February 28, 2007
"FIREMARKED" DEMOCRATS VANQUISHED IN PARK RIDGE

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

Park Ridge Mayor Howard Frimark is the envy of his peers. Republicans are calling him the "Fabulous Frimark." Democrats curse him.

Suburban mayors, after grappling with quarrelsome, nettlesome, obstreperous city councils, must exert a Herculean effort to defeat their adversaries in the next election s to protect their power. Frimark has that problem, but in a stroke of political genius, he engineered passage of a referendum that abolished the jobs of half the city's aldermen and eliminated virtually all of his opposition.

Add this to the lexicon of politics: The Democrats who tried to take over Park Ridge got "Frimarked." It's much like the Legislative Cutback Amendment, put on the ballot in 1980 by now-Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, which reduced the size of the Illinois House from 177 members to 118. A total of 59 legislators got canned -- or, as was then said, "Quinned."

In a little-noticed referendum last November, Park Ridge voters approved a reduction of their city council from 14 aldermen to seven, effective in 2007. The vote was 3,669-3,211 -- hardly a landslide, and just a 53.3 percent win. But Frimark, a Republican who was elected mayor in 2005, had his organization circulate the petitions needed to get the referendum on the ballot, submitting 1,100 signatures.

And, by that victory, Frimark thwarted what was deemed to be the certain takeover of Park Ridge government by the Democrats.

The saga of Park Ridge, at least as it affects Democrats, is surely a sequel to the movie "Dumb and Dumber." In 2003 a Democratic-backed slate of "independent" aldermanic candidates ripped then-Mayor Ron Wietecha, a Republican, for spending more than $650,000 in contributions to the Suburban O'Hare Commission, which sought to block expansion at O'Hare Airport. In a low turnout, Democratic-aligned independents, led by Rex Parker and Jeff Cox, won five of six contested aldermanic elections; the only Republican winner was Frimark, running on the Homeowners' Party slate, the longtime Republican moniker.

The "Independent Five" soon became the "Independent Seven," as two Homeowners' Party aldermen bolted, creating a 7-7 council impasse. So intimidated was Wietecha that he resigned, after 13 years as mayor. Mike MaRous, a Homeowners Party alderman and a longtime Republican, then cut a deal with the independents and was chosen as the new acting mayor, keeping his seat and creating an 8-6 governing majority.

The transformation of Park Ridge from staunchly Republican to independently Democratic was supposed to have occurred in 2005. It didn't.

Republicans learned the lesson of 2003, and Frimark, an insurance broker, ran as an independent in 2005. The Democratic-backed mayoral candidate, Alderman Mike Tinaglia, had a bunch of skeletons in his legal closet, and Frimark hammered Tinaglia's "ethical" transgressions. Frimark won 4,889-3,224, a solid 60.2 percent victory.

Only three of the seven 2005 Park Ridge aldermanic races were contested. The pro-Frimark candidate won two. When the new council was seated, the Democrats voted to strip Frimark of his authority to make all committee, board and commission appointments and assignments. On May 3, 2005, the council voted 7-6 to let the mayor make such appointments, but only with the consent of the council, voted 9-4 to require council approval of all appointments, and voted 9-4 to substitute the council's appointees for Frimark's appointees. In effect, Frimark was a political eunuch.

But Frimark, who is the deputy Republican committeeman of Maine Township, had a better perception of public opinion than his foes. Park Ridge residents, even if increasingly liberal, Democratic and independent, don't want infantile conduct in their government. They want performance, not bickering. They're also fiscally conservative. The idea of slicing government, even if it only meant chopping seven aldermen who earned $100 a month -- or saving $8,400 annually -- had great allure.

Until 2007 each Park Ridge ward elected two aldermen for staggered 4-year terms, with one alderman in each ward elected every 2 years. The 2006 referendum mandated that only one alderman be elected per ward, effective in 2007, and that those who were elected in 2005 for 4-year terms had to run in 2007.

