There's a lot of talk in the news about how certain elections across the country show, or don't show, how Obama is doing and whether the Democratic Party is losing ground. Here in Cook County, we have some other data we can parse to see if there are signs of change.
The filings for Cook County Committeemen positions in the three parties that appear on Illinois ballots show some interesting things about the stability and robustness of the parties. I started looking into this when I noticed that not all the seats were filled, meaning that some of these committeeman positions will almost certainly not be filled through upcoming elections.
In a meeting open to the public, except for the deliberation of the committeemen, the Democratic committeemen of the 10th district of the Cook Co. Board choose Bridget Gainer as the successor to Mike Quigley.
The committeemen cast their weighted vote according to the scheme listed in Sandra's earlier e-mail here.
Did you hear one about Illinois politics? You know, that funny joke about how people get jobs because of clout, or nepotisim, or because they are in the "$25,000 club", instead of, you know, qualifications? Or ability to do the job? Or, for elected officials, as a response to the priorities of those they will represent?
On April 11th a group of Democratic Ward Committeemen will choose a successor for Mike Quigley should he win his election for Congress on April 7th and resign as 10th District Cook County Commissioner. His record as a reformer is well documented. But he was not only a Cook County reformer, he was a progressive leader who stood up against the powers that be while others remained silent. He is leaving some very, very big shoes to fill.
Two groups that I am involved with, Northside DFA and IVI-IPO, are working together to ask the potential shoe-fillers a few questions about their positions and priorities for Cook County. For instance:
Do you support removing the cap on the number of abortions performed at Stroger Hospital?
Should County Board approval be required prior to the creation of TIF districts in Cook County?
What should be done by the County Board to foster affordable housing, including subsidized housing?
Do you support the sale or transfer of forest preserve land to private interests?
Do you favor extending the Civil Service System to replace patronage in County employment?
In addition, we are co-hosting a public forum for these potential candidates on Saturday, April 4th at 1:00 p.m. at Truman College, 1445 W Wilson Avenue, Chicago.
Down with Tyranny has posted on it's blog that the official committeemen vote IL-05 hasn't chosen a Reg. Dem. candidate yet, although Fritchey came close.
Was anybody else there? Can we get extra info? It would probably be a good thing if we kept track of this.
Also, who have you passed for? What kind of response did you get? How do you think their organization is shaping up? Have you heard of any regulars passing?
in chicago, there are really two classes of alderman: alderman who are merely alderman and alderman who control their wards (and play a role in chicago and cook county politics). those who fall in the latter, more powerful category, serve as their ward committeeman.
being the democratic (or republican or, now, green party) committeeman is a thankless task. it's an unpaid position, with substantial expectations, and probably more (in my mind, useless) meetings than you can imagine. but there's also a lot of power in the position -- although less than there used to be under patronage regimes. committeeman have the power to slate candidates in their wards, they fill partisan positions inside the polls, they are the central organizing point for regular party activists in their wards, and they get to fill elected positions that become vacant before their terms end. as we all know, they also can fill empty positions on their party's ballot if no one runs or they resign their place on the ballot. they get a weighted vote in cook county democratic party decisions (determined by the partisan turnout in the last primary in comparison to the county partisan vote).
on february 5th, 2008, wards in chicago will be electing ward committeemen for their four year terms. township committeemen (outside of chicago) elected their's in march, 2006.
