April 13, 2011
SPOSATO'S WIN STUNS 36TH WARD'S "B-D BOYS"

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

Unlike during the Spanish Inquisition, Democratic precinct captains in the 36th Ward have no need for whips, chains or decapitation devices. They simply make it abundantly clear that a "wrong" vote will not go unnoticed or unpunished.

In years past, voters quaked in fear of their precinct worker. "They were afraid and intimidated," said Nick Sposato, the ward's new alderman. "People need help. People need city services. And if they didn't vote like they were told and put up a lawn sign, they thought they'd get neither."

 "I know tough guys who would risk their life by entering a burning building or start a fight at the merest insult but who were afraid to offend their precinct captain," added Sposato, a city firefighter.

In the April 5 runoff, Sposato grievously offended 36th Ward Democratic Committeeman and former alderman Bill Banks, former state senator Jim DeLeo and, especially John Rice, Banks' hapless former driver and appointed 2009 successor as alderman. He defeated Rice by a convincing 5,651-4,423 margin, getting 56.1 percent of the vote and carrying 41 of the ward's 55 precincts.

In any given election, the "B-D Boys," as the "Banks-DeLeo Machine" is known, put 200 to 250 workers on the street, more than four per precinct. At every polling place, voters run a gauntlet of signs and workers and stern admonitions about who they better vote for. Sposato's skeletal organization had barely one worker per precinct and no get-out-the-vote operation. Sposato did receive help from his fellow firefighters, with more than 100 on the street on April 5.

In the six-candidate field in February's municipal general election, Rice got 6,756 votes (48.1 percent of the total cast) in a turnout of 14,052. His five opponents -- Sposato, Tom Motzny, Bruce Randazzo, Jodi Biancalana and Brian Murphy -- ran a concentrated, cooperative "ABR" ("Anybody But Rice") campaign, focusing their attacks on Rice, not on each other. They amassed a total of 7,296 votes (51.9 percent).

The ward contains Galewood, Montclare, Belmont Heights and the Cumberland corridor, and the common consensus was that Rice, who finished first in 52 of 55 precincts and who had more than 50 percent of the vote in 24 of them, would prevail in the runoff. But, stunningly, the Rice vote collapsed. In a turnout of 10,007, Rice pulled an anemic 4,378 votes, 2,365 fewer than in February, a 35 percent drop. Rice had less than 30 percent of the vote in seven precincts and less than 40 percent in 17.

How abysmal was that? When Banks was elected alderman in 1983, he got 16,192 votes. He had 12,012 votes in 1995, 13,534 in 1999, 10,141 in 2003 and 8,291 in 2007. The base of the "B-D Boys" has eroded by half in 4 years and by two-thirds in 12 years.

"People finally rebelled at being told what to do," said one excited worker at Sposato's election-night party. "The ward is a mess. There are condos and new houses mixed with bungalows. There are vacancies on Belmont, North and Grand. Services are poor, and Rice thinks he's doing you a favor if you get them, just like Banks."

But the cleansing job is not done. "We need to get rid of Banks" as committeeman in 2012, the worker said, confident that Sposato will run. "I have not made a decision," Sposato said.

"It was an anti-machine vote," Sposato said, readily admitting that April 5 was a referendum on the Banks-DeLeo-Rice faction and that he won because voters "didn't want Rice." February's "ABR" vote declined from 7,277 to Sposato's April total of 5,629, a drop of 1,648, or 22.6 percent. Sposato had more than 70 percent of the vote in seven precincts and more than 60 percent in 17.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where one is defeat, 7 is humiliation and 10 is abject repudiation, the Sposato victory ranks as a 13. The "B-D Boys" got their heads handed to them, not just their hats. Banks, the former City Council Zoning Committee chairman, who had $729,304 in his campaign accounts as of Jan. 1, is now a political laughingstock. "He has all that money, all those workers, and he couldn't even elect his guy," sneered one Northwest Side committeeman. "How sad."

A critical turning point was a March Fox News interview with onetime mobster Frank Calabrese Jr., who testified in the federal "Family Secrets" trial and wrote a book. In the interview, Calabrese said he was told to socialize with members of the 36th Ward Democratic Organization, not mentioning Rice. At a press conference, Sposato called on the U.S. Attorney's Office to "launch an investigation into reported connections" of Rice and the organization to "members of organized crime." He began a series of robocalls to voters in the ward.

