While outside of the scope of this blog I just wanted to note this since I saw this on Friday night. Ken Dunkin as a former a member of the Illinois House of Representatives represented the 5th district of Illinois which is basically the near south side (he represents parts of the Bronzeville neighborhood). He attempted to regain his seat in March running in Democratic primary, he was unsuccessful in this attempt - also bear in mind winning the Democratic nomination in Chicago is tantamount to victory in the general election.
Back in 2016 Dunkin lost the Democratic primary to the current state Rep. Juliana Stratton. Stratton is running for Lt. Governor with Democrat gubernatorial nominee JB Pritzker. Dunkin had been heavily associated with the agenda of Gov. Bruce Rauner and that effectively hurt his chances of re-election not only with his constituents, but with his caucus. Why would anyone in the Illinois House Democratic caucus even think they can go against the all-powerful speaker Michael Madigan?
Long story short, Gov. Rauner appoints his old ally in Dunkin to a seat on the Chicago Water Reclamation District. Below you see a tweet from David Ormsby with an image of the document which announces the governor's appointment. I first got wind of this via Rich Miller's Capitol Fax blog. It's also likely that this appointment is only temporary as it arose after the sudden death of a commissioner to the reclamation district and the sudden departure of another Rauner appointee.
The reason why this is worth sharing and probably the least important part of this whole political store is that Dunkin is a Morehouse grad. This is one primary reason why this caught my eye although where he got his degree or degrees is not entirely news. What's news is that he becomes another member of the water reclamation district via gubernatorial appointment.
Back in 2016 Dunkin lost the Democratic primary to the current state Rep. Juliana Stratton. Stratton is running for Lt. Governor with Democrat gubernatorial nominee JB Pritzker. Dunkin had been heavily associated with the agenda of Gov. Bruce Rauner and that effectively hurt his chances of re-election not only with his constituents, but with his caucus. Why would anyone in the Illinois House Democratic caucus even think they can go against the all-powerful speaker Michael Madigan?
Long story short, Gov. Rauner appoints his old ally in Dunkin to a seat on the Chicago Water Reclamation District. Below you see a tweet from David Ormsby with an image of the document which announces the governor's appointment. I first got wind of this via Rich Miller's Capitol Fax blog. It's also likely that this appointment is only temporary as it arose after the sudden death of a commissioner to the reclamation district and the sudden departure of another Rauner appointee.
Ex-State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) tapped by @GovRauner for $70K Water Rec Board gig. #twill pic.twitter.com/KISCvl5DSo— David Ormsby (@DavidOrmsby) May 18, 2018
