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Presented by Uber: Shia Kapos' must-read rundown of political news in the Land of Lincoln | | | | |  | | By Shia Kapos | | | TGIF, Illinois. What a week! Your Playbook host is taking some time off next week, but you’ll be in good hands with colleague and Chicago native Marissa Martinez.
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Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson talks to reporters after meeting with Mayor Lori Lightfoot in Chicago's City Hall on Thursday, April 6, 2023. | POLITICO's Shia Kapos | SCOOP: While Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson works toward a smooth transition into City Hall, a battle has already started between his supporters and the Chicago City Council. State Sen. Rickey Hendon and former Democratic ward committeeman Dane Tucker are trying to undo last week’s City Council decision to take control of who heads the council’s powerful committees. Appointing chairs to those committees — like the Finance Committee — is a task previously executed by the mayor, who would name allies to those top positions. The City Council voted to take control of picking committee chairs. It gives the council independence and allows it to govern like a true legislative body. Johnson has said he supports the concept. It’s the execution that’s an issue. The rule change was approved and enacted after a huge debate on the council floor, per our report under The Buzz. But the newly elected council must vote on the rule change again after being sworn in on May 22. So why didn’t they just wait? It’s politics, say Johnson’s supporters. “It’s a power grab,” Hendon told Playbook. He’s concerned that some new committee chairs are aligned with Paul Vallas, who lost to Johnson in the runoff. Meanwhile Ald. Pat Dowell, who supported Johnson, was given the same position she’s had for years, chair of the Budget and Operations Committee. Johnson supporters say Dowell should be in line for the more prestigious Finance chair position. Here’s the committee chair list as it stands after last week’s vote. Hendon and Tucker are calling for the council to tear up their current plans and start fresh with the new administration. They plan to protest Tuesday at City Hall. Johnson is staying above the fray. The mayor-elect “looks forward to working with City Council to answer outstanding questions on committee membership rolls, assignments and budgets, and will ensure that Chicagoans have a well-functioning City Hall that delivers good governance for everyone,” Johnson’s spokesman Ronnie Reese said in a statement. MEETING OF THE MAYORS
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Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is greeted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot at Chicago's City Hall on Thursday, April 6, 2023. They met for 90 minutes. | POLITICO's Shia Kapos | Johnson met with Mayor Lori Lightfoot for 90 minutes Thursday in City Hall. “We are uniting this city today, and this moment is quite frankly a historic moment, where the first Black woman, LGBTQ, transitioned her administration to another Black man,” Johnson told reporters afterward. “It’s a very great day for the city of Chicago. We are going to be not only united, we’re going to be a strong city.” Details of their conversation were not divulged, but Johnson acknowledged they talked about “the future,” not the bitter campaign that ended earlier this week. About the transition: Johnson praised Lightfoot for her “welcoming response” and said she and “her entire team have worked tirelessly to make sure that the transition is smooth.” He said the two staffs have had a “very collegial exchange, which is something that is quite comforting and should be comforting for the city of Chicago.”
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | THE BUZZ | | |  Stacy Davis Gates speaks at a downtown rally in support of the ongoing teachers strike on October 23, 2019, in Chicago. | Scott Heins/Getty Images | THE BRANDON WHISPERER: Chicago Teachers Union CEO Stacy Davis Gates talked to POLITICO’s Juan Perez about how the union that propped up Brandon Johnson for mayor will operate in City Hall. What happens when they disagree? “It means that we have high-quality problems,” Davis Gates said. “That's all that happens. It means that we get to figure it out together. It means that we take our coalition work to the next level.” Here’s the full interview Some take-aways: Governing is different from campaigning. How will the union and mayor-elect confront this? “We are not the establishment. We are still the movement. Our movement grew on Tuesday. And so we have more people to talk to, engage, and strategize with. But you can’t call us the establishment when we still have 60,000 people unhoused in Chicago.” Should Johnson clean house or keep some members from Lightfoot’s administration: “You're going to need people who know where the bathroom is — and then you're going to need people with fresh ideas. You need a team of people who are committed to the objective of one Chicago, the people’s Chicago. And then you fill in the rest with the right type of team chemistry.” What lessons should the Democratic Party draw from the union’s victory? “What Chicago shows is that you can have values. You can value investing in people, you can value health care for people, you can value safety for people, you can value a fully funded education. And you can do that with people who are typically shut out of the political spectrum,” Davis Gates said. RELATED — How will the Chicago Teachers Union make the transition from agitators to insiders? WBEZ’s Sarah Karp reports
| | WHERE'S JB | | At the Chicago Cultural Center at 10 a.m. to announce tourism grant recipients. — At the Englewood Village Plaza at 11:30 a.m. to announce Rebuild Illinois infrastructure investments for transportation projects. — At the 555 W. Monroe Street state government offices at 1 p.m. for a photo op before meeting with Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson.
| | WHERE'S LORI | | No official public events.