Rice filed a slander and libel lawsuit, seeking a preliminary injunction to enjoin future robocalls. The judge, stressing First Amendment freedom of speech protections in the political arena, denied the injunction, and the robocalls continued. "I think I proved to the people that I'm a fighter and that I won't be intimidated," Sposato said.

(Editor's Note: Stewart, an attorney, represented Sposato in the court case but was not involved in Sposato's campaign.)

Another turning point was Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel's lack of in the race, despite his endorsement of Rice. Money from pro-Emanuel committees flowed to Tim Cullerton and Debra Silverstein, the candidates he endorsed in the 38th and 50th wards, but not to Rice. Although the 36th Ward was awash in money of the "B-D Boys," with DeLeo's $503,734 and Banks' $729,304, Rice had only $4,955 as of Jan. 1, to $23,150 for Sposato. Rice had two mailings, and Sposato had three.  Banks and DeLeo resisted sharing their booty with Rice.

Rice's arrogance and trust in his workers spelled his doom. In the 38th Ward, Cullerton spent $329,974 in attack mailings against Tom Caravette. In the general election, Cullerton, who like Rice was an appointed alderman, finished first with 47.6 percent of the vote, getting a majority in 21 of 53 precincts in an eight-candidate field. Yet Cullerton went negative in the runoff, ripping Caravette as a "slumlord" and benefiting from the infusion of 45th Ward Committeeman Pat Levar's precinct captains.

Unlike Rice, Cullerton ensured that the runoff was not a referendum on him or the "Cullerton Dynasty," which has ruled the ward for 76 of the past 78 years. He demonized Caravette, who lacked the funds to respond, and won a blowout 4,722-3,110 victory, getting 60.3 percent of the vote and carrying 50 of the ward's 53 precincts, with one tied.

What truly sealed the deal in the 36th Ward was the "ABR" unity and absence of jealousy. They were allies, not rivals. They shared information and strategy, communicated regularly, and implicitly agreed that all would coalesce behind the runoff contender. They fulfilled their pledge. Biancalana, Motzny, Randazzo and Mike Nardello, a Sposato ally who lost a state Senate primary in 2008, will be future contenders for area state legislative and county commissioner seats, or for ward committeeman if Sposato passes.

Rice's defeat, coupled with the retirement of 41st Ward Alderman Brian Doherty and the loss of his choice for successor, Maurita Gavin, signals the end of the "nonaggression pact" among the 36th, 38th and 41st wards.

Usually, but not always, the "B-D Boys" cut a deal with the Doherty-McAuliffe Republican clique, whose allies are Elmwood Park Mayor Pete Silvestri, a county commissioner, and state Representative Skip Saviano. Both Republicans are geographically and politically close to DeLeo and Banks. In November, however, the "B-D Boys" carried their ward 5,547-4,032 for Democrat John Mulroe over Doherty in the race for DeLeo's Illinois Senate seat.

With Banks and DeLeo gone, and without the Doherty-McAuliffe operation, Silvestri is at extreme risk. Biancalana will run against him in 2014; in 2006 she got 47.8 percent of the vote. State Representative Mike McAuliffe (R-20) has always run well in the 36th Ward, with Banks' tacit help, and in his 41st Ward base, where he is the Republican committeeman. He is now at risk.

Mulroe, of the 41st Ward, was DeLeo's choice for his successor, and he proved his mettle by helping his ally, 41st Ward Democratic Committeeman Mary O'Connor, defeat Gavin.

In the eastern portion of Mulroe's Senate district, the 45th Ward base of state Representative Joe Lyons (D-19) crumbled when his ally, Levar, was humiliated in his bid to elect Marina Faz-Huppert as his aldermanic successor. Lyons' vote to raise the state's income tax makes him particularly vulnerable in 2012, especially against an anti-tax Democratic primary foe. If Lyons's new district includes the 36th Ward after the 2011 remap, he is at risk.

The Northwest Side now resembles a demilitarized zone. The troops are gone. The bases of Lyons and McAuliffe have vaporized. In this power vacuum, the triumphant Cullerton and Mulroe-O'Connor organizations loom large. In 2012 their priority will be to rescue Lyons and thwart the emergence of a "reform" group outside of the 36th Ward.

(Next week: An analysis of the 45th Ward aldermanic race.)