Alderman Cardenas: Opponent "Looks Like A Gang Member"

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 18, 2010 9:15PM

Alberto Bocanegra is the chairman of the Cook County Green Party and once again will challenge 12th Ward incumbent Alderman George Cardenas in next year's election. In 2007, Bocanegra only received just under 4 percent of the vote to Cardenas's 59 percent.

So why is Cardenas seemingly giving Bocanegra attention by telling the Chicago News Cooperative that Bocanegra looks like a "thug" and threatening to play old school ward politics by releasing sordid details about him? If one were to go by the News Co-op profile of Bocanegra, it's the candidate's understanding of such gutter politics and his tenacity. Bocanegra constructs a narrative in the profile of being a self-made man who is now rebounding from a period of being down and out.

Tom Tresser, the Green Party candidate for County Board President, describes Bocanegra as "a street fighter. He knows what goes on at street level with the Democratic machine, he has seen it up close and personal." Bocanegra, for his part, lists a litany of unsubstantiated affronts brough upon him by supporters of Cardenas, from having his garage set on fire to being assaulted by a Cardenas staffer in the last election.

Looks like there could be some bare knuckle fighting in the 12th Ward before the election is held.