Due To Halloween Withdrawal, Cicero Elects Ghost

By Sam Bakken in News on Nov 4, 2004 11:57PM

On Tuesday residents of Cicero, a suburb just west of Chicago, elected a candidate many people had written off as a ghost. Michelle Chavez ran against incumbent Republican Frank Aguilar for the Illinois State House of Representatives and Telemundo found her at her challenger's planned victory party when she heard the news that soon she'd haunt the Illinois House. She also celebrated with Aguilar when they each won their primaries.

Chavez received 53 percent of the vote and appears very much alive in the picture at left. She did not print any signs or fliers, didn't open a campaign office and only spent $3000 on her campaign. Democratic leaders in Cicero say she's not a member of their party and has avoided any contact with them. They're worried she is a puppet. Chavez denies the rumors that she wails and rattles chains. She also denies that she has a hand up her ass. She says she's proof that grass-roots campaigns work.

Chavez is at least 52-years-old (Tribune says 52, Sun-Times says 53) and is a supervisor at a local janitorial service company

Expectedly, Aguilar also denies that Chavez is a spectre but said she likely rode the coattails of Kerry and Obama to victory.

Chavez's unseating of an expected shoo-in Republican didn't do much to change the party make-up of the General Assembly. The Democrats lost one seat, but still have a 65-63 majority in the State House and a 32-27 majority in the State Senate.