As endorsements for aldermanic runoff candidates come in, we'll summarize the new ones each Monday, as well as keeping a composite list on the sidebar. If you know of any new endorsements we may have missed and can document them,
please email us.
- James Cappleman received the endorsement of Sen. Heather Steans on Sunday, March 6: "Democratic State Senator Heather Steans today announced her strong support of 46th Ward Aldermanic candidate James Cappleman. Cappleman - a former teacher, social worker and community advocate - is in the April 5th run-off election to replace retiring Alderman Helen Shiller. Steans joins a growing number of progressive voices supporting Cappleman, who also has the endorsement of the 46th Ward Democrats. "I have worked with James on many important issues facing the 46th ward including crime, housing, health care, business development and neighborhood improvement," said Senator Steans. "I know firsthand that his top priority is serving the residents of the ward. He and I share important progressive, Democratic values and I am honored to be supporting him."
- Molly Phelan picked up the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police on Friday, March 4. "Representing 17,000 current and retired Chicago Police officers, the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7 endorsed Molly Phelan and her comprehensive approach to reducing crime in the 46th Ward. “As the daughter of a former federal prosecutor, Molly Phelan is committed to holding criminals accountable and making our streets safe,” said Mark Donahue, President of FOP Chicago Lodge 7. “She has a history of working with police to go after gangs, guns and drugs. Molly is the best qualified candidate to make the community safe.” In addition to being the daughter of a former federal prosecutor, Phelan’s great-grandfather, Patrolman Edward McGuire – Star #1513, was a Chicago Police Officer shot and killed in the line of duty on Feb. 24, 1928.
- James also has the [new to us] endorsements of Rep. Deb Mell, Andy Lam, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, and 48th Ward Democrats.
- Molly also has the [new to us] endorsements of Amalgamated Transit Union Locals 241 and 308 and Cook County College Teachers Union, AFT Local 1600.
Previous endorsements can be found
here,
here and
here, and of course on the sidebar to the right. More to come next Monday, unless hell freezes over and no endorsements are made in the coming week.
“[Molly] has a history of working with police to go after gangs, guns and drugs," says the FOP. What, precisely, IS her history? Having a former-federal-prosecutor father, calling 911, and photo ops for campaign brochures don't qualify. But seriously...what is her history with the police, and how does it compare in a side-by-side with James' efforts via the UCC, community policing, positive loitering, and other community activism?
ReplyDeleteHer history is her experience as an "academio intern" with the Gang & Drug unit over 15 years ago, as well as the fact her great-grandfather was a Chicago Police Officer. And probably some family connections in the FOP, since clearly the officers in our local districts know and support James Cappleman.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I have already heard Molly say that the FOP endorsement means that she is the best to fight crime. Personally, I don't care where someone interned 15 years ago. I want an alderman who knows who to work with on Day One.
How do we find out if she bought this endorsement by paying off Michael Carrolls campaign debt?
ReplyDeleteWhat campaign debt?
ReplyDeleteEye in the Sky,
ReplyDeleteI doubt very much the FOP consulted Mike Carroll before endorsing Phelan. The FOP endorsement process under there soon to be gone leadership is not exactly known for annoying certain parts of "da machine".
Now as far as I can tell Carroll hasn't endorsed a candidate yet.
Now I didn't vote for Carroll, but prior to the elections his campaign disclosure showed no debt. He and his whole family strike me as disgustingly decent and earnest people. It annoys those of us who were essentially raised by drunken mountain folk such as myself. I doubt his endorsement could be bought.
In fact I suspect trying to buy his endorsement would result in him endorsing the other candidate.
Union endorsements scare me. STRIKE me as a non progressive lot.
ReplyDeleteRight on IP. I agree that Mike Carroll has really maintained an awesome reputation throughout the entire election.
ReplyDeleteTo me the FOP endorsement is almost meaningless. Her dad was a federal prosecutor? Now forty+ years later he's an attorney specializing in real estate issues and he brought her into his law firm. That's a bit more relevant.
ReplyDeleteHer great grandfather was killed in the line of duty. That's bad, but hardly relevant to who she is as a candidate. Although, I can understand the "pull" that would have on an FOP endorsement.
My dad was a drunken carpenter who grew up on an Irish mud farm. If I were running should I get the carpenter's union and farmer's guild endorsements and does that make me tough as nails and smelly as pig shite. Maybe.
The CTA union endorsement is interesting. Mike Madigan passed a law setting aside part of the Chicago real estate transfer tax to fund their CTA pensions. Just saying..........
