What Susana Mendoza Forgot: Grendel’s Mom
By John Kass
Wednesday June 10, 2026
Even a casual fan of Chicago politics can pick up what Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is about as she announced her campaign for mayor of Chicago.
She loves her city and will fight for it, and is upset at what has happened to it as it has been devoured by violent racial tribalism fed by a series of stupid, incompetent leftist mayors.
She’s a fighter, a scrapper. If she were a mamma grizzly, she’d be the stuff of trapper’s nightmares. She’s as tough as a terrier in the alley hunting the rats, a wire-hair Jack Russell killing a rat by biting down, then breaking its back with a vigorous shake of the head and flinging it aside.
Remember her famous 2017 confrontation of Chicago Democrat tough-guy John “Quarters” Boyle—a convicted felon and coalition enforcer after Boyle ran a redlight, rear-ending other drivers? Mendoza chased him down confronted him and called police.
She made her mayoral announcement at a restaurant in the predominately Mexican Little Village neighborhood where she was born.
Mendoza said she entered the mayoral campaign to address “three major crises” facing the city: “a financial crisis, a public safety crisis, and a crisis of confidence that they will get better.”
“Chicagoans feel every one of these crises,” Mendoza said. “We’re paying more for less. We don’t feel safe, and too many people no longer believe that City Hall knows how to solve our problems.
“Chicago has tossed mayors out of office for blizzards, corruption and incompetence. Right now, Chicago is experiencing a blizzard of incompetence,” Mendoza said. “We deserve better.”
And she promised to work to end the SAFE-T Act, the state law that eliminated cash bail.
“People accused of murder, attempted murder, or predatory sexual assault should not be eligible for electronic monitoring,” she said.” …It defies all common sense. It’s deadly dangerous, and it needs to stop.”
But it hasn’t stopped, has it? The Cool County Democrats have put this dangerous policy front and center.
Other than the acknowledgement that sexual predators should not be let out of jail, the rest of it sounds very nice, but one thing was missing.
The name of the one person responsible for Chicago’s revolving door of repeat violent offenders and judges currying favor by releasing the psychopaths:
Cook County Democratic Chairwoman Toni Preckwinkle.
“Burn alive b****!” is what the CTA fire attacker—repeat violent felon Lawrence Reed who has been arrested at least 72 times–is alleged to have yelled as he was arrested on Tuesday. He’s been federally charged with committing a “terror act or other violence” on mass transit.
Reed is accused of dousing 26-year-old Bethany McGee in gasoline and setting her on fire on a Blue Line train Nov. 17.
Preckwinkle—who boasts about shrinking the population of the Cook County Jail that holds repeat violent offender for trial–is the kind of thing that kills a city.
Preckwinkle is the Democrat chairman who boasts that she has lowered the population of the county jail. She marches in lock-step with George Soros. And she engineered for Soros the political rise of her disgraced political lieutenant Kim Fox. I have been a critic for years. She and Foxx have argued that putting repeat criminal in jail to await trial is cruel and racist. And the leftist reporters who are in thrall to them agree.
Rafael A. Mangual is a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research fellow and deputy director said in 2019 that his fears about Preckwinkle were indeed legit.
“In terms of stats, Chicago just jumps out for its level of danger and need for criminal reforms,” Mangual told the Chicago City Wire. “Then I recently saw coverage of her criminal justice plan and walked away thinking it was all wrong for the city and would make it even less safe.”
Mangual shared his thoughts in a Feb. 8, 2019 City Journal op-ed in which he reasoned Preckwinkle’s position on crime “is wrongheaded in every important respect, reflecting a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s driving crime and what to do about it.”
Mangual added that the 15 points in Preckwinkle’s “Building a Safer Chicago” criminal justice plan misses the mark by miscasting the root of most of the city’s issues and deriving from the premise that most of the city’s crime rate is driven by overincarceration of individuals for nonviolent offenses and a lack of viable opportunities.
