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Munoz gives national radio address, lays groundwork for congress bid

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Ald. Munoz prepares for the bigtime.

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) is mulling a 2008 run for Congress and caught a break when the Democratic National Committee gave him a national stage on Saturday, asking him to deliver the weekly Hispanic radio address.

Munoz is looking at the 4th Congressional District seat that will be vacated by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who in December announced that he was thinking of running for mayor and would step down after one more term. […]

Munoz, 41, has been methodically laying the groundwork for the day when Gutierrez would step down. Munoz ran and won a seat as a state central committeeman, a political position that makes him part of the Democratic Party of Illinois. […]

Munoz has signed up a pollster, Global Strategies out of New York, and hired a fund-raiser, Scott Gales, who will start looking for federal money once the aldermanic election is out of the way.

Any thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 6:59 am

Comments

Good grief, is there anything more obsolete than a “national radio address”? And what is the “weekly Hispanic radio address”? When is it on? What station? Has anyone ever listened to it?

I’d say he’d get more publicity with the general public by judging a pig contest at the state fair.

Comment by Leroy Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 7:20 am
I’d say it didn’t do him any harm if he got a Lynn Sweet article and a forum on Capitol Fax out of it.

Comment by Si Se Puede Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 8:29 am
Manny Flores is going to run and win that seat!!

Comment by Just Observing Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 9:21 am
What about the great state senator who stood up to the Governor and Emile Jones, when she asaw the hispanics were getting the short end of the stick during the budget debate this year? That was Iris Martinez, who is a greeat leader, and who works for her community. She would be a forminable canididate for congress, with her prossesive views and leadership ability.
Her work in the senate shows she has the legislative experience and her work with all the community would make her the best choice for the job!
Munoz is a nice guy, but has no track record or legislative history which shows he can handle such a demanding job. Guttierrez has been an aweful congressman, with never sponsoring any legisilation,with a 50% no show record, and for leaving his district with poor schools, gang violence, drug epidemic,health epidemic(asthma crisis and teen pregnancy and herion and crack epidemic),along with creating division and attacking other hispanic polticians;the legacy of neglect,hate,and hatred is what Gutierrez will leave behind him!
How about Senator Del Valle or Sen. Sandoval? Both are great leaders and are responsive to there communities.

Comment by telling the truth Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 10:07 am
Iris Martinez is the most intelligent , brightest,honest,selfless person in Springfield and she willget my vote if she decides to run for congress.
Every hispanic should and owes Ms. Martinez a debt of gratitude for her work and efforts to make sure the hispanic community recieved the fair share of the state budget this year!
Her tirelless work for immigrants, and her support for both the mexican and puerto rican community, has endeared her to both communities.
As a women she is smart,bold and beatiful, and knows first hand what the middle class in our community and in our state need from all these,”old boy polticians”.
Ms. Martinez has stood up to who ever has tried to short change the hispanic community and that makes her in my book and in many others books,
a profile in courage and someone we all should know!
Thank Senator Martinez for being there for us, and standing up for what is right, and fighting for us all!!!

Comment by I support her Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 10:31 am
Ricardo Munoz is the only potential candidate that has actually made some smart steps towards the congressional run. I think he would do a great job and is extremely well respected and visible within and outside of his ward.

Iris Martinez? Please be serious. Criticizing Luis Gutierrez over schools, gangs and health issues is misguided. Education decisions are made at the state level, public safety issues are made at the city council level and public health decisions are mostly made at the county level. Criticize the right people for these failures(State legislators, Aldermen, Moreno/Maldonado). The real legacy of neglect is at the state level with such idiotic and uneducated legislators in office as: Acevedo, Sandoval, Tony Munoz (he doesn’t even have a college degree!). I have become increasingly disappointed with Sen. DelValle’s leadership, not so much in his desire for community betterment, because I do think that he wants to do better for his constituents, but he needs to realize the incompetence that surrounds him in the form of his fellow latino state legislators who don’t want the same thing–they are in it for themselves.

