Preckwinkle ad focuses on Laquan McDonald
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is poised to start airing the first TV ad of her mayoral campaign, and it is focused on the most tumultuous moment of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s current tenure — the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
According to a copy of the ad obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Preckwinkle positions herself as an early voice of concern about the McDonald shooting. Her campaign points to the fact that she released the black teen’s autopsy after he was shot 16 times by white Officer Jason Van Dyke, who last year was convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting.
Preckwinkle is scheduled to begin airing the ad this week, as her campaign seeks to regain its footing after spending much of the last week rocked by the candidate’s ties to the Ald. Edward Burke corruption scandal.
The ad begins with some of the police dashcam footage of McDonald walking down a darkened Pulaski Road moments before his body was riddled with bullets.
“Sixteen shots, nine in the back,” a narrator says at the start of the ad. “Facts that the police and city officials tried to bury.”
The spot then shows footage of Emanuel and former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy at a news conference.
“It was Toni who made sure Laquan McDonald’s autopsy went public. Toni who called for the dashcam footage to be released,” the ad continues, showing images of Preckwinkle at a made-for-TV news conference. “Toni demanded the police chief be fired, and helped oust the state’s attorney for not doing her job.”
The narrator then concludes “Toni Preckwinkle — a mayor who does what’s right,” with images of the former teacher in a classroom with children.
Preckwinkle’s campaign has yet to release the ad, but confirmed it would begin airing Thursday. The campaign said it will spend $750,000 to air the spot on broadcast and cable television.
The spot is a unique introductory ad in the sense that it seeks to establish Preckwinkle’s credibility on a high-profile topic by in essence attacking what Emanuel’s administration and the Chicago Police Department did not do in the wake of the McDonald shooting. About a week after a Cook County judge ordered Emanuel to release the dashcam video of the shooting, the mayor fired McCarthy, who also is running for mayor.
On the same day Emanuel finally released the video, then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez charged Van Dyke with murder — more than a year after the November 2014 shooting on a Southwest Side street. That, combined with the fact that Emanuel’s administration and aldermen agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family before a lawsuit was even filed, led to accusations of a City Hall cover-up, calls for Emanuel’s resignation and weeks of street protests.
Emanuel made the surprise announcement not to seek a third term in office in September, just days before the Van Dyke trial began.
Preckwinkle’s ad references the release of the McDonald autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner, an office that falls under her purview as the county’s chief executive. On Nov. 30, 2015 — the day before Emanuel fired McCarthy — Preckwinkle called for both McCarthy and Alvarez to be ousted. At the time, Preckwinkle was backing her former chief of staff Kim Foxx, who went on to defeat Alvarez in the March 2016 Democratic primary.
“I’ve had no confidence in (Alvarez’s) leadership for a very long time,” Preckwinkle said then. “I’ve talked to (Emanuel) and told him he ought to ask for the resignation of Superintendent McCarthy as well.”
Less clear, though, is exactly how vocal Preckwinkle had been about demanding that dashcam footage of the video be released. Unlike her comments about McCarthy and Alvarez, Preckwinkle’s ad did not cite supporting information for when she called for the video’s release.
After the Tribune contacted the Preckwinkle campaign about the ad, it released a statement that included a vote of confidence from McDonald’s great uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter. “I have full confidence that Toni is the right person to lead our city forward,” Hunter said in the statement. “She listened to our communities and activists after this unthinkable tragedy and has been a leader in criminal justice. As mayor, Toni will invest in our neighborhoods, our children and our families.”
Preckwinkle’s debut on the airwaves comes seven weeks out from the Feb. 26 mayoral election, where 15 candidates are vying to replace Emanuel. Preckwinkle is considered one of the front-runners, given her stature as not only the County Board president, but chair of the Cook County Democratic Party.
The release of the ad comes as Preckwinkle has had to deal with the fallout of her tangential ties to federal authorities charging Burke, the city’s longestserving and most powerful alderman, with attempted extortion. Investigators last week alleged Burke shook down the owners of a Burger King in his ward for a campaign contribution and tax appeals business at his private law firm in exchange for approving permits for the restaurant.
The Tribune has reported the contribution was intended for Preckwinkle, who has denied any knowledge of Burke’s actions to obtain the contribution. Preckwinkle has said she returned the $10,000 contribution because it exceeded the state limits for a contribution from an individual donor. The criminal complaint against Burke, however, said the politician since identified as Preckwinkle kept $5,600 of the donation. Preckwinkle has not been accused of wrongdoing.
The Cook County Board president follows other mayoral candidates Bill Daley, Gery Chico and Willie Wilson in airing TV ads. Among the field, Preckwinkle has strong buying power, trailing only Daley in campaign fundraising.
To date, Preckwinkle has raised $2.75 million for her mayoral bid, including an additional $500,000 from Service Employees International Union that she reported Wednesday morning. SEIU, which has endorsed Preckwinkle, has been her largest financial backer to date, contributing nearly $1.9 million.
Also starting to air her first TV ad of the campaign this week is Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who launched one about reducing crime that touches on her personal history in the Little Village neighborhood.
Optional print trim:“A murder on our block. My family forced to leave. It’s my story and it’s Chicago’s story,” Mendoza says in the commercial. “But it’s time to write a new chapter.”
An announcer says Mendoza’s plan “addresses the root causes of violence” and she plans to hire more detectives. Mendoza then declares, “We can reduce gun violence, and we will,” before referring people to read her “Future Now Plan” on her campaign website.
Mendoza also reported some of her campaign’s first financial backing from labor this week, recording a $250,000 contribution from LIUNA Chicago Laborers’ District Council PAC.
Daley, meanwhile, was releasing a new 30-second ad in which he plays up his time in President Barack Obama’s administration and calls for a focus on Chicago’s neighborhoods, which are “too often left out of the Loop’s prosperity.”
“It’s time to shake things up and put our neighborhoods first,” he says as the ad cuts from video of him talking to Chicagoans to a photo of Obama and Daley sitting next to each other talking on phones. “As President Obama’s chief of staff, I fought for billions towards teacher, police and firefighter jobs.”
Daley then mentions his pledge to freeze property taxes, and says he has “a plan to get guns and gangs off our streets starting on day one.”
“No more excuses,” Daley says, pointing toward the camera as the ad ends.