| | Where's Toni | | No official public events. 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
| | | | A message from Uber:   | | | | | THE STATEWIDES | | — School board elections see general pushback against conservatives, though not everywhere: “In west suburban Downers Grove — one of the first places in Illinois to see a controversy over the presence on school library shelves of the graphic novel and memoir “Gender Queer,” whose removal has become a rallying point for the political right — a slate of conservative candidates was defeated by a group that included Kara Casten, an insurance executive and wife of Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, according to unofficial results,” Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Zareen Syed report. — Former McPier leader Juan Ochoa testifies at ‘ComEd Four’ trial about his path to utility’s board, by Tribune’s Jason Meisner and Ray Long. — What’s driving all the faculty strikes at Illinois public universities? by WBEZ’s Lisa Philip
| | CHICAGO | | — Chicago police Twitter account’s ‘like’ of anti-trans tweet prompts internal affairs probe, by Sun-Times’ Cindy Hernandez, Matthew Hendrickson and Tom Schuba. — Federal government plans to demolish century-old building next to threatened historic skyscrapers, by WTTW’s Nick Blumberg — Chicago crosswalk signals violate disabilities act, federal judge rules, by Sun-Times’ Catherine Odom
| | COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS | | — Now comes the jockeying for Brandon Johnson’s Cook County Board seat, by WBEZ’s Kristen Schorsch. — Cook County sheriff is stopping lawyers from bringing documents to clients in jail: “Tom Dart’s office says it is trying to prevent overdoses in the facility and looking for paper soaked in deadly drugs,” by WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell. — Naperville poised to provide up to $500,000 for tornado yard damage, by Daily Herald’s Kevin Schmit
| | POT-POURRI | | — Former Michigan House speaker charged with accepting bribes for cannabis licenses: “[The marijuana industry has] been held out as an equalizing opportunity,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said at a press conference Thursday. “Yet, what we’ve learned today is that one of its key leaders … acted corruptly and did so at a moment that mattered most for those who want to get ahead in this industry.” POLITICO’s Mona Zhang reports
| | | | GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from April 30-May 3. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World, will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat. | | | | | | | Reader Digest | | We asked what the best trip you’ve ever taken. State Rep. Stephanie A. Kifowit: “I spent eight days with my son, who is in the Navy and stationed in Yokosuka, Japan. Tokyo is an amazing city, public transportation is easy to use and there are many signs in English. I highly recommend visiting.” John Fritchey: “Taking my daughter to Morocco several years back. It gave her the chance to experience where her grandmother came from.” Mike Gascoigne: “Winter Abroad to Türkiye through the University of Illinois. Three weeks in Istanbul and surrounding areas.” Phil Gonet: “A trip to Korczyna, Poland, the birthplace of my great-grandfather Antoni Gonet.” Kaye Grabbe: "After my first year of teaching, three friends and I spent three months with Eurail passes and sleeping in inexpensive hotels as we traveled to Italy, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands." Graham Grady: “A trip to South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe with a group organized by the Chicago Bar Association.” Kent Gray: “Egypt, a fascinating and humbling place to visit.” Bob Kieckhefer: “I drove the length of US 41 in 2003 from Copper Harbor, Mich., to South Beach in Miami in my then-new Mustang Cobra.” Ashvin Lad: “The summer after business school, I visited 18 countries in six weeks.” Carol McGuckin: “Getting married in Scotland 20 years ago!” Marilynn Miller: “Hawaii and the big island's Volcanoes National Park.” Scotty Miller: “Washington, D.C., two weeks ago. Hit the cherry blossoms perfectly.” Claude Walker: “Cambodia. I snuck into Angkor Wat before dawn.” Patricia Ann Watson: “A trip to African nations, especially South Africa.” Reader Digest is taking a break next week. We’ll be back on Monday, April 17, with a new scintillating question!
| | THE NATIONAL TAKE | | — How Trump’s indictment will change politics, by POLITICO — Tennessee House votes to expel 2 of 3 Dems, both Black, over gun protest, by POLITICO’s Liz Crampton — Supreme Court keeps West Virginia transgender sports ban on ice, by POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan and Josh Gerstein — No Wisconsin wake-up call: Republicans go full steam ahead on abortion restrictions, by POLITICO’s David Siders — Florida lawmakers, and DeSantis, charge ahead on 6-week abortion ban, by POLITICO’s Gary Fineout
| | Transitions | | — Jake DiGregorio now runs communications for NASCAR Chicago Street Race. He was VP of communications at Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
| | | TRIVIA | | | THURSDAY’s ANSWER: Congratulations to David Eldridge for correctly answering that the Schofield/Werth family has three generations of MLB players. Dick “Ducky” Schofield played for the Brewers; his son, Dick Schofield played for the Dodgers; and his grandson, Jayson Werth (who now works in the Illinois cannabis sector) played with the Nationals. Trivia is also on a hiatus next week and will return on Monday, April 17, with a new question. Today: Former Illinois first lady Jayne Thompson, Young Invincibles Midwest engagement manager Troy Alim, nonprofit leader Oren Jacobson, Wasatch Front Regional Council’s Mike Sobczak and POLITICO reporter Daniel Lippman. Saturday: Former Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo, state Commerce Commission Government Affairs Director Sarah Ryan, state Executive Ethics Commission member Amalia Rioja, former Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady and Lee Enterprises’ political reporter Brenden Moore. Sunday: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich, Terrace Strategies President Anne-Marie St. Germaine, Hawthorne Strategy Group VP Brad Goodman, Cook County Board legislative affairs aide Lisbeth Leanos, comms consultant Tom Kolovos and Duke freshman Eli Moog. -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 | | | | |  |
