Democratic Party - 49th Ward

Cook County Democratic Party Reforms Are A Success

For the past two days, Sept. 6 & 7, the Cook County Democratic Party met to endorse candidates for the 2008 Democratic primary elections.  It was truly a breath of fresh air.  New Chairman Joseph Berrios promised that as our new Chairman he would open up the process.  I was skeptical to be honest, but Chairman Berrios delivered on his promise.  I am proud of him and his leadership.  For the first time in all of the time I have been a committeeman all 80 committeemen were part of the process of selecting the candidates that will represent the party.

Much of the work of the Central Committee is done is sub-committees.  In the past the sub-committees were hand picked and as a result a small number of people had tremendous influence over who would be nominated.  This time each committeeman was allowed to be on any sub-committee they chose and for the first time I was able to sit on the committee that made the recommendations to the full body.  I don’t think you will find a committeeman who wouldn’t agree that things have changed significantly at the Central Committee of the Cook County Democratic Party.  You may find a few who are not happy with the change, but the vast majority would tell you it is better.

The following is a list of the  Cook County Democratic Party endorsed candidates for the February 5, 2008 election:

                                                                   

Judicial Office (Name of Vacancy)	Endorsed Candidate
Supreme Court (McMorrow)	Anne Burke
Appellate Court (Burke)	Alan J. Grieman
Appellate Court (Campbell)	John O. Steele
Countywide Circuit Court (Glowacki)	Jesse G. Reyes
Countywide Circuit Court (Montelione)	Thaddeus L. Wilson
Countywide Circuit Court (Keehan)	Marilyn F. Johnson
Countywide Circuit Court (Murphy)	Paula Lingo
Countywide Circuit Court (Nowicki)	Michael B. Hyman
Countywide Circuit Court (Thomas)	Joan Powell
Countywide Circuit Court (Healy)	Maureen Ward-Kirby
Countywide Circuit Court (Disko)	Lauretta Higgins Wolfson
Countywide Circuit Court (Lott)	Thomas J. Byrne
Countywide Circuit Court – Alternate 1	Stephen J. Connelly
Countywide Circuit Court – Alternate 2	Diann Marsalek
Countywide Circuit Court – Alternate 3	Sandra G. Ramos
Countywide Circuit Court – Alternate 4	Dennis J. Burke

 

                           

Elected Office	Endorsed Candidate
States Attorney	OPEN PRIMARY
Clerk of the Circuit Court	Dorothy Brown
Recorder of Deeds	Eugene “Gene” Moore
Commissioner – Water Reclamation Dist.	Kathleen Therese Meany
Commissioner – Water Reclamation Dist.	Frank Avila
Commissioner – Water Reclamation Dist.	Dean Maragos

The item that is getting the most news is the fact that the party chose to have an open primary in the race for States Attorney.  In sub-committee the votes were divided between the candidates ranging from 25% to 40% for each candidate.  It may have been possible to try to squeeze the field to the top two candidates and force a situation where someone would have gotten 50% of the vote, but that would have been destructive.  Sometimes the best decision is to not force a decision.  The right decision was made in my opinion.

The one unfortunate thing that happened was the inclusion in the new by-laws of a clause that allows for Committeemen who did not support the endorsed slate can be stripped of the right to serve on a committee.  While there has been dramatic change and definite improvements in the process, this clause means that there is still room for improvement.  Maybe once they try to enforce this they will find that it is not advisable and will revise the by-laws. 

Mar Dinkha IV Blvd.

On Sunday July 15, 2007 I had the honor of being part of a celebration of Mar Dinkha IV's 50th anniversary of becoming a priest.  It was an honor to be a part of this event.  I didn't go expecting this to be something truly memorable but it was.  As a Roman Catholic, the people of the Assyrian Church of the East are my religious brothers and sisters.  This man is a leader of the faith with a long and distinguished history.  In his presence I felt the goodness coming from him.  It was the same goodness that had so many in the audience smiling and cheering.  As I said in my comments on the church stairs, "a man who has served as a priest for 50 years has had a profound impact on the lives of thousands."

It was clear that the people who are members of the church believed this.  They were very moved by this man and his presence. This was an event that I will not forget anytime soon.  There was real passion for this man of God and I am happy to have been a part of this ceremony.  An honorary street naming is a little bit of recognition for a man who has done immeasurable good for the world.

