Rauner’s da man, as Cook County GOP endorsement looms — to knock out of the box:

Sneed hears GOP gubernatorial hopefuls State Sen. Kirk Dillard, State Treasurer Dan Rutherford and State Sen. Bill Brady were busy campaigning this week.

But not for themselves.

All three Republican candidates were involved in a one-act play with one major objective: stopping gazillionaire Bruce Rauner from winning the Cook County Republican Party primary endorsement.

◆ Translation: “They and their minions were hitting the campaign phones: Dillard, Rutherford and Brady don’t care so much who gets the endorsement, as long as it isn’t Rauner,” a Sneed source said.

And unions are not far behind.

“This is a sideshow,” said a Rauner source. “It’s what damage the unions are going to do to Rauner that’s the big deal. Rauner has been very outspoken against union leadership.”

Sneed hears that if the unions are going to…

. . . I splurged in this week’s Wed. Journal and sister newspapers.

It’s nicely done. Page 67 of the OP&RF Wed. Journal is where you find it.

Here is its deathless prose:

Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968
is about growing up Catholic in Oak Park,
entering the Jesuits at 18, leaving at 36,
and pre-Vatican II church life.
Available at the Book Table in Oak Park
and online at Amazon and Lulu.com

The back-cover copy in part:

Jim Bowman’s vivid account of his eighteen years in the
Society of Jesus during the 1950s and 1960s is also a picture of
the American Jesuits in transition.Readers who lament what
happened to the Jesuits will find Bowman’s memoir moving
and ultimately sad. In the end, he found his way as writer,
journalist, and family man; the Jesuits, God love them, remain
in transit to a destination yet unknown.

Maybe:

INDEPENDENT GROCERS DEALING FOR DOMINICK’S
Independent grocery chains affiliated with the Centrella cooperative are in
negotiations to buy as many as 10 Dominick’s stores from Safeway, in
both the city and suburbs,sources tell Crain’s.

This came up big at the President Anan-Trustee Peter townhall the other night.

About the Dec. 11 meeting at the library, where President Anan Abu-Taleb and Trustee Peter Barber took on comers.

Yes, it got heated regarding the District 97 building situation, and Anan got pointed in his rebuttal, but he was not flustered by the detailed objections. Neither was Barber, who recalled his days on the D97 board and how parents and others get quite energetic at times, in the faces of board members, etc. That’s a longstanding pattern. Heated commentary, finger-shaking, even once I recall, a board member being asked to step outside by a citizen, and not to grab a smoke and chat.

Anan apologized at one point. This was after the heated citizen pictured in the Wed. Journal story interrupted him from the back – he had been recognized and had the mike, Anan was adding to what he had said. Really, it was like old times, when…

Chicago GOP unveils slate of statehouse candidates. Hinz: Chicago GOP moves to elect own lawmakers

From Rick Boultinghouse on eve of the District 97/Village of OP meeting:

Tossing this all around this evening on the eve of our next step I realized something that I had not realized before. EVERY potential option D97 is and has been exploring that they have publically discussed are on Madison Street. I do not think this is mere coincidence.

I think they are not exploring space anywhere else in the Village specifically because some back door agreement exists between D97 and VOP relative to the Madison Street TIF. D97 gets money from the other two TIFs as well, but this TIF is failing in its purpose and will likely sunset, per a discussion I had with Anan today.

I think it is worth asking why no options off Madison Street exist?

Mistrust abounds.

Congratulations and season’s best wishes to Oak Park’s dynamic trio of Democrat legislators — D. Harmon, C. Lilly, and L. Ford — for their 88% rating by the Springfield-based green-lobbying Illinois Environmental Council.

Not bad, but what they did they do or not do that the 23 other state-legislature Democrats did to merit the 100% rating, and what are Oak Park’s progressive Democrats going to do about this 12% gap?