The Spin: Madigan’s sprint to pick his successor | Lightfoot still backs police superintendent after scathing watchdog report | Beer home delivery legislation brewing

On Sunday — just 72 hours after announcing his resignation from the Illinois General Assembly — embattled former state representative and longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan is expected to pick his replacement.

Technically, Madigan is one of five Cook County Democratic committeepersons with a say in naming his successor for the Southwest Side 22nd Illinois House seat. But Madigan holds the cards with 56% of the weighted vote, calculated by the number of ballots cast in the November election that he won.

While the other four Cook County Democratic committeepersons issued a statement saying it is “imperative that the process is open, transparent and seeks the public input for qualified candidates,” experts say the quick turnaround time — something Madigan also had control of — makes the public feel like it’s not.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot today was playing defense today for the Chicago Police Department.

The mayor said she still has confidence in her hand-picked police Superintendent David Brown after a city watchdog report blasting the city for its chaotic response to protests and looting that broke out last spring amid national outrage over Minneapolis police killing a handcuffed George Floyd. She called criticism of her decision to direct $281.5 million in COVID-19 money to the Police Department “dumb.” And she pushed back over accusations that she’s holding up the creation of a civilian police accountability ordinance.

Finally, here’s some snowed-in-during-a-pandemic news to start your weekend: Freshly drafted legislation could make home beer delivery a fixture in Illinois, the Tribune’s Josh Noel reports. The measure would open the door to a number of changes, including allowing Illinois residents to order and receive beer from some out-of-state breweries where shipping is legal.

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Madigan’s sprint to pick successor hurts view of fair, open process, experts say

Hours after Madigan announced his resignation from the Illinois House, an emailed news release went out announcing the selection committee would be meeting Sunday to hear from candidates interested in succeeding him. That’s 72 hours after he quit.

Who set that date? And what’s the hurry? Madigan, as the committeeperson with a majority of the weighted votes, controls the schedule.

The rules: State law calls for filling the state house vacancy within 30 days, something experts say is aimed at making sure the community has representation and isn’t disenfranchised.

Practicalities: Considering the speaker’s resignation was immediate, experts say it’s important constituents don’t go too long without representation. That said, three days doesn’t exactly allow for a robust lineup of candidates. I put in an email and a call to several Madigan representatives about the timing and am awaiting an answer.

While the remaining four committeepersons issued a statement calling for “transparency,” there are lots of murmurs among politicos about what that means.

“If you have pictures of someone robbing a bank, you obviously have transparency, but that doesn’t really ... affect the fact that somebody just robbed the bank,” says Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield.

What it means: “If the time frame is short, then obviously that provides an advantage for people who are well-connected,” Redfield said. “You can have an open kind of cattle call,” but that doesn’t mean the heir apparent isn’t lined up — or that finely tuned political organizations don’t have their candidates ready to enter the ring, Redfield said, adding: “But you’re never ... going to get any kind of grassroots (candidates) into this process.”

‘The Mike Madigan Show’: “Because the votes are cast among the five ward committeemen who have precincts within the (House) district and Mike Madigan has 56% of the weighted vote — he can meet with himself and make the decision,” University of Illinois at Chicago professor and former Chicago Ald. Dick Simpson tells The Spin. “He probably has another 30% (of the vote) guaranteed from one of the committeemen so it’s really ‘The Mike Madigan Show.’ And I suspect he’s already figured out who he wants to succeed him.”

A better way to fill a legislative vacancy, short of an election, Simpson says, is to create an appointment process that includes a well-publicized public hearing that involves the candidate getting up and making a pitch, fielding questions, followed by the public along with committeepersons holding a discussion about “each candidate’s virtues.” After that, the committeepersons conduct a vote in public.

While some might see a special election as the obvious alternative, Redfield said they tend to be costly and see low voter turnout. An appointment followed by an open race for the seat in the nearest election to fill out the balance of the term would be optimal, he said.

Anyone interested in filling Madigan’s vacant state House seat can submit their resumes and field questions from constituents at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Balzekas Museum ballroom, 6500 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago. Potential candidates interested in presenting at the meeting should email a cover letter and resume to contact@ildems.com or call 217-793-2301.

Those attending the meeting will be required to wear a face covering at all times and observe social distancing.

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Lightfoot touts confidence in Superintendent Brown after scathing watchdog report on police response to unrest

From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday she has ‘1,000% confidence’ in Chicago police Superintendent David Brown despite a scathing inspector general report this week that faulted his department’s handling of last spring’s protests and looting that beset the nation and city after George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis.

“Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s lengthy findings released Thursday listed a litany of shortcomings and inconsistencies at the Chicago Police Department’s command level that manifested themselves in chaos on the street when Floyd’s death sparked national unrest. Ferguson’s report said, among other things, that the city’s response last spring was plagued by ‘confusion and lack of coordination’ that risked the safety of both police and citizens.” Read more here.

