I wanted to bring to everyone's attention, particularly since Yearly Kos is coming to Chicago in August, of news of the death on Friday of the longtime Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, former State Senator Thomas G. Lyons, at the age of 75.
Lyons, who has been the Democratic committeeman of Chicago's 45th Ward on the city's Northwest Side (a ward that I moved into just a few months ago after spending most of the past 28 years living along Chicago's lakefront) since 1968, had announced only a few days ago of his intentions to resign the party chairmanship that he had held since 1990. According to news reports Lyons died of complications from paralysis due to an inflamation of the spinal cord. He had been in poor health for some time.
How important is this? Read below the fold and then be the judge.
The post of Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee that Lyons held was once a key in Democratic Party politics both locally and nationally. It was a hugely powerful position. In the early 1930s Anton Cermak used it in part to win election as Chicago Mayor in 1931, ousting the city's last Republican Mayor, William "Big Bill" Thomopson. In the two years that followed before Cermak was assasinated, Cermak (who remained as party chairman) cemented together the Chicago Democratic "Machine" that was able to throw its weight around in government and political circles locally, statewide and nationally for most of the rest of the 20th century.
Subsequent Cook County Democratic Chairmen often had significant impact on politics and governement in Illinois and nationally. In 1948, the decision by then County Chairman Jacob Arvey to slate Adlai E. Stevenson for Governor and Chicago Alderman Paul Douglas for US Senator led to their respective upset victories and to two productive political careers.
The late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's political power base stemmed from his being both Mayor and Democratic Party Chairman. The senior Daley had virtually absolute control who was slated to office, who got jobs and who got elected. Daley's role in helping John F. Kennedy narrowly defeat Richard Nixon in 1960 has been well-documented.
However, Lyons' tenure in the post has coincided with the decline of the influence of the Cook County Democratic Party. Current Mayor Richard M. Daley, who ran an insurgent campaign for Cook County States' Attorney in 1980 (when Lyons was the only committeeman on the Northwest Side to support Daley), decided to created his own political organizations rather than rely on the Democratic committeemen. It is ironic that at the time of Lyons' death, there are a number of federal investigations targeting members of these alternative organizations (which have already brought some convictions in federal court).
Lyons served as a Captain in the U.S. Army in the 1950s and was later the vice president of the Constitutional Convention that drafted the state's current constitution in 1970. Lyons was slated by the Demcoratic Party as its candidate for Illinois Attorney General in 1972. However, he lost that race to incumbent Republican William Scott in the Nixon landslide (in time, Scott would be forced out as Illinois Attorney General in 1980 when he was convicted of tax fraud in federal court). While he ran for re-ekection as 45th Ward Democratic Committeeman and ran for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention at the Democratic Presidential Primaries, Lyons never sought elective governmental office after his 1972 defeat.
A wake for Lyons is to be held in Chicago on Tuesday evening (and EVERYONE in local politics will stop in to pay respects; as that is how things are done in Chicago). His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Additional details on his death can be found in the Chicago Tribune at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
As of now, the 80 Democratic committeemen from Chicago's 50 wards and the 30 Cook County suburban townships are scheduled to meet on February 1 to select a new chairman. The leading candidate for the post is 31st Ward Committeeman Joseph Berrios from the city's Near Northwest Side, a Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review (a three-member panel that reviews property tax assessments; it should not come as a surprise to find that Berrios has amassed a campaign warchest in the millