From: Tom Sharpe, 46th Ward DemocratsSubject: 46th Ward Democrats Endorse James Cappleman for Alderman
Dear neighbor,
46th ward voters have a lot to be proud of. We had a strong turnout in the February 22nd city election, with 13,866 residents casting ballots.
Since no candidate for Alderman received more than 50% of the vote, a “run-off” election will be held on April 5th between the top two finishers – James Cappleman and Molly Phelan. Current Alderman Helen Shiller is retiring; the only two candidates on the ballot will be Cappleman and Phelan.
The 46th ward Democrats strongly endorse James Cappleman in this election. James Cappleman, a lifelong Democrat, is the only progressive candidate in the race and will best be able to unite the 46th ward. His background is as a social worker and community advocate.
James is the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from University of Chicago Medical Center for his lifetime of advocacy fighting racism. He co-founded a shelter that provided care for people living with HIV/AIDS and has worked on numerous community issues including crime, housing, health care and neighborhood improvement. As Board President of the Uptown Chicago Commission, he helped bring small businesses into the ward. Please read more about his background here.
I hope you will join the 46th Ward Democrats and progressives throughout our ward in supporting James Cappleman for Alderman in the upcoming election. You can early vote between March 14th and March 31st or vote on election day, Tuesday, April 5th. I also encourage you to volunteer for James.
Thank you for your time, and for your interest in the 46th ward.
Sincerely,
Tom Sharpe 46th Ward Democratic Committeeman
I see Tom "Not so Sharp" Sharpe recognizes which way the wind blows.
ReplyDeleteI believe Sharpe works for Cook County. He also ran for Alderman in another ward back in 1991.
The President of the Cook County Board is Toni Preckwinkle.
Phelan supported Preckwinkle's opponent in the primary. One Terry "Big Head" O'Brien.
Do you see the light?
I would expect that the Capplemaniac will be racking up some more endorsements in the next few weeks.
Hopefully after Phelan's campaign is snowed under in an avalanche of Cappleman endorsments a St Bernard Rescue dog will show up with some medicinal whiskey. I was born at St Bernard's Hospital on da sout' side so I better start looking for some whiskey. Oh look, here's some.
Woof, woof.
Da Mayor-elect has been quoted saying that he will lend his support to candidates in aldermanic run-offs who share his philosphy of reform. Cappleman has oft-mentioned his desire to see reform. He has also mentioned his perception that recycling and garbage pickup needs to be reworked, which is close to what Rahmbo wants to do.
ReplyDeleteI think it's safe to say that Cappleman will get financial support if not an outright endorsement from Rahm Emanuel. Afterall, Rahm likes to see results, not half-hearted attempts at lawsuits by attorneys looking to turn Uptown into a sorority-girl entertainment district.
bear60640,
ReplyDeleteFirst, as someone who donated money and time to the Fix Wilson Yard effort, I find your claim that it was a half-hearted effort truly uninformed.
Second, your assertion that Molly wants to "turn Uptown into a sorority-girl entertainment district" is completely ridiculous.
A good rule of thumb to follow during the runoff would be to ignore and write off completely anyone who makes ad hominem attacks on either Molly or James, because the person making them is likely an in-the-tank hack whose opinion is worthless.
ReplyDelete(And yes, I see what I did there!)
Truly a ringing endorsement, and James has a right to pleased.
ReplyDeleteBut my cynical side wonders - and maybe I should be asking the 46th Ward Dems, and not the UU readers:
1) Who did this group endorse in 2007? Was it the incumbent or did they endorse Cappleman then as well? Given their current praise, I wouldn't be surprised to learn it was James, but OTOH, Shiller was a multi-term Democrat incumbent, so it would take daring not to endorse her...
2) There's been a lot of talk about Molly being the Machine cadidate, so I wonder if this is a surprise to those people. I live in the 46th, vote for Democrats, and am on the mailing list, but I don't consider myself a member. Anyone here a member? If the Cook County Democratic Organization endorses a candidate, that's "The Machine's" candidate, right? Are the ward groups 'cogs' of that machine?
Thanks for reading.
ElBarto,
ReplyDeletehow many internet identities do you have? SamHam and Samantha weren't enough for you?
