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* Here are a couple of interesting highlights from today’s Tribune story on union involvement in Chicago city council races. You should read the whole thing, but these are the juiciest parts.
Service Employees International Union officials said they hope to count on more than 1,500 “block captains.”
That’s quite a field operation.
Alderman Howard Brookins, Jr. is a top target, and his opponent has some high hopes for big union dollars.
Leroy J. Jones Jr., who has the backing of the unions in his race against Brookins–and expects $300,000 in union support–counters that “labor is trying to raise the standards.”
That would be absolutely huge if Jones is correct. Jones, by the way, works for SEIU.
* And to those who still consider Dorothy Brown and Dock Walls serious candidates in the mayoral race, take a gander at this:
Brown reported raising $338,252 during the last six months of last year and had $118,674 left on Dec. 31. Walls raised just $11,069 and had only $4,103 left.
Daley took in $3,110,354 during the period, leaving him with $4,245,288 on Dec. 31. Since then, he raised another $1,725,589 and spent at least $266,107, leaving him about $5.7 million, said Patt Kilroe, his campaign treasurer.
At a similar point in his last re-election bid, Daley had $4.2 million in mid-February.
* In case you’re still interested, Brown has a new 60 second radio ad that you can listen to below…
* Back to aldermanic races for a bit, columnist Russ Stewart has changed his mind about Alderman Bernie Stone’s re-election chances. Last year, he predicted that Ald. Stone would win “easily.” His latest column, however, concludes thusly:
My prediction: Stone admits that if he wins outright on Feb. 27, he won’t get much over 50 percent of the vote. Brewer predicts he’ll win a majority, which is absurd. But all this activity in the ward will spur turnout to about 10,000. Stone will come in with about 4,200 votes, Brewer with 3,500, Dolar with 1,800, and Aftab with 500. That means an April runoff, a low turnout, and a flood of outsiders descending on the ward. Stone could lose.
* The Chicago News-Star (a Pioneer paper) ran a story this week on the impact of blogs on city council races, focusing on wards 49 and 50.
So far, Rogers Park, on both sides of the 49th and 50th Ward border, seems to have the largest number of citizen political blogs, about a dozen in total. While some have drawn criticism for their negativity, Rogers Park blogger Toni Duncan, whose “24/7 North of Howard Watchers” covers housing and community issues in the North of Howard neighborhood, views her blog as a historical document of a place.
“It’s an ongoing chronology, past and present. I’m waiting to see what the camera sees in the future,” Duncan said.
Always interesting, always opinionated, and at times, more rancorous than a middle-school lunchroom, neighborhood blogs are beginning to draw the attention of local candidates interested in knowing what residents have to say.
“It’s not to your advantage to ignore them. I have folks who keep an eye on what people are saying and stay on it in a respectful way,” Adams said.
* And the Tribune had a very good roundup of the “free for all” in the 2nd Ward race.
The building boom that has transformed Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood could translate into political change for the storied 2nd Ward.
Hoping to take advantage of an influx of newcomers, several viable challengers are running against 14-year incumbent Ald. Madeline Haithcock, a loyal ally of Mayor Richard Daley, in the Feb. 27 election.
* Back to the 50th Ward, which is perhaps the most Internet-savvy battle in the city, Naisy Dolar has been taking heat for allegedly lying about whether she has lived in the ward all of her life. She hasn’t, but she has claimed she has. Here’s a funny little video clip that her opponents are hoping you’ll watch.
* And finally, the Daily Herald looks at today’s vote for Cook County Democratic Party Chairman.
A longtime Latino tax appeals commissioner and lobbyist appears to be the front-runner as Cook County Democrats gather today to pick a new party chairman.
If that edge holds, Joseph Berrios, 54, would replace longtime chairman Thomas G. Lyons, who died last month at 75 after serving in the unpaid post since 1990.
Berrios, who would be the first Latino to serve in the post, is running against state Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie and West Side Chicago alderman Isaac Carothers in a contest that will be decided by city ward and suburban township committeemen at an 11 a.m. meeting in a downtown hotel.
Berrios picked up key support from Michael J. Madigan, the House speaker and Illinois Democratic Party Chairman.
*** UPDATE *** Berrios won.
The Cook County Democratic Central Committee unanimously voted today to elect Joseph Berrios as its new chairman, replacing Tom Lyons, who died last month.
