting for the Senate confirmation process to play out. It is expected Senate approval for Fardon will come “soon” now that Congress got back to business Monday following its summer recess, …

Legislative race to watch is second challenge to Berrios’ daughter: Brown

Mon, 09 Sep 2013 11:22:01 -0500

Novice Will Guzzardi snuck up on Chicago’s political establishment in 2012 and fell just 124 votes short of ousting state Rep. Toni Berrios, daughter of Joe Berrios, the Cook County assessor and Democratic Party chairman. “No one saw us coming,” said Guzzardi, formerly a Huffington Post writer and more recently a communications worker for the University of Chicago before quitting to launch a second campaign against Berrios in the coming March 18 primary. They say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but in politics, such a near-miss at least has the value of getting everyone’s attention. As a …

Restoring majestic state Capitol is one thing, but $669,608 for doors?: Brown

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 21:41:11 -0500

I’d just finished making an impassioned defense to my colleagues of the $50 million renovation of the state Capitol in Springfield, knowing full well the potential for comeuppance, when the other shoe dropped Wednesday. State officials confirmed they’d spent $669,608 to buy and install three new doors at the Capitol’s west entrance. I hadn’t expected the comeuppance so quickly. $669,608. For three doors. Three double-doors, to be exact. Ornate, copper-clad, historically-correct wooden doors, if that makes a difference, though at $669,608, probably not much of a difference. Oh, man, what is it about government service that causes some folks to …

Mark Brown: Program pays veterans’ families to care for disabled soldiers

Sun, 01 Sep 2013 02:40:06 -0500

J oe Santoscoy relies on his wife, Ingrid Meijia, to drive him everywhere, including from where they live in Rogers Park to his medical appointments at the veterans’ hospital in North Chicago. The federal government, in effect, subsidizes her to do that, which might seem odd until you hear the rest of the story.

Mark Brown: Cardinal George says same-sex marriage is irrational

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:09:06 -0500

You might expect the leader of the Catholic Church in Chicago to explain his opposition to same-sex marriage on the basis of his religious tenets, but Cardinal Francis George says that’s secondary. “This is first of all a rational issue before it’s a faith issue,” the cardinal told me in an interview this week. “That is, it’s nature that tells us what marriage is, that in marriage, men and women aren’t interchangeable.” “We didn’t invent marriage. The church didn’t invent marriage. The state didn’t invent marriage. Nature gives us marriage. The Chinese are not Americans, and they’re not Catholic. They …

Cardinal George hopes gay marriage is blocked, says pope’s remarks were misinterpreted

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 06:46:34 -0500

MARK BROWN: “If they had the votes, they would have passed it already,” the cardinal said of gay-marriage supporters in response to my assertion that it’s only a matter of time at this point before a law is passed. As to the pope’s widely publicized “Who am I to judge?” comment about gay priests in the Vatican, George said reporters misunderstood the context. “He wasn’t saying we can’t judge that homosexual relations are sinful or not. Objectively, they are,” George said.

Brown: Simple task of getting an ID card not simple for the homeless

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 06:44:47 -0500

Eddie Bakion, better known on the streets as Red Fox, thinks he might finally be ready to leave those streets behind. “I’m getting too old to be out here,” said Bakion, who will soon turn 65, a rough age to be homeless. First, though, he has to get his IDs back. There’s always some obstacle or other that seemingly blocks chronically homeless people from taking that next step in their lives toward getting a roof over their heads. You’d be surprised how often it starts with something as simple as getting an ID card. There’s not much any person can …

Brown: Gutierrez crossing country to push immigration reform

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:49:52 -0500

When I caught up with him Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Luis Gutierrez said he was sitting on the front porch of his Northwest Side home enjoying the milder-than-predicted weather. Catching up with him isn’t just a figure of speech these days. By Sunday, Gutierrez will be in Minneapolis for a town hall meeting with fellow Democratic congressman Keith Ellison. On Monday, it’s off to Virginia for a pair of events in the districts of Republican congressmen Frank Wolf and Bob Goodlatte, who notably will not be sharing a stage with their Chicago colleague. Earlier this summer, Gutierrez made similar visits to …