This "naive" thang you got goin' ain't working.
There are all kinds of parts of "the machine". About 5 wards have official democratic organizations that really matter. The 46th is not one of those wards.
This is a nice endorsement for Cappleman, but it doesn't directly provide him with many volunteers or money. In the last round "Not so Sharp" endorsed Shiller. Of course you already knew that.
Indirectly, it should help Cappleman with the election.
Sharpe also apparently supported Nowatny in round one. Sharpe's committeeman post does provide him with a bit of power and prestige and he likely wants to keep it.
Supporting the likely winner AND not supporting the candidate who worked against your boss Toni Preckwinkle getting elected is smart politics.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day..........I guess Sharpie hears the chimes.
gordon - While the effort exerted by the Fix Wilson Yard team can be debated, I think the outcome is clear. Fix Wilson Yard did nothing to change the development or the housing mix of the project - which was the original goal of the group. I do think FWY, in addition to other notable projects outside the ward, brought attention to the abuse of TIFs throughout the city. I believe Molly clearly said that she would continue to work for TIF reform even if FWY failed. Her work on TIF reform has been non-exisitent, aside from her campaign platform. Maybe that's what she meant about keeping up the fight - taking her FWY experience to run for alderman?
ReplyDeleteGreat advice quietlyconcious. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to James!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. If you get the ward committeeman, won't that also mean that James will soon be a Rahmulan? Would Rahm go against his party's choice?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how it "works" but it will be interesting to see.
Gran-Pappy: LOL!! If the next city council turns out to be as much of a rubber stamp for the mayor as the current one has been, we can call them ALL Rahm-ulans.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, by the way, someone misunderstood me. I donated multiple times to FYW *myself*, even though I, a non-attorney, told people years before FYW appeared as an organization that if we were to get Wilson Yard stopped, re-evaluated, and re-worked, it needed to happen BEFORE the shovels hit the dirt. I happen to agree with Cub Reporter that despite all the talk, the lawsuit predictably went nowhere except down the tubes, nothing constructive has been discussed about TIF reform since, and "sorority-girl entertainment district" was intended to mean "entertainment for sorority-girls"--not that the sorority girls would be the entertainment except when they're being drunk and stupid after taking in a concert and drinks in the "Uptown Entertainment District"....
@Bear,
ReplyDeleteUptown Entertainment District has a nice ring. Beats gangbanber entertainment district . . .
Just sayin'
I'll take Molly and her machine.
in it to win, I wonder why Uptown Recording Studios, which bases its business on entertainment, has a large Cappleman poster on its business, which happens to be next door to Phelan's campaign office?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they know something more about the entertainment business than Phelan. Just say'in.
On March 1, 2011 1:06 PM, Irish Pirate wrote,
ReplyDelete"ElBarto,
how many internet identities do you have? SamHam and Samantha weren't enough for you?
This "naive" thang you got goin' ain't working."
"...Of course you already knew that."
Thank you for answering my questions. I agree; the naivete isn't working; as a remedy, I occasionally ask questions. And no, I didn't know the answer already, but I did suspect that:
1) someone here would know,
2) that someone would likely be you,
3) your reply would be served up piping hot, with a side order of crazy.
You did not dissapoint.
To answer your question, - I have a few different usernames or "internet identities" - I'm not ElBarto at most of the places I shop, bank, invest, or talk baseball. I have only used ElBarto on UU*, but I'll switch that when I post again - not to feed into your paranoia, but because, honestly, you are feeding into mine.
*I think I may have posted once as Anonymous, a few years ago, before registration was required. It was in reply to a post about a shooting - I was unsuccesful in finding that, the post by Anon in the thread about the shooting from a few years ago. Wide search criteria, I suppose.
Here is my second post, which is memorable for two reasons:
1) I couldn't rember my password/email, so I re-registered,
2) I instantly regretted addressing you. I still have no idea what you were talking about, but you were accusing me of multiple personas then too.
Now that I reread it, there's even a Samantha there. OMG, maybe I am just an identity. Dude, get outta my head!
http://www.uptownupdate.com/2010/07/len-phelan-joins-46th-ward-aldermanic.html