Fritchey Endorsed by IVI-IPO - PSB has First Ever Chicagoland Media Scoop!

by: wegerje

Sat Feb 07, 2009 at 16:23:11 PM CST


At 3:53 pm today, Saturday Feb. 7th, Prairie State Blue scooped Chicagoland media with the live-blog announcement that John Fritchey won the IVI-IPO endorsement in the race to replace Rahm Emanuel. By a vote of 31 to 8, Fritchey met the 60% yes requirement. Sara Feiganholtz was the only other nominee voted upon. She lost by approximately the inverse vote. The official results will be posted on the IVI-IPO website. See the live blog session below the main page for more and pictures. (Well not much more.) There's David [Edit: Igasaki, chair of the meeting] talking with an un-identified someone or other.
wegerje :: Fritchey Endorsed by IVI-IPO - PSB has First Ever Chicagoland Media Scoop!
Tags: , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email
Fritchey Endorsed by IVI-IPO - PSB has First Ever Chicagoland Media Scoop! | 40 comments
Most contentious moment of the session (4.00 / 1)
Perhaps the most interesting moment was when I asked Fritchey about the implications of this Progress Illinois post: http://www.progressillinois.co... about Fritchey's work as a lobbyist on behalf of (among other clients) Bank of America, the Illinois Bankers' Association, and Cash America (a pawn shop and payday loan company).

The question elicited an emotional response: Fritchey forcefully denied the implications of the Progress Illinois post, defended his record on banking regulation and payday loans, and denounced SEIU for its tactics in bringing up these allegations, noting his endorsements from every major union except SEIU.

Howard Dean in 2016

Our response (0.00 / 0)
I just want to clear up a few things about our Fritchey post.  Jim left a similar comment on PI and I just published this response:

First of all, there are no "allegations" in the post. I'm not accusing Fritchey of being a lobbyist. He is one. The only one in the 5th District race, in fact. And I thought that this public information deserved to be reported on, particularly considering no one ever seems to talk about it. It's not mentioned on his bio page. And a search of the Lexis-Nexis database brings up no articles that refer to his work in this capacity.

I also don't think it's outside the bounds of fair commentary to assert that the three clients in question don't necessarily have "the interests of working families at heart."

I'm not saying that this discounts Fritchey's lifetime voting record, which has been on the side of working families more often than not. I just don't understand why his profession is completely absent from the discussion of this race.

[ Parent ]
implications was the right word... (0.00 / 0)
what did fritchey say when you asked him about his role as a lobbyist before the city of chicago?

"We have a lot of kids on the ground acting like adults and we have a lot of adults in this room acting like kids," President Obama told his advisors about all the infighting
[ Parent ]
I used the word "implications" at the start of my post (4.00 / 1)
I chose "allegations" later b/c I hate repeating a word but I guess it was not the right choice.

And, FYI, I did not come to the meeting with plans to sandbag Fritchey, who I like (although he is not my first choice in this race). The Progress Illinois story was literally the last thing I read before heading to the session, and I thought it was worth asking about. I asked questions of almost all the candidates, doing my best to put most of them on the spot. Most of my questions were follow-ups from last Sunday's forum where I felt the candidate did not give a satisfactory answer the first time.

Howard Dean in 2016

[ Parent ]
well, i think it is the right word to use in this case... (0.00 / 0)
what are the implications of someone who happens to lobby the city of chicago and serves the public in the state legislature?  where is the conflict of interest here?

that's why i asked josh what fritchey had to say about this.  i wanted to know how he thought about these two very different kinds of jobs.  since i didn't see a quotation in the story, i figured there was nothing quotable in what fritchey said to josh when he asked him about it...

"We have a lot of kids on the ground acting like adults and we have a lot of adults in this room acting like kids," President Obama told his advisors about all the infighting

[ Parent ]
what makes the story unseemly (0.00 / 0)
It looks bad for a state rep to work as a lobbyist too.

But Fritchey is more than a state rep, he's a Dem committeeman which means he has substantial say over who the alderman is in his ward. While technically Fritchey doesn't directly vote on the city's budget, he does have influence over at least one and has insider connections to at least a couple more.

Is it legal? Yes. Is it unreasonable to see it as unseemly? No.

But Progress Illinois is funded by SEIU. SEIU is backing Feigenholtz. So, there's a bit of irony, if not hypocrisy, in Progress Illinois pushing the story.

