Emil Jones, Still Hemming And Hawing Over Mayoral Run

By Kevin Robinson in News on Sep 28, 2010 2:40PM

Former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones is now officially on the list of people in Chicago who might be running for mayor. The Tribune is reporting that Jones has petitions circulating in the city for ballot access. Jones told the Tribune that he is "still looking" at the possibility of running for mayor. “A lot of my supporters want me to run,” Jones told the daily. “I enjoy my retirement, but I will only run if conditions are right.” Jones began the hemming and hawing over a month ago.

Jones ascended to leadership in the senate in 1992, just in time for state Democrats to lose control of the General Assembly, In 2002 he became president of the body when his party won control of the chamber. In 2003 he took then State Senator Barack Obama under his wing, leveraging his political power on Chicago's South side to help elect him as Illinois's U.S. Senator. Jones retired in 2009. He'll need at least 12,500 valid signatures to get on the ballot, and the deadline is Nov. 22. “I don’t know how many [signatures] they’ve collected,” he said. “That’s the easiest part.”