IVI-IPO Endorsements
The IVI-IPO held its county and state office endorsements on Saturday, January 14, 2006. The results listed below and comments are unofficial. They reflect my personal view of how events turned through the day. It is not meant to be a transcript, minutes or in anyway official.
The Republicans offices were first on the agenda. With approximately 25 people in attendance, Steve Rauschenberger and Sandy Wegmen appeared for the Lt. Governor post. This was a battle of the polished ultra conservative versus the regular ultra conservative. In the end, while neither truly reflects the core values of IVI-IPO, Steve Rauschenberger was endorsed. As a side note, it took all of 2.5 minutes to realize why I am a Democrat. That was even hard to sit through let alone believe in. Because the number voting was too low this was only a recommendation to the state Board. The Board did endorse Rauschenberger.
In the Republican race for Governor three candidates appeared: Andy Martin, Jim Oberweis and Judy Baar Topinka. Topinka made a solid presentation highlighting some of the things she has agreed with IVI-IPO about, but it is clear from her responses on the questionnaire that she is running in a conservative primary. Topinka was endorsed by a sizable margin. Again be cause of the total number of members present this was a recommendation to the state Board. The Board did endorse Topinka.
The rest of the day was left for the Democrats. First up were candidates for State Treasurer. Alexander Giannoulias was the only candidate to appear. He spoke at length of his experience in banking and the relationship that banking experience has with being the State Treasurer. Touting the support of Barack Obama and congressional members’ Jan Schakowsky and Jesse Jackson, Jr., Giannoulias rolled to a decisive victory over Paul Mangieri. The vote total for this race was, I believe, less than 45 members present. This race was close to the number need for a binding vote, but fell a few members short of binding so it was a recommendation to the Board. The Board endorsed Giannoulias.
The big race of the day was the County Board Presidency. Both John Stroger and Forrest Claypool appeared. Also appearing out of nowhere were approximately 50 precinct captains from a couple of north side ward organizations who were there to support Forrest Claypool. The total for this race was 122 voting members. Both Claypool and Stroger made their comments and answered the questions from the crowd. The highly partisan crowd clapped and cheered for their favorite and when they were done the first motion was made. Stroger was nominated for endorsement. That motion failed. The second motion to endorse Claypool passed 73-40 with 9 abstentions. This was a binding endorsement to the Board. The precinct captains, known as "packies" to the core IVI-IPO membership, voted in lock step with Claypool. (“Packies", by the way, are persons who join the organization solely for the purpose of voting in endorsement sessions.) Nobody will ever know how it would have gone without this influence, but it undoubtedly would have been closer or may have even have gone for Stroger. Somewhere near 50 votes, or even 40, are a lot of votes out of 73.
After the big vote, a significant number (25-30?) of the 'packies" left, thereby confirming their single candidate interest. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District was next. Many of the candidates appeared. They included Shore, O'Brien, Harris, Pederson, Maragos, Powell, Stefanski and Avila. The first motion, made by the remaining "packies", was to endorse Maragos, Shore, and O'Brien. This was their ticket. The vote was very close, 46 in favor and 49 against. With that failure, the "packie" population declined again, (5-10?). The "packies" then moved to making individual endorsements rather than a “slate” and nominated Deb Shore. Shore won the most impressive win of the day with an 81-0 vote in her favor. Next the "packies" moved to endorse Terry O'Brien. While closer, O'Brien won a binding endorsement with a comfortable margin large enough to gain him a binding endorsement. There were several nominations that followed for Avila, Harris and Powell that all failed with votes in the 20's in favor and near 50 opposed. Finally, one of the "packies" was recognized and motioned that the IVI-IPO endorse Dean Maragos. Maragos was endorsed with a vote of 47-36 which was not enough to be binding. The Board reviewed this decision and in its wisdom decided to support both Maragos and Powell. This makes the endorsed candidates for the MWRD to be Shore, O'Brien, Maragos and Powell.
You may be wondering how there are four candidates in a three position race. The answer is that IVI-IPO rules allow for more than one candidate per seat to be endorsed.
The final race of the day was the race for Sheriff. Both Baker and Dart appeared, made presentations and answered questions. I do not remember the final total (42-20 something I think), but the victory for Dart was sizable. Many of the long term members as well as the "packies" were supportive of Tom Dart and he received a binding endorsement.
It was a long day, as always, at the IVI-IPO endorsement session.