More about Mar Dinkha IV

A Real World-wide Image Problem for Chicago

My wife recently returned from a visit to NYC and as we have heard the Michael Abbate video of him allegedly beating a small female bartender for not serving him more liquor was shown in New York.  As almost everyone in America, and now most of the televised world now knows, Chicago has a problem with police officers using the power of the badge to service their personal needs.  This is a huge public policy issue, and one can only hope that the State’s Attorney will follow up on these cases appropriately and that Mayor Daley’s proposed reform will help address these problems.

What I find fascinating is that this issue has given Chicago a very serious black eye on the world stage at a time when the city is competing for the opportunity to host the 2016 Olympics.  My question is this, where is the outrage?  Where are the continuous blogs from those so terribly troubled about the reputation of Chicago.  Where are the Alderman who had so great a fear about the city being ridiculed for something this terrible?

They all showed up for foie gras, when it promoted their political agenda, but I guess this real and serious problem isn’t quite as useful.  I believe that the foie gras story was exploited because the Tribune had its own agenda for the recent local elections supporting, as always, the local business community and wanting to make some elected officials look foolish.  At the local level nearly every blogger who wrote about the outrage of foie gras ultimately showed their colors and came out for Gordon.  There has been coverage in the papers, none or almost none on the blogs but I hope that the coverage starts or continues and intensifies to show that the policy this city has for addressing police malfeasance is broken, the department’s culture of not addressing these problems is partially to blame and that the citizens find this unacceptable.

Moving Forward Rather Than Standing Still

Don Gordon has gone on and filed his complaint regarding the election and it will make its way through court system until it reaches a conclusion.  If history is a guide, it will not change the election results in any significant way.  No matter what happens it could be days or could be years until a final decision in reached.  As a community we cannot afford to stand by and wait.

There are many things to do in the 49th Ward as we move past the campaign and into the next four years.  I don’t believe that anyone is content with things exactly the way they are.  I believe that while there are differences in the level of importance we assign to things, the differences in what things need to be done is small.  Things that most agree upon are perhaps a good place to start.  These are my top five not in any order of importance:

1.)  Crime should continue to decrease. 
2.)  Affordable housing should continue and increase. 
3.)  The lakefront must continue to be protected and preserved in a way that benefits those neighbors immediately at the lakefront and all of the rest of the 49th Warders which means more access, programs and activities.  (Maybe even the much debated dog park idea can be addressed with some space it the ward set aside for it.) 
4.)  We need to develop a strategy to increase the desire of people and business owners to invest their hard earned money into our business strips.  People will not invest because the Alderman says so or asks nicely.  It has to be in their financial interest. 
5.)  We need to preserve single family homes when it makes good sense and make smart choices on the very few occasions when it doesn’t.

Those things I list above are in and of themselves difficult tasks to accomplish.  But there are more.  CTA, Schools, Bad Landlords, a Boys & Girls club are just a few more.  And there are more, some of which are directly related to an Alderman and his power, and others that will require support from other politicians and branches of government. 

This new term is an opportunity to put many ideas on the table and have them looked over.  I would urge all of those who have some idea of how they would like to see things go forward to make written suggestions and send them to the Alderman’s office. I would hope that there are hundreds of these e-mails that come in so it might not be realistic to expect responses to each, but I do think that two things will come from this.  One is that the Alderman will get a very direct and a more refined sense of what you want.  Second is that in these suggestions will come good ideas that will lead to things that actually happen.

The start of a new term is a good time to take stock of where things are and where you would like things to go.  Send your thoughts and ideas.

Outside Interests

There are some who are quite concerned that union folks, namely SEIU, are in the neighborhood volunteering for one of the candidates.  They go so far as to suggest that there is no reason for them to be here based on that foolish theory that some have fallen in love with that goes something like "nothing is important if it isn’t between the boundary lines of the ward."

That theory leads to some very interesting policy positions.  One of many things an Alderman has done forever at city council meetings is vote to approve or deny any number of ordinances or resolutions that have nothing to do with the 49th Ward.  Would people who believe in this boundary theory suggest that the 49th Ward Alderman vote present unless he can verify that it impacts the ward?

There has to be a balance and a recognition that even if you are not a delegate to the United Nations, or sent to Washington, DC,  Springfield, IL, or any other level of government, but the city you are still a citizen of the United States and you have a right if not a responsibility to stand up and be heard on the most important issues of our time.  A resolution like the Iraq War resolution is not unimportant.  It is also not terribly difficult or time consuming to prepare, introduce and vote on.  It is an issue that thousands of 49th Warders care about and hundreds have shown their support for ending the war.  This was a simple statement about the war and how the city residents feel about it. In this case it is obvious that Bush isn't listening to anyone let alone this resolution, but it still sent a message that was important.

