Sneed scoop: Black officials to boycott Duckworth event

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Ducking Tammy . . .

Sneed hears a whammy is being planned for Tammy.

• Translation: Sneed has learned a major boycott of a black unity breakfast in Chicago on Monday for U.S. Senate Dem primary winner Tammy Duckworth is being hatched by City Council and state legislative black caucuses.

“Why would we want to express unity with Tammy Duckworth, who was selected for that spot by the Washington insiders at the Democratic National Campaign Committee?” said a powerful member of the City Council’s 18-member black caucus who asked to remain off-the-record.

Sneed is told a hush-hush meeting of aldermanic and state caucus members, who had endorsed Andrea Zopp for the U.S. Senate seat, met recently in Hyde Park to discuss the boycott of the Duckworth event, which sources claim was organized by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly and Secretary of State Jesse White, who supported Duckworth’s primary candidacy.

Word is the boycott support group includes powerful State Sen. Kwame Raoul, State Sen. Kim Lightford, State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, State Sen. Patricia Van Pelt, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th).

“It was taken for granted we would suck it all up — her candidacy — and it was patently unfair,” the source added.

The Duckworth event is set for 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Pearl’s Place, 3901 S. Michigan Avenue.

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Spec check . . .

In case you care about eyewear: It’s been noted President Barack Obama sported a pair of $485 designer sunglasses during his trip to Cuba, ditching his old wire frames.

The police blotter . . .

It’s not a slam dunk, yet.

Sneed hears Mayor Rahm Emanuel is between a rock and a hard place trying to decide who gets the nod as the city’s next top cop.

Sneed hears Emanuel, who still could toss out the list of three recommendations for the job and pick someone else, has been unnerved by negative police blog comments about contestant Deputy Police Supt. Gene Williams — as well as the very public mouth of frequent CNN commentator Cedric Alexander, the contestant who is public safety director of DeKalb County, Georgia.

Will he pick a new name out of the hat?

P.S. The Sun-Times first reported last month Alexander had emerged as a front-runner for the vacancy last December when Emanuel fired Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

Lee’s way . . .

Filmmaker Spike ‘Chi-raq’ Lee plans to fly in Sunday to attend Easter mass at St. Sabina Church in the South Side’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, where he shot his controversial headline-grabbing film — and sit in his favorite third-row aisle seat.

“He was here every Sunday during filming,” said the church’s pastor, Father Michael Pfleger.

• A reserved seat: Whadda you think?

A sad note . . .

For Chicago Police Officer Anthony M. Letizia, Tuesday was a walk-off home run.

Officer Letizia, a major Cubs fan who had been in the final days of hospice care when Sneed featured him in last Sunday’s column, died Tuesday at the age of 32.

“I just wanted to share with you that Chicago Police Officer Anthony Letizia lost his courageous three-year battle with brain cancer,” wrote former Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline, who is head of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. “His family is in our thoughts and prayers.”

Officer Letizia unexpectedly received the last part of a lifetime goal recently — a small piece of sod from the last national professional ballpark he had failed to visit. He and his wife, Sarah, a White Sox fan — were stunned and thankful.

“Miracles have been known to happen,” said Cline. “Seven years ago, he donated bone marrow to a little girl in England he never met and it was a match. He saved her life, never mind the countless lives he didn’t know he saved in service as a police officer.”

Visitation is March 30 at Cumberland Chapels in Norridge; funeral mass is at 11 a.m. March 31 at St. Beatrice Church in Schiller Park.

I spy . . .

Actor Edward James Olmos, who was in town attending the #C2E2 Comic Convention, was spotted at C Chicago Friday night. . . . Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott dropped into Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse on Kinzie Street on Friday while watching the NCAA tournament in the bar.

Sneedlings . . .

Get well wishes to State Sen. Kwame Raoul, who underwent surgery Tuesday. . . . Congrats to State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz on receiving the “Friend of Tourism Award” from the Illinois Office of Tourism and the Convention and Tourism Bureaus. . . . Today’s birthdays: Jim Parsons, 43; Starlin Castro, 26, and Peyton Manning, 40.

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