“A big part of the problem is the way city and state officials fail to hold repeat offenders accountable,” he said. “For too long, the system has been much too lenient on this sector, yet all the rhetoric is buying into this narrative that the system is too harsh. The cost of being too lenient reflects what we’re seeing with all the repeat offenders.”
“If you look at the long records of many of the repeat offenders, you can tell police are actually doing a pretty good job of arresting people for serious crimes,” he said. “The cops I talked to are really frustrated by all the instances where they take criminals off the street and a few weeks later, they’re right back in the neighborhoods. One way to combat that is to get tighter on who we grant bail to. As it is, you’re constantly seeing people appear in court while they still have other charges pending.”
I think of poor Bethany McGee as she was burned alive on the CTA. And of the Preckwinkle judges who let it happen.
Consider Preckwinkle as a smart operative, ruthless in the use of racial politics with an uncanny ability to seek and receive protection by the downtown newspapers and their commie social justice warrior newsrooms. She never leaves her fingerprints behind.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was afraid of her. And the current mayor Brandon Johnson is her creature and takes her orders without complaint. She is a formidable force in Cook County Democratic politics and I wonder if I ask too much for Mendoza to confront Preckwinkle on the issue of lenient sentencing.
I think of Preckwinkle as a terrifying ogre deep in a damp cave, as part of the Scandinavian myth, as ferocious as the creature who gave birth to Grendel, of the Beowulf Saga.
But until someone in the Democratic party enters the ogre’s cave, challenges her and dispatches her, Chicago Crime and violence will continue raining upon the people without mercy.
Is Susanna Mendoza for all he feistiness the heroine to rid us of Grendel’s mother?
I don’t know, but until it’s done there is no future for Chicago. Absolutely none.
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About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of classic Midwestern common sense.
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Comments 19
Another great article John.
Confronting Boss Tony, along with repealing the lack of common sense safe t act, is only the start. Arresting, and keeping dangerous criminals in jail, until their trials, getting them to trial in an efficient fashion, sentencing that fits the crime, all have to work together, to have people and businesses feeling safe to be in Chicago. Have some new leaders in charge of the various aspects of the system, what have they done, to start the turn around?
Prosecution
State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke
County
Courts
Chief Judge Charles S. Beach II
County
Thank you for all you do!
If only. Best of luck, Ms Mendoza.
We’re coming up on the 5th year anniversary of your forced exit from the Tribune for having the courage to forcast the ruiness path Chicago and the nation was on. The truth always sets us free! Keep writing!
Toni has lowered the local jail population and correspondingly has helped lower the general population of Chicago and Cook County.
John Kass – perfect summation of the issue. James Jennings – Great comment!
Thanks John, for your continued peeks behind the curtains of Chicago politics.
If you will allow me to add an “and furthermore”, ankle monitoring would totally work if it were actually monitored and enforced.
Technology can alert me when my Portillo’s beef sandwich is around the corner and the delivery guy is walking up my stairs. If monitors were actually monitored and punishment for deviating from the assigned path was certain, (it could be as little as a week in the slammer, as long as it was certain), then the monitoring system would be very effective.
And don’t get me started on the current policy of giving “holidays” to the monitored accused from monitoring two days a week! Do they not understand human nature even a little bit?
Excessive compassion will bury us, and make us all “chumpalones” [sic]
We have all seen the tearful Mom on the news, “He’s a good boy. he didn’t mean to shoot those 7 people. It was all a misunderstanding,” … right.
Yeah, the Bolsh*v*k Preckwinkee is a Soros disciple, and the other big reason to cut the CC jail population is to save $$$
Great column, John.
Hope you are feeling well.
Interesting and ironic. Toni can get as many people as she wants to march in protest yelling “No kings!”
Good morning.
Wow! What a breath of fresh air to start the day. You gotta love Susana Mendoza. She is street smart, feisty and has spent a lot of “hard time” in the trenches of both Chicago and Illinois Government. Are you kiddin’ me? She was City Clerk and did not go to jail like Kozubowski and Laski. I can’t think of any investigation that even remotely came close. As the Illinois Comptroller she knows more about finance that a room full of Brandon Johnsons. If there’s such a thing as a white knight to come and rescue this City, Susanna is it. If any one can build bridges among the “Tribes”, it would be her. It will be extremely interesting to see if Ms. Preckwinkle will dump Brandon and endorse her. What will she expect in return? Another puppet?? Susana is nobody’s puppet. How will the Teacher’s Union spin any supposed opposition? I guess they have to point to all of Brandon’s success. If they can find any.
