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Well, another municipal election has come in Chicago, and in many wards (but not all) it's gone. As expected, Richard M. Daley sailed to re-election, set to eclipse his father as the Chicago's longest-serving mayor, in spite of Ben Joravsky's best efforts.
At the time of this writing, a few things are clear: there will be a few runoffs this year, including Madeline Haithcock - Bob Fioretti (2nd), Dorothy Tillman - Pat Dowell (3rd), Shirley Coleman - Joann Thompson (16th), and Michael Chandler - Sharon Denise Dixon (24th). And Ted Matlak - Scott Waguespack (32nd), appear headed into a runoff; other possible runoffs include Lona Lane - Paul Stewart (18th), Howard Brooking - Leroy Jones (21st), Vilma Colom - Rey Colon (35th), and Vi Daley - Michele Smith (43rd). Joe Moore is on the brink against Don Gordon (49th) as well.
Overall it was a huge night for the local labor movement, with most of the runoffs forced by a candidate backed by the unions. Having a presence of pro-union people in the city council this term has the potential to keep Daley on his toes, and certainly sends the message that you can't fuck with workers in this town if you want to stay in power.
As far the winners go, there were some shake ups on the council. In the 7th Ward Sandi Jackson is set to take Darcel Beavers's seat in the city council. This race was a fun distraction for us, with two political powerhouse families duking it out, not just for an aldermanic seat, but for the potential to consolidate power in the city and county. It's too soon to declare Jackson's apparent victory a rejection of the neo Cook County Machine, but it certainly sets the stage for Jesse Jackson Jr. to challenge both Daley and Beavers, including a potential mayoral run next time around. The real question now is if people in that ward voted for Sandi, or her husband.
The other freak show of the night was Arenda Troutman's bizarre press conference, where she declared that she would challenge the results all the way to the top. If you watched it on TV, you got to see her basically accuse the press (among others) of conspiring against her. And in the 42nd Ward, Chicagoist whipping boy Burt Natarus has clearly lost to Brendan Reilly, but still doesn't have the guts to concede the race.
We were surprised to see the results in the 50th Ward. In spite of a convergence of resources and anger on the ground, incumbent Bernie Stone seems to have pulled it out anyway, avoiding a runoff against Naisy Dolar UPDATE - after all the returns came in, Bernie Stone and Naisy Dolar will have a runoff. The other surprise for us was in the 25th Ward, where Danny Solis seems to have won re-election. This race, in particular, was rife with drama, including all the back-stabbing, political calculations, and even the involvement of the state supreme court.
We'll be following those developments in the next few days, and we'll keep posting on what is going on in the runoffs as well. We hope you'll stay involved as well. This election had one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent memory in the city, and the coming runoffs are too important to pass up.
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"can't fuck with workers"
Nice. Pottymouth and simpleminded college liberal 101 politics all in one.
Some people are excited about the new faces that, apparently, will serve on the Council.
Let's wait on that one. After all, Daley has shown he's a master of co-opting the Council--either bringing foes into the fold, or just going around them.
"Can't fuck with the workers?" Yeah, right. Sure, they put some muscle on the street, but so what? It's still getting harder for blue-collar people to live in this city--especially if they want their kids to have a good education--and Daley has shown over and over again that he's willing to bend over for developers and other white-collar types--the people who can afford the overpriced housing and the private schools (or who have enough connections to play the magnet school game well enough).
The workers have already been fucked with in Daley's quest to make this city most friendly to tourists, yuppies and executives. It's a done deal. What the workers did was more like a last gasp than anything that's going to last.
Actually, it looks this morning like Stone will face a runoff.
OK, newb question: Have the local elections always been held this time of year? Usually voter turnout is increased when the elections are held on the national election day. (And it is cheaper because the city does not have to set up polls more than once a year.)
Joravsky made some valid points and to make matters worse it seems like everyone feels the same way, yet the election results didn't reflect it.
Scott, what national offices are up in 2007?
None.
Vinny -- yeah, but why do the city elections on odd years? To detach them from the national elections, of course.
When did you write this, last night at 10? Berny Stone only got 48%, so he's going to a run-off against Naisy Dolar.
I had no idea where my polling place was.
I'm glad natarus is gone, and it's funny to see some of the old politico hacks making runs again like colom and others. i just wish joe moore lost to someone. that guy is a crackpot.
Keith, you gotta hand it to Naisy Dolar. Her ground crew and campaign were much stronger and organized than said here, and she is now in a runoff with Stone on Tuesday, April 17.
The time is right for Naisy Dolar as Alderman in the 50th.
Andrew: I did indeed write this last night (at around 11:30, to be exact). That's why I said "at the time of this writing".
Scott: Conventional wisdom holds that local election in Chicago are conducted at this time of year to discourage voter particiapation, with low turnout considered to generally be good for the incumbent. It's pretty hard to rally the troops to go knock on doors when it is -20 out. It is considerably easier to get a bunch of city workers who know their jobs are on the line to do that.
If they counted the votes of all the people in early elections for the 25th Ward. Danny Solis would not have gotten the majority vote.
