Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts said Friday a proposed $10M anti-Obama ad campaign from a Super PAC bankrolled by family patriarch Joe Ricketts is a "distraction nobody wanted," according to Fran Spielman of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Tom Ricketts added it was a "bad weekend to be throwing curve balls" at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel while the Cubs and the city are in talks for a $300M renovation of Wrigley Field. Regarding a N.Y. Times article about the proposed ads, Tom Ricketts said, "I don’t think anybody in the family was pleased to see that article." He added, "It misrepresented who we are as a family. It isn’t us to do anything as racially insensitive as some of the things in that proposal. People who know us know that’s not who we are. We just hope those who don’t know us don’t jump to conclusions. ... I’m not really involved in what my father does on the political side, and he’s not involved in anything we do as a team." Tom Ricketts: "He knows it's very important for us to maintain the image of the Cubs at the highest level. He understands that would complicate some of our efforts on the funding side." Spielman wrote for Tom Ricketts it does not "feel good to place an apologetic phone call to Emanuel, not have that call returned, then read about how the mayor is so livid that Emanuel has no interest in returning the call anytime soon." Tom Ricketts said, "I’m sure we’ll talk at the right time" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/20).
A SAD STATE? In Chicago, Rick Telander wrote, "The Ricketts family saddens me." Everyone named Ricketts has been "scurrying for cover since the bombshell dropped, with the conservative Ricketts kids semi-distancing themselves from their father and his right-wing dirty dealings." But the family members "don't come one at a time; they march as a group, and they’re right of center by design." Telander: "If Mayor Emanuel gives your family a dime, he's worse than a fool" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/20).
DROPPING THE BALL: In Chicago, David Haugh noted Saturday night's White Sox-Cubs game "coincided with the NATO summit" in the city, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the game while U.S. Marine Corps General John Allen threw out the first pitch. The game "possessed a 'Monday Night Football' feel." Before reports of the anti-Obama ad campaign surfaced Thursday, the Cubs and the city "were close to a deal" for renovations to Wrigley Field. Now, "nobody involved with the Cubs privately dares to predict anything after Mayor Rahm Emanuel fumed." One source said the Cubs "fumbled in the end zone" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/20).
