Mendoza Runs Interference

Even with the media embargo on the pay raise Illinois legislators were due for, the story was gaining massive traction downstate and in the more enlightened parts of the electorate. Enter the Machine's Susana Mendoza:

• Seeking to knock down a Republican talking point on the $40 billion state spending plan passed over the weekend, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza released a video Wednesday declaring that legislators won’t be getting raises in the budget year that begins July 1.
  
  “Some state legislators seem to think they’ll be getting a pay raise this year,” Mendoza says in the minute-long video. “The answer is: No, they won’t."
  
  As debate over the budget stretched into the early-morning hours Sunday, some Republicans in the Illinois House and Senate objected to the lack of language specifically blocking the automatic cost-of-living raises legislators are granted under state law.
  
  [...] While it’s true that no such language was included, the budget lawmakers approved would not provide any money to cover the cost of legislator raises, which means they won’t be seeing a pay bump, according to Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat whose job includes writing lawmakers’ paychecks. “Here’s how much money the General Assembly appropriated for legislator raises … in this year’s budget: Zero," Mendoza says in the video. “Which means, here’s how much more money I will be putting in their paychecks this year: Zero.”

We think that Mendoza is positioning herself for another shot at the mayor's office. She was our bet last year in the crowded field and seeing as how Groot is cratering in every metric of being an actual leader, it'll be another toss-up race in three years. Unless she's got her sights on the Durbin's Senate seat?