Change Comes to the City Council

The races to determine the makeup of the next City Council have been as tumultuous as expected: 14 races are headed for runoffs, and among the candidates on the ropes are several veteran alderman and a couple of anointed successors to powerful ward organizations.

50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone, who faces a runoff against challenger Debra L. Silverstein, waves to supporters at the Pure Cafe on the North Side after getting election results, Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Bonnie Trafelet/Chicago News Cooperative

Historic First

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night came in the 47th Ward, where Tom O’Donnell, the handpicked successor to 36-year incumbent Eugene Schulter, was defeated by Ameya Pawar, 30, who will become the first Asian-American in City Council history.

Schulter had announced his retirement abruptly in January and endorsed O’Donnell, a longtime member of his ward organization, to replace him. But in the last weeks of the campaign O’Donnell skipped a number of ward forums and public events while Pawar, an emergency management program assistant at Northwestern University, surged.

So stunning was the victory that Pawar’s campaign had not scheduled the customary election-night party. As returns came in showing that Pawar was winning, his campaign hastily organized a victory gathering at the Timber Lanes bowling alley on West Irving Park Road. Pawar himself hurried in from Des Plaines, where he had been watching the returns with his parents.

“I’m surprised,” Pawar said when he finally arrived. “Very surprised.”

“We raised about $10,000,” he said, in response to a reporter’s question. “$100 at a time.”

Pawar said his first order of business as an alderman will be “addressing the budget.” He will also push for “comprehensive reform” of the controversial tax increment financing program.

“We were blown away by what happened,” said Pawar’s campaign manager, Sam Yanover. Ward residents “want something new, something fresh, and they were upset that O’Donnell was anointed to be the successor.”

Tuyet Le, executive director of the Asian American Institute, said she was surprised and thrilled by the news. “I don’t know who saw this coming,” she said. “There are a number of issues where Asian Americans are stereotyped or dismissed, and now there will be someone at the policy table.”

What’s at Stake

Additional upsets could come April 5th, when the 14 races in which no candidate captured an outright majority will be decided in runoff elections. Though most eyes have been on the campaign to replace Mayor Richard M. Daley the last few months, the direction Chicago takes in the coming years could be determined as much by who wins those races.

For most of his 22-year reign, Daley has had his way with the council, rarely facing more than token opposition from a handful of reform-minded aldermen. But the council’s compliance on issues such as the parking meter lease deal, the un-monitored use of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in tax increment financing funds, a costly and underfunded pension system, and corruption in city hiring and contracts has left Chicagoans hot. In addition, the council is expected to redraw the city’s ward boundaries, based on new census data, some time in the next year.

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel spoke of the council in a conciliatory tone in his victory speech Tuesday night. “I want to reach out tonight to members of the next city council,” he said. “We have a chance at a new partnership that will serve our city and its taxpayers well.”

The Runoff Races

In the 6th Ward, where two police officers were killed last summer, Ald. Freddrenna Lyle is headed for a runoff with Roderick Sawyer, a longtime family friend and son of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, after Sawyer and four other opponents alleged she wasn’t doing enough to fight crime.

“It doesn’t scare me,” Lyle said of the second round of balloting. “This time it will be different because I can focus on one opponent, and I can differentiate myself from Rod. I’m going to win.”

Incumbents in two traditionally volatile South Side wards are headed for runoffs. The irregularly shaped 15th and 16th wards, which include portions of Englewood, West Englewood, and surrounding communities, have lacked political power for years, and election-season scrums are frequent. Leadership of the 15th Ward, for example, has been decided by a runoff in five of the last six municipal elections. Four years ago organized labor contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Toni Foulkes and JoAnn Thompson emerge from crowded fields to win in runoffs. They’ll need to win in the second round again if they want to hold their seats, since both finished first again this time around without getting outright majorities. Foulkes will face Southwest Airlines skycap Raymond Lopez while Thompson will square off against Hal Baskin, a former gang member whose background stirred up controversy in previous unsuccessful runs for the office.

Their neighbor, 17th Ward Alderman Latasha Thomas, is also headed for a runoff. The 11-year veteran, an ally of powerful Reverend Michael Pfleger and a key black City Council loyalist of Mayor Daley’s, earned 49 percent of the vote to 20 percent for her closest challenger, Cook County employee David Moore.

In the 20th Ward, another rookie alderman, Willie Cochran, was forced into a runoff against Grammy Award-winning rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith.

