Alex Hanns, Campaign Manager for Timmy Knudsen

As reported in Block Club Chicago
I personally spotted Alex stealing my campaign yard signs.

Quote from Block Club Chicago

“Comer’s campaign has raised concerns over an incident that happened in the days before the Feb. 28 election involving a Knudsen campaign worker.

Comer was driving down Armitage Avenue about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 26 when he saw someone carrying his green campaign signs under their arm. As Comer passed, he recognized the person as Alex Hanns from Knudsen’s campaign team, he said.

After taking photos where Hanns is recognizable, Comer stopped, got out of his car and went up to Hanns, he said.

“I stopped him and asked what he’s doing with my signs and he goes, ‘Oh, I’m just cleaning up,’” Comer said. “He throws them down on the ground and is like ‘Here, you can have them,’ and he just keeps walking.”

Hanns had four signs under his arm, but Comer said more were missing from the area. After filing a police report, Comer drove around Lincoln Park with his treasurer, who placed about 75 signs that morning, Comer said. Of that, 55 signs were missing.

“And there were appointed alderman signs in the same exact spots where ours used to exist,” Comer said.

Hanns, who emailed Comer on Saturday to apologize, said he removed no more than a dozen of Comer’s signs because they were placed on public grounds like Lincoln Park High School and planters along Armitage Avenue. State law prohibits candidates from posting signs on public property.

Hanns also checked with every staffer and volunteer for Knudsen’s campaign and confirmed no one else removed signs, he said.

Comer denied placing signs on public property and said they were removed from private property where he had gotten permission to post them.

Police confirmed a report was filed alleging property was removed from “private and public locations.” No additional details were available.

Comer said the sign incident was the latest in a “pattern of immaturity” by Knudsen’s campaign, which has included launching a website accusing a former candidate of being a cyberbully after exchanging barbs with her campaign. The website was taken down after this former candidate did not advance to the runoff.”

Knudsen’s website attacking a former alderman candidate

We have redacted the candidates name, this vicious and deceptive attack has caused a lot of pain, please respect her privacy.

As reported in Block Club Chicago & Crain’s Chicago Business

Knudsen’s campaign launched a website to attack a former alderman candidate for pointing out Knudsen’s support of Mayor Lightfoot’s automatic annual property tax hikes related to the consumer price index and rate of inflation.

Quote from Block Club Chicago:

“The race has been marked with mud-slinging among candidates, including barbs traded between Knudsen’s and the former candidate campaigns and attacks against Janowitz for her campaign’s large spending.

A former candidate has made social media posts in which she calls Knudsen “Tax Hike Timmy” and seemingly comparing him to Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th.” She came up with the nickname after a December Finance Committee meeting in which Knudsen voted against an ordinance proposed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) that would have repealed a city policy of tying automatic annual property tax hikes to rate of inflation.

Knudsen’s campaign denied the tax-hike accusations and clapped back by launching a website accusing this former candidate of being a cyberbully. It points to a 2010 lawsuit in which the former candidate was accused of defaming somebody and the “Friday the 13th” posts.

The former candidate told Block Club the “frivolous” lawsuit was filed by her goddaughter’s father. The case was dismissed, and the dismissal was upheld on appeal, the former candidate said.

Comer said his campaign has largely stayed out of the attacks, instead focusing on connecting with voters about his platform and experience in the 43rd Ward.

“There’s a pattern of immaturity that the appointed alderman has shown since he’s been in office and during his campaign,” Comer said ahead of the election. “The voters want somebody who’s going to be mature and be the adult in the room, so we’ve been talking about actual plans — not platitudes — about what I’m going to do as alderman starting day one.”

“From our standpoint regarding the signs, we just wanted to make people aware that it was happening and to stop it if they saw it,” Comer said. “But as far as I’m concerned, we’ve not stopped our mission of talking about issues that matter to voters, actually delivering actionable plans.”

Quote from Crain’s Chicago Business:

“Knudsen declined to be interviewed, but his office released a statement saying he is “undeterred by false claims” and releasing a list of supporters. His campaign also pointed to a website it put up accusing a former candidate of being a “cyberbully.”

The site references a 2010 lawsuit against a former candidate — in which she allegedly derided the plaintiff in the case — and her attacks on “Tax Hike Timmy,” which he says are unfair because he “never” voted to raise property taxes.

As a former executive with World Business Chicago, the city’s corporate recruitment arm, she said the lawsuit stemmed from an incident in which she tried to protect her goddaughter from “a deadbeat dad.” The case was dismissed, with the dismissal upheld on appeal, she said.

The tax charge stems from Knudsen’s vote not to repeal a clause in city law pushed by Lightfoot that automatically will increase property taxes with the amount of inflation each year. Lightfoot chose not to seek the hike in her current 2023 budget, saying the city had other sources of financial income.”

Attacks from former 43rd Ward Aldermen Michele Smith and Marty Oberman:

As reported in Crain’s Chicago Business

A letter attacking Timmy Knudsen was written and released by his two previous council representatives, Michele Smith and Marty Oberman.

Quote from Crain’s Chicago Business:

“An unusual kerfuffle has broken out in the 43rd Ward, as two veteran former aldermen are urging voters to dump the current alderman, who was appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and is seeking a full term in the Feb. 28 election.

In an open letter to residents, Martin Oberman and Michelle Smith, who represented the Lincoln Park ward in the City Council from 1975 to 1987 and 2011 to 2022, respectively, charged that Ald. Timmy Knudsen has gone back on the ward’s tradition of open and independent leadership.

Knudsen, who was appointed after Smith resigned late last year, responded with a sharp attack on the candidate his two predecessors are supporting and said his list of supporters includes two other former 43rd Ward aldermen, Bill Singer and Charles Bernardini.”

Quotes from the letter:

“We have great concern that, under unelected Alderman Timmy Knudsen, our ward faces a real threat to its independence and tradition of transparent communications and decision-making.”

“Mr. Knudsen is strongly aligned with the development community, as the recent Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and by the contributions to and advocacy of his campaign by the development community. Most disturbingly, the Illinois Realtors Fund is now openly paying for a major part of Knudsen’s campaign.”

“Alderman Knudsen has also abdicated his duty to communicate openly and transparently to our ward, particularly on matters of public safety. In the past, the ward office newsletter kept us all up to date on crime problems in the ward. Since Alderman Knudsen took office, more than 950 crimes have occurred in the ward, and he has only reported to our community about two incidents” (through February 13th, 2023)

“He has turned the newsletter into a puff piece, effectively promoting his election campaign at taxpayers’ expense.”

“Alderman Knudsen’s recent handling of a proposed cannabis dispensary on Lincoln Ave. shows us that he does not believe that an Alderman must represent constituents first. During a very shortened neighborhood process not allowing for input from all affected neighbors, Alderman Knudsen announced that the facility had already been approved by Alderman Smith, which was not, and could not be the truth since she was out of office. His statements made it appear to constituents that this was a “done deal,” so nothing could be done. Ald. Knudsen did not even appear at the Zoning committee meeting where the development was approved. Instead, he claimed he was “neutral,” guaranteeing approval, an old-time City Council dodge. His true beliefs may be reflected in his tenure at the ZBA, where he voted to support every cannabis facility presented. We expect our Alderman to explain controversial decisions, insist on reasonable measures to accommodate concerns, and turn down unacceptable developments. Ald. Knudsen abandoned that responsibility in his first tough decision. What does this say about the future?”

References to the cannabis dispensary can be found in this article from Block Club Chicago.