Replacing Rahm: The Candidates, Part 3
By Kevin Robinson in News on Feb 18, 2009 7:00PM
Early voting has already begun in Illinois's Fifth Congressional District, so Chicagoist figured that with 25 candidates in the race to keep Rahm Emanuel's seat warm for him, we'd look at five each day all this week. Read Part One here, and Part Two here.
Patrick O'Connor
40th Ward Alderman and Mayor Daley's unofficial floor leader in the council, O'Connor is the longest serving alderman on the council. Known for his decades-long fight to rid his ward of "Motel Row", the alderman has used his influence in the city council to steer TIF funds around the lakefront, including his position on the Devon-Sheridan TIF Task Force, which gave Loyola University $46 million in funds. O'Connor is also known for putting family members on the city payroll, even using leftover campaign funds to give "year-end jobs for fifteen persons, including his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, his sister-in-law, wives of two former members of his law firm, and the wife of a former staff aide. Some of those hired admitted later that they did not realize they were on the city payroll." In spite of his clout with the mayor, however, O'Connor was unable to secure the endorsement of the local Democratic Party, failing, along with the other Democrats slated in the primary to muster a majority at the slating meeting last month.
Charles Wheelan
The University of Chicago professor and author of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science is running on a straightforward platform of reforms, based largely in economics. "I've sat around and criticized people in Washington about how we can do everything better," Wheelan told Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg. "But at some point you have to put on a helmet and get in the game." That approach to running for congress impressed Steinberg so much that he endorsed him. Inspite of his novel approach to local politics (including running ads shot underwater), Wheelan has a pretty comprehensive approach to the issues, no surprise, given that he's a professor of public policy, and his resume counts serving as Director of Policy and Communications for Chicago Metropolis 2020, being the Midwest correspondent for The Economist, and having written for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
Deb Leticia Gordils
The Chicago native and former 33rd Ward aldermanic candidate has the good fortune this year of being in the top position on the ballot. The graduate of Northeastern and Loyola University spent two years working with migrant farm workers on the U.S.-Mexico border, and is running on a platform of broad and general reforms to immigration, education, health care and the economy. She's running as a Green Party candidate and is heralding her growing up in the Fifth District as a strength to her election.
David Anderson
David Anderson is one of several Republicans running for congress in the Fifth that is new to politics. Dr. Anderson holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry with a minor in Quantum Mechanics from University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a staff scientist and program manager for both Honeywell and Motorola, and also holds six U.S. patents in chemical processing and electronics. "My aspiration is to be a citizen public servant, not a career politician," he says on the front page of his website. "I consider public service a duty, not a career opportunity or a family business. I decided to enter the race because I am sure that the ultimate Democrat party nominee will be someone with strong ties to the large machine that protected Blagojevich for years, instead of taking a courageous path to replace him with an honest Democrat for governor."
Daniel Kay
Daniel Kay (born Karkusiewicz) is a first-generation American, and also a first-time candidate. With a website "still in the development stage" and no previous experience in politics, it's difficult to say much about Kay. Still harder is divining any information from the scant information the candidate himself has presented.
"In a nutshell, the district is highly diverse and all parts of it need attention, not just those in the city limits as were the policies of the previous two 5th district representatives in congress. Much effort had been placed to modernize O'Hare airport to bring in line with others around the nation, however, the majority of the airports viability is in freight and cargo. The infrastructure including federal highway US 12/45, which are vital to the success of the airport and surrounding rail yards, are in gross neglect. Recently the Mannheim Road bridge over the O'Hare rail yard was closed due to the frost heaves launching vehicles onto black ice and causing them to spin out. Because this road doesn't link the airport with downtown Chicago directly, the communities affected didn't have the ears willing to listen. Fairness to all is my basic doctrine. From Lake Shore Drive to County Line Road, and from Lake Street to Touhy Ave. all need their voices heard in Washington."
In a nutshell, that seems to sum up Kay's campaign.