Friday, February 11, 2011

Endorsement Tracker

The endorsements for alderman coming fast and furious (previous endorsements here):
  • The Tribune endorsed Emily Stewart in the 46th; Ameya Pawar in the 47th; and Harry Osterman in the 48th.  You can read the Tribune candidate questionnaires here.
  • Alderman Mary Ann Smith, former Alderman Marion Volini and former Committeeman Mike Volini (all in the 48th Ward), and African Political Action Committee endorsed Befekadu Retta.
  • Emily's List endorsed Molly Phelan.
  • Teamsters Joint Council 25 and Sprinkler Fitters Local 281 endorsed Michael Carroll.
  • Former 43rd Ward Ald. Edwin Eisendrath, Newton Minow, and Raja Krishnamoorthi endorsed Scott Baskin.
  • The national organization of Democracy For America endorsed James Cappleman.
  • [Update] Midwest College of Oriental Medicine and Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine endorsed Andy Lam.
There are sure to be more... stay tuned.

6 comments:

  1. Paradoxically, the best thing to happen to people supportive of Shiller's worldview was for her not to enter into the race. The coalition that brought her to victory last time is able to persevere in the absence of any unified opposition.

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  2. Maybe, but don't you think that there is also lots of support against that worldview? UU, which came on the scene right after the last election, really helped bring to light a lot more of what individuals in the community were observing. It gave us a place to point out some of the distasteful things she was doing in a way that were never available before. Then the other Chicago media started to pick up on it a whole lot more. She discovered she was never going back to doing things behind closed doors to the extent she had for 16 years, that is why she is not running if you ask me. She can talk about how safe her ward is all she wants, when videos are being posted of street fights she just looks foolish, it was no longer her word against a few political enemies.

    I think it is becoming much more clear which candidates support parts of her worldview, and which ones advocate for true change and honest dialog with people who live here. I don’t think it necessarily helps anyone that 11 people are running. I think what helps is how much more information is available prior to this election compared to the past ones.

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  3. In other endorsement news Scott Baskin has endorsed his own campaign with a $20,000 donation.

    Scottie babee,

    I already early voted, but if you make the runoff come see me. Bring unmarked bills please.

    From the state website

    Baskin, Scott
    Occupation: President
    Employer: Mark Shale 740 W Hutchinson

    Chicago, IL 60613 $20,000.00
    2/10/2011 3A
    Friends of Scott Baskin for Alderman Baskin, Scott 740 W Hutchinson
    Chicago, IL 60613

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  4. Yes. I think that there is a significant force against Shiller's ideas and ways of doing things. Its undeniable. However, I wouldn't describe it as a coalition.

    There is an upside. Only Marc Kaplan would be able to continue in the Shiller tradition and I think it is very unlikely that he will be elected. Everybody else will have to do a balancing act of some kind. I am eager to see the vote percentages. I think that will give us an idea of how long the balancing act will go on. Everyone knows how hard it is to unseat a Chicago incumbent.

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  5. Sassy - I think Marc would be even worse than Helen - imagine that! But true, not a shot in the dark at winning.

    There are a couple of candidates though that I fear would be similar to her though - maybe not as bad. One just distributed a flyer that used an image of city property and the other likes to throw the words "diversity" and "affordable housing" around.

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  6. If you do a word search on all of the Tribune endorsements using the term "affordable" you only get matches for the 46th, 48th and 49th wards.

    Why is that?

    Chicago needs more affordable housing but we are not going to come up with better solutions if its only considered an issue in certain wards.

    ReplyDelete