Nov. 04--Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
It's Wednesday, Nov. 4, the day after neighboring Kentucky elected a new Republican governor and Ohio just said no to marijuana.
Donald Trump will bring his bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Illinois on Monday, holding a rally at Springfield's convention center.
The Downstate appearance is sandwiched between Trump's scheduled hosting of "Saturday Night Live" on Saturday and the next GOP debate, in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
By avoiding Chicago, where many still haven't forgiven him for slapping his name across the city's skyline, Trump can focus on courting the state's more Republican-leaning rural voters. While he is seen a divisive by some Republicans, others view him as an outspoken political outsider -- something that could play well in the capital city all too familiar with patronage and scandal.
Springfield attorney Kent Gray recently was named director of the businessman and TV personality's Illinois state campaign. The rally will take place just blocks away from the Old State Capitol, where Barack Obama launched his presidential bid in 2007.
A controversial front-runner for most of the summer, Trump is seeking to regain some of the momentum he's lost in recent weeks as Republican voters remain fractured among the crowded GOP field. Like the candidate who passed him in national polls, Ben Carson, Trump also is hawking a new book.
Tickets to the 7 p.m. event are free, but those wanting to attend must register here. (Monique Garcia)
What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a late afternoon speech at a downtown hotel to an energy trade industry conference.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule.
*U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy will talk about a Chicago Public Schools program that lets students help grow food that is served at school. It's a morning event at Lindblom Math and Science Academy on the South Side.
From the notebook
*(Tuna) steak tartare?: Mayor Rahm Emanuel kept up the seafood-themed badinage with Gov. Bruce Rauner, promising to cook up some tuna the governor jokingly sent him whenever the governor gets around to passing a state budget.
The tuna steak became a prop in Illinois' ongoing budget impasse on Friday. Rauner purchased it at a North Side butcher shop and told a bunch of reporters he would have it delivered to the mayor, a nod to a myth-making tale of a young Emanuel sending dead fish to a pollster who dropped the ball in a congressional campaign.
Asked Tuesday about the governor's fish gift, Emanuel laughed, and cryptically proclaimed, "First of all, not everything always appears as it is."
"Let me just say this," the mayor added. "Having just passed a budget that fundamentally fixes our financial house in order, I communicated to the governor. I said there's two tuna steaks in there for you when you get your budget done, and I'll cook 'em."
(Emanuel's budget last week contained a record $588 million in property taxes over four years, as well as a $9.50-a-month garbage fee for homeowners and new ride-sharing and taxi fare and fee hikes.)
No word on whether Rauner will be bringing the wine to accompany said tuna. (John Byrne)
*Using tragedy as political tool: A social services advocacy group on Tuesday rushed to use the shooting death of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee to try to pressure Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers to resolve the state budget impasse. It was tricky territory to navigate, and things got awkward.
Voices for Illinois Children policy director Emily Miller suggested that politicians "bear responsibility for the negative impacts the budget impasse is having on families and communities," and that "children like Tyshawn are depending on them to be adults."
The budget impasse, now in its fifth month, has held up state funding for a number of nonprofit service providers, including those who offer after-school programs in neighborhoods like Gresham, where Tyshawn was killed Monday afternoon.
But as she tried to link the tragedy to the political fight in Springfield, Miller stopped short of saying that Tyshawn would be alive were it not for the budget stalemate, and said she didn't know if the boy had been enrolled in -- or turned away from -- an after-school program. Two after-school programs in the Gresham neighborhood are operating at limited capacity because they aren't receiving state funds, Miller contended.
"We know that after-school programs help families and communities. We know that kids, between the hours of 3 and 6, need structured time, and when they don't have structured time, they end up on the streets," Miller said. "When there are not programs that operate in these communities to serve that function, it is more likely that children, like Tyshawn, unfortunately, find themselves in unsafe situations. That's exactly why these programs exist. And it's exactly why the lawmakers and governor should fund these programs."
Asked whether she viewed the boy's death as a potential catalyst for action on the budget, Miller made reference to a theory that has been percolating among statehouse watchers, that it will take a tragic event to force political leaders to strike a deal.
"For months, people have been asking me, both on and off the record, whether or not there is a dead body," Miller said. "And it's been a terrible question to hear time and time again. Well, now there is a child. And so my hope is that people can invest in programs that keep children like this safe." (Kim Geiger)
*Ebola brings bipartisan agreement: In a rare joint show of agreement, all 20 members of Illinois' congressional delegation urged the federal Department of Health and Human Services to issue a formal designation for the Chicago Ebola Response Network to work on emergency preparedness and treatment of the disease.
The network, made up of health care officials, workers and first responders, would serve as a regional treatment center for the disease.
"Ebola was not the first virus to come through Chicago, and it will not be the last," the Illinois delegation wrote to HHS.
"Given its centrality and unique population base, it is imperative that Chicago maintain capabilities to screen, diagnose, treat, and prevent these conditions and participate in real time with other centers in the national network. Our providers believe that this designation will enable them to do just that," the letter said.
The network's health care providers include the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, and the University of Chicago Medical Center. (Rick Pearson)
*Chicago election judge registration opens for primary: Unlike other places in the country, Illinois and Chicago didn't have any elections Tuesday. But the Chicago Board of Elections has opened up its new online system to apply for election workers and coordinators for the March 15 primary election.
The online registration can be found here.
Election judges are paid $125 for working all of Election Day and get another $45 for completing training.
Additional pay is available for a variety of tasks, including by serving additional days for absentee voting, nursing-home voting or in post-election counting activities in the warehouse. (Rick Pearson)
*Hillary Clinton's gun theme: After her Monday visit to Chicago, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Iowa and continued her Democratic presidential campaign theme of calling for more gun laws and an end to gun violence.
After meeting in a Chicago cafe with families of youths from across the nation who were victims of gun violence, Team Clinton unveiled a new TV spot Tuesday in the nation's first presidential nominating states -- Iowa and New Hampshire -- that focuses on the issue of guns.
"This epidemic of gun violence knows no boundaries," Clinton says in the ad, filmed at a recent speech. In calling for universal background checks, she asks, "How many people have to die before we actually act before we come together as a nation?" (Rick Pearson)
What we're writing
*No holiday lights on the Capitol dome this year due to budget impasse.
*Ride-sharing at O'Hare soon as taxi changes languish.
*Some Chicago public high schools half empty.
*Group still wants principal training despite CPS scandal.
*The tragedy of a 9-year-old slain in Chicago.
What we're reading (and watching)
*The "Chi-Raq" movie trailer.
*A breakdown of the "Chi-Raq" trailer.
*"Chi-Raq" director Spike Lee posts reward poster of slain 9-year-old on Instagram.
Follow the money
*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash
Beyond Chicago
*Presidential race, Republican side: Trump book-signing, Rubio becomes a target.
*Presidential race, Democratic side: Clinton campaigns in Iowa.
