The Fran Spielman Show

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), the powerful chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee and a key member of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s leadership team, is retiring from City Council but plans to remain in public service in this interview with Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As an unpaid negotiator for the Fraternal Order of Police, Jim Franczek said Paul Vallas was singularly responsible for convincing the Fraternal Order of Police to accept a host of police accountability measures as part of the eight-year police contract that ended the longest labor stalemate in Chicago history. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said Thursday she expects vanquished mayoral challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia to endorse Brandon Johnson in the April 4 mayoral runoff, bringing Chicago’s fractured family of progressives back together.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by her colleagues, Sun-Times' chief political reporter Tina Sfondeles and WBEZ's political reporter Dan Mihalopoulos to recap Tuesday's historic Mayoral election. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Axelrod has helped to elect mayors, senators and the nation’s first Black president. While not ready to “write the epitaph” of incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, he said: “She definitely has a very, very steep uphill climb.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the November day when Garcia finally entered the race, he told the Sun-Times that he would love to unite the progressive movement had has championed for a lifetime, but he was prepared to go it alone if it was too late for that in the first round of the mayoral sweepstake. He expressed confidence that he could force Lightfoot or someone else into a runoff and that the progressive family would reunite behind him then.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s a good thing former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas has developed a “thick hide” in over 40 years in public service. He needs it—and a flak jacket—with all of the political heat he is getting in the nine-way race for mayor of Chicago. “I’m the frontrunner. That’s the reason. They know I’ve got momentum. They know I’m rising in the polls. They know that I’m a threat. And this time, they’re gonna try to attack me personally as opposed to challenge me on the issues,” Vallas said Friday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veteran Chicago Police Detective Bob Bartlett is trying to unseat the fiery union president who has gone toe to toe with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over all things law enforcement in a feud that paused, only long enough to deliver an eight-year police contract. Like Catanzara, Bartlett is no fan of Lightfoot or her handpicked Police Superintendent David Brown. He wants to see both of them gone. But, Bartlett said there’s a way to do it and a way not to do it. And Catanzara’s verbal scorched earth policy is not the way to go. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mayoral challenger Sophia King (4th) has a grand plan to breathe new life into a Chicago Public School System that has been hemorrhaging students — with more than 82,000 students lost over the last decade. It builds on the plan she has already announced to deliver Chicago from violent crime.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mayoral challenger Brandon Johnson, the Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, came out swinging against Garcia and would not commit to supporting Garcia—and re-uniting the fractured family of progressives—if Garcia makes it to the runoff and Johnson doesn’t.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.