July 23, 2008
BEST, WORST NW SIDE POLITICIANS RANKED

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

Over the past 35 years this columnist has written about an endless procession of fascinating and failed Northwest Side politicians. I have often been asked to rank them.

The "best" aren't necessarily those who win. The "worst" aren't necessarily those who lose. Instead, I'll rank area politicians on their ability to exercise good judgment - which means astuteness, integrity, instinct for survival and grasp of reality. Here are the eight best:

The late U.S. Representative Frank Annunzio. An undistinguished minion in John D'Arco's 1st Ward Democratic Organization, reputed to have mob ties, Annunzio was chosen in 1964 to replace Roland Libonati in the West Side 7th District. Annunzio was a partner with D'Arco in an insurance business. For 8 years he was an obscure, undistinguished congressman.

In 1972 the remap abolished his district, and Annunzio moved to the Northwest Side 11th District vacated by Roman Pucinski, then running for U.S. senator. Despite carpetbagger charges and despite the dubious franking of a bunch of mail into the 11th District, Annunzio won the election by 14,854 votes, with 53 percent of the total cast, while Richard Nixon carried the district by 58,241 votes, getting 63 percent of the total.

Annunzio then experienced an epiphany, becoming an active and attentive congressman. He used his chairmanship of the House Banking Committee's Consumer Affairs Subcommittee to unearth consumer fraud; he later used his chairmanship of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee to investigate banks. Annunzio evolved into a social conservative, reflecting his district, and won re-election easily, but he never became the Banking Committee chairman, he barely won re-election in 1990, and he retired in 1992 at age 77.

Former state Senator Wally Dudycz. A bundle of energy and creativity, Chicago police detective Dudycz lost the election for 38th Ward alderman in 1983 and then switched parties to run for 7th District state senator as a Republican in 1984, beating incumbent Democrat Bob Egan with 57.5 percent of the vote. He was re-elected with 65.4 percent of the vote in 1988, 51.6 percent in 1992, 51.4 percent in 1996 and 57.3 percent in 1998. In each contest, Pate Philip's Senate Republican Committee spent more than $250,000 on direct mail and Democrats exerted great effort to beat him. Dudycz built a viable local volunteer organization, recruited and backed candidates in other races, and emerged as the Northwest Side's "Mr. Republican."

A Vietnam veteran, Dudycz also is remembered for orchestrating the demonstrations against the Chicago Art Institute's flag-on-the-floor exhibit. In 1990 he lost to Annunzio by just 13,853 votes, getting 45 percent of the vote. Democrats controlled the 2001 remap, and Dudycz chose to retire in 2002.

The late state Representative Roger McAuliffe. In an old "Dirty Harry" movie, the main character opined that "a man's got to know his limitations." McAuliffe did. He wanted to be a state representative for life. All his energies were devoted to building a personal political organization and performing constituent services. He didn't meddle in other races. He didn't try to defeat Democrats. He didn't aspire to higher office.

McAuliffe was first elected in 1972. After the remap, he defeated incumbent Democrat Roman Kosinski in 1982 by 607 votes in the 14th District  -- and he never again had a tough Democratic foe. Had he not drowned in a 1996 boating accident, he'd still be in office. His son Michael took his seat, and his protege, Brain Doherty, was elected 41st Ward alderman in 1991. Both adhere to the elder McAuliffe's philosophy: Do the job. Don't make waves. Don't get a fat head.

U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-9). A fierce ideologue, Schakowsky is a political power because she uses issues to build and broaden her base. She wraps herself in consumerism, environmentalism and feminism, and she excoriates racism, militarism and unrestrained capitalism. Nationally, about 35 percent of the populace is conservative, 35 percent liberal, and the rest "floaters," or "moderates."

Schakowsky succeeded because she first built a base among hard-core liberals, enabling her to win an Illinois House seat in 1990, beating Jon Baum by 1,262 votes, with 54 percent of the vote. She then solidified her base in Evanston. When she ran for Sid Yates' open U.S. House in 1998, she faced state Senator Howie Carroll and J.B. Pritzker in the Democratic primary. She won with 45 percent of the vote because she carried her Evanston base with 77 percent, because her liberal and feminist issue appeal earned her 35 percent of the vote in the Chicago wards, and because Pritzker drained votes from the endorsed Carroll.