Cochran, a former cop, won the seat in 2007 after his predecessor, Arenda Troutman, was arrested for accepting bribes, but Smith said not enough had been done to reverse the fortunes of the depressed ward, which includes much of Woodlawn and Washington Park as well as slivers of Englewood and Back of the Yards. Cochran, meanwhile, highlighted Smith’s decade-old guilty plea on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and six-year-old conviction on a gun charge. “That’s just what we need in an alderman,” Cochran told the Chicago News Cooperative.

“Low voter turnout is to blame,” Cochran said Tuesday. “Or Willie Cochran may be to blame because we didn’t go out and do the things that we needed to do.”

Smith called the results a victory for the community. “I think now young people see that we don’t have to just be rappers. We don’t have to just be athletes. We can be aldermen. We can be teachers. We can be more than our past presented. We can be more than our present dictates.”

In the 24th Ward, Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon and her predecessor, Michael Chandler, will face off in a rematch of their 2007 runoff after the two emerged as the top finishers in an 18-candidate field. Four years ago Dixon’s victory was engineered by veteran West Side activist Richard Barnett, but the two had a falling out over what he characterized as her lack of accessibility. His preferred candidate, Chauncey Stroud, finished a distant sixth, but without Barnett’s support Dixon received just 19.5 percent of the vote while Chandler got 13.1 percent. The ward, centered in the North Lawndale neighborhood, has been devastated by joblessness and high crime.

While 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis narrowly avoided a run-off in 2007, the Daley ally wasn’t as fortunate this time around. Solis received almost 49 percent of the votes, just shy of what he needed to avoid a runoff against Cuauhtemoc Morfin, who got nearly 28 percent. Morfin also ran against Solis in 2007.

Solis said after the results were in Tuesday that he believes the Service Employees International Union’s support of candidate Ambrosio “Ambi” Medrano Jr. split enough votes to force the runoff. Medrano, the son of convicted former alderman Ambrosio Medrano Sr., picked up 23.1 percent of the votes.

“I think they had about 200 people out there, ironically for Ambi Medrano, who came in third,” said Solis. “But you have to commend those guys. They ran a good race, a good strategy, a good campaign and I’m going to be in a runoff and I’m going to have to work a little harder”

Solis also said mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel “might want to support” him in his April election, adding that Emanuel “wants an experienced Council member in City Council like myself and I would expect that he might consider supporting me, yes.”

As Solis looks toward Emanuel for support, Morfin, said he believes he is better suited to pick up Medrano’s supporters.

“People who voted for Medrano will likely not vote for Solis so I’m going to get those votes as well,” Morfin said.

In the 36th Ward, Ald. John Rice, the former driver for and appointed heir to former alderman William J.P. Banks, could not avoid a runoff against firefighter Nicholas Sposato. Rice earned 48 percent of the vote, while Sposato, who ran against Banks in 2007, got nearly 24 percent.

Rice made a number of gaffes around the time of his 2009 appointment to the City Council. Rice displayed a Fraternal Order of Police medallion on his car even though he is not a police officer, which is illegal. Rice also helped organize a retirement party for Banks in which invitees were asked to write $200 checks made out to Banks. Rice ended up cancelling the party but doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.

“I’m not going to sit and read newspaper articles and defend myself when I’m right all the time,” Rice previously told the Chicago News Cooperative. “You get tired of defending yourself when you’re right.”

Newly appointed 38th Ward Ald. Timothy Cullerton has been pulled into a runoff election against real-estate broker Tom Caravette. Mayor Daley tapped Cullerton last month to replace Tom Allen, a Cullerton in-law who left the City Council for a judgeship. Cullerton picked up 48 percent of the vote while Caravette received 22 percent.

In the 41st Ward, the race to succeed retiring Ald. Brian Doherty, the council’s lone Republican, has led to a runoff between Maurita Gavin, Doherty’s aide and chosen successor, and Mary O’Connor, the ward’s Democratic committeeman. With all but one precinct reporting, O’Connor had over 30 percent of the votes while Gavin had nearly 25 percent.

In the 43rd Ward, which includes much of affluent Lincoln Park, Democratic committeeman Michelle Smith and Tim Egan, a hospital executive, head to the April runoff.

Smith, a former federal prosecutor, has never stopped vying for the seat since pushing retiring Ald. Vi Daley into a runoff four years ago. Egan finished third in the 2007 race and lost to Smith in the election for committeeman the following year. Daley was a quiet presence on the City Council who typically backed the initiatives of Mayor Daley (no relation), but both of her possible successors could bring star power, from different perspectives. Smith received support from organized labor four years ago and touts the backing of progressives like U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and former aldermen Marty Oberman and Dick Simpson, while Egan has been endorsed by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of State Jesse White, and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

In the 45th Ward, Retiring Ald. Patrick Levar’s preferred successor, labor activist Marina Faz-Huppert, failed to make it into the April run-off election. John Garrido, who ran in last year’s Republican primary for Cook County board president, leads the pack of seven contenders with more than 32 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting. He and candidate John Arena, who came away with almost 23 percent of the vote, will face off in the run-off election.