Many have said that the living wage bill is foolish because it will never apply to a business in the 49th Ward.  The candidate opposing a the living wage ordinace has said this in public citing the fact that there is no footprint that would suit this type of development.  Let me just point out that it doesn’t have to be a 49th Ward store for 49th Ward residents to work there.  When the living wage ordinance is passed by the city council and the county board and it becomes the first step towards raising minimum wages to living wages it will absolutely be for all of the people in the 49th Ward (even those who earn 10 times the living wage) because it will help to put more money in peoples pockets and create more disposable income.

No Alderman is elected to the Chicago City Council with the sole purpose of representing only their ward. The obligation is to represent your ward and the city.  Who ever wins this elections is going to do that regardless of what they say today and it would be a dramatic change from all Chicago history if they didn’t.

As to the objection to union folks I started this post with, there are thousands of union members in this ward.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of SEIU members that live in the ward and by the way, some of them work in the ward for various employers as well.  But if your real point is that organizations from outside the community shouldn't be here maybe you should start with your own candidate who has take money and support from the restaurant association and if he hasn’t already will be taking money and support from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, an organization that has a downtown address and a complete list of downtown interests that will do nothing for the 49th Ward.

And if you think that both sides don't have supporters from beyond the borders ask the resturant team where Chef Didier Durand was on February 27.

Debates With A Purpose

Before some group starts planning new debates I propose we all demand that the debates be more interesting and that the format be less self serving. I don’t know about you, but 6 more debates with the same 10 questions for the 7^th, 8^th or more time cannot possibly be enlightening. The topics and agendas addressed in the initial debates are important and valuable, but a second high school debate and a second BizArts debate is not really necessary. I would also argue that it is unnecessary to again have community sponsored debates that, to varying degrees, use the debate to showcasing their organization by having detailed questions from the group’s members take up much of the time. These groups have justifiably had a chance to highlight what is important to themand some of the public. It is the communities turn and the debates should serve the public interest.

In my mind, the purpose of a debate is to illustrate the subtle or in some cases dramatic differences between candidates. With only two candidates now there should be more difficult and specific questions, requiring more specific answers and there should be direct interaction between the two candidates. A format that focuses on a single or similar topics rather than the scatter shot questions across the entire spectrum that we have seen so far would be more insightful into the candidates, their positions and their thought process. Maybe someone with political savvy and no direct interest in the ward such as Rich Miller or Laura Washington from the Sun-Times could moderate.

Another possibility would be to randomly involve the public without screening the questions or allowing a more partisan panel to make decisions. Maybe Ginderske and Adams could be part of a screening panel or be co-moderators.

In the end I would like the debates have a purpose and to bring out some voters that really have a decision to make. Most debates, in this ward or any other, turn out to be a pep rally for each of the candidate’s volunteers. If the audience was asked at any of the first round debates who was genuinely undecided I would guess that maybe 15% didn’t come with their decision made. What is the point if that is going to continue to be the trend.

IS DON GORDON FOR REAL?

This run-off election provides a real test.  There will be an influx of new media attention, new interest in the community, new dollars and new bodies into the race.  This is Don Gordon’s opportunity to enact his pledge to not utilize dollars from developers, realtors and others who might want a zoning change.  He has said he will start in 2011, but if it is a real commitment why not start now Don?  Do you think nobody else will take money from these people because you don’t in 2011.  Or Don, are you planning on using the incumbency of your office to overwhelm challengers in 2011?  If its wrong as you state to take money from these people, then it is wrong today, not in 2011.

It is also going to be time for you to roll out your real plans for the neighborhood instead of talking in generalities and platitudes.  The voters want specific ideas about how you are planning to attract those businesses you are promising.  They want specific ideas about your solution to the crime problem.  They want specific plans about how you intend to stop the development you feel is out of control.  They want good and clear answers about how you will preserve diversity, if that is your attention, and how you will provide affordable housing if you intend to do that.

I for one would like to know what you intend to do to protect the lakefront that Joe Moore did not already do for you.  And speaking of the lakefront, what ever happened to your Rogers Park Conservancy?  When was the last time you meet?  What did you accomplish other than a very long meeting ay Loyola Park and a wish list that delivered absolutely nothing to the community.