In 2007, incredibly, 10 of 14 incumbents retired. And of those 10, six were implacably anti-Frimark: Don Crampton, Jeannie Markech, Jim Radermacher, Mark Anderson, Mary Ryan and Jeff Cox. Only Rex Parker is seeking re-election, and the Frimark forces are backing Tom Carey in the 6th Ward. Two incumbent pro-Frimark aldermen, Rich DiPietro and Jim Allegretti, are running as independents, and the unaligned Frank Wsol is running again in the 7th Ward. In the 5th Ward, Chuck Baldacchino, who unsuccessfully sued the city to stop the downtown redevelopment project, claiming violation of density requirements, is running, and he is opposed by two pro-Frimark candidates.

The outlook: Frimark will have a 2007-09 majority of at least five aldermen, and six if Cox loses, as is likely. "They blew it," said one Democratic activist of his party's failure. "Howard is not a lovable guy, but they made him a sympathetic figure." But, he added, "Howard will get arrogant. Without opposition, he'll do what he wants, and will start making enemies. Then we'll beat him."

But they won't beat him in 2009, when his term expires. Because all the new aldermanic terms run through 2011, the only offices on the ballot in 2009 will be mayor and city clerk. Without aldermanic races to spike activity and turnout, and with the Democrats in total disarray, Frimark will win easily.

Already, some Republicans are booming Frimark to run for state senator in 2008, against newly elected Democrat Dan Kotowski (D-33). He won't do it. He's now "King Howard" in Park Ridge, and he wants to reign for at least 6 more years.

Here's a look at two more 2007 mayoral races:

Niles: The U.S. attorney is energetically trying to end the 46-year reign of "King Nick" in Niles. In October the feds indicted Mayor Nick Blase, along with two insurance agents, on five counts of mail fraud, and Blase was alleged to have taken $420,000 in bribes and kickbacks since 1997.

 Did this engender an explosion of voter rage and disgust? The answer: Not a peep. Blase's mayoral term runs through 2009, and two incumbent pro-Blase village trustees, Kim Biederman and Bart Murphy, along with park district director Joe LoVerde, are seeking three trustee seats -- and all are unopposed.

Blase has always been a hands-on mayor and a fervent believer in commercial growth to generate tax revenue in order to hold down property taxes. His current focus is on the renovation of the Golf Mill shopping center, which has suffered economically due to "big box" stores such as Wal-Mart. A new theater has opened, and Target is expanding. The new Golf Mill off track betting facility is expected to generate tax revenue of about $500,000. A new Super H Mart opened at Waukegan Road and Oakton Street, and a second Wal-Mart in the village opened last fall on Golf Road. The mayor also is pushing the revitalization of the Milwaukee Avenue corridor between Devon Avenue and Golf Road.

"People may be unhappy with their mayor's ethics, but they're not unhappy with his work ethic," said one observer. "Niles is a good place to live."

Carbondale: In this academic town, which houses Southern Illinois University, yet another Illinois dynasty is rising. Sheila Simon, the daughter of the late U.S. senator Paul Simon, a much-revered politician, is running for mayor, opposing incumbent Brad Cole, a Republican. Simon is an attorney, a former prosecutor, an SIU law professor and a Carbondale City Council member. If she wins, she'll be on track to win a local legislative seat or to step up to run for statewide office in 2010.

Of course, the Democrats have a glut of dynasties cramming various offices, leaving little room for Simon. The offspring of Richard J. Daley and John Stroger dominate Cook County, the offspring of Mike Madigan and Tom Hynes hold state office, and the governor is the son-in-law of a powerful Chicago alderman.

Republicans are backing Cole to the hilt, having determined that it will be easier to beat Simon now than later. Carbondale's population is 25,597, and there is the usual tension between the townies and the students, with the townies backing Cole. The April election is set for just after spring break

My prediction: Turnout won't exceed 10,000, but Simon has enough celebrity that she'll get more of the townie vote than Cole gets of the student vote. She will win narrowly, and then run for attorney general in 2010.