Chicago Sun-Times

Cross ambiguous on gay marriage

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:40:08 -0500

It’s easy to take issue with Illinois House GOP leader Tom Cross if you are for same sex-marriage in Illinois. And easy to be angry with him if you’re against it. Cross has observed a studied neutrality on this volatile, divisive issue that already has passed the state Senate and is getting close to passage in the House. Cross is a progressive Republican, so you’d think that Cross — like Illinois GOP chairman Pat Brady — would be out in front on an issue that an increasing number of Americans have moved to support. That includes U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk. …

New pope sends bad signal to nuns

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:49:29 -0500

I’m worried about the nuns. They’re worried too. The new pope, Francis, has made an early, excellent impression as a humble man. A rejector of the pomp and silky finery of the papacy. A priest focused on the poor and marginalized. A cardinal who lived like a nun. In simple surroundings. Cooking for himself. Taking the bus. Symbolism and substance too? It seems so. We have hope for this pope. But no one who deeply cares about women religious is ready, yet, to get carried away. And last Monday is the reason why. On that day, the new pope reaffirmed …

Clear up cover-up in Koschman case

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:50:35 -0500

Sunday marks the ninth Easter for Nanci Koschman. Nine since her only child, 21-year-old David, died from a lone punch thrown at him on Division Street in April of 2004. Mrs. Koschman now waits for Special Prosecutor Dan Webb to conclude his probe of how Chicago Police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office conducted this “heater” case. She waits for the involuntary manslaughter trial of Richard “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew and grandson of two mayors named Daley, whom Webb last December charged in David’s death. But as she waits, she feels a quiet fury about why it’s taken nine …

So much for Rahm the Reformer

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:56:17 -0500

The Illinois Supreme Court handed a defeat to Chicago City Hall Inspector General Joe Ferguson this week. The decision casts in starkest terms a battle being waged between a mayor who defines himself as a reformer. And his IG. The Supremes declared that, given the limits of the current law, Ferguson can investigate corruption all he wants but cannot compel the mayor or the city law department to turn over documents they choose not to. Subpoena power doesn’t necessarily mean power at all. So Ferguson has been flat out of luck as he probes certain kinds of patronage. Like, dating …

Church needs talents of nuns

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:36:51 -0500

Sister Mercedes Moore is 98. Her eyes no longer see. But her mind is sharp. And her fingers fly as she crochets multi-colored afghans for anyone who might need or want one. For centuries, Sr. Mercedes and women like her have been the backbone of the Roman Catholic Church. Entering the convent in 1933 when long, black woolen habits and starched wimples shrouded all but her face, Sr. Mercedes embraced the changes brought by Vatican II allowing nuns to wear more breathable, washable, colorful clothes. “Christianity is so exciting and joyous!” she declared. “Why would you want to wear black?” …

Game time for gay rights in Springfield

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:41:25 -0500

Let’s talk about same-sex marriage in sports terms. In Ernie Banks’ day, shortstops were known for their speed and defense. But Mr. Cub broke the mold. A power-hitting shortstop, in 1958 he hit 47 home runs. At the age of 82, he’s knocked it out of the park again coming out in favor of Illinois legalizing same-sex marriage. On the Chicago sports stage he’s not alone. Richard Dent, who went into the NFL Hall of Fame, is tackling this issue. As are former Bears Hunter Hillenmeyer and Brendon Ayanbadejo. They’ve all lent their names and reputations to an issue that …

My last dinner with Dawn Clark Netsch

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 06:27:01 -0500

‘When in doubt,” my mother always said, “bring food.” That’s what I did in early January, ringing the doorbell at the Chicago home of Dawn Clark Netsch, carrying homemade crab cakes, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Dawn, at 86, only months earlier had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Already it had begun to erode her ability to walk, use her hands or chew. So soft foods, comfort foods, were best. “Get a glass of wine,” she ordered, sitting at her dining room table. “There’s some chilled white in the refrigerator. I’ll have a glass too.” But we both …

GOP hands Illinois to Democrats

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:23:21 -0500

Please, Illinois GOP, don’t shoot yourself in the foot — again. This state has a crying need for a formidable Republican Party. Without one, there’s no counterbalance to the unfettered power of Democratic leadership. No countervailing wind to trim the sails of Emperor of the House Mike Madigan. But, sigh, if certain members of the Republican State Central Committee doggedly insist on proceeding with a lame-brained March 9 meeting to oust their current party chairman, Pat Brady — well — then Katy bar the door. The joke won’t just be on Illinois’ toothless GOP but on beleaguered citizens who suffer …

I’m going digital in new media world

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:39:46 -0500

I imagine that when Michelle Obama’s hairdresser took scissors in hand last month and made that first cut, the First Lady flinched for a second. Change, even when it’s change you can believe in, is unsettling. But just days before her husband’s second inaugural, the first lady took the plunge. Tried something different. With her new haircut she found herself the topic of more intense debate than the fiscal cliff ever got. And ultimately she made a joke, saying her new bangs were a function of a mid-life crisis in which her choices, given the intense security of the White …

Will Cicero voters stand up to the bullies?