Frankly Don's overall record of accomplishment as a community activist is spotty at best.  It is time to answer Don.  You may have an example or two of things you have finished in your 25 year career as a  community activist, but you have a widely known reputation of not being able to stick with a project or bring it to completion.  The community needs to examine you as closely as possible and put you under the same microscope that Moore has been under.

There are a lot of questions for Mr. Gordon to answer.  I for one am quite ready to hear what he has to say for himself.  Let’s not forget that he didn’t even have 30% of the vote.  To get to 50% we need more from you Don.

President 2008 - Its Almost Here

It seems like it couldn't possibly be time for people to begin running for President again, but with late breaking news that John Edwards is announcing he is in and with other candidates close to deciding to jump in or already in that time is here.  Of course we in Illinois, (national poll results over the past few months show) the big question is will Barack Obama run for President?  In poll after poll when Obama is included he runs second and his name identification is lower than Clinton.  Hillary has stayed between 30 - 40% for most of the past year.  As Obama slipped into the picture her numbers began to decline to the lower part of that range.

Conventional wisdom tells us that a politician has to strike while the iron is hot.  Obama is a very popular person today.   Waiting four years could blow the opportunity of a lifetime.  If a Democrat wins then it is an eight year wait.  Running for President with a ten year record in the U.S. Senate makes the challenge much more difficult.  I think Obama should be deciding if he wants to be President and if the answer is yes, its time to run.  Even if he doesn't win, he is a Vice-Presidential favorite.  Win or lose it positions him to be the front runner the next time the seat is open.

For the true political junkie this is an exciting time.  There are some really good people considering running and some we think might be good, but don't know much about.  Here are the results from a poll a couple of weeks ago.  Its not going to be long before talk of Iowa and New Hampshire dominate the national political news.  But what is new for 2008 is that the order in the incredably important front end of the process is Iowa Caucus, Nevada Caucus, New Hampshire primary closely followed by the South Carolina primary will change the dynamic.  It could make it more of a race and will provide African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans to have a greater voice in the all important initial stages.

The following is a poll that probably more accurately gives an estimate of the candidates name ID rather than there chance of winning, but it is interesting.

CNN Poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation. Dec. 5-7, 2006. N=612 registered voters nationwide who are Democrats or independents who lean to the Democratic Party. MoE ± 4.             

    
"Please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for president in the year 2008 . . . ." (Names rotated)

 

                                                                                                                                                     

Date   Poll Taken	12/5-7/06	11/17-19/06	10/27-30/06	8/30-9/02/06
CANDIDATE	%	%	%	%
Hillary Clinton	37	33	28	38
Barack Obama	15	15	17	n/a
Al Gore	14	14	13	19
John Edwards	9	14	13	12
John Kerry	7	7	12	9
Joe Biden	2	3	2	3
Bill Richardson	2	3	2	3
Wesley Clark	2	4	n/a	n/a
Evan Bayh	1	2	2	2
Tom Vilsack	1	1	1	0
Unsure	10	4	8	8
Russ Feingold	n/a	n/a	2	3
Mark Warner	n/a	n/a	n/a	3

The Field is Set and the Ballot Order is In

The first stage is done and like 255 other Chicagoans the four candidates for 49th Ward Alderman now moves on to the important stuff: What are they going to do if they are fortunate enough to get elected?  The lottery for ballot position was drawn today.  Since all of the candidates filed on the first day at 9:00 am, one with what is presumed to be a very duck(?) outfit, they were all in the lottery for first ballot position.  The Chicago Board of Elections determines the order.  The ballot order, as a result of the Chicago Board of Elections lottery will be as follows: Moore, Gordon, Ginderske, Adams.  Historically, being first is best, being last is second best, second and third is not much different, but worse than first or last.  Interestingly, that is by some people’s conventional wisdom, the order in which the candidates will finish in February.  I wish the best of luck to those running.  One can only hope that on February 27th the people in the ward will be the winners.

So what about the other races? There are races in 47 wards.  Three Alderman are unopposed, Manny Flores (1rst), Tom Tunney (44th) and Tom Allen (38th).  There are some races with one-on-ones and some with as many as 15 candidates, (15th).  Are ward having 4 candidates is fairly average.  There are at least two good candidates in the race for Mayor and maybe three.  There seems to be little doubt by political people and media that Daley will win, but he is actually the one with the lowest number of petitions in the race.  Petition signatures don’t equal votes, but they do reflect the strength of the candidate’s organization and to a lesser degree their commitment to winning.  An exciting race for mayor could be a great boost for turnout across the city while a race that is no contest will drive turnout down.