ALSO: “Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended Friday the city’s decision to use $281.5 million in federal CARES Act money on Chicago police payroll costs, saying criticism from progressive aldermen and community groups on the issue is ‘just dumb,’” the Tribune’s John Byrne and Gregory Pratt report.

“We saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by saying ‘yes’ to the federal government. Should we have said ‘no’? ‘No, no, no federal government, we’ll incur this expense, we’ll put this burden entirely on city of Chicago taxpayers and you can take your money elsewhere.’” Lightfoot said. “That would be foolish and of course we didn’t do that.”

Mayor says she’ll ‘soon’ offer a plan for civilian Chicago police oversight as proponents of competing ordinances fume over delay, the Tribune’s John Byrne and Annie Sweeney report. They write: “Chicago aldermen said Friday that community groups were nearing agreement on two separate, long-debated policing oversight proposals and would have had an ordinance ready for a City Council vote by next week if Mayor Lori Lightfoot had not asked for a delay.”

A day after Lightfoot’s hand-picked Public Safety Committee chairman postponed a scheduled vote on the two ordinance proposals, the mayor told reporters this isn’t an 11th-hour move to derail the other ordinances and that she’ll soon lay out her own ideas for a civilian review panel, Byrne and Sweeney report. Read the full story here.

Other news: Lightfoot was among the Illinois mayors and other local elected officials who signed off on a letter to the state’s congressional delegation urging support of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan. The package would send $350 million to state, local and tribal governments; Illinois state government would get $7.5 billion while Chicago would get $1.8 billion.

Excerpt: “As mayors on the front line of the pandemic response, we have taken necessary steps to keep our communities safe and continue flattening the curve to save lives. Undoubtedly, these steps have come with severe financial hardship. Not only have tax revenues been dropping drastically, but funding essential services critical to the health and safety of our residents has and continues to be challenged.”

More Chicago news: “The number of vaccines going to Black and Latino people in Chicago has gone up but the city still has work to do in closing the equity gap, according to newly released data.” Story from the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and Jenny Whidden.

Air taxi service from downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport could launch by summer, the Tribune’s Robert Channick reports.

Judge tosses bribery counts in case related to ex-Clerk Dorothy Brown

The Tribune’s Jason Meisner writes: “In a rare loss for the U.S. attorney’s office in a public corruption case, a federal judge on Friday dismissed several bribery charges against the owner of a Pennsylvania debt-collection business accused of steering money to then-Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s campaign in exchange for government business.”

“The judge said during a hearing today that prosecutors failed to allege an ‘explicit’ quid pro quo in the charges alleging” campaign contributions from Donald Donagher Jr. “to Brown were actually bribes.” It’s a case being closely watched in Chicago’s legal community. Read the story here.

Kinzinger censured again, this time by Will County GOP

The Will County Republican Central Committee censured U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger during a Thursday night meeting, the third time a local GOP organization has rebuked the congressman over his vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump and vocally criticizing him.

“It’s a formal censure to let him know we rebuke his actions for not just attacking the (former) president, but actually being involved in the unconstitutional impeachment process,” George Pearson, who chairs the committee, said. The vote to censure was 111-5 with one abstention; the overwhelming support for the measure assures “in this election cycle we will be working against him,” Pearson tells The Spin.

Iroquois and LaSalle County Republican organizations also have censured Kinzinger while the state Republican Party has issued a mild rebuke.

Kinzinger, of Channahon, who has been making the rounds for months now on cable news outlets about his battle to end Trump’s influence over the Republican Party, shrugged off the latest censure.

In a statement, he said: “Not long ago, Will County was a staunchly conservative county where Republicans controlled the board and held county wide offices. Unfortunately, the current leaders of the Will County GOP have changed that. Under their leadership, Democrats took control of the County Board and Republicans have lost all county wide offices over the course of multiple elections.

“As the last federal Republican official representing Will County, I have been saddened by this ineptitude.”

Kinzinger told reporters last week: “Censorship has lost its impact. Everybody’s censured now for everything,” Kinzinger said. “I prefer not be censured, but I really, really will not lose an ounce of sleep if I am. Not even an ounce.”

Illinois breweries push legislation to keep delivering, even shipping beer post-pandemic

From the Tribune’s Josh Noel: “Home beer delivery could become a fixture in Illinois thanks to legislation proposed Friday.

“Breweries have been able to deliver beer to your doorstep since last March to help stem the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the legislation would make the ability to deliver beer permanent, as well as allow breweries to use third-party services such as Uber Eats or DoorDash to get their beers directly to consumers.” Read more here.

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