Berrios is a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review and the Democratic committeeman of the 31st Ward.
Berrios was elected unanimously after Isaac Carothers and Lou Lang withdrew their names from nomination.
More here.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 9:11 am
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Brewer’s camp is trying to deflect heat that their guy has lived in the ward for only five years, never voted in a municipal election, and has had to loan himself $85,000.
Usualy Camp Brewer’s argument is that Stone must see them as his main threat, due to all the attention he gives them. What does this video say about Brewer’s concern about Naisy?
Comment by whatever Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 9:47 am
The candidates need to focus on the real issues facing the ward, not petty name calling and accusations. That is the only way they can have a chance at beating Stone.
I hope Dolar continues to stay above the fray.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-AL1b-1qj0
Comment by Pleading... Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 10:22 am
OK! That is just ONE clip. ONE little clip with a tiny blunder that is pathetically played over and over again. Puh-lease…
The messaging Naisy and her supporters have continued spreading throughout the ward and the rest of the Chicago - “she is a long-time resident in the neighborhood” AND has the City government experience to further effectively know how to improve the ward - is SO MUCH POWERFUL AND BETTER!
This measly little clip is nothing compared to what her team is TRUTHFULLY presenting to the voters of the 50th Ward. This measly little clip is NOTHING compared to how qualified Naisy Dolar is as a leader for the 50th Ward.
And what about her other opponents? What really good things do they have to say about themselves? The incumbent hasn’t been a proactive leader; the architect doesn’t have much of a voting record in the 50th ward and has been avoiding an appearance in another candidate forum (not mention, he ranked last to having raised the most money); and the other one has a record of a hate crime.
With Naisy Dolar’s long history in the 50th Ward, she clearly knows what is best for the community. That little clip had a slight typo. She probably meant to say, “almost all her life…”
Comment by kl Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 11:06 am
Two quick points.
1st - Yes Greg has lived in the ward almost 6 years. He and Maribeth weren’t born in the neighborhood. They didn’t end up in the neighborhood by chance. They picked West Rogers Park because they love the neighborhood. They love the diversity. They love the community.
2nd - Greg did vote in past municipals at past addresses. He was unable to vote in 2003 because he had to attend a last minute meeting in South Bend for a hospital project he was working on.
He was not able to get back in time to vote. The meeting was called too close to Election Day for him to request an absentee ballot, and there was no early voting at the time.
I’m sure he is not the only person who this has happened to, and early voting really helps prevent this problem in the future.
Owen Brugh
Communication Director
Citizens for Brewer
Comment by orb Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 11:10 am
Has anyone taken a look at Stone’s D2 - his money is coming from people that the other candidates hope to have. I don’t see how Berny goes to a run-off. Sorry
Comment by babs Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 11:24 am
“kl,” wasn’t this claim also made in a Dolar mailer?
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 11:28 am
Yes, an old piece that is being replaced. Mistakes are made and corrected.
But there are much bigger issues to discuss here…
Comment by kl Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 11:58 am
From what I’ve seen on here, if Brewer’s paid staff spent less time blogging and more time working he would have raised more than $10,000 and not had to go $85,000 into debt. Salman Aftab who has the hate crime record raised more than him….
Comment by commenting Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 12:18 pm
And what guarantees do the unions have that Brewer will not use their money to retire his debt?
Comment by West Rogers Park Resident Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 12:27 pm
It may only be one clip, but this is something that Naisy has repeated over and again. Naisy has tried to pass herself off as a “life-long” resident of the 50th Ward for years. And when I first asked her about where she went to high school, she ignored the question and talked about Decatur.
Comment by NDNeighbor Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 12:35 pm
All - if the question has been asked and answered, i.e. Naisy went to high school somewhere else and her staff has responded to residents’ inquiries about it why are we still drilling down on a few years spent away from her home in the neighborhood - because we think it points to a greater malfeasance somewhere else?
I haven’t seen or heard of anything…and my bigger concerns are with the fact that we have one candidate with a hate crime record, one candidate deeply in debt and not garnering much support either financially or outside the white residents of the ward, and one incumbent who should have retired years ago and now wants to make sure that genes trump democracy…as noted above, we have bigger issues to discuss here.