Random thoughts…….
Mendoza is a loyal member of the party that screwed this city: DEMOCRAT. To think she will change things is a joke. If Taxwinkle is a powerful as you say, Susie ain’t got a chance.
If one reads the SAFE T act it has some good ideas in it. A lot of individuals who commit first time petty crimes end up in jail bcuz they can’t post bond. They sit there waiting trial, lose their jobs, can’t pay rent, therefore get evicted, etc, and when they do go to trial, generally get convicted by plea and now can’t get a job and/or apartment, etc and some resort to crime to survive. Some even lose their children to the State. It’s best not to jail these individuals so they can continue to work, raise their kids.
The act puts the onus on judges to release or not release major criminal offenders. That’s were the law fails. It’s the judges that fail us and they are almost impossible to vote out.
Finally, I never understood how wealthy communities in Cook County, ie Winnetka, Kenilworth, Wilmette, etc don’t vote her out or get one of their own to run against her.
Mr. Rudd you are right on with your “final comment”. I totally agree and would add those liberal folks should keep their checkbooks in the desk drawer when fund raising time comes around. They fund other peoples misery.
Mendoza needs a coalition to pull this off. Her campaign should reach out to Ray Lopez who has a formidable political organization. Paul Vallas should be brought aboard to raise interest in the business community. Rev. Corey Brooks can help , along with other public safety minded ministers to get black people to the polls to vote for her. Hyde Park liberal voters are getting a dose of teen wildings and she only would need to swing some of those votes her way to win. Lakefront liberal voters might be at the tipping point to also vote the fools out. Once again, with the large Hispanic votes, white blue collar votes and some of the black voters she can do pull this off. Here’s to hoping…
Enrique very good comment.
You obviously have thought this out, I hope Ms Mendoza follows your advice.
Yes!
Unite against BJ and TP and JB. Save the City and Illinois.
Excellent column John Kass !
If Comptroller Mendoza succeeds, it will benefit every family in Illinois
It will be the first sign of common sense since the late Judy Baar Topinka achieved 39% of the governor votes against a shabby 2-bit shakedown artist who married into North Shore Democrat royalty.
The odds were stacked against Judy 20 years ago, but she inspired moderates to vote, and Ms Mendoza can do the same.
For your subscribers who forgot the intimidation tactics of John “Quarters” Boyle, read the John Kass column from February 3, 2005 titled “For `Quarters,’ pals no longer a dime a dozen.”
Standing up to bullies like Boyle and his goons takes courage , and Susana Mendoza exerts courage.
As Preckwinkle ages and Pritzker self-destructs into hallucinations of Marxist glory, younger voices will emerge.
At 54 years old, Mendoza has a bright future.
Bravissimo on this one. When it comes to City, County, and State, you’ve got it locked down. There’s no one better!
You mentioned racial tribalism. This is a problem both of our sham parties have been afflicted by, especially nationally. For Illinois, the Democrats must wear the jacket.
Mendoza might be able to do it with limited Black support. Mr. Diaz broke it down. That’s how Daley won. He aced out Black pols by gaining support from Hispanic and white voters. Remember Hispanic Daley Organization?
Beowulf is a classic tale, and Preckwinkle as Grendel’s mother is an apt metaphor. But I even if Mendoza runs a great campaign and builds this well strategized coalition, Preckwinkle will pull a Spencer Pratt on her. It is the Democrats have a new tool (media – “where’s the evidence”), a true ace up their sleeves.
Great article, steep hill for her to climb to fix the city.
Democratic mentality is open and obvious, look at who they elected to run for senate in Maine.
110% “… until it’s done there is no future for Chicago. Absolutely none.”