The race for the City Clerk has drawn a large field, but who are these people beyond DelValle?  The race for Treasurer is the newly appointed incumbent and one other candidate.  Again, who are these people?

This election likely marks the beginning of the end for the old fashion ward/mayor organizations based on patronage and the beginning of a new era.  Expect much greater union participation, both in volunteers and donations, as SEIU, the Change to Win Coalition, and the Chicago Federation of Labor step up their participation and try to put hundreds of their members into the field for candidates that support their policies and members.  Even the Chamber of Commerce is trying to get involved and a well placed source has it they are flirting with not one, but two Joe Moore opponents.

It is the holiday season.  The next 9 to 10 days will be quite.  But, starting January 3rd, expect that candidates will be coming from all four corners, non-stop for 57 days in a sprint to the February 27th finish line.

There is no doubt here, I am supporting Joe Moore. 

Go Joe!

Health Care Should Be A Right

On Monday (11/13) I had surgery.  On Wednesday evening (11/15) I was home. It seemed a little too soon, and would have been, had I not had a dedicated wife and a retired RN mom who were both willing to be there for me.  In my mind it wasn’t major surgery, especially when considering some of the things I have been through, but any surgery where they open your stomach for nearly a foot in length is going to hurt a lot and as a result leave you very dependent on others.  Not everyone is good at helping people get better.  I am lucky to have had two that are very good.

Many of you know that I have the good fortune of being a kidney transplant recipient since 1997.  This recent procedure made something related to that work better and it seems to have worked out well.  Of course we are waiting for enough time to pass to see if that is the case, but it is looking good so far.  Being in immediate danger and pain didn’t leave me much time to think about much else, but two weeks later I again have the time for thinking about our health care system. 

The Democratic wins in Washington will probably not have the kind of impact I would like to see it have.  When I have my first opportunity to sit down with Todd Stroger I will again tell him that the number one priority of 49th Ward from county government is to have a health clinic in the 49th Ward.  It is one thing that the county can deliver.  But that feels like asking for a fish when what we really need is an entire food production system.  What we really need is health care system that places health care as a constitutionally guaranteed right, not an expectation or a hope. 

In respect to health care, the only two groups of Americans I know of that have a constitutional right to health care are adult and juvenile offenders who are incarcerated.  The rest of us get health care the same way we get housing or almost anything else in this society, we get what we can afford to pay for.  Those who can pay the most get the best and those that can pay the least get the minimum or less than the minimum in many cases unless they are able to access care through “charity” for lack of a better word. 

Recently, America hit a population of 300 million people.  How many of you know that 1 of every 6, or approximately 50 million people, do not have health insurance?  How many of you know that statistically you have a 39% chance of being a patient in an Emergency Room during the next year and that you have a greater than 30% chance of that visit resulting in a hospital  admission?  In a matter of hours you very well could spend thousands or eveb tens of thousands of dollars on getting well.  In a matter of weeks you could spend more than you will earn in the next 10 years if you are really sick..

But what if you weren’t feeling well, but didn’t pass out or have severe pain?  The emergency room isn’t going to admit you unless you are in immediate danger.  If you have the money you will see a doctor in an office somewhere.  If you don’t, you will wait until the E.R. is needed again.  The problem is that for that plan to work you have to be in real danger which means you wait until you are sicker.  That flies in the face of everything modern medicine tells us.  And it is expensive, not to mention discriminatory.

There has to be an answer to this problem.  Gov. Rod Blagojevich has started with All Kids, but there are a lot of questions about funding and implementation.  The County and to a much smaller degree the city have a network of safety net institutions, but they aren’t enough.  Even at the state level, the best one can hope for is that a program like All Kids will shame the federal officials into action and it could provide them with a road map to make it work. 

As the generation of baby boomers grows older one can expect that health care will continue to rise in importance.  All of the demographic and historical injust formation leads me to believe this is true, but the solution needs to address all of the public, not just the newly minted seniors.  Fixing Social Security is also an important step, but it is not enough to make certain that everyone will have a right to care.  I hope that we do not have to wait much longer for us to catch up with the rest of the western world and that we make health care a right rather than a privilege.  Whenever you see an opportunity to increase support the right to health care I urge you to take advantage of it.  Nearly every single one of us will eventually get sick ourselves and those that don’t will certainly know someone they love who does.  We all benefit from better health care.  America, lets get serious and make it happen.