In the 46th Ward, social worker James Cappleman and attorney Molly Phelan will face off in the runoff election to decide who will replace retiring Ald. Helen Shiller. Both candidates have been vocal critics of Shiller and her plans for the ward. Cappleman ran against Shiller in 2007 and lost by six percentage points, and Phelan helped organized the community group Fix Wilson Yard that targeted the use of tax increment financing to build a Target store and affordable housing units in Uptown.

Phelan held a lively election night party at the Kit Kat Lounge in Lakeview, where the club’s red pastie-clad dancer strutted amid disco balls and pounding music. Phelan said she thinks she will win the runoff election on the strength of her plan to make the 46th Ward “the live entertainment capitol of the Midwest. We have the bones for it: the Aragon, the Riviera, the Green Mill,” she said, citing venerable entertainment venues in the ward. “But we also need to preserve the diversity which is what makes this neighborhood so attractive.” Phelan added that she loves the Kit Kat Lounge because “it embodies Uptown–people from all walks of life come here.”

Phelan said she believes her success in Tuesday’s citywide election rested with her appeal across the ward’s broad economic spectrum.

Cappleman on Tuesday night said he, too, will focus on attracting support from the different racial and economic groups in the ward.

“I know residents from all economic and ethnic backgrounds were excited about working with me in this race,” Cappleman said.

In the 50th Ward, 83-year-old Ald. Bernard Stone was pulled into a runoff against Debra Silverstein, the wife of state Sen. Ira Silverstein. Stone, who was first elected in 1973, notched 37.2 percent of the votes while Silverstein, a first-time candidate, received nearly 34 percent.

On Tuesday night, Stone downplayed the calls for change in the ward.

“This business of change is something that came up with Obama coming to the fore,” he said. “But since 2008 I think a lot of people have regretted this desire for change. Experience can be much more important than change.”

Of Silverstein, Stone said, “she has absolutely no experience, she has no attribute that would make her a good alderman.”

Silverstein said she expects to get most of the votes that went to candidates Greg Brewer and Ahmed Khan in the runoff, as she thinks people “are really really ready for change,” and that they blame Stone for “crime that is out of control, and they’re tired of getting a flat tire every time they drive down some of these streets.” She added, “This is such a unique community, this should be a thriving international marketplace.”

Independents Survive

Independent-minded aldermen faired better than many candidates from the city’s traditionally powerful Democratic ward organizations.

In the 2nd Ward, Ald. Robert Fioretti avoided a runoff election with 54 percent of the vote. The freshman alderman was elected to the City Council in 2007 with heavy support from organized labor, which also aided his re-election bid.

Two vocal critics of Mayor Daley — Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Ald. Rey Colon (35th) — clinched first round victories. The aldermen accounted for two of the five votes against the city’s parking meter lease deal.

Two of Waguespack’s opponents had ties to rival politicians. Challenger David Pavlik, whose mother works for the ward organization of veteran Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), has received almost 17 percent of the vote. Lawyer Bryan Lynch received just over 11 percent of the vote while Brian Gorman got 6 percent. Gorman has worked closely with the ward’s Democratic committeeman, John Fritchey, who helped elect Waguespack in 2007 before the two stopped speaking. Colon, who survived a runoff in 2007, won with 51 percent of the vote.

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st) also avoided being pulled into the April runoff against Sheldon Sherman, the son of former alderman Niles Sherman. Brookins garnered almost 63 percent of the vote while Sherman got 19 percent.

In the 7th Ward, Ald. Sandi Jackson squeaked out a victory with 53 percent of the vote. In a rematch of 2007, Jackson again defeated former Ald. Darcel Beavers, who received 26 percent of the vote. Beavers, who was appointed to the seat vacated by her father shortly before the 2007 election, criticized Jackson for spending much of her time in Washington, D.C. with her husband, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.).

After her victory, Jackson sought to cast those charges in a positive light.

“I think our constituents understand the value of having an alderman who is also a Congressional wife who also is friends with the president and the first lady and who can sit in the White House and chat with them one on one about the needs of the 7th Ward,” she said from her South Side office.

Seven races were uncontested. Those elected without opposition were Marty Quinn (13th), Ed Burke (14th), Richard Mell (33rd), Pat O’Connor (40th), Brendan Reilly (42nd), Ray Suarez (31st) and Tom Tunney (44th).

Kari Lydersen, Jessica Reaves, Idalmy Carrera and Ash-har Quraishi contributed reporting