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:28:25 -0500

There’s nothing funny about the bullies who run the town of Cicero. Especially not with an election less than a week away. Then again, the ham-handedness of town President Larry Dominick’s desperate attempts to hang on to his personal gravy train has provoked a laugh or two. I refer, specifically, to a recent piece of campaign trash literature that depicts Dominick’s chief adversary, Juan Ochoa, with Chicago Ald. Ricardo Munoz. It attacks them both — in this town that is 85 percent Hispanic — by calling Munoz “Another Criminal Supporter of Ochoa” with “A record of Gangs, Guns and Cocaine.” …

Obama should meet the ‘Warden’

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:42:50 -0500

When President Obama hits town on Friday, he’ll be busy, I know. But if he has a few minutes to spare, there’s a man I wish he’d meet. Richard English is his name, though most people still call him “Warden.” “That’s the warden there . . . The tough guys see him still and back up a couple of steps!” said Maurice Perkins, as English arrived at the Inner City Youth and Adult Foundation, a halfway house, at 45th & Michigan Tuesday morning. English is nobody’s liberal. More cop than caseworker, he carries himself with the authority of someone disciplined …

CAROL MARIN: President needs to come home

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 06:39:18 -0500

I wish the president was coming home. As important as it was for the White House to be represented at the Chicago funeral of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, and as powerful a presence as the first lady is, it was the other Obama who needed to be here. The community-organizer-in-chief can offer what no one — absolutely no one else — can in terms of both symbolism and substance. “He should walk around where he used to walk around,” said Dr. Michelle Gittler. “Because kids can’t walk around where they used to.” Dr. Gittler is an authority on violence and victims. …

A mom with gun grief wonders: ‘What did I not see?’

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:32:44 -0500

My friend and former teaching colleague, Kay Burmeister, called in a fury. “Can you imagine asking, Carol, where is my .38 so I can get ready to teach?” she demanded. It was just days after the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. And six weeks before 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was gunned down in Chicago. Kay Burmeister, a master-teacher and mentor to an army of young people over the years, burns with the outrage that should inflame us all. She has been thinking about guns for decades. For heartbreaking reasons. In 1963, near the beginning of Kay’s career, an …

A smart decision in the Koschman case

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:37:44 -0500

Dan Webb is a smart guy. And he and the Chicago law firm he chairs, Winston & Strawn, have just made a smart decision. They are no longer going to charge the taxpayers of Cook County — not even at the reduced rates they’ve been billing — for the continuing investigation into the 2004 death of David Koschman. Or for their work prosecuting R.J. Vanecko, grandson and nephew of mayors Richard J. and Richard M. Daley, on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Why smart? If you watched the news this past week, you know that former Gov. George Ryan was released …

Good old days are gone as George Ryan returns home

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 06:56:16 -0500

In 1992, I was invited to a dinner with George Ryan, though Ryan had no idea I was going to be there. The dinner, a monthly ritual held at the old Como Inn in Chicago, had a name, according to former Ryan Chief of Staff Scott Fawell. “They called it the Over the Hill Gang,” he told me on Tuesday. Ryan, who was in those days Illinois secretary of state, regularly gathered with a bunch of guys with whom he had served in the Illinois General Assembly in the ’70s and ’80s. Some had gone on to be lobbyists, like …

$10K contribution ethics violation?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:48:06 -0500

On Dec. 28, Michael Alvarez gave Rahm Emanuel a $10,000 campaign contribution. In the scheme of things, ten grand isn’t much money anymore in a bazillion-dollar Super Pac era. Still, it’s worth a conversation. Here’s why. Alvarez, a 32-year-old political up and comer, wears many hats, as the Sun-Times’ Tim Novak and Chris Fusco have reported. He is an elected public official as a commissioner of the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, making $70,000 a year. He’s a hired gun doing public relations for the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, earning $60,000 a year. And he’s a lobbyist with a growing …

Corruption fighter calls it quits in a town not quite ready for reform

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 06:21:40 -0500

David Grossman is hanging up his badge. He put his gun away a decade ago when he left a stellar career in the FBI to work for the city routing out corruption at a succession of agencies. But Grossman, 63, has one final shot to fire as he walks out of the Chicago office of the inspector general at the end of this month and into retirement. And it’s at mayors named Daley and Emanuel. But first, a bit about Grossman himself, a man who spent a career avoiding the limelight. “People don’t know him,” said his boss, Inspector General …

Jodie Foster could learn from Netsch

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:43:06 -0500

Dawn Clark Netsch did something this week that Jodie Foster could learn from. The iconic Netsch, who has spent decades breaking glass ceilings in the world of politics and law, embraced the meaning of being a public figure at a time when no one would have blamed her if she instead retreated from public view. On Wednesday, Netsch, 86, told the Sun-Times and NBC5 that she has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The very act of her sitting in front of a camera and microphone took courage. ALS, after all, is like a robbery in progress, slowly stealing …