Candidate's TV pitch has big hitch -- it never names ward

Candidate's TV pitch has big hitch -- it never names ward
BY LAURA WASHINGTON
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
February 12, 2007


It's aldermania time! Here's a first in Chicago politics: an aldermanic campaign ad that neglects to say which ward the candidate is running in. It's running on a TV near you. Accompanied by the usual corny background music, the announcer asks, "Are you tired of a City Council that won't listen to us? Bob Fioretti is the change we need."

Then Fioretti proclaims, "for too long, our alderman has ignored our needs." His pitch, ubiquitous on cable channels like CNBC, MSNBC and CNN, pledges to "always fight for our neighbor and our children's schools."

So what ward is he running in? The ad doesn't say. No ward demarcation. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

It turns out that Fioretti is challenging Madeline Haithcock, the African-American alderman in the 2nd Ward, a storied piece of real estate that spans the near South Side and South Loop. Haithcock, a 14-year incumbent, has five opponents on the ground that the legendary William "Big Bill" Dawson once trod.

Fioretti, an attorney, was of course eager to talk up his candidacy. Nice guy. But when I asked why his ad didn't mention the ward, he said he didn't know. "I heard that. I didn't realize that until I heard it from the campaign manager." That doesn't make any sense, I said. Then he suggested it might be a strategy. "I don't have an answer to that one," he replied.

Then he handed me off to his campaign spokeswoman, Jane DeRonne. After some back-and-forth, she e-mailed, "It wasn't a strategy decision, we just didn't make mentioning the ward a priority." Huh?

Campaign veterans also are mystified. "It doesn't make much sense to me," says longtime political consultant Don Rose, who has devised many a TV ad in his time. My hubby does have one pretty good theory. The 2nd Ward is rapidly gentrifying, and many of the newcomers are white. So is Fioretti. Maybe he doesn't want black voters to know a black alderman is in danger, and rev up their turnout. After all, this is Chicago.

Hello, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald! An investigation just out from the Chicago Reporter reveals that city workers are quite generous with campaign contributions -- especially to their aldermen. The magazine reports that from September 1999 to November 2006, city employees gave aldermen and their ward organizations $2.2 million in donations.

Fitzgerald has turned City Hall upside down in his ongoing investigation of the scandalous Hired Truck Program. Guess which category of city occupation gave the most to aldermen and their ward organizations? Truck drivers, natch.

"When pigs fly." That's what I would have said 10 years ago if you had asked me if Mayor Daley would ever raise money for his old nemesis, 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller. Raise money? He used to run candidates against her!

For years, Shiller was the only alderman who refused to approve the budget as the mayor dictated. Then she joined the fold. She learned she could get what she needed for her ward, and effectively fend off challenges, if she made nice with The Boss.

Now comes the pork de resistance: If you listen carefully, you'll definitely detect a few "oinks" overhead. Tuesday Daley will co-host a $300-per-person fund-raiser for Shiller at O'Brien's Restaurant in Old Town. Daley pitching for Shiller? Like I said, "oink, oink."

Last year Latino progressives were apoplectic when Daley asked reform stalwart Miguel del Valle to join his team as a candidate for city clerk. A lot of people thought staunch Daleyite and 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis would get the nod (especially Solis). Apparently, Daley's slating hasn't reaped much moolah for del Valle. So watch for a new TV ad today that will feature del Valle endorsing 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz, a progressive and frequent Daley critic. The Spanish-language ad will run on Univision, Channel 66. "I enjoy people who fight," del Valle says in the commercial. "Ric Munoz is a fighter."

(There's a lot of fighting going on these days. Must be election time.)

Is Daley more acceptable to progressives, or are progressives becoming more establishmentarian? A little bit of both, I suspect. You have to love the practicality of it all.

Four years ago, even African-American voters chose Daley by an overwhelming majority. That appears likely to continue in 2007.

One more tidbit for Election 2007: The labor unions attempting to pressure Daley by going after his minions. The SEIU, Teamsters and other unions plan to spend as much as $3 million to support challengers to the mayor's rubber-stamp City Council. Shaking up the council a little makes Daley less able to sustain his "Big Box" of tricks. Let's hope challengers down the road will take advantage of this minor seismic shift.