Schakowsky wants to be a U.S. senator. In a Democratic primary against three or four men and no black candidate, she could mobilize her base and win.

The late Tom Lyons, who was the 45th Ward Democratic committeeman for 28 years, a state senator for 4 years and the Democratic county chairman at the time of his death in 2006. Above all else, Lyons demanded and exhibited loyalty. He broke into politics as a loyal cog in Mayor Richard J. Daley's machine. He later became an ally of Rich Daley, and he was the only area committeeman to back Daley in the 1983 primary against Jane Byrne and Harold Washington. Had Byrne won, Lyons would have been toast in 1984.

Alderman Pat O'Connor (40th): Winning a City Council seat is heady stuff when you're just 29 years old, as O'Connor was in 1983. He got off to a rocky start when it was revealed that he put a bunch of family members on the city payroll. He lost bids for state's attorney in 1990 and 1992, but now he is a senior alderman, the mayor's unofficial council floor leader, and content to be an alderman for life.

U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-5). Illinois has had only three speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives -- Republicans Dennis Hastert (1999 to 2007) and Joe Cannon (1903 to 1911) and Democrat Henry Rainey (1933 to 1935). Emanuel surely will be the fourth, some time around 2020. Emanuel is the consummate political insider. He was Daley's chief fund raiser in 1989, and he was a top White House aide to Bill Clinton for 7 years. In 2002 he moved back to Chicago and, with the backing of Daley and the Jewish community, scored an upset primary win over Nancy Kaszak, getting 50.5 percent of the vote.

Emanuel ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 election, and he now is the Democratic Caucus chairman. He is next in line after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer depart.

State Senator Jim DeLeo (D-10). DeLeo was indicted in 1989 by a federal grand jury for allegedly taking bribes while working for the clerk of court, but the jury returned no verdict. To avoid a second trial, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax offense. DeLeo was a state representative from 1984 to 1992. He then ran for senator and was elected without opposition in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2006. He is the envy of every Northwest Side politician. How does he do it? Having more than $600,000 in his campaign fund and being a part of the 36th Ward Democratic Organization helps deter any potential foe.

And now the "worst": Politicians whose greed, arrogance, stupidity or just plain horrendous judgment is undeniable.

Former U.S. representative Dan Rostenkowski: Here's a guy who was a prince, deemed himself part of Chicago's political royalty, and rose to the pinnacle of congressional power as House Ways and Means Committee chairman in 1980. Then he gets hit in 1994 with a 17-count indictment for misusing his office stamp allowance, giving away government furniture as gifts, and other charges of fraud, embezzlement and witness tampering.

Here's a guy who could raise $500,000 a year from lobbyists for corporations affected by the federal tax code. Here's a guy who was good at his job, mastered the code's complexity, and had no re-election worries. Here's a guy whose powerful father made him a state representative at age 24, a state senator at 26 and a congressman at 30. And here's a guy who lost it all because he filched postage stamps.

Rostenkowski could have been the mayor of Chicago or the speaker of the house. Now he's an ex-con.

Joe Kotlarz: They called him the "next Rostenkowski." Kotlarz was young, Polish, an alderman at age 27 and a state representative at age 36. He was going places. In 1997 he was convicted of felony theft for trying to skim $190,000 from a state tollway land deal. He went to prison.

The late Alderman Tony Laurino. They called him the "alley alderman" because he was so attentive to constituent requests in the 39th Ward. Yet, incredibly, Laurino saw nothing wrong with doling out no-show city jobs to his wife, daughter, step-daughter and son, and to a myriad of political cronies. He was indicted, but he died before his trial.

Alderman Dick Mell (33rd): Undeniably brainy, Mell has a soft spot for his family. He plucked his son-in-law, Rod Blagojevich, out of obscurity, made him a state representative in 1992 and a congressman in 1996, and then got him elected governor in 2002. Thanks, Dick, for giving Illinois yet another unprincipled, corrupt chief executive.

And, of course, there's Blagojevich, whose abysmal judgment and amorality will bunch him with Len Small, Otto Kerner, Dan Walker and George Ryan as Illinois' worst governors.