According to the paperwork that Peter Coffey submitted in his bid to appear on the ballot for 47th Ward Democratic committeeman, longtime community organizer Tom Fencl collected two pages of nominating signatures for Coffey’s campaign.
But Fencl told the Chicago News Cooperative that he had not collected any signatures for Coffey, whose campaign quietly has received support from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief political allies.
“I never circulated a petition for anybody,” Fencl said. “I don’t even know what a committeeman does.”
The dispute over those petitions for Coffey provided the latest bizarre twist in an already confused race in the mayor’s home ward. The prospect of further divisiveness there ended Thursday, however, with the announcement by Emanuel’s political director that the other two candidates were dropping out of the campaign, allowing Coffey to win the unpaid party post uncontested.
Newly elected Ald. Ameya Pawar had threatened to challenge his City Council predecessor, the incumbent committeeman Eugene Schulter, for the top party post in the North Side ward. Pawar instead endorsed lobbyist Paul Rosenfeld, who also quickly won backing from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and many in the ward — including Coffey.
That equation changed dramatically when Coffey, the director of government affairs for DePaul University, mounted a late bid to appear on the ballot in the March 20 primary. Although the mayor did not openly pick a favorite, public records showed that Coffey’s petition drive received help from Tom Bowen, who directs Emanuel’s political committee, and from the 40th Ward Democrats, who are led by the mayor’s council floor leader, Patrick O’Connor.
The involvement of Emanuels’ allies on Coffey’s behalf had sparked speculation in the ward that Rosenfeld and Schulter would be forced from the field.
Rosenfeld is a former aide to Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) and former fundraiser for Mell’s son-in-law, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He now lobbies for clients at Emanuel’s City Hall.
Schulter is a longtime ally of Emanuel. Under Schulter’s leadership, the 47th Ward Democrats were early supporters of Emanuel’s mayoral bid, with dozens of the group’s members collecting signatures to place Emanuel on the ballot in the February mayoral election to succeed Richard M. Daley.
Bowen issued a joint statement Thursday on behalf of Schulter and Rosenfeld, indicating that they agreed to unite behind Coffey.
“The 47th Ward Democratic Party has long prided itself on its leadership in Chicago politics and that shines through today,” Schulter and Rosenfeld said in the statement. “Leadership involves compromise and the willingness to put your friends and neighbors’ best interests first. We have a busy 2012 reelecting our president and making our voice heard in our state and local elections. We believe that working together to accomplish this is the best path forward instead of waging a campaign to divide the 47th Ward.”
Rosenfeld confirmed that he had dropped out. “The mayor’s office did not want to see a big, nasty fight,” he said.
Schulter did not return calls seeking comment.
Coffey also did not return calls, and Bowen declined comment when asked about the Coffey petition pages that Fencl supposedly had circulated.
Fencl’s name appeared on the bottom of two pages of nominating signatures, attesting that he had circulated the petitions for Coffey. But Fencl, who owns a real-estate management company, said he had no idea why his name appears on the petitions. Fencl said he avoids participating in political activities because he is treasurer of the Northcenter Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber position requires that Fencl file an annual statement of financial interests with the city’s Board of Ethics. His signature on the Board of Ethics document appears to be different than the signatures on pages where Fencl is listed as circulator.
And, when shown a photograph of Fencl, four people who signed the pages he ostensibly circulated told the CNC that the person who obtained their signatures for Coffey’s campaign did not look like the man in the photograph.
State law requires that circulators sign a statement at the bottom of each nominating petition page swearing they were present when signatures were collected for a candidate. Sally Daly, spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, said violating that law could constitute a felony or misdemeanor offense, depending on the severity of the case.
A notary must be present when circulators sign the sworn statement at the bottom of each petition page. Katherine Price, who notarized the Coffey campaign petitions with Fencl’s name on them, said she always asks circulators to show her their driver’s licenses before notarizing their petitions.
But Price said she could not describe the man who handed her the petitions that Fencl supposedly circulated because she had notarized many petitions for various candidates. “I couldn’t in a million years pick him out of a lineup,” she said of Fencl.
Even as he easily won election in February and swiftly forged ties with politicians across the city, Emanuel found it strangely difficult to navigate the changing political tides of the gentrified ward where he lives.
After Schulter said he would not run for another term as alderman, Emanuel issued a rare endorsement of Schulter’s handpicked successor, Tom O’Donnell. Although O’Donnell also had the backing of the ward organization once known as “The Fighting 47th,” he lost the February election to Pawar, a political neophyte.
Dan Mihalopoulos contributed reporting.
I’d rather hear more about Rosenfeld’s shady contributions and lobbying clients.