“Amid raids by the FBI and IRS and renewed calls for her to resign, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh (D) remains in poor health and is not ‘lucid’ enough to decide whether to resign, her attorney said late Thursday afternoon,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
“She could, however, decide next week.”
“A Texas mayor on the U.S.-Mexico border was charged Thursday with trying to cheat his way into office through an illegal voting scheme in a region long plagued by public corruption scandals,” the AP reports.
Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina “unseated the city’s longtime mayor by about 1,200 votes in 2017, and prosecutors say Molina tried to tip the scales by having voters change their addresses to places they didn’t live, including an apartment complex he owned.
A source tells WJZ that Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was at her home when the FBI raids began this morning, “but has since left the state.”
FBI and IRS agents raided Baltimore’s City Hall and the home of Mayor Catherine Pugh (D), the Baltimore Sun reports.
CNN: “Pugh, a Democrat, has taken a leave of absence amid a scandal over the sale of a children’s book she authored. While she was a board member of the University of Maryland Medical System, the UMMS spent $500,000 to fund the purchase of some 100,000 books from Pugh’s company Healthy Holly LLC, a spokesman for the medical system has confirmed.”
“Pete Buttigieg’s meteoric rise as a presidential candidate is putting a spotlight on his years as mayor of South Bend, Ind., including his demotion of an African American police chief,” The Hill reports.
“An Indiana judge will rule soon on whether to release five cassette tapes of secretly recorded conversations between South Bend police officers that led to the 2012 demotion of Police Chief Darryl Boykins, the city’s first ever black police chief.”
“The South Bend City Council subpoenaed Buttigieg to win release of the tapes, which were at the center of a police department shake-up and a series of lawsuits.”
Hollis Tharpe, the mayor of Front Royal, Virginia, was indicted Friday and charged with soliciting a prostitute in May 2018, the mayor told NBC Washington.
Tharpe said the charges stem from two visits he made to a massage parlor in Front Royal in 2018.
The Baltimore City Council voted unanimously to urge Mayor Catherine Pugh to resign, the Baltimore Sun reports.
“The letter comes as Pugh has taken a leave of absence as mayor amid an unfolding scandal over her sales of her Healthy Holly children’s books to entities that have business dealings with the city. The state prosecutor has opened an investigation into the book sales.”
“Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot face off Tuesday in a historic election that will see Chicago elect its first black woman mayor,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
“Preckwinkle and Lightfoot emerged from a field of 14 candidates in February, with Lightfood receiving 17.5 percent of the votes while Preckwinkle got 16.1 percent. Since then, the rivals have tried to one-up each other on their progressive credentials, with each trying to paint the other as a product of the Democratic machine.”
Page Six: “A wild rumor flying around the TV industry is that CNN chief Jeff Zucker is eyeing a run for mayor of New York City.”
“The prospect — however ridiculous or remote — of Zucker becoming mayor would not sit well with Rudy Giuliani, who demanded Zucker apologize for ‘torturing’ President Trump with CNN’s coverage on alleged collusion.”
Fall River, Massachusetts Mayor Jasiel Correia (D) “delivered a stunning victory Tuesday night as voters ousted him from office in a recall election and then ushered him back into power by picking him to be the city’s next chief executive,” the Boston Globe reports.
“Correia held onto his job under a quirk in the city charter which allowed him to run for reelection on the same ballot that sought to recall him.”
“Chicago will elect its first African-American female mayor after former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle won enough votes Tuesday amid a record field of 14 candidates to move on to an April runoff election,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
“It’s only the second time Chicago has had a runoff campaign for mayor.”
Barry Ritholtz: “Before we determine who killed Amazon’s HQ2, let’s note who did not: It was not the progressives or the Anti-ICE lefties. No, the Socialists have not taken over America. The biggest opponent to Amazon HQ2 in NYC was not from the new Congressional class, all they did was make some noise, and little to do with what actually mattered. It was not, to the chagrin of Fox News, AOC or Elizabeth Warren, or anyone else in Congress. All of the incentives for this were State + City, not Federal. Congress literally had no say on this.”
“Spoiler alert: It was Jeff Bezos. He belatedly realized the political landscape had changed, and decided he was unwilling to engage further. He did not want to deal with it or be embarrassed. Full stop.”
“The Daleys collectively ruled Chicago for a total of four decades, dating back to the 1950s. Now, after a brief interregnum, the family reign might be extended. Bill Daley, the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, is emerging as a late contender in the crowded Feb. 26 mayoral race, a contest featuring 14 people vying to succeed two-term Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” Politico reports.
“With the race in the nation’s third-largest city just two days away, Daley — who hopes to advance the legacy left by his father, the original ‘Boss,’ Richard J. Daley, and his brother, Richard M. Daley — has shot toward the front of the pack. After first barely registering in the polls, he now stands a strong chance of being one of the top two finishers to advance to a runoff election.”
Chicago Tribune: “The lack of electoral clarity makes it likely no candidate will receive more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, leaving the top two finishers to face off in an April 2 runoff election. Further complicating the picture are signs that Chicagoans haven’t been all that interested so far in the historically competitive race — at least when it comes to early voting.”
With just 12 days until the election, a new NBC Chicago/Telemundo poll finds no clear leader in Chicago’s race for mayor.
Toni Preckwinkle barely leads the 14-person pack with 14%, followed by Bill Daley at 13%, Susana Mendoza at 12%, Lori Lightfoot at 10%, Gery Chico at 9% and Amara Enyia at 7%.
Nearly one in five voters are still undecided.
“Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City. The company had planned to build a sprawling complex in Long Island City, Queens, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives,” the New York Times reports.
“But the deal had run into fierce opposition from local lawmakers who criticized providing subsidies to one of the world’s most valuable companies. Amazon said the deal would have created more than 25,000 jobs.”
Plans for a party celebrating the 25-year anniversary of Rudy Giuliani becoming the mayor of New York City are “fizzling out” because he is “too toxic,” the New York Daily News reports.
Said the source: “Rudy wanted it to appear to come together organically.”
“A District of Columbia clerk and a supervisor refused to accept a New Mexico man’s state driver’s license as he sought a marriage license because she and her supervisor believed New Mexico was a foreign country,” the AP reports.
“Federal agents showed up unannounced at the City Hall office of Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke, kicked everyone out and papered over the windows Thursday morning,” the Chicago Sun Times reports.
“The nature of their visit was not known, but Ald. Burke has dodged dozens of federal investigations over five decades in Chicago politics.”
Burke once worked as a tax lawyer for Donald Trump.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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