Comment by West Rogers Park Resident Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 1:08 pm
Did you watch the video? You seem eager to ignore the fact that Naisy can’t recall how long she’s lived in the ward. You would think she would know the answer to that. You would think that she wouldn’t try to mislead her neighbors. You would think.
What else has she misled us about?
Comment by NDNeighbor Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 1:29 pm
Here’s links to two of the blogs mentioned in the News-Star article:
Craig Gernhardt’s ‘Broken Heart’ of Rogers Park
http://morsehellhole.blogspot.com/
Toni Duncan’s 24/7 North of Howard Watchers
http://howardwatchers.blogspot.com/
Comment by Hugh Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 1:50 pm
I’m not ignoring the fact - we confronted her staff, they’ve responded; Owen responded to questions about Greg - that’s part and parcel of a political campaign - ask questions, dig for dirt on a candidate…you have posed this question above earlier - with no respondents. If the only thing that Naisy Dolar has is a residency timeline error versus everything else we have to deal with in the other candidates I just might vote for Naisy Dolar.
Comment by West Rogers Park Resident Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 1:55 pm
Here’s the deal… The Brewer people can feel free to criticize Dolar for what she said and what she put into her fliers. However, from now on all the posts that intimate that she is “hiding” something else are gonna be deleted. Put up or shut up.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 2:04 pm
Rich, thank you for putting an end to the madness. I’d like to see discussion about some real issues. Keep us posted!!
Comment by thanks Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 3:31 pm
did they withdraw after a round of voting? if so, do we have vote totals on the initial round?
Comment by bored now Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 3:44 pm
Here in the 19th Ward, the local community paper published by the Olshefski family, has a blockbuster of a story; alas not on the Web. In essence one candidate trying again to unseat Ginger Rugai put out a mailer that had a number ofcolor photos of blighted properties to attack the ‘lack of development’ in the Ward. Problem being the properties are owned by one of the chief backers of Somerville’s campaign. Shooting one’sself in the foot bt having your friend hold your leg still and squeeze off the round at the same time - now, that is something. Here’s a link to the candidate’s mailer - the properties are owned by his backer - go figure.
http://www.19thward.com/PDFs/Mailer2.pdf
Comment by Pat Hickey Thursday, Feb 1, 07 @ 4:05 pm
So, when Lisa runs for guv in 2010 she’ll have the Dem County chairman (and perhaps the Hispanic vote?)in her corner, thanks to Dad’s support of Berrios.Or will she? Tom Lyons never did much, although he was old guard, bred to be obedient and take a back seat to the Daleys. Berrios would have to do some real work to make this committee worth anything. So this appointment likely doesn’t mean much in itself to Lisa, only as part
of a total package of support that Dad is developing.
Comment by Cassandra Friday, Feb 2, 07 @ 7:59 am
For anyone looking to find Leroy Jones’ campaign online, since it’s not linked in this post: visit http://www.citizensforleroy.com
Comment by C2ELJJ Friday, Feb 2, 07 @ 10:33 am
Who cares where Naisy Dolar grew up?! What does that have to do with anything ? Is she tackling problems from 1987 ? No, she’s going to work to resolve problems in 2007. I think too much sensationalist slander has been stabbed in Naisy’s profile. The bottomline is that she has experience, credibility and can delegate with the Daley administration. And no other candidate can say that. Really, some of these people, especially that idiot Mr. Aftab think that by verbally accusing the Daley Administration of outright foul play with the city and stuffing Stone’s pockets with fresh votes are not going to help his cause. If you want change you must choose a person who knows hot to deal with the issues from the inside, not atttack them blindly.
Comment by DeeDee Tuesday, Feb 6, 07 @ 2:37 pm
It’s good to know that Greg Brewer is for…Greg Brewer.
At the recent candidate debate at Boone School when the panelists were asked whether or not they would support the run-off candidate if they themselves didn’t make it - Greg Brewer followed Dolar and Aftab’s “yes” answers with a vague comment of “I hope my campaign efforts would have helped…” or something like that - basically saying no. Good to know that Greg Brewer is so concerned about our community and the problems facing it under Stone’s administration that he will pack up and take his bat and ball and go home if he doesn’t make the final cut…thanks Greg!
Comment by West Rogers Park Resident Tuesday, Feb 13, 07 @ 1:11 pm