Thread: Hiring Scandal Weakens Hispanic Vote in Chicago

Hefty turnover predicted for City Council

September 20, 2006

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter


Chicago aldermen -- and those who covet their $98,125-a-year jobs -- started circulating nominating petitions on Tuesday amid turbulent forecasts: as many as 15 of the City Council's 50 incumbents could go down to defeat.

"We haven't seen anything like it since Harold Washington's election" in 1983, said former independent Ald. Dick Simpson (44th), a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) predicted "12 to 15" new faces when the new Council is seated in May, in part because a hiring scandal has weakened the Hispanic Democratic Organization and other pro-Daley armies of political workers.

In July, the mayor's former patronage chief and three others were convicted of rigging city hiring to benefit political workers. New hiring rules imposed by a federal monitor make it difficult to replenish the ranks of those armies, Munoz said.

Patronage armies weakened



"In the past, these political patronage armies have been able to invade neighborhoods, help incumbent aldermen and defeat independents. In '95, '99 and 2003, we would see hundreds of HDO workers come into the 22nd Ward supporting candidates against me," Munoz said.

With HDO under the microscope and federal investigators swarming all over City Hall, Munoz said, "I'm not sure they can do that now. When they do, I'm going to have a camera taking pictures of these guys so I can figure out which department they work for and who's telling them to campaign."

Rival aldermanic slates promised by possible mayoral challenger Jesse Jackson Jr. and by unions angered by Mayor Daley's big-box veto are fueling the winds of change, said Ald. Danny Solis (25th), who has a bull's-eye on his back.

Solis was one of three aldermen whose cross-over votes helped the mayor sustain his big-box veto.

"Unions are going to have more influence. They haven't been challenged by federal investigations. They have workers. They have money. They're willing to invest those resources," Solis said, predicting a turnover of "eight or nine" seats.

He added, "Because of all the investigations, you can't do things the way you used to do them. You can't have a quid pro quo attitude [that says], 'If you help me, I'll get you a job or promotion.' You can't even talk about that."

On the day he launched his exploratory committee for mayor, Jackson said he had already vetted 15 potential aldermanic challengers.

Union could fund slate



Some of them may dovetail with the Service Employees International Union, which has run classes to train 260 aldermanic candidates. The union has talked about fielding challengers in 15 or 20 wards and providing each of them with $50,000 in seed money.

"The system is set up where money needs to be put into it. We think it's good for the process and will enhance the level of debate over issues of concern to working families, like the continual decline in working family incomes," said SEIU's Illinois Council President Tom Balanoff, who's hoping for enough turnover to revive the big-box minimum wage ordinance in broader form.

Four years ago, there were seven new aldermen. Two were Daley appointees elected for the first time. Two were mayoral allies backed by HDO. Only three were independents who managed to defeat Daley-backed incumbents: Manny Flores (1st); Howard Brookins (21st), and Rey Colon (35th).

The modern-day record for aldermanic candidates was set in 1991, when 325 candidates filed nominating petitions. The record low occurred in 1979, when the field included 157 candidates.

'Much less of a rubber stamp'



Now, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners is bracing for a new record, in part because of the cost-of-living pay raise that aldermen voted themselves in July.

Emboldened by the scandals that have weakened Daley politically, aldermen have also started acting more like legislators in recent months. That makes the job even more attractive.

"No matter who's elected mayor, it's likely to be a much more independent or reform-minded Council -- and much less of a rubber stamp," Simpson said.

fspielman@suntimes.com

Gee, why am I NOT surprised. I figured the illegals allowed to vote in Chicago were primarily the demoncrats keeping Daley and his corrupt regime in power. So much for the illegal alien sanctuary power.