August 3, 2011
LABOR UNION DOLLARS FLOOD NW SIDE ALDERMANIC RACES

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

In politics, there are three kinds of money: OPM, YOM and LUM.

Those are acronyms for Other Peoples' Money, Your Own Money and Labor Union Money. As demonstrated in the recent Chicago municipal elections, LUM was a blessing, OPM was a necessity, and YOM was a bust. If you have to spend from your own pocket, you lose. If you can't raise dollars, you lose. If, however, you receive a large amount of labor union money or raise significant cash from other people, you normally win.

As set forth in the adjoining fund-raising chart, Chicago's labor unions -- primarily the public employee unions, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees -- poured almost $3 million into the coffers of various aldermanic and mayoral candidates.

In the Northwest Side 45th Ward, April 5 runoff winner John Arena got $251,538 in union money en route to a 30-vote victory. In the Feb. 22 general election, union sweetheart Marina Faz-Huppert, a lobbyist for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union who had the endorsement of outgoing Alderman Pat Levar, had a huge amount of union funding. Of the $170,288 she raised, $114,950 came from union sources, and unions independently paid for a slew of mailers. Overall, unions spent almost $500,000 on the 45th Ward race.

In the 38th Ward, appointed Alderman Tim Cullerton, a longtime city electrical inspector with ties to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, raised $390,191, of which just less than $100,000 emanated from union sources. Cullerton's contribution list is a who's who of Chicago political action committees funded by union dues: boilermakers, bridge and structural workers, carpenters, teachers, construction trades, tile layers, firefighters, police, electricians, painters, pipe fitters, health care workers, bricklayers, hotel workers, sheet metal workers, sprinkler fitters, teamsters, food and commercial workers, iron workers and those in the public sector -- state and local government workers represented by SEIU and AFSCME. Their independent expenditures enabled Cullerton to have nearly a mailing a day in the runoff, at an estimated cost of $300,000.

In the 50th Ward, the pro-union propensities of Debra Silverstein, the wife of state Senator Ira Silverstein, enabled her to raise $66,864 from union sources. She raised $238,119 overall, of which $17,500 came from her husband.

In the 36th Ward, the knuckle-headed stubbornness of appointed Alderman John Rice and his mentors, Bill Banks and Jim DeLeo, was fatal. When the SEIU heavily funds a candidate, the union dispatches and pays campaign staff, designs and mails opposition attack pieces, and treats the candidate like a puppet who does what he is told. Rice resisted. He ran his own campaign in the usual precinct captain style, raised $232,150, of which only $7,095 came from unions, and lost to Nick Sposato, who raised a quarter of Rice's war chest.

In the 47th Ward, Tom O'Donnell, the anointed choice of retiring Alderman Gene Schulter, raised $138,580, of which just $9,800 came from union sources. He lost to Ameya Pawar, who didn't even create a campaign committee until April 1, well after his Feb. 22 victory. In effect, O'Donnell ignominiously lost to somebody who legally spent nothing.

In the 41st Ward, Democratic committeeman Mary O'Connor's 250-vote runoff victory was attributable more to the lack of funding of her opponent, Maurita Gavin, than to O'Connor's popular appeal. O'Connor raised $115,832, of which $18,500 came from union sources, but three of O'Connor's six runoff mailings were paid for by unions and one was paid for by Alderman Pat O'Connor. "If (Gavin) had more money, she would have won," said retiring Alderman Brian Doherty, who backed Gavin, his top aide. Interestingly, Gavin is now chief of staff to Sposato in the 36th Ward.

Here's a ward-by-ward analysis:

45th Ward: Garrido has filed a defamation action against Arena, Arena's campaign committee, Comcast, the Chicago Federation of Labor, SEIU and Unite Here Local 1, which represents hospitality workers. During the runoff, the unions paid for mailers linking Garrido to the city's parking meter sale, claiming that he received contributions from LAZ Parking, which won the bid. Mailings also alleged that if he were elected Garrido would collect two city pensions. "Both those mailers were lies," Garrido said. "That was not freedom of speech, that was defamation of my character."

It will be interesting to observe the permutations of this lawsuit. According to B-1 disclosures filed with the state, the SEIU Illinois PAC spent $70,398 on anti-Garrido mailings and $105,000 on anti-Garrido ads on Comcast. Will Arena use the Sergeant Schultz defense: "I know nothing"? If so, he will prove himself an opportunistic puppet.

A defamation action involving a public figure must show "reckless disregard of truth or falsity" of a defamatory statement. What are Garrido's damages? He lost the election. The court cannot overturn the result. This much is clear: But for the unions' $200,000-plus negative onslaught, Garrido would have won.

According to the June 30 disclosures, Garrido raised $208,978, of which $47,426 was loaned to the campaign by him and his father. But that's a pittance compared to loser Don Blair, who raised $134,429, of which $86,500 was in loans from himself and his father-in-law. Another loser, Mike Ward, raised $160,595, of which $8,000 was in personal loans and $66,455 was in donations from him and his family. As I said, YOM is a ticket to oblivion.

As for 2012, Arena has been disingenuous about his intentions. Levar is the ward Democratic committeeman, and he had a paltry $3,893 cash on hand as of June 30. Faz-Huppert, who gave $5,000 to Arena after she lost, is positioning herself to run for committeeman if Levar quits. My prediction: If the unions want Faz-Huppert, Arena will utter nary a protest.

38th Ward: Poor Tom Caravette. He is sort of like the Dutch Boy with his finger in the dyke who suddenly has to plug a thousand leaks. Caravette raised just $3,860, not even 10 percent of what Cullerton raised, and he was slammed in Cullerton mailers as a "slum landlord" and a corporate manipulator. Cullerton let the SEIU run his campaign, let the union design and fund his mailings, and won an easy victory.

50th Ward: Loyalty is fleeting. In 2007 unions heavily backed Alderman Berny Stone against independent Naisy Dolar, flooding the West Rogers Park ward with staffers, workers and money in the runoff, which Stone barely won. Four years later Stone was a pariah, not because he was less pro-union, but because Debra Silverstein was more pro-union.

Stone raised a hefty $212,544 during the second half of 2010, and he raised $96,113 during the first quarter of 2011, but he blew his proverbial wad. He raised an anemic $11,600 for the runoff. In contrast, Silverstein raised $65,818 for the runoff, coalesced and motivated the ward's anti-Stone majority, and beat Stone by 2,206 votes, getting 61.4 percent of the vote.

36th Ward: Sposato's upset was a clear rejection of the "Banks-DeLeo Machine," of which Rice was the unintended victim. As shown in the chart, Sposato raised just $75,751, to $232,150 for Rice, but Rice's mentors hung him out to dry. Banks had $641,148 in his account on June 30, but he gave Rice $5,000, while DeLeo had $440,035 and gave Rice $7,983.

The fading "Banks-DeLeo Machine" has picked attorney Larry Andolino to run for Democratic committeeman in 2012, when Banks retires. "I am an independent, but I have to watch my back," Sposato said. Does that mean you will run for committeeman? "I will announce within the month," he said.

Also included in the chart are aldermanic candidates from the Lincoln Park 43rd Ward, the Uptown 46th Ward and the Wicker Park 32nd Ward, none of which had major union money.

The bottom line: LUM is the KTV (Key To Victory).