Comment by The real truth Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 10:36 am
The score card on the elected hispanic polticians goes like this:
Sen. Del Valle= A,hard working,quiet,effective leadership,with great mind,honest,true adovocate for his community and the Dean of all the hispanic polticians.
Sen. Martinez = A,first female hispanic Senator in Illinois,National Democratic Party President for Women’s issues and Hispanic issues;Great legislature and true independent,progressive, and respected leader in the community;honest,keeps her word,beautiful, and passinate on goverment policy and hispanic issues,educational leader in Springfield along with Del Valle.”Brings the bacon home”,strongest voice in National and State and City on hispanic issues and immigrant rights, not spolight queen,like others, does her work quietely and effectively.
Congressman Luis Guitterrez = D+,effective with the media, but ineffective legislator.Speaks out of both sides of his mouth,claiming to be a reformer,but truely a lackey for the white man and for gentrification developers,who have dispalced the Puerto Rican community once again and are working to displace the Mexican community out of Pilsen! Not respected in Washington, and has created the legacy for himself as the destructor of the Harold Washington Moviement(between Blacks and Hispanics), and now as the destructor of the Hispanic empowerment movement,all this is for his,only,his personal gains!
Sen. Sandoval = C, has done some good work, but his arrogant style and lack of compassion , has created too much distrust in him.Needs to stop acting like those Mexican Politicians from Mexico, who think they, and only they, know what is good for the community!Needs to get real, and starting rolling up his sleeves and work in the community!
Alderman Munoz= B , GREAT GUY,PASSIONATE,BUT LACKS”CHUPTZ”,needs to work in getting his community better schools,less crime and less drug abuse. To much gang activity in his ward, and to many high school drop outs!!Afraid to blast Tillman and her racist comments or Meeks!!Not congressional material!
Ald. Solis= C+,good alderman, but that’s about it. No talent level to take him to the top.Can’t and won’t stand up to Dorothy Tillman,or Dick Mell or to Burke.
Ald. Ocasio = C, a do nothing alderman with no spine or backbone and no personality! His ward is number one in Gentrification, and all he has done is say that they need more afforable housing, but has destroyed the Puerto Rican community therre, which is now upyville!
Commissioner Maldonado = D, good politician,lousy legislator, raises taxes whenever he can,expample the cigarrette taxes in the county. Afraid of standing up for Hispanic rights at the county and allowing that no hipanic be considered for County Board President!
Comm. Moreno = F, useless,borish,lackey,can’t demand a hispanic be considered for county board president, and then tried becoming mayor of Cicero and lost two times.He needs to retire!
Rep. Soto = B +, strong advocate of hispanics and her district.Not afraid to mix it up, and is honest.Should be considered for a leadership role in the house.
Mayor Daley = A, true leader in our community and with out him, only a few hispanics would be heard or seen. Thanks to Mayor Daley, the first Hispanic Mayor of Chicago!!!

Comment by scorecard Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 11:09 am
The only true hispanic leader,who has done the most for hispanic is Victor Reyes!!!
Say all the negativity you want, but he is the only one who has looked out for hispanics in Chicago and in the county and in the state!
Once these ridiculous scandels stop, and the sun-times, decides to be “fair and Balanced” coverage Mr. Reyes will be vinidicated and I hope the sun-times decided to issue a formal apology! All the hispanic community supports him and will keep on supporting him!

Comment by effective leader Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 12:04 pm
victor reyes as a true hispanic leader? Geez where has this person been? Obviously he/she is an HDO goon! Victor Reyes was in charge when the Wards were re-districted and what did he do in the back of the yards neighborhood? Instead of keeping the neighborhood together under a latino alderman he split up the neighborhood into 3 parts south of 45th street for political purposes. the constituents affected are now under tillman (need i say more about her stance on latinos?), troutman, and coleman…all african american. the problem is not race but the inability for residents to communicate with their alderman b/c of language barriers. is that leadership? get real!

Comment by you have to be kidding Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 3:43 pm
Scorecard can’t stop raving of how beautiful State Senator Martinez is. Is that a qualification for Congress?

Nonetheless, I agree that Martinez is a rising star.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 3:48 pm
Manny and Rick are friends. I’d be surprised if they both ran. That said, he’s a good guy and an honest politician. He’d make a much better Congressman than Luis!

Comment by ChicagoCynic Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 4:32 pm
The higher a politician tries to move up the food chain, the more scrutiny he receives. Mr. Independent Munoz won’t withstand that scrutiny. He says he’s independent of City Hall and a won’t be compromised by accepting patronage jobs, but he’s placed relatives and political workers all over the county payroll of John Stroger. Can anyone say “hypocrite”?

Comment by Chicago observer Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 4:43 pm
Let’s stop all this talk about Guitterrez leaving congress because he won’t.He is as likely running for Mayor as I am and that’s no where in site. Guitterrez is trying to postion himself as a canididate for his white masters,in case Daley steps down due to an indictment.He probably figures right that whites won’t tolerate Jackson or Meeks as Mayor, so they would vote for him. The scenario won’t work because,Daley is not going to be indicted, and if he did not run, he would had the baton off to Congressman Rahm Emmanuel,who would be supported by Senator Obama and others in the black and hispanic community.
Guitterrez will then disappear from the radar for Mayor.I believe Guitterrez knows that his political days are numbered in Chicago, because of all the double crosses and division and hatred he has created in the Hispanic community.He wants to go out on top, and he is hoping that the Hispanics will rally behind him, but that won’t happen. He will only retire if he has a chance for Mayor or he realizes that no one in the Hispanic community will support him.
Guttuerrez should be calm and stay wise, and work during these next few months in trying to make peace and keep his word,and mend fences with all the people he has offended, if not he should then honestly considering retiring!

Comment by mexirican Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 9:20 pm
I think all the naysayers on Gutierrez here are nuts, as apparently do the voters of his district.

