Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) promised to add an important bit of information to some of his window signs after a complaint was filed by his opponent with state officials. Former Cook County Clerk David Orr backed a slate of "independent" candidates and mayoral candidate Bill Daley saw a familiar face around the office Thursday.

• Sign complaint — David Mihalyfy, who is running against Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson in the 11th Ward, filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections, alleging that Daley Thompson’s campaign signs do not include a required notation that indicates what entity paid for them. “Everyone’s saying we can do better in the ward,” Mihalyfy said. “That’s about big picture stuff like youth and helping people with cost-of-living, but we also deserve an alderman who pays attention to everyday details, not to mention basic legal boundaries.” Daley Thompson said an error by the printer left off the notice on his campaigns’ English-language signs, and would be corrected immediately.
  
  


• Orr endorses slate of aldermanic challengers – Former Cook County clerk and 49th Ward alderman David Orr endorsed a group of aldermanic challengers at a City Hall press conference Thursday. Orr backed Rafael Yañez (15), Mike Rodriguez (22), Jessica Washington Gutierrez (30), Tara Stamps (37), Robert Murphy (39), Dianne Daleiden (40), Erika Wozniak Francis (46), Matt Martin (47), and Maria Hadden (49). Orr said he was encouraged by the group’s commitment to “efficient” government and said he expected them to pursue a long list of reforms – from TIF reform to police abuse, zoning scandals to school closures. “These candidates are independent, they’re proactive, and will demand change, accessibility, transparency and to make council a real legislative body,” Orr said.
  
  


• Daley joins Daley — Thursday was John R. Daley’s first day as the political director for Bill Daley’s campaign. Bill Daley, the brother of John R. Daley’s father, Cook County Comm. John P. Daley (D-11), the uncle of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11), the brother of former mayor Richard M. Daley and the son of former mayor Richard J. Daley, denied the existence of a family business in his interview with the Tribune’s editorial board. “Yes, my brother, my father were career politicians,” he said. “Yes I was a political advisor and ran Rich’s campaigns, but I never had any business at City Hall.” Bill Daley pledged in October that if elected, he would bar family members from benefiting from his position — including bidding, lobbying, or managing public pension funds at the city or its sister agencies. John R. Daley said his role will be in a “small advisory capacity” and “as was stated in the ethics roll out, I will not lobby a Daley administration.” John R. Daley is on leave from his lobbying role at Reyes Kurson, where he abstained from lobbying the county.
  
  


• Vallas focuses on pensions — Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas held a jam packed press conference Thursday to offer a blueprint to end the city’s pension woes. Vallas said he could find the roughly $300 million that the city will owe in 2020 by cutting the, including a 5 percent reduction in base expenditures. Vallas also pledged to cap property tax increases, “depoliticize” pension fund investment decisions and pursue a state legislative agenda that reverses the hundreds of millions of dollars he says the city is being “short-changed.” Vallas’ statements Thursday echo many he made in a speech about his financial plan in at the City Club in October.


• Preckwinkle and Mendoza applaud Pritzker —  Mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Mendoza praised Gov. JB Pritzker for signing SB 337, which requires gun dealers to be licensed by the state. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the bill, which had been championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This bill will have a tremendous impact in the city of Chicago, as strengthening gun dealer licensing requirements will reduce the number of guns that come into the wrong hands,” Preckwinkle said in a statement. Both Mendoza and Preckwinkle said they looked forward to working with Pritzker on future gun control bills. “It is so incredible to finally have a governor who recognizes the effects of gun violence on our communities and has the courage to sign the Gun Dealer Licensing bill,” Mendoza said.