The Spin: Lightfoot’s gift to Oprah Winfrey is a book by Chicago artist – with an essay by the mayor

Chicago Tribune (IL)

Jun. 11--I just want to know: Did Oprah Winfrey offer Mayor Lori Lightfoot any advice when they met last week in California at the talk show queen's home? Oprah invited the mayor and her wife, Amy Eshleman, to her home for dinner last Thursday, and they even took a chummy picture together before it was all over. Oprah posted it on Instagram overnight, so folks are chatting. We know this much: The mayor brought a hostess gift that offers a slice of Chicago's art scene -- and Lightfoot herself.

Tomorrow's City Council meeting begs the question: Will there be a Lightfoot vs. Ald. Edward Burke Show, Part II? During the mid-May meeting, Lightfoot's first as mayor, Burke -- facing a federal charge of attempted bribery -- challenged her about some language in a bureaucratic rules ordinance. Lightfoot, seeing it as a test, shut him down. Days later he was indicted on expanded federal racketeering and bribery charges.

And with the thwack of a gavel, a federal court judge in Chicago dismissed a lawsuit today that could have halted construction of the Obama Presidential Center on South Side parkland.

Welcome to The Spin.

Lightfoot's hostess gift for Oprah

They are both African American women who will go down in the history books as pioneers in Chicago. So it's not surprising that Lightfoot, the first black woman elected mayor of Chicago, wanted to meet Winfrey, the African American talk show host who turned her daytime show into a media empire.

Lightfoot's political operation reached out to Winfrey about the possibility of the two meeting while the mayor was traveling to California last week. In the end, Winfrey extended a dinner invitation to Lightfoot and Eshleman, and they dined together last Thursday at Winfrey's home; she reportedly has two residences in Montecito. You can read my story about it here.

Hostess gift: The mayor brought Winfrey a book by local artist Nick Cave, in which Lightfoot wrote a piece about violence, according to a spokesman for Lightfoot's political campaign. According to a listing on Amazon.com, Lightfoot was among several who contributed essays for the book "Nick Cave: Until."

A test of Lightfoot's handpicked City Council leader

The Tribune's Juan Perez Jr. reports, "The City Council's powerful Finance Committee rejected a multimillion-dollar legal settlement largely intended for a young woman left paralyzed after a dramatic 2014 car crash, in an unusual vote Tuesday that left some aldermen scrambling to revisit the decision.

"Committee members are now scheduled to meet Wednesday morning, when they could reconsider their vote against a planned $3.7 million city payout to three passengers who were injured after a BMW struck several objects and landed on its roof after a 25-foot plunge off an embankment in the River West neighborhood."

It's an early test of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's new City Council leadership team and her Finance Committee chairman, Ald. Scott Waguespack.

Here's what else to expect at tomorrow's City Council meeting, according to City Hall reporter John Byrne:

*Lightfoot's ethics ordinance, which aims to fight City Hall corruption by setting tighter restrictions on aldermen with outside jobs, among other things, will be officially introduced, but it will be assigned to a committee for review before heading to the full council for a vote. The earliest it would come up for a full vote of the City Council is in July. Byrne lays out the proposal in a Tribune story here.

*Appointments of several of Lightfoot's top officials will need to be confirmed by a full City Council vote, including: City Department of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara, a vice president at the Metropolitan Planning Council and outspoken critic of aldermanic prerogative; City Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner, a partner at the Holland & Knight law firm and a former federal prosecutor; and Budget Director Susie Park, who's served as a police finance official.

Rahm Emanuel mum on Biden, presidential race

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden was close enough to Rahm Emanuel that when Emanuel was sworn in as Chicago's mayor for the first time during a 2011 ceremony at Millennium Park, the former vice president was right there on stage with him. The two had worked in the Obama White House together, but it's not clear whether Rahm is backing a horse in the crowded field of Democrats seeking the party's nomination in 2020.

So I reached out to Emanuel's team about whether he might be attending Biden's Chicago fundraiser tomorrow night. An Emanuel spokeswoman said via email that the former mayor is out of town this week. So, no Biden fundraiser, it sounds like. And no answer on who he's supporting -- if anyone.

More Emanuel connections: The fundraiser is reportedly going to be hosted by Robert Wislow, Gold Coast resident and CEO of commercial real estate services giant CBRE. Wislow previously supported Obama's presidential bid along with Emanuel's mayoral bid.

Judge tosses suit seeking to halt Obama Presidential Center

From the Tribune's Lolly Bowean: "In a surprising move, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the city of Chicago was within its authority when it approved the Obama Foundation's plan to build the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. After listening to nearly an hour of arguments on both sides, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said construction of the sprawling Obama center campus can begin and dismissed the lawsuit filed by environmentalists that aimed to halt it." Read the full story here.

Lightfoot issued a written statement after the judge's ruling that was at once a tribute to the president and his Chicago ties and a promise to ensure that the center "creates unprecedented cultural opportunities and economic growth on the South Side."

Rather than cheer-lead the project, she stressed her role in it: "I look forward to meeting with community stakeholders and the Obama Foundation to resolve remaining issues so that the benefits of this important project can be shared by all."

'Medicare for All'? American Medical Association says no, drawing protest in Chicago

The Tribune's Lisa Schencker reports on the friction stirred by the AMA's opposition to Medicare for All -- a position some doctors and nurses are balking at. President Donald Trump's Medicare chief, Seema Verma, spoke Monday at the annual meeting of the AMA here about the limitations of Medicare for All. You can read Schencker's pieces about it here and here.

Two sides: "Supporters (of 'Medicare for All,' also referred to as a single-payer system) say they're weary of the growing costs of health insurance, provided by private insurers, and restrictions often placed by insurers on which doctors can be seen and what will be covered," Schencker writes. "Those opposed to the concept, such as the AMA, say choice is key to health care improvements, and they worry about the government's ability to effectively administer and fund such a huge system."

The politics: "As the nation inches closer to the 2020 presidential election, issues with the U.S. health care system are moving into the spotlight," Schenker writes. "At stake: the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare; proposals to expand 'Medicare for All'; and ideas to target high drug prices. They're all topics sure to spark fierce debate in coming months."

With Most States Under One Party's Control, America Grows More Divided: The New York Times examines how states like Illinois, where Democrats control the legislature and the governor's office, have pushed an agenda, including loosening abortion restrictions, that moves the party further left while states dominated by Republicans have moved further the right. Read the piece here.

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