Jim Dey: It's never too early for election endorsements

Mar. 18—It's time once again to dive in to another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

Dems love Dem

New Democratic U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, who took office in January, has barely had time to find out where the bathrooms are on Capitol Hill.

But Emily's List has seen enough in her two months as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives to endorse her for re-election in 2024. The liberal women's group, which endorses Democrats almost exclusively, issued a press release Wednesday saying it has seen enough.

"Today EMILYs List, the nation's largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Nikki Budzinski for reelection in Illinois' 13th Congressional District," the organization stated.

Because Budzinski hasn't been in the House long enough to do much other than instruct her public relations staff to send out a blizzard of press releases touting her wonderfulness, organization president Laphonza Butler was limited to praising Budzinkski's background as an a legal abortion advocate, supporter of minimum wage increases and proponent of worker's rights.

Budzinski won't be on the ballot again until March 2024, when it is unlikely she will face opposition in the Democratic Party primary. No Republican, so far, has announced interest in challenging her in the November 2024 general election.

Lost in the shuffle

The news media in Chicago — and beyond — is having a field day with replays of surreptitious recordings of conversations between former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his henchmen.

That will continue for weeks as the ComEd conspiracy trial, which features four alleged Madigan co-conspirators, continues. It will make for juicy reading and listening.

But that is no reason for the stances and statements of other crooked politician to be ignored. Two recent corruption trials produced a couple of beauties that offer insight into the mindset of corrupt pols.

One quote was provided by former Chicago Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson, a scion of the Daley political family. He was convicted of income tax evasion and lying to federal agents.

It was all part of a huge fraud scheme that caused a Chicago bank to fail, the bill for which went to taxpayers.

At any rate, Thompson was convicted and forced to suffer the indignity of a four-month prison sentence.

Having served his brief stint behind bars, Thompson is seeking the restoration of his suspended license to practice law. If his request is granted, it would provide just what Illinois needs most — another crooked lawyer/politician.

Thompson tried to put his best foot forward before the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. He cast himself as an improved man of now-sterling character.

He said he told himself, "Don't be bitter, be better."

"And that's the attitude I look" in prison, he told the board.

But other comments undermined his flattering self-assessment.

He characterized his four months behind bars as "horrible, absolutely horrible" time that was marked by degrading requirements.

"One of the requirements was that you had to work. I worked as a custodian," he said.

Imagine — a custodian. It don't get no worse than that.

Another crooked pol in the prize-winning department is Robert Czernek, the 71-year-old onetime head of the Bloomingdale Township Highway Commission.

He pleaded guilty to taking thousands of dollars in kickbacks for taxpayer-funded roadwork that was never performed. When confronted by investigators, he agreed to testify against the crooked contractor.

When Czernek was sentenced in mid-February, he portrayed himself as a sick, elderly and broken man. New reports quoted as saying Czernek was "working with a counselor to try to better understand his behavior."

This is just a guess. But maybe the $28,000 in cash plus four vehicles, including a 1981 Corvette and a 2014 Lexus the government seized from Czernek, was partial motivation.

Owing to his now-sorry status, Czernek asked to be sentenced to home confinement.

U.S. Judge Matthew Kennelly was not impressed.

"When you're old and sick and choose to commit planned crimes over an extensive period, it rings a bit hollow to come in here and say, "Don't give me a significant sentence because I'm old and sick," said Kennelly, who ordered Czernek to serve a 42-month prison sentence.

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The judge also ordered Czernek to pay roughly $540,000 in restitution.

Tackling Vallas

Chicago state Rep. Kam Buckner, a former University of Illinois football player, came out on the short end of the Feb. 28 municipal mayor primary.

But the former Fighting Illini hasn't lost his fighting spirit. Last week, he endorsed left-leaning candidate Brandon Johnson for mayor.

Johnson faces former Chicago school superintendent Paul Vallas, and the contest is increasingly becoming a race-based effort.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was badly defeated in the primary, a disappointment to the city Black leaders who continue to want to have a Black mayor.

That's why Vallas is competing as hard for endorsements from Black leaders as Johnson is. Vallas recently won the endorsement of former Secretary of State Jesse White, one of the state's and city's most popular Black politicians.

Johnson is the candidate backed by the Chicago Teacher's Union. Illinois playbook reports that Buckner has long been aligned with the union on education issues.

As a state representative, Buckner co-sponsored the bill creating an elected school board.

A defensive lineman, Buckner played for the UI in the early to mid-2000s. After graduating, he went to law school and then entered politics.

Dopeheads vs. cheeseheads

Wisconsin isn't likely to declare war on Illinois, but Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is mad as you-know-what and isn't going to take it any more.

What's the problem?

He and his backers are enraged that Cheeseheads are driving across the Illinois border to buy marijuana. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation estimated their purchases generated $36 million in new tax revenue.

Illinois has legalized the sale of marijuana while Wisconsin has not.

Evers has repeatedly proposed legalization in his state, but Republicans who control the legislature have rejected his proposals.

"We do not need to become like Illinois or Michigan where anywhere you go, there's the stench of marijuana," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said, obviously hyperbollically.

Public opinion surveys indicate the majority of residents favor cannabis legalization in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard argues that "it should upset every Wisconsinite that our hard-earned tax dollars are going across the border to Illinois."

Legislators there, like those in Illinois, are desperate for more revenue, and they have embraced the notion that marijuana legalization will provide a gusher of new revenues that they can spend on programs addressing problems like drug addiction and mental health programs for drug abusers.

Careful readers/ corrections

Mistakes — whether the result of stupidity or carelessness — are inherent in the reporting process, and some readers like to point them out.

That was the case with a Friday column that mistakenly attributed the famous quote, "Events, dear boy, events" to former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

It was, in fact, former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan who gave that response to a question about the greatest challenge facing the leaders of great nations.

Macmillan held office from 1957-63, while Wilson was prime minister from 1964-70 and 1974-76.

Dale Elliott, a Champaign reader who has written in the past, submitted a gentle remonstrance.

"Good morning. Another minor point: I'm pretty sure it was Harold Macmillan, not H. Wilson who is supposed to have said, 'Events, dear boy, events.' Macmillan would have been much more likely than Wilson to address someone as 'dear boy.'"

Reader Marc Snir, a University of Illinois professor, was more pointed.

"Attributed to Harold Macmillan. You got the wrong Harold. Terrible mistake," he wrote.