[ Parent ]
The SEIU question (0.00 / 0)
I'm fully aware of how this story looks in light of our SEIU funding, so let me describe our editorial process a bit.  

Like any news outlets, on a weekly basis, I'm fielding dozens of story ideas and tips from organizations, campaigns, and individuals with a vested interest in seeing the underlying information in the public realm.  SEIU is among them.  In every case, I weigh whether the story is a) well-founded, and b) of interest to our audience.  If it doesn't meet those criteria, I won't pursue it, as has been the case with many stories suggested by SEIU.  

In this instance, I found the information compelling and made the editorial judgment to put it out there.  I stand by that decision.  Where we screwed up was in not picking up the phone and calling Fritchey beforehand.  That was a lesson learned (this is our first time wading through a primary and it's posing all sorts of new challenges).  I've since told the campaign that we're be open to posting a response if they choose to submit one.

With regards to SEIU's support of Feigenholtz, we've already written stories that don't reflect well on her -- specifically, our two posts on the negative message testing poll covered by Fox Chicago.  Obviously, SEIU wasn't too jazzed about us elevating that story, but in my mind it rose to the level.  So the process cuts both ways.

[ Parent ]
Oh my God!!! The IVI-IPO does something right! (0.00 / 0)
When was the last time that they did that in a Congressional race where it mattered, Abner Mikva in the 1970s?  I guess I'll have to get up early tommoroow morning and watch the sun rise in the west!
Even a broken Randall is right... (0.00 / 0)
twice a millennium.  Although I'm unhappy that less than 1/2 of our members in this district voted in this important race, it's at least 20 times the number of members in Randall's whole organization.

Good luck to Mr. Fritchey.

[ Parent ]
Of course, unlike the IVI-IPO... (0.00 / 0)
...some organizations are not known for having their endorsements bought through wholesale purchase of memberships.  I have seen too many IVI-IPO endorsement sessions that looked like meetings of various Regular Democratic (Machine) Ward Organizations to come to any other conclusion.
[ Parent ]
Randall, as you noted at the NDFA endorsement session... (0.00 / 0)
you are a county employee.  Who does your employer want you to support?  Does that extend to the organization of which you may be the sole member?  Does a ward organization only have to "buy" your vote to get endorsed?

When your "organization" endorses the same candidate, say, in the case of Sue Elder and, apparently, John Fritchey, are we (IVI) then brilliant and unbound, or "controlled by the same vast 'Machine' conspiracy"?

These questions come up only when you trash a 70 year-old organization that had a hand in the elections of two of the three African-American US Senators since reconstruction, Harold Washington's election, ex-board member Deb Shore's MWRD election and many other progressive victories.

Randall, no organization is perfect, but you need to figure out why you have an obsession with trashing IVI, and, if it's only to make yourself feel better about what you do, then realize that, and move on.

[ Parent ]
You and Randall have a history with each other (4.00 / 1)
so much of your exchanges become indecipherable to outside readers. Each of you make accusations or whatever you want to call them about each other that each of you then ignore in further comments. I assume you each ignore them because you have answered them in the past with each other. As a practical matter it requires too much patience to repeatedly answer the same accusation, I understand. But in this context a lot gets lost on the new reader.

For example, and really these are just examples, Randall always ignores your accusation that he runs an organization of one, while in this case at least, you ignore his that the machine purchases IVI-IPO memberships wholesale. Now I could joke here about what the current wholesale rate is [;-)] but you get my drift.

Jeff Wegerson

[ Parent ]
Note: I only respond to comments posted... (4.00 / 1)
by Randall that trash IVI, have no history with him, and never initiate; and I pass on taking easy pot shots, as I don't think they serve any good purpose here.  And sorry, Jeff, but I think that there is a false equivalency being drawn here.

I have only recently returned to being involved in the organization, have tried to recruit great new people in to the organization, and have never solicited bulk memberships from ANYONE, but, am more than willing to defend an organization that has done so much good from someone who keeps trying to throw stones at it, despite the fact that he lives in a crystal house.

IVI-IPO's endorsement process has been open knowledge for as long as I've been involved, and though tweaked to try and make it more fair through the decades, is about as small 'd' democratic as can be and the endorsement sessions couldn't be more open.  I can't tell you what Randall's 'organization's' criteria are, but, I suspect that they're his prejudices.  And they certainly don't seem to be either truly democratic, or transparent.  If Randall wants to hold his organization's endorsement up as a model, and trash a competitor's, he should start here to show how they come about, or, stop posting smack.

