Chicago pols not shy about race, ethnicity

Deanna Bellandi

CHICAGO — After the Chicago city clerk was convicted of taking bribes and Cook County’s chief executive suffered a debilitating stroke, the political chatter was about not only who would replace them, but also what race or ethnicity they would be.

Some have called for the appointment of a Hispanic to the clerk’s job to join a white mayor and black treasurer at the top of the city’s hierarchy, and another black candidate was tapped to run for president of the county, which includes Chicago.

Such frank talk about dividing up the political pie reflects the influence of the racial and ethnic groups whose votes can put candidates in top posts in major cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, observers say.

“I wouldn’t talk about it like it’s something disreputable,” said David Bositis, senior political analyst for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank in Washington, D.C.

Yet University of Illinois at Chicago political science professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman under Mayor Richard M. Daley’s father, said the city is “stuck in racial politics” and would be well served to transcend it because it’s a “low-level form of democracy.”

For a dozen years, John Stroger was one of the most powerful black politicians in Chicago, presiding over a county with a $3 billion budget and a population bigger than 30 states and 80 countries.

He was the first black person to hold the post until a stroke he suffered one week before winning the March primary forced him to retire last month. He recommended that his son, Chicago Alderman Todd Stroger, replace him on the November ballot, a wish granted by Democratic Party officials.

“What you’re witnessing now is the possible if not probably semi-permanent designation of this as a black seat,” said political consultant Don Rose.

Todd Stroger will face white Republican County Commissioner Tony Peraica in the upcoming election. The heavily Democratic county last elected a Republican president 40 years ago.

Pundits acknowledged the element of race at issue in the political jockeying over who would replace the ailing Stroger.

“The thinking is that African American voters would regard it as a betrayal if Democrats looked elsewhere to replace Stroger,” Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown wrote in June.

Still, the ultimate nomination of the younger Stroger, a former state lawmaker with no county government experience, drew sharp criticism from those who decried the apparent political nepotism.

But black Chicago Alderman William Beavers, a prominent ally of the younger Stroger, lashed out at critics who complained about passing the ballot spot from father to son saying “when white folks do it, it’s all right.”

Two years ago, U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, who is white, announced he was retiring after 11 terms and urged Democratic Party leaders to slate his son, Daniel Lipinski. The younger Lipinski, who was teaching in Tennessee at the time, was chosen after being the only person to apply for the vacancy. He beat an unknown Republican candidate and is now up for re-election.

Commissioner John Daley, the mayor’s brother, said he supports the younger Stroger and is glad a black candidate is on the ballot, the way he thought it should go based on the support of Democratic leaders.

At Chicago’s City Hall, the top three jobs — mayor, clerk and treasurer — have long been used to achieve ethnic balance on the election ticket, said Rose, the political consultant.

Over the years, the race or ethnicity of the officeholders has changed as groups became important voting blocs, he said. Chicago has had only one black mayor and one woman in the top job.

“It’s a reflection of dividing up the pie,” Rose said.

Chicago’s population is 47 percent white and 36 percent black. Hispanics, who can be of any race, make up 27 percent of the city’s population — a significant number.

That’s why some have suggested Mayor Daley name a Hispanic replacement for former City Clerk James Laski, who was convicted of taking bribes to get friends into a city trucking program.

Simpson said Daley needs the Hispanic vote. Alderman Danny Solis has said appointing a Hispanic would bring balance to a ballot featuring Daley, who hasn’t said yet that he will run for re-election, and a treasurer who is black.

But a black alderman, Dorothy Tillman, has said the post should be vacant until a replacement is picked in the February election.

“If the Hispanics want a candidate, if the Polish or Irish or anyone wants a candidate, they should get petitions and they should slate their candidate to run,” the Chicago Tribune quoted Tillman as saying in June.

When it comes to racial politics in Chicago, there are even geographic divisions.

At the meeting last month to replace John Stroger on the ballot, both candidates were black — U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Stroger’s son Todd.

Yet several Democratic committeemen made reference to the parts of town each represents — Davis is from the West Side and the Stroger family power base is on the South Side.

“In jest we talk about South Side, West Side but there is no difference but geography between the interests of the community. ... We have the same interests at heart — that is in good government,” Chicago Alderman Freddrenna Lyle said.

(Associated Press)