"Operation Charm Mayor Leftie"

The establishment types always want something. [READER]( The Daily Reader June 20, 2023 For the last few weeks, my favorite articles have been the ones that capture the happy squeals of surprise coming from establishment types who’ve just met Mayor Johnson. They can’t believe how nice he is. How civilized. How charming. How polite. He puts them at ease with jokes. He listens to what they say. Promises to get back. I’ve read accounts featuring [Jack Lavin]( president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Kevin Warren, president and CEO of the Chicago Bears, and Andy Gloor, CEO of Sterling Bay (the developers who talked former mayor Rahm Emanuel into throwing $1.3 billion their way for [Lincoln Yards](. Not that it took much talking to convince Mayor Rahm, who loved throwing money at developers whether they needed it or not. I think the issue is most of these guys have never met a leftie—so they’re not sure what to expect. Will he have pot roast on his tie? Will he burst into quotes from Lenin and Marx? Will he take his shoe and pound the table? Let’s blame it on Mayor Rahm. Why not? He’s not around to defend himself. Mayor Rahm hated lefties. So establishment types looking to suck up to Mayor Rahm felt compelled to hate them too. Even if they never met one. Just so you know, Mayor Johnson is hardly the lefti-est of lefties. He didn’t even support Bernie Sanders in 2020. He supported Elizabeth Warren. In fact, he represented Senator Warren in a First Tuesdays debate that writer Maya Dukmasova and I hosted in February 2020 after the Iowa primary. Alderperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa backed Bernie. Helluva debate: [check it out yourself](. The jaded Chicago journalist in me suspects the establishment types have ulterior motives for saying nice things about Mayor Johnson. Like—they want something from his administration. Obviously, the Bears are looking for a handout for a new stadium, should their thing with Arlington Heights fall through. And Sterling Bay is hoping the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund invests in Lincoln Yards, which is having trouble getting off the ground. Thanks to [Danny Ecker at Crain’s Chicago Business]( for breaking that story. Call it “Operation Charm Mayor Leftie” as everyone pretends they didn’t predict Johnson’s election would be the first step toward Armageddon. Meanwhile, on the other side of the April runoff, Paul Vallas is going through another one of his political evolutions. If you recall . . . Vallas started out as a Democrat. Then went Republican. Then back to the Democrats. Then over to MAGA. Returned to the Democrats, just in time for the mayoral election. Remember those commercials where he said he was a lifelong Democrat? They were more or less accurate, if you overlook those phases of his life when he wasn’t. Now, Vallas has [gone to work]( for Illinois Policy Institute, a right-wing outfit funded by [the Rauner crowd](. And he’s writing MAGA columns for the Chicago Tribune that are almost as loony as the stuff coming from Trump. As I like to predict . . . in a year, you’ll have trouble finding lakefront liberals who will admit they voted for Vallas. In that way, they have some shame. As opposed to MAGA, who have no shame and will happily follow Trump off a cliff. If that’s where he takes them. 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] [Harold by Steven Wright]( Tells the tale of one day in the life of a third grader back in 1965, who thinks like Steven Wright. If you like Wright’s comedy, you’ll love this book. If you don’t . . . Kerry Reid: in memory of [Lia Mortensen]( Ben Joravsky: comparing [Woodlawn and Lincoln Yards]( [Best of the Ben J. Show]( South Bend, Indiana Council member Henry Davis Jr.: [Democrats taking Black people for granted]( “Oh, What A Week!” with Friends of the Parks executive director [Juanita Irizarry]( Attorney Jim Coogan: [the latest Trump indictment from A to Z]( [Pride is our reality]( A note from the editor in chief to accompany the Reader’s Pride 2023 issue. by [Salem Collo-Julin]( | [R]( → [Remembering JoJo Baby]( The Reader shares an excerpt about the late artist, from the book Legends of Drag. by [Micco Caporale]( | [Read here]( → [Review: Flamin’ Hot]( Despite the spicy subject matter, Flamin’ Hot is a run-of-the-mill biopic. by [Adam Mullins-Khatib]( | [Read here]( → Chew on this! [SIGN UP FOR FOOD & DRINK]( [Issue of June 15 – 28, 2023 Vol. 52, No. 18]( [View/Download Issue [PDF]]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2023 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616