March 30, 2011
41ST WARD'S "E-TEAM" GETS BELLIGERENT AND CATTY
In Chicago's far Northwest Side 41st Ward, the effete and obsequious do not prosper. Testosterone is epidemic, with legions of cops, city workers, and patriarchal Irish in the area. Nevertheless, in the Feb. 22 aldermanic primary, the estrogen-stoked "E-Team" -- Mary O'Connor and Maurita Gavin -- prevailed, getting a combined 55.5% of the vote, and facing each other in the April 5 runoff. The combatants have since ingested gallons of testosterone. It's not a kind and gentle runoff. Gavin rips O'Connor, the ward Democratic committeeman, as "unethical and unprincipled," citing her "vote fraud" by registering and voting 5 times out of her business. O'Connor derides Gavin as a people-pleaser who "does what she is told" and hangs her 15-year service as an aide to outgoing Ald. Brian Doherty around her neck. "Will she do what Rahm tells her?" asked O'Connor. The Doherty-McAuliffe machine is backing Gavin, and faces a tough fight against the Mulroe-O'Connor machine. O'Connor ran first in 37 of 57 precincts. O'Connor has more money, and more mailings (including some from the SEIU). Edge to O'Connor. Full Article...
March 23, 2011
"PORT-A-POTTIES'" NEEDS IN NASTY, ODIFEROUS 45TH WARD ALDERMANIC RACE
SOS: Send in flatbeds loaded with Port-A-Potties. The 45th Ward aldermanic runoff has become mean and nasty, with a blizzard of indelicate and odiferous verbal cow pies clouding the air. It's John Garrido vs. John Arena. On 2/22, Garrido, a police lieutenant, got 32.4%, and Arena, a graphic designer, got 22.7%. Now the SEIU and Chicago's unions, despite spending $200,000 to elect their "sweetheart," Marina Faz-Huppert, are back and are dumping $100,000 into Arena's campaign. Mailers excoriate Garrido's "Republican ideas," and tie him the the "failed policies" of Bush-Cheney-McCain-Palin. Arena is an avowed "Obama Democrat," embraces liberal positions on guns, abortion and death penalty, thinks Obama is doing a swell job, and bases his campaign on the simplistic premise that the "45th Ward is a Democratic ward and should have a Democratic alderman." Not true. There's more independents than Democrats. Garrido, who ran for office as a Republican in 2010, rips Arena as a "failure" as a community leader. On April 5, it all depends on who motivates their base. Garrido is more in tune with the ward's cultural conservatism. Edge to Garrido. Full Article...
March 16, 2011
"TWINKIE OFFENSE" MAKES HEADWAY IN 38TH, 36TH AND 50TH WARDS
It's a "Twinkie Offense." Aldermanic candidates in Chicago's 38th, 36th and 50th wards, to use a junk food analogy, are positioning themselves as 2011's "comfort food." Voters are scared and angry. In times of stress, people eat to excess what they crave. In the 38th Ward, where the Cullerton Dynasty has reigned since 1935, scion Tim Cullerton got 47.6% in the 2/22 primary, and will win the 4/5 runoff -- simply because voters are comfortable with his surname. In the 36th Ward, ruled by ex-Ald. Bill Banks, his successor and former driver John Rice is not particularly appealing, but not wholly discomforting. He got 48.1% on 2/22, and will win the runoff. In the 50th Ward, Ald. Berny Stone has made a career of engendering acid reflux. But, after 38 years, the "Metamucil Man" will meet his doom. He got only 37.5% on 2/22. Debra Silverstein will defeat him. Full Article...
March 9, 2011
EMANUEL'S "GAMEPLAN": GOVENOR IN 2014, THEN PRESIDENT
For incoming Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the proverbial Yellow Brick Road to the White House runs through Springfield, not City Hall. Chicago's mayoralty is neither an incubator of presidents nor a steppingstone to the presidency. In fact, for every Chicago politician except Emanuel, it is the top step. The last big-city mayor to be president? How about Grover Cleveland (D), Buffalo's mayor, then New York governor, then president in 1884. Emanuel has the discipline and work ethic, plus the unbridled ambition. After the ongoing catastrophe of Illinois' "Governor Jello" -- Pat Quinn -- Illinoisans' hunger in 2014 will be for a competent governor. Rahm is the man. He will need to blunt the ambition of Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan. But, with ally Barack Obama in the White House, and a lock on Chicago's black vote, that's doable. When governor, Emanuel will plot a presidential bid in 2016 or 2020. His chief foe: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Full Article...
March 2, 2011
NORTHWEST SIDE VOTERS "STICK A FORK IN IT" IN WARD RACES
On Chicago's Northwest Side, "stick a fork in it" is the operative description of some, but not all the Feb. 22 aldermanic results. Foremost among the fork-stuck critters is outgoing 45th Ward Ald. Pat Levar, whose monumentally dysfunctional judgmental abilities caused him to belatedly retire and strong-arm his ward organization to back the unions' "sweetheart," Marina Faz-Huppert, for his job. She spent over $200,000 of the unions' money, had Levar's precinct captains on the street, and got an embarrassing 3,092 votes (19.5%) -- which cost her about $65 per vote. The 4/5 runoff is between two Levar foes: John Garrido, a city police lieutenant and Republican, and John Arena, a Portage Park neighborhood activist who is backed by liberal Democrats, and will run for Democratic ward committeeman in 2012 if he wins. In the 50th Ward, Ald. Berny Stone temporarily dodged a fork, but he got only 37.5% against Debra Silverstein, who he faces in the runoff. The fearsome fork went astray in the 36th and 38th wards where, respectively, appointed aldermen John Rice and Tim Cullerton came excruciatingly close to the 50% needed to win outright and avoid a runoff; Rice was deficient by 267 votes, and Cullerton by 291. Both are favored in the runoff. In the 41st Ward, the E-Team prevailed. It's Democratic Committeeman Mary O'Connor versus Maurita Gavin, an aide to outgoing Republican Ald. Brian Doherty. In an 11-candidate field, frontrunner O'Connor got 30%, to Gavin's 25%. According to this column's "Rules of the Runoff," Gavin is favored. Full Article...
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