Ultimately the only endorsement that matters will be on election day by the voters. In the interim endorsements by elected officials and the two big newspapers can make a difference.
Money can make a difference too, but that's an endorsement in a different way.
The FOP endorsement and similar endorsements Cappleman received from a social workers association are largely nice window dressing. Not much more than that.
As for crime in Uptown the key to reducing it will be forcing building managers to screen and boot tenants. It means grandma has to know that if she lets her criminal grandson stay with her she risks getting booted out of her publicly assisted housing.
It ain't purdy. It ain't glamorous. It ain't gonna git ya any front page stories in the Tribune or elected to higher office, but it will make a difference for the people living in the ward. Particularly the majority of law abiding folks who live in assisted housing.
Maybe I am just skeptical now after hearing she tried to buy Notwany's endorsement.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not questioning Carroll's character.
Eye in the Sky,
ReplyDeleteSeems to me all you are doing is perpetuating rumors and trying to create new ones.
Our ward and city are facing great challenges and all that rumors serve to do is distract from the issues at hand and the ideas the candidates have for addressing them.
Can't we just all get along?
ReplyDeleteCan't for just a moment can we put the election out of our minds and use our respective mind's eye to picture the party that will be happening on the day our new Alderman takes office?
Picture the fireworks and Tchaikovsky as the moving fan pulls away from a certain office on the 4500 block of Broadway.
See don't you feel better now.
bear60640,
ReplyDeleteMolly's history includes:
- Member of the UCC board (Uptown Chicago Commission for the uninitiated)
- CAPS liason for my beat
- Attendance at positive loitering events that I have attended
- Member of the Buena Park Neighbors board
- Member of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce
Cub Reporter,
You say "clearly the officers in our local districts know and support James Cappleman." Upon what basis do you make that claim?
You also say that you want an alderman who knows who to work with on Day One. Both Molly and James fit that description based on their previous work with the CPD. You may believe that James will do a better job, but to claim that he has exclusive knowledge in this area is incorrect.
Gordon -
ReplyDeleteYes, Molly claims to have done all of those things in the 46th ward. Ask any UCC member about Molly and they will mention the one or two meetings that she attended as a board member. And, yes, I agree that she has been a "member" of those other organizations. But, if you talk to people about her involvement in those organizations, it is reminiscent of a high school senior trying to get into an Ivy League school - be as invovled with all the "good" organizations at school - so involved that you don't actually do anything for any of those organizations.
In terms of the police officers, I know that several of the officers and captains in the 23rd (and 20th) districts are supporters of James as they have worked with him over the last ten years. Police officials don't publicly endorse candidates, so maybe it's not an appropriate comment to make, but
knowing that our local officers support James is a comforting to me.
James has worked with our State Senators, State Reps and neighboring aldermen already, which is my several of them have endorsed him. He knows what to do to help Uptown, and his experience is not based on an "academic internship" fifteen years ago but on ten-plus years of real community advocacy and leadership. That's why he is ready to lead on day one.
I have mentioned before that I am supporting James. I have spoke to Molly personally several times before, and to be honest, I think she is a smart and driven young lady. For me, her close ties to the pay and play ways of Joe Berrios (whcih she admits) and her lack of established history in our community are why she does not deserve my support.
I thought Mike Carroll was a very good candidate, one I have talked with at length numerous times (although I once thought I was talking to him, but was actually talking with his identical twin brother) and one I might have picked as a 2nd choice.
ReplyDeleteIn talking with supporters of Carroll's (including his campaign-day literature passer, a lawyer who lives in my building and works with one of Mike's brothers), I've gotten the clear idea that Cappleman is many Mike Carroll supporters' 2nd choice.
I too have been struck by how desperate and amateurish it seems for a candidate to tout ability to abate gang violence because that candidate did an internship in college, or that a candidate's great-grandfather was a policeman, or because one is the "daughter of" a social worker or "daughter of" a long-ago prosecutor - what position is this candidate running for? a first job out-of-college - when you include on your resume that you were 8th-grade valedictorian?
This vote-for-me because of my father, mother, grandfather stuff that runs through Phelan's literature seems demeaning, both to the candidate and to the voters.
I really want to vote for an adult who can put his or her own adult experiences, accomplishments and track record to work in our ward.
So you mean to tell me that Molly didn't actually work in the gang department for Chicago? She did an internship and this somehow qualifies her to be alderman?
ReplyDeleteBetween that and her touting her family's credentials, I am just embarrassed for Molly. Has she not done anything worthwhile to tout?
