The Spin: Mayor to add Wisconsin to Chicago's quarantine list | Sign of the times: 'Catanzara for Mayor' | Countdown to Biden picking running mate
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced today that Wisconsin will be added to the list of states where anyone spending 24 hours or more will be directed to self-quarantine for 14 days. That could get tricky for Gov. Pritzker, who has a farm and a vacation home up north, calls Chicago home but also resides at the governor’s mansion in Springfield,
Chicago’s controversial police union boss was among the speakers at a combo pro-police and pro-Republican-candidates event over the weekend, with some very professional looking “John Catanzara for Mayor” signs that caught eagle-eyed reporter Stacy St. Clair’s attention.
He told the crowd Saturday and The Spin today that he was trying to needle Mayor Lori Lightfoot “who’s accused me of being political” and wasn’t interested in running for public office.
And we’re just days away from learning who presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will select as his running mate. While the conventional wisdom is that he will pick from among a handful of African American women, several observers say you still can’t discount Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth from the running.
Welcome to The Spin.
Chicago adds Wisconsin to quarantine list
From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “People who have spent more than 24 hours in Wisconsin will soon be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday. The Pritzker family has a horse farm in Racine and his family visited the farm during Illinois’ coronavirus stay-at-home order.
“Wisconsin becomes the 19th state from which travelers are being told to self-quarantine due to concerns over high coronavirus case rates. Lightfoot, who said Wisconsin will be added to the list later this week, didn’t offer further details during an afternoon press conference.
Pratt notes that the order figures to be particularly problematic with Wisconsin, given its proximity and the high number of people from Illinois who spend weekends and vacations there. The order requires people who have spent more than 24 hours in high-risk states to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Chicago.
Mayor Lightfoot announces $33 million in housing assistance grants, including mortgage and rent relief, from federal COVID-19 funds: Pratt has the details here.
CPS parents skeptical of health protocols as officials emphasize student pods to promote safety: The Tribune’s Claire Hao has the details here.
About FOP president’s ‘John Catanzara for Mayor’ signs
During a weekend rally in downtown Chicago aimed at supporting police and Republican candidates for office, “John Catanzara, the frequently-disciplined cop who leads the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, wore a ‘Cops for Trump’ shirt and said, ‘We need to push back on the politicians who are ruining this city, county and state,‘” my Tribune colleagues write. Read the full story here.
Also spotted: a “John Catanzara for Mayor” sign that, he told The Spin this morning, was “a gag, sort of a jab at the mayor for saying I was political.” Earlier this month, he wrote a letter to President Trump and asked for the aid of federal law enforcement to help put a lid on rising crime, while also criticizing the mayor. The mayor’s office called the letter a “political stunt.”
Asked whether he has considered running for office he said “No, I’m obviously -- my primary concern is to get a contract done.” Another priority -- campaigning to see to it that top prosecutor Kim Foxx loses her reelection bid, something FOP officials have been hot on since the Jussie Smollett controversy began.
While at one point in the interview adamant that he wouldn’t run for public office, he followed up by saying “Who knows what the future holds?”
Asked for a response, Lightfoot’s political director Dave Mellet told The Spin in a statement: “Mayor Lightfoot is focused on stopping COVID-19, supporting families struggling with the crisis, reforming the Police Department and many other urgent issues our city faces and is giving no consideration to the next municipal election at this time.” It should be noted that the next mayoral election is in 2023.
About contract negotiations: Lightfoot didn’t respond directly to a question about how all of this barb-trading might affect negotiations between the city and the union that represents the thousands of rank-and-file officers. She said negotiations are ongoing and that the terms would conform to the federal consent decree that calls for sweeping changes in policy and training.
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Mayor Lightfoot suggests public safety threat prompted middle-of-the-night removal of Columbus statues
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot talked publicly for the first time about her decision to remove the Christopher Columbus statues in Grant Park and Little Italy early Friday, the former the scene of a brutal clash between police and protesters.
Some of my journalist colleagues are comparing Lightfoot’s call to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 2003 middle-of-the-night closure -- OK, destruction, bulldozers gouged Xs in the north-south runway -- of Meigs Field, the small lakefront airport on Northerly Island.
“I wanted to make sure that we did it as quickly as possible, and we received some information that day ... that raised some very serious public safety concerns. I didn’t want to wait,” the mayor said, declining to elaborate on what she had learned. The Tribune’s John Byrne has the details here.
Activists, elected leaders sign letter asking Mayor Lightfoot, Sheriff Dart not to work with federal law enforcement officers
In a letter released over the weekend, activists and dozens of elected leaders, from members of the General Assembly to Chicago aldermen, asked Mayor Lightfoot and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart to not allow police and county law enforcement to work with federal law enforcement deployed by Trump administration.
The letter comes on the heels of the White House announcing it would be sending an additional 150 FBI and other law enforcement agents to beef up existing operations here as violent crime ticks up. The letter reads in part: “We DO NOT trust any promises that President Trump has made or will make about their deployment. We ask that you immediately cease any existing or planned city police and county sheriff cooperation with the federal agents that President Trump has pledged to send to Chicago.” Read the full letter, including which elected leaders signed it, here.
Asked about this during a news conference, the mayor said only: “I have not seen that letter, so I really can’t comment.”
She has welcomed the additional law enforcement officers but is also skeptical because it’s coming at the behest of the Trump White House. She has requested -- and White House officials have confirmed -- that the dispatch of added law enforcement won’t look like what’s happening in Oregon, where activists and elected leaders have accused fatigue-wearing Homeland Security agents of pulling protesters off the streets and putting them into unmarked vans.
Biden scheduled to pick running mate around Aug 1.
USA Today and other news outlets have reported that Biden expects to announce a running mate around Aug. 1. We know that U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth is in the running, per U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
Duckworth has politely and artfully begged off on all manner of questions about everything from confirming she’s a contender to what it’s like to be in the running.
Biden’s campaign didn’t offer any updates on his pick today and Duckworth’s political team didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether she’s heard from the Biden campaign.
Former first lady Michelle Obama’s first podcast guest will be former President Barack Obama: In a preview released in recent days, husband and wife go back and forth with the president saying “You know me” and Michelle Obama responding, “You are the eternal optimist, (the) ‘yes we can man.’ “He laughs and parrots “I’m the ‘yes we can man.’”
“The Michelle Obama Podcast: kicks off Wednesday on Spotify.
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Twitter @byldonovan
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