In the Light of Day
By Kevin Robinson in News on Mar 1, 2007 2:50PM
With most of Tuesday's election settled around the city, 24 candidates are gearing up for the special election April 17. The big story that is coming out of this vote is the role that unions played in this election. Of the twelve runoffs, five were candidates that were endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Two are union members; Leroy Jones in the 21st is a member of SEIU Local 73, and Toni Foulkes is a member of UFCW Local 881. Among those that won outright were also candidates that were backed by labor unions as well, including Brendan Reilly (42). Chicago unions played an indirect role as well, refusing to endorse Daley for mayor, preventing some incumbents from riding his coattails, and running anti-incumbent campaigns in places like the 2nd Ward without endorsing anyone.
Although most of the press has called the 25th Ward for Danny Solis, there seems to be some question as to the veracity of that assessment. If what AlderTrack was reporting yesterday afternoon turns out to be correct, Solis may face Temoc Morfin in a runoff as well, although the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners had posted on their website an unofficial tally showing Solis as the winner last night. One other race that was called incorrectly (on both election night and here at Chicagoist) was that Bernie Stone had avoided a runoff. He will face Naisy Dolar on April 17 as well.
Several sitting aldermen have taken the news rather hard: Burt Natarus got philosophical about the whole thing while sipping a martini. Darcel Beavers is clinging to the notion that she is still an alderman, at least for a little while, and the hog with the big nuts, daddy William Beavers, is shocked that you can't just declare someone an alderman and make it so. The best show of the night was Arenda Troutman's declaration that there is a conspiracy afoot and that the people have lost.
We're excited to see Ted Matlak, Joe Moore and Bernie Stone get a run for their money (or is it our money?), and we'll be following those two races closely. We're also interested in the 21st and the 15th Ward races, and the possibility that there could be two regular people, two independents on the city council as well. In the meantime, we hope you'll stay engaged too, even if your ward race has already been settled. This is just the beginning!
"Biking to work adjusted" via don sorsa.