Sad, sad, sad.
Gordon, I'm just curious: at what positive loitering events was Molly? I went to easily 75% of the positive loitering evenings at Leland and Sheridan over the past two years, and I don't recall seeing her there. I realize there were others in Uptown, so I'm just curious as to the ones you attended where you saw Molly.
ReplyDeletenever saw molly at a positive loitering event, but if elected, i do hope she attends.
ReplyDeleteand it was an internship during law school, i believe?
So many educational and intriguing comments on the subject of Herstory...thank you for all of them. Things continue to come into focus.
ReplyDeleteI was amused to see that M's father having been a federal prosecutor in the days before history...somehow qualifies M herself to receive an "endorsement". I even chuckled at the comment that showing up for a meeting or two equates with "involvement". I rolled my eyes over the disclosure that a college internship means that she has lotsa experience with "fighting gangs". But the lead-in questions I had posed to me today in a telephone poll, which included "Does the fact that Molly's mother was an Uptown social worker make you more inclined to vote for her?"...made me roar.
IP had a great comment for me the other day (and I'm paraphrasing)--don't just write posts in UU, get out there and do real volunteer work for the candidate you back. IP is a learned pirate, and wise...whether induced by fine Irish whiskey or not. I believe that variations on that theme of "DO some real volunteer work" apply to candidates for local office--what your father did or mother did is NOT a factor in how well someone will perform in elected office. Who you know, where you get your campaign donations, and what you did as a college intern doesn't affect your skills, either. What you do NOW and what you've accomplished on your own--or with people sharing the same goals--THAT matters.
I think that Molly has great potential, but she needs to work on following through on her committments...she needs to pay her dues, show that she's actually committed to succeeding with some projects important to the Ward. File another lawsuit to actually CHANGE how TIF districts operate, and get it done. Put that gang know-how to work--take the lead on addressing gang violence in the 23rd District's Community Policing and show us things we can do to make a difference. Chair a development committee in the Uptown Chamber to spearhead a concerted effort filling storefronts with businesses and get the ball rolling on the Live Music District. Show us that you can do what you set out to accomplish...show us that you're a force of nature ALL BY YOURSELF without reaching back to someone else's accomplishments...show us that you are REALLY committed to the neighborhoods and people of the 46th Ward (a property tax attorney who actually writes a check for her own property taxes gets a gold star!). I think Molly has the makings of someone who could be a great alderman...but not quite yet. Let's get more experience under her belt...let her show her colors as a booster of Uptown...and let her learn the wisdom of walking in the shoes of many others. When I see that tempering in her at some point down the road, I may be one of her biggest supporters...but...not...YET.
I donate to James. I know James. I passed out fliers along side Molly Phelan for over 4 hours at the same location (4 James) on election day. I met and spoke with other volunteers from Stewarts campaign and met Michael and his fiancé. We spoke to such an extent I now know where they are getting married and the date. To me, that is community. Molly never introduced herself to me or asked me if I lived in the ward and where. The sense of community I felt with the other volunteers and their candidates was wonderful. I also questioned myself why one candidate would spend 4 hours in one location at such a slow time. I see her war chest, recognize the names, trial attorneys and firms and they do not reside in our ward. our ward also has lawyers, physicians, educative, real estate people and restaurant owners. The point is WE ARE A COMMUNITY. We should be proud of that and not lose sight of the fact this is what we all want more than all else. For me, James is community. If life were fair, he would win because I am not sure anyone of us could devote as much as he has and does for this community. I know if James does lose, he will still be here. The community means more to him than an elected position. That being said, suddenly Molly signs are in my alley, my doorbell keeps ringing and she had 4 hours of my donated time standing in front of Walt Disney on election day like all the others and did not ask my name. That is not community, but agenda.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, the Fraternal Order of Police polls its membership prior to each election for recommendations on which candidates they should endorse. Michael Carroll had the endorsement of the FOP in the recent election.
ReplyDeleteI have received NO REQUEST regarding my opinion or recommendation for an endorsement in the runoff, so I can only assume that the Phelan endorsement was determined in some other manner. My guess would be that she may have received the 2nd most votes behind Carroll in the last round of solicited recommendations for endorsements.
The Pirate's comment that "The FOP endorsement process under their soon to be gone leadership is not exactly known for annoying certain parts of "da machine" is a reasonable description of the situation there, so some OTHER political influence cannot be ruled out. Suffice to say that FOP never asked me who I would recommend between Phelan and Cappleman.