He has been a great Congressman for the District, operating independently of Daley and forcing the Durbins, Obamas, and Emmanuels of the world to respect him and work hard on immigration reform.

He has done a GREAT job on immigration reform, standing up to the Lou Dobbs of the world and helping grass-roots organizations keep up the fight for legalization. He is too smart to think that the undocumented will get a fair shake from all the “smart” pols — like Emmanuel, who sold them out for some short-sighted political calculations in December.

Run Louie, Run!

Comment by Louie fan Thursday, Jun 8, 06 @ 10:35 pm
to you have to be kidding, name me one hispanic bussiness man, or politician who has done more to enpower latinos than Victor Reyes?…….
….Still thinking? Nobody has done more than he has.Period. Not Guttierrez,not Solis, not anyone in the history of Chicago.
They attack him for empowering hispanics, but yet say nothing about all the white,irish or italians organizations or black groups who have empowered there people with political power.
I believe what is happening with Mr. reyes is all about Jealousy from other hispanics and Whites and Blacks that don’t want to see hispanic power.They want to bring him down, to show us latinos that we should be only happy with what they(White and Black Poltiicans) give us.
Hispanics who are condeming him are doing it only for there personal gains and doing the bidding of whites and black politicians.
If Victor Reyes goes down,take me down also , as well as others who believe in our community being inpowered and respected.
Instead of being like a bunch of crabs in a bucket, and pulling one of us down when we are trying to reach the top, we,the hispanics should unite behind Reyes and tell the goverment and the sun-times, and any others who condems him,especially latinos,that we won’t take this anymore.
Victor Reyes has become bigger than a person, he now represents latino enpowerment and if they take him, there will thousands behing him who will gladly stand next to him and represent what he empowers and that is Latinos are here to stay and we will take his place in line.They’ll see that it is not one person but a movement.
To all Latinos who oppose Mr. Reyes and our movement,who publically attack us, remember that your actions not only hurt our community, but that you will be forever remembered as “Benedict Arnolds” and “Colonists” who refuse to see us empowered.We won’t forget who you are and what you did!!!

Comment by A Million latinos together Friday, Jun 9, 06 @ 9:21 am
A million latinos…..

It is obvious to me that you are oblivious to the fact that the latinos that have been placed by victor are his puppets. where is the empowerment there when the elected officials have to vote the way he wants them to vote and not consider what their communities need. This is a main reason why reyes has too much power b/c he controls legislators and alderman. reyes is the main puppet handler and all he cares about is lining his pockets. Have you been following the sorich trial? if you have reyes’ name has been mentioned numerous times not by other latinos or the media but by the FBI and people who worked for him in the past. So my friend you are utterly clueless and your opinions lack fact and stamina. I suggest you do your research and find out who really victor reyes is and how ineffective the empty suit politicians are. Empowerment will come to latinos the day that reyes is out of the picture and qualified candidates are able to run against the puppet legislators without the fear of retaliation.

Comment by you have to be kidding Friday, Jun 9, 06 @ 10:37 am
i guess a million latinos has no response….how typical of HDO puppets, can’t think for themselves.

Comment by you have to be kidding Saturday, Jun 10, 06 @ 1:39 am
You have to be kidding, tell me one of your favorite or favorite politicans,and tell me what they have done to empower there community.
Can you name one?……..Of course not.
Not one of those so called “Independents” have done a thing. There made at Reyes, because there jealous of his influence and power.There jealous,because Reyes had no use for them.If we worked together we can achieve something,divided we fall.

Comment by A Million latinos together Monday, Jun 12, 06 @ 10:30 am
a million…

you still dont prove your case. it doesn’t matter who my favorite politician is. what matters here is that reyes is not for hispanic needs rather he is in it for himself along with his puppet legislators/aldermen. Remove reyes and his puppets then you will see true latino representation. hdo are the dividers not the unifiers. they threaten any potential candidate by firing them from their job or they try to buy them off in a back room deal. your so diluted with your opinions its sickening.

Comment by you have to be kidding Tuesday, Jun 13, 06 @ 4:32 pm
- you have to be kidding , you are the one refusing to anwser the question. You have no solution, but to state,”Remove reyes and his puppets then you will see true latino representation. hdo are the dividers not the unifiers.”
Not true my friend, not true.It seems that there are people in all walk of life, who are complainers(yourself) and there are doers(myself and Reyes).Let’s call a truce, you do your things and we’ll do are own, just don’t go messing with our people.
If you try, we’ll do to you what we did this past election and that was”total destruction for your guys”.
Now honestly tell me , who you think,what politician do you like and what has he done? I bet you can’t anwser it and give a good example!
So if you refuse, I’ll know your just a whinny,complainer who crys if he loses a game!

Comment by A Million latinos together Tuesday, Jun 13, 06 @ 8:44 pm
OK, this has really devolved badly. Comments closed.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 13, 06 @ 8:51 pm