But it's sad they feel that people votes should just have been thrown away instead of allowing them to recast a vote. How is this even legal!!!
The 50th Ward race was pretty exciting. Stone didn't get 50% and now is in a run-off with Naisy Dolar. From what I saw, she had a good operation going yesterday and there was plenty of lovin' for Dolar from her neighbors.
i hope you'll cover the 46th....how/why did cappelman lose? where did whatthehelen.com go?
"The other surprise for us was in the 25th Ward, where Danny Solis seems to have won reelection. This race, in particular, was rife with drama, including all the back-stabbing, political calculations, and even the involvement of the state supreme court."
Your guy Morfin barely got 20% of the vote. Pilsen has spoken, and surprise: gentrification is not the burning issue that some people would like it to be. In fact, it seems to be a bigger issue with people who don't even live in Pilsen.
Did you really think that a candidate (Morfin) who promised to downzone vast areas of the ward would prevail? If you did, I'll let you in on a secret: it is well-known that property owners would get screwed by downzoning. People don't take kindly to the prospect of having their homes devalued. In a place like Pilsen, every house or two flat represents somebody's life savings. If Morfin ever wants to run again, he'd be well-advised to stay as far away from the Trendies, the Greens, the Pilsen Alliance, and the Casa-Astla-nazis as he can. Pilsen is, at its core (at least the voting core), a fairly conservative place.
As for Danny Solis: His celebration party was located at Lalos on Maxwell Street, and I don't believe it was just coincidence. When a reporter asked him the obvious question about the symbolism of staging his celebration on Maxwell Street after championing the end of the old neighborhood, he looked her straight in the eye and told her "I don't regret a thing. What is here now is better than was here before. Far better. For MY community." He went on about it created a connection from Pilsen to UIC, making UIC a resource for Pilsen, enabling the neighborhood kids to use the soccer fields, gyms, pools, etc., and how the focus of HIS leadership was on affordable housing and quality of life issues.
I thought to myself:....kids playing on soccer fields....quality of life issues.....Did Danny just get elected alderman or village president of Downer's Grove? Funny how the buzzwords are identical.
The bottom line is that the quality-of-lifers beat the tar out of the anti-gentrificationers in Pilsen lst night. The blow may not be lethal, but lefties are reeling. Their next (and probably final) serious comeback attempt will be in four years, which might be doable if Solis moves on to the U.S. Congress. However, if the ward map stays the same, the demographics will be far less favorable than they are today, so I wouldn't bet on it.
"how/why did cappelman lose?"
Um, Shiller's camp mobilized the vote better. And the ward believed in her more than they did in Cappleman.
Or, to quote Nelson Muntz: Ha-HA!!
Cadillac had to meet minimum CAFE requirements as a fleet in the 80's, so instead of improving MPG's of its cars, it introduced a new car, the Cimmaron. The quite crappy car got 30 mpg's and kept Cadillac from having to update any of it's long standing gas guzzlers.
Why am i talking about this???
Oh yeah, the 46th ward, the Cimmaron of the north shore...
"can't fuck with workers"
I will have to agree with you. In this town, business knows that they can not win. So they move their factories somewhere. Last night was a big night for labor and the 11% of Chicagoans that don't have a job. If you have not notice but the non-union foreign auto manufacturers are build new plants and creating jobs in the south and the domestic companies are doing just the opposite. So who is winning???
Apologies, Kevin. I assumed that the Feb.28 dateline meant the post was written today. Perhaps listing the time (since there's no timestamp on your post) instead of "at the time of this writing" would have been more helpful.
Apologies, Kevin. I assumed that the Feb.28 dateline meant the post was written today. Perhaps listing the time (since there's no timestamp on your post) instead of "at the time of this writing" would have been more helpful.
I first have to admit that I'm a bit biased because I support Naisy, but it seemed that there was alot of people underestimating Naisy Dolar, even though among the three challengers she has had the most experience trying to build bridges in and making changes for the community (such as turning back the illegal 24-hour meters on Devon that punished cab drivers who already aren't allowed to park on side streets).
I hope it's not because she's a woman, petite in size or younger than all the other politicos in the race.
Regardless, we now have an opportunity to dethrone Stone and usher in another independent voice in city government. It's not going to be easy...but then again, getting this far wasn't easy either.
Any comments on the 46th ward?
46th ward:
In my opinion James didn't fight hard enough and really expose Helen for what she is. You can't fight her taking the hi road. You have to expose her for who she is and what she is. He never nailed her whan he had the chance such as the League of Women Voters. Hopefully Helen got the message loud and clear it was a close vote. I would say people that own in Uptown voted for James and people that rent or are homeless voted for Helen.
Don't you have to have an address to vote so they know what precinct you're in? Being homeless may mean you're disenfranchised. Or maybe Ross just likes to blame the homeless for everything.
you actually don't need an address to vote necessarily. Demanding somebody have the resources to pay for housing would be unduly discriminatory. You'll note that chicago's voter registration forms have a space where you can give an approximate location and description of your "residence."
We need to mobilize the entire city to get that hat wearing crook, Dot Tillman out of office. She has raped the community and we have been silent too long!
Ramsin - Interesting. Thanks.