Or, if he continues to do it here, I hope PSBers see it for what it is.

[ Parent ]
I am extremely impressed with the work you are doing. (0.00 / 0)
I am also very wary of Mr. Sherman, primarily from your comments. I believe that his appearance at the NDFA forum was the first time I ever saw him. He never (very rarely?) responds to your criticisms. I have warned him against continuing what appears to be a "vendetta" or whatever against Jan and her husband in these pages.

Yet he does give the appearance that his "heart is in the right place." Granted some very annoying people can easily fall into that very very broad category.

I don't actually equivocate you and him. Not by a mile, but yes my comment did smack of NPRism. I guess I am suggesting that when you reply to him that it be more exasperated matter of fact and sticking to the barest of details without a lot of negative adjectives. He probably refuses to respond to personal sounding arguments and I am very curious to here what he would come with for answers to some of your points. ;-)  

Jeff Wegerson

[ Parent ]
So how come there were no other candidates voted on? (0.00 / 0)
Luck of the chair draw? Seems a bit arbitrary. Course I can't be sure as I don't know the exact details of the process rules, eh? :-)

Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
IVI runs by 'Robert's Rules', and therefore, the chair... (0.00 / 0)
recognizes someone for a motion, and that motion either wins or fails, after which, other motions are in order.
[ Parent ]
So even after Fritchey won, other motions could have been (0.00 / 0)
entered. I understand that there is no point, unless like NDFA there could be more than one endorsed candidate. Can there be more than one?

Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
No. It was stated up front that only one could be endorsed. (4.00 / 1)
So once Fritchey was endorsed (overwhelmingly), the meeting was over.

IVI-IPO used to allow multiple endorsements in single-winner races but the Board changed the By-Laws when it saw how much confusion that caused.

Howard Dean in 2016

[ Parent ]
With the internet and social networking (0.00 / 0)
IVI-IPO is in need of some serious change. BobB is very much to be commended for making it a goal to make changes. Indeed some of IVI-IPOs inherant flaws can be addressed with the new techmologies. One is the difficulty of explaining things when you are limited to print on paper media and the expense of stamped mailed publishing. The other is the difficulty of using complicated voting techniques.

So why not create both simple statements of who to vote for as well as fully explained characterizations of why and who to vote for? Some people cannot handle complex situations like multiple endorsements while others thrive on them. Some people are not interested in a lot of information while others again thrive on it. IVI-IPO can cater to both groups.

Granted that this election is very different than most in that there is such a wealth of decent candidates and such a short amount of time to sort them out as it were. Still an organization like IVI-IPO needs to be ready ahead of time for such emergencies.

So in this case I would have liked to have known how many votes Tom Geoghegan would have gotten, wouldn't you have too?

Jeff Wegerson

[ Parent ]
Like asking various and detailed questions... (0.00 / 0)
and posting them on the web?  See below.  Having well-attended forums and inviting all the candidates, while working with other like-minded groups?  See last Sunday's event.

The organization is trying to do a lot to transform ourselves for the better, but "these damn elections keep getting in the way".  ;-)  

As you wouldn't blame Obama for Bushes' actions, cut the current group some slack, and/or help out.  We think we're on the right path, but need a breather to take stock.

P.S. Decent chance we'll have to be involved in another special, should someone elected get promoted to Congress.

[ Parent ]
Taking stock is good. (0.00 / 0)
The current group is doing fantastically well imho. I am very very impressed. You are quite right, it is a lot easier to toss out ideas than to actually get behind them and make them happen on the ground and in the trenches. And you are by no means letting success go to your heads. That you are staying engaged and patient here is further testament (and ovariment) to your achievements. And I'm sure I am only seeing a small portion.

Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
Randall, (4.00 / 1)
I think you know that I admire your impeccable knowledge of Chicago and Illinois' political history. What I find hard to sync, though, is why it is only selectively employed when it comes to discussing or commenting on the IVI-IPO. For a savvy guy, I really can't understand why you apply one standard to this particular organization and give others that are a lot crustier with corruption a free ride. The IVI-IPO stumbles sometimes. So what. Everyone and every organization does.  

In the course of organizing the 5th CD forum, I came across a small handful of people who share your contempt. In each case, their ire is hooked upon one, maybe two instances of an endorsement not going their way (yours revolves around Peg Roth, correct?). What's interesting to me is not their disappointment or their anger. I get that. No, what's remarkable is that so many years later they are still nursing the perceived injustice yet have done nothing to change the structural flaws they believe produced the wrong result.

[ Parent ]
it's not just one or two endorsements (0.00 / 0)
When has IVI-IPO crossed the Dem Machine in a race that the Dem Machine contested the IVI-IPO endorsement?

For me, it's not that IVI-IPO has endorsed the wrong candidate once or twice. It's that every time the Dem Machine strong-arms IVI-IPO the IVI-IPO endorsement goes the way the Dem Machine wants.

And the IVI-IPO people have a sort of arrogance about their organization. They seem to feel that progressive political activists have a duty to fix IVI-IPO, as if IVI-IPO had intrinsic value separate for the good it accomplishes.

Why was Fritchey the low vote getter in the Northside DFA meeting, but able to break the 60% threshhold with IVI-IPO?

What makes Northside DFA and IVI-IPO so different in how they see John Fritchey?

Is it because Northside DFA has a bunch of reform/liberal activists and the IVI-IPO process dilutes the influence of the reform/liberal activists with a large number of patronage workers?

I don't want to sound down on Fritchey. I think he's good. He's one of my preferred candidates in this race and probably the one of my preferred candidates who has the best shot of getting elected of my preferred candidates.

Fritchey was behind (far behind) Geoghegan, Quigs, Donatelli and Feigenholtz with Northside DFA and he was able to assemble a 60+% majority at the IVI-IPO meeting. Is there a simpler explanation than the IVI-IPO process is heavily influenced by patronage workers taking orders from ward bosses?

[ Parent ]
Barack Obama, US Senate race... (0.00 / 0)
for one.
[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO endorsed Dan Hynes (0.00 / 0)
It also endorsed Obama, but come on.

If IVI-IPO had to split the endorsement between Obama and the Machine candidate it shows how weak IVI-IPO is at defending its process from Machine packing of the endorsement sessions.

If you buy that Obama is more progressive and more of a reform candidate than Dan Hynes, it shows that Illinois Democrats are more progressive and reform-minded than IVI-IPO, b/c Illinois voters overwhelmingly preferred Obama over Hynes.

[ Parent ]
Sue Elder and Alexi Giannoulias for two more... (0.00 / 0)
Carl, as you regularly point out, you don't agree with every endorsement IVI makes.  Fine, no problem with me.  I don't agree with every endorsement IVI has made in it's 70-ish years.  You state that you perceive that IVI "people are (arrogant)".  I've been involved on and off for over 30 years and I've never met you, so, I can't guess who you mean, but, some agree with you and some don't.  

But the logic I see is, if you think IVI has intrinsic value outside of the endorsements (we just got a lobbyist in Springfield again, for example), and you don't like how it endorses, do something about it.  If you don't think the organization is worth your time, ignore it and move on.  Why would anyone not obsessed, waste their time on something with no value?

[ Parent ]
Outside of baseball. n/t (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO did not endorse Hynes for Senator (4.00 / 2)
Although IVI-IPO endorsed Dan Hynes for Comptroller in 2002, we endorsed ONLY Barack Obama for the Senate in 2004.
[ Parent ]
the endorsement session (0.00 / 0)
endorsed both Hynes and Obama b/c the Obama side couldn't muster the votes.

Now, the IVI-IPO may have trumped the will of the endorsement session using undemocratic processes, but that's hardly something to brag about.

[ Parent ]
2004 Senate endorsement (0.00 / 0)
"The IVI-IPO" and "the endorsement session" are not separate entities. You probably mean "The Board."  

If a candidate fails to get 3/5 at a city, county, or state level endorsement session, the Board can make its own decision. There is nothing undemocratic about it. Those are our rules, from our Constitution, voted on by our members.

Having rules that are made by those who will be governed by them is something to brag about.  Following democratically made rules even when one may be unhappy with the outcome is also something to brag about.

[ Parent ]
I agree with catpatt that if the membership (0.00 / 0)
gives the board the power then it's a democratic process. One can argue that there may be a "more" democratic process to accomplish the goals that this process accomplishes but then you would need to provide alternatives and show that they would accomplish all of the same goals. Or if not all the same goals show that some of the goals are not needed and/or additional goals added outweigh the lost ones.

Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
Or perhaps (4.00 / 1)
you could turn that question around and ask what was wrong with the Northside DFA process that he ended up the low vote getter?  

I liked what Fritchey had to say at the Forum last week, yet did not end up voting for him at NDFA.  I'm not sure why that was, other than the question of his ethics has come up, there are connections to the ward organizations (and here I'm talking about Shulter, who is a definitely a mixed bag), and two major unions are endorsing him (at least).  Perhaps the reasoning among our members was that he needed our help the least of all the candidates who were nominated, since he is perceived to have pretty strong "organizational" support, and definitely has strong union support.  

I think the best think for the 5th is that the CD race is close, and that no one walks away with it easily.  The threat of real competition is what keeps an incumbent -- as the winner of this race will be -- honest.  

[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO is a participatory democracy (4.00 / 1)
The members vote on the endorsements. There is no Star Chamber or Office of Purity to vet applicants by delving into the inner reaches of their souls to discover deviations from independent ideology. You fill out a membership application and pay your dues and you are a member. After 60 days you can vote.

You may also be a member of another organization. Maybe SEIU, or the ACLU, or NOW; maybe the NRA, Feminists for Life, or your local Chamber of Commerce. You may consider yourself an independent, but still be active in a party - maybe the Greens, or the Republicans, or even a Democratic Ward Organization.

In every election, someone disagrees with our endorsements. (I disagree with this one - I'm for Feigenholtz). Someone invariably will claim the endorsement was "bought" by the winning side. As Treasurer of IVI-IPO, I can assure you that the vast majority of members who were at the 5th Congressional endorsement session have been members at least since last May, before anyone even knew there would be a Congressional race.   Some of the "machine" members have been members for at least 10 years. And they didn't pay their dues in bulk; they sent in their membership applications, individually filled out and with checks drawn on their personal bank accounts.

Perhaps these folks are not "real" independents, but keep up their memberships year in and year out for nefarious purposes. Not being a seer, I lack the ability to speak definitively on that topic. But what I can say with quite a bit of confidence is that if every "independent" who has complained about our endorsements over the past few years would join IVI-IPO and come to endorsement sessions, the results would be much more to their liking.

[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO does not have a serious recruitment plan (0.00 / 0)
and therefore is dominated by political supporters of endorsed candidates, patronage workers who stay involved and lawyers who want to have the option of running for judge.

If IVI-IPO wanted to be more independent than it is, it would invest the time and resources to systematically recruit enough members to dilute the influence of the insiders.

Since getting bigger has never been a priority for IVI-IPO, I have concluded that it doesn't want to be more independent.

[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO does have a serious recruitment plan (0.00 / 0)
and brings in new members all of the time. As in most organizations, the vast majority join because they believe in what IVI-IPO does, and want to support it; they aren't necessarily interested in doing the work themselves.

Although I believe most of our endorsements reflect the wishes of our membership as a whole, it is possible that the endorsement process can be dominated by a minority who are more motivated to influence the outcome.

Just like real elections - some people go out to vote; some just stay home and complain about the results.  

[ Parent ]
Tell me about this recruitment plan (0.00 / 0)
As I've said before, I believe IVI-IPO has little value for those of us in the suburbs, largely because it has too few suburban members and therefore pays little attention to the races that are likely to be important ot us. I see no simple, obvious way to overcome this chicken-and-egg problem of little value because of too few members and too few members because of little value. But if you have a plan to recruit suburban members, I'd like to hear about it.

Bill Thomasson

Permission to reprint explicitly granted
[ Parent ]
IVI-IPO did use Star Chamber tactics 4 Obama (0.00 / 0)
The endorsement session for U.S. Senate in 2004 decided to endorse both Dan Hynes and Obama. The Machine not only packed the room with people to vote for Hynes, there were lieutenants watching how people voted and whipping the vote. It was completely in the open.

When I criticized the situation, one of these guys whipping the vote accused me of wanting to disenfranchise gov't employees. He was pretty obnoxious about it.

If IVI-IPO did eventually give Obama a clean endorsement, it was because the leadership did override the will of the IVI-IPO members who did show up to vote.

[ Parent ]
BTW, most of the questionnaires are up on IVI-IPO's (4.00 / 1)
If I started on the IVI-IPO front page (0.00 / 0)
could I have navigated to that page? What route?

Jeff Wegerson
[ Parent ]
Click on 'candidate questionnaires' under the endorsement... (4.00 / 1)
notice on the front page.
[ Parent ]
Fritchey Endorsed by IVI-IPO - PSB has First Ever Chicagoland Media Scoop! | 40 comments
Prairie State Blue
Front Page - Back Page


Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?

0 User(s) logged on.
Search




Advanced Search

Misc
View
Powered by: SoapBlox