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Will Wal-Mart cave? Plus, local election roundups

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Illinois

* Apparently, Wal-Mart got the message from last week’s city council races…

Despite post-election chest thumping, the first signs of a potential compromise are emerging in the political war between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and union-led advocates of a big-box minimum wage bill.

Sources on both sides say they’re willing to sit down and talk at length, and they raise the possibility of a deal in which Wal-Mart would get zoning approval needed for more Chicago stores in exchange for agreeing to support a wider minimum wage bill that applies to more than the super-sized retail outlets known as big boxes.

But not everybody is convinced that Wal-Mart wants to talk turkey…

One top labor leader, Ron Powell, president of Local 881 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, says he would “have to think about” such a proposal and carefully examine its details. Mr. Powell says he doubts Wal-Mart is interested in any compromise.

Another union leader, Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, says he needs to talk to his partners in the coalition that pushed the big-box bill. The main thing needed is a willingness to talk, Mr. Gannon adds. “Wal-Mart has made a decision not to have a dialogue,” he says. Mr. Scott denies that.

* My syndicated newspaper column takes a look at some municipal races…

The real electoral surprise last week was not in Chicago, where five tired, old incumbent hack aldermen went down to defeat. The big shocker was the Carbondale mayor’s race, where Sheila Simon — the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon — was trounced by Republican incumbent Brad Cole.

* Kristen McQueary takes a look at last-minute mailers and ads against a local property tax referendum and is not pleased…

The problem with these groups — or perhaps the political genius of them — is that they tango beneath the radar screen until days before the election. Then they surface, blast misleading information from the barracks, and go back into hiding until next time.

Bottom line: Beware of last-minute mailings, especially if they don’t include names and phone numbers of the originators. They’re sent the weekend before an election for a reason.

* Color Carol Marin skeptical…

So when I read what Jackson told Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman last week, I had some reservations. ‘’The bullies have left the Council. That pleases me greatly,'’ intoned Jesse Jr.

Really? I don’t think so.

The real bullies aren’t the ones who walk with a swagger stick. The real bullies stroll around like statesmen. They like to run silent and deep, knowing precisely how to kill an ordinance, stall a debate, and stick it to earnest freshmen.

Let’s hear it for the Daley Five.

There’s 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, the Machiavellian crown prince of Daley’s kingdom who’s had a near 40-year lock in office. The mayor doesn’t like him or vice versa, but they see the same goal line. Burke has huge power as chairman of the Finance Committee. Huge money, nearly $7 million in his political kitties. And an entourage of six Chicago police plainclothes bodyguards who work in two-man, round-the-clock shifts, solicitously holding his coat and getting his door at taxpayers’ expense.

After Burke, there’s 33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell, who runs the Rules Committee; 36th Ward Ald. Bill Banks, who controls the powerhouse Zoning Committee; 29th Ward Ald. Isaac Carothers, who’s in charge of Police and Fire. And there’s recently re-elected 50th Ward Ald. Bernie Stone, who may be old but can still kick your knees out in a fight.

* Laura Washington takes a look at a major factor in last week’s elections…

Three actors have turned Chicago politics on its ear: Labor, Junior and the New Black Vote. […]

That brings us to the New Black Vote. Is it my imagination, or have black voters been poorly served by their elected officials? Remember, it was black voters who put the Toddster in charge of Cook County government. We voted him in, and now he’s laying off nearly 500 doctors and nurses who care for the county’s poor. We voted him in, and he’s hiring more relatives and public relations flacks while shutting down the county’s long-term care at Oak Forest Hospital.

This is the beginning of the end of the age-old argument in black politics that “you don’t want to put a brother out of a j-o-b.” Our elected officials have to deliver.

People in Madeline Haithcock’s ward couldn’t get her to respond to the simplest of complaints. People in Dorothy Tillman’s ward knew they paid for the edifice she built in honor of Harold Washington, but it is run by Tillman’s daughter. They live near 47th Street and the L, where they’re afraid to walk in the dark. […]

It is a dangerous time to be a black hack in Chicago.

* And the Tribune looks at the money trail…

Seven of the 12 winning candidates received 50 percent or more of their campaign funding during the runoff period from either organized labor or groups allied with Daley. Campaign spending equated to $50 a vote in some races, with totals more typically seen in campaigns for higher offices.

Elections for aldermen, the most local of public offices, once were intimate face-to-face exercises in retail politics, with candidates spending tens of thousands of dollars in a big race. But under the state’s porous campaign-finance rules, candidates have gorged on contributions, which pay for more sophisticated operations featuring slick mail brochures, automated telephone calls and advertising on radio and television. Some labor-backed council candidates were able to import workers from the East Coast to walk in wards — jobs traditionally taken by volunteers, many with city jobs.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 9:24 am

Comments

Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, says he needs to talk to his partners in the coalition that pushed the big-box bill.

Sadly, real labor is further marginalized by SEIU - who will sit at the big table with Wal-Mart and help them ‘think outside the box’ - support their (SEIU & Wal-Mart’s) mutual agendas.

SEIU is getting away with being the voice of labor - as I recall that was CFL - not the radio station theorganization. Play ball with this later day Lenin, Andy Stern, and you go to the Gulag.

Comment by Pat Hickey Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 9:35 am
I wonder if it’s possible to estimate the “in-kind” help a traditional aldermanic campaign received from city workers walking, service blitzes before and on election day, and so forth.

I would not be surprised if taxpayers’ unwitting contribution on any given cycle met or exceeded SEIU’s reported support this year.

Comment by 42nd Ward Resident Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:05 am
I wonder who this new black vote consists of. I wish Laura Washington could elaborate. That is if there is anything else to elaborate.

Comment by Levois Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:21 am
Pat Hickey,

When you say real labor, do you mean unions led by stooges of Daley and the regulars. It seems to me plenty of other unions are flexing their independence. Police and fire just to name two. It’s nice to see the privitization boys get nervous and think twice before they butcher a department so they can award a contract to their brother-in-laws cleaning service.

Go Union!!!!!

And I mean the real unions. The ones that actually fight for the interests of their workers and are not in the pocket of the boys. The ones that are more interested in their members rights than getting their kids jobs as building inspectors.

Comment by Garp Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:26 am
Real labor Garp - not later day Lenins effecting the revilution through the legislature.

Real unions who engage in collective bargaining forthe workers.

Yeah, Garp, stooges for Daley and not stooges for Stern.

Watch old Andy help craft and sign a nice Non Agression Pact with Sam Walton here, like he did in Maryland.

Comment by Pat Hickey Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:34 am
Hickey, enough with the Stalin and Hitler references, please. Your last comment was deleted for that very reason. You’re gonna be put in permanent moderation (at the very least) if I see any more of that crud.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:55 am
Miller, Save yourself the trouble.

Comment by Pat Hickey Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:59 am
Brilliant political move my Wal-Mart. If the playing field is level, then Wal-Mart crushes its competition. Wal-Mart can live with a higher minimum wage, they will simply raise prices which will still be lower than anyone else if the higher wage law applies to everyone. The unions are primarily interested in sticking it to Wal-Mart, helping the working poor is a secondary concern. The modern union bosses, particularly those at SEIU, are limousine liberals who are engaged in a ideological war against Wal-Mart. They can’t be bothered with old-fashioned things like collective bairgaining. The unions are in a conundrum. If they don’t support a broader wage law, then they would be exposed as frauds. A broader wage law, however, would be better for Wal-Mart than one that applied only to “big-box” stores. The unions have to decide what’s most important, simply sticking it to Wal-Mart or actually improving the condition of the working poor. Unfortunately, it is a tougher decison for them than it should be.

Comment by Rosh Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 1:27 pm
Or, Rosh, it could be that living wage supporters fear that Wal-Mart will “support” this ordinance the same way they “supported” the national minimum wage hike. That would consist of holding a large press conference in favor of the wage hike, then funding opposition to it.

Making vague-sounding statements that appear to leave room for compromise IS a great strategy, though. Continue to fight a living wage by pretending you support a bigger one. You have to hand it to them, they are the biggest company in America for a reason.

Comment by Underdog Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 3:38 pm
Is it safe to say that Wal-Mart is sticking it back to unions to see if they actually want to talk.

Comment by Levois Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 4:00 pm
I like Stroger. So he hired a few relatives. Big deal. I still think he has cut more waste in County Government in 3 months than was accomplished in probably 20 years. I am pleased he has not raised taxes. There is a ton of waste at these hospitals. I hope he continues to cut. You have to ask yourself, if Republican Peraica had won where would he start with the mess Stroger inherited? I don’t think it would be pleasant. Million dollar deficits are never pleasant. I say keep cutting.

Comment by anon Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 10:05 pm
I heard from a neighbor who has been working on the Wags campaign that Matlak conceded at the end of last week–in a statement sent to the Chicago Tribune, but not to Wags. This was after I had read in the Tribune that Matlak was huddling with attorneys to see about a challenge or recount.

Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village resident Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 6:17 am