Elections attorney Perry Abbasi, representing an objector to State Rep. LaShawn Ford’s ballot petition to run for 29th Ward Committeeman, says the Chicago Board of Elections will remove Ford from the Committeeman ballot when it meets on Tuesday. Abbasi, who is representing long-time West Side operative Tommy Simmons in the objection, and is paid by Ald. Chris Taliaferro, says a Board of Elections Administrator shared a draft of his report on the Simmons objection, and will sustain it.

Ford turned in 2,229 signatures, but after Simmons’ objection only about 404 were sustained, says to Abbasi. 759 are needed to stay on the ballot. Ford could file a “Rule 20” request to appeal the ruling directly to the Board of Elections, but as of Friday afternoon he had not yet done so.

Ford also filed an objection to Taliaferro’s Committeeman ballot petition, but Abbasi reports the Board of Elections did not sustain enough objected signatures to knock Taliaferro off the ballot.

Ford says he’ll be talking with his attorney, Mike Kasper, to decide whether or not he’ll be filing a Rule 20 before Tuesday’s Board of Elections hearing. “I focused on making sure I had my State Rep. stuff and I relied on someone else to get my Committeeman signatures. I think he screwed me.”

If the Board of Elections removes Ford from the ballot and keeps Taliaferro on, Taliaferro will run unopposed for 29th Ward Democratic Committeeman. Former 29th Ward Ald. Deborah Graham, the incumbent, did not file for reelection.

Ald. Michele Smith will not be running for reelection as 43rd Ward Democratic Committeeman, according to a statement her office provided to Aldertrack last week. Instead she will be supporting Lucy Moog, a former Congressional staffer for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and wife of successful internet entrepreneur Matt Moog.

Dashcam video of a second October 2014 fatal police shooting is sitting in legal limbo. Two sources that work with the Chicago Police Department, as well as documents from a suit against the Department, and the Department’s response, confirm dash-cam video captured portions of the police shooting of 25-year old Ronald “Ronnieman” Johnson III in the Washington Park neighborhood just eight days before the shooting death of Laquan McDonald.

The 2014 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and its horrific circumstances are adding fuel to a steadily growing fire of anger and discontent with the city’s criminal justice system among Chicago’s Black community, according to African American activists, pastors and aldermen Aldertrack spoke with yesterday.

Fifty-three candidates filed ballot petitions yesterday with the State Board of Elections to run for Democratic, Republican, and Green Party Ward Committeeman for the first day of filing. While nearly half of the candidates who filed yesterday are incumbents (like Cook County Democratic Party Chairman and 31st Ward Democratic Committeeman Joe Berrios and 13th Ward Democratic Committeeman and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan), there were a few newcomers.

After a marathon day of hearing applications for special use permits, most of which were for home expansion plans, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved zoning changes to relocate a medical marijuana dispensary from Fulton Market to Garfield Park, a new tech-focused, private elementary school for Lincoln Park, and a new transitional home in the Little Village neighborhood.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved several large scale housing and commercial developments to be built along the Lakefront and Chicago River, including the “supertall” Wanda Vista Tower project.

As election season draws near, Chief Judge Timothy Evans has turned to Professor Fraud to fill one of two vacancies at the Chicago Board of Elections. Professor William Kresse, an attorney, certified fraud examiner and professor at Governors State University, will be sworn in this morning to replace the late Republican Commissioner Richard A. Cowen, who passed away in April. While Kresse says the new job falls at the nexus of his professional interests – fraud, elections, and law – he says the appointment is bittersweet.

The City Council approved new regulations for privatizing city assets and services, “no-fly” zones for recreational drones, $700,000 in police settlements, an amended e-cigarette tax, a new airport parking program and fees for parking operators around city airports.

Cook County’s $4.5 billion budget passed the Board of Commissioners by a 12-to-5 vote after hours of haggling over a series of technical amendments.

The Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development met briefly yesterday afternoon to approve a property tax exemption for EDE Corp., the only exhibition display company based in Chicago. The 35-year-old, family-run company sought a Class 6(b) property tax incentive to expand their operations to a neighboring, vacant 35,000-square-foot-industrial building at 3790 W. 74th St. in the 13th Ward. If approved by the full City Council tomorrow, the company would save approximately $254,000 in tax savings over the 12-year period, and could re-apply for the tax break when it expires.

With more than half of the items on the agenda awaiting approval from the Plan Commission, the City Council’s Zoning Committee spent a majority of the meeting approving aldermanic applications to downzone sections of their wards to prevent developers from building “whatever they want” without community input. Most of those zoning changes, pending City Council approval today, are in the 19th Ward on the far South Side of Chicago.

A joint Committee on Budget and Finance will reconvene this morning to vote on new regulations aimed at preventing the future sale of city assets and services without an extensive public review process and independent audit.

With the first ballot petition filing deadline less than a week away, longtime 10th Ward resident Fred Carrizales confirmed to Aldertrack he’s planning to run for Democratic Ward Committeeman, saying he seized an opportunity when former Ald. John Pope (10) decided not to, and is getting pointers from convicted former Hispanic Democratic Organization chief, Al Sanchez.

With only two aldermen raising questions, the appointment of former 31st Ward Ald. Ray Suarez to the nine-member Illinois International Port District (IIPD) Boardpassed the Committee on Transportation and Public Way Tuesday, and will be reported out to the full Council today. His appointment was first introduced in September, but Chairman Anthony Beale (9) held the appointment in committee at the mayor’s request. Beale was absent Tuesday, so Vice Chair Matt O’Shea (19) presided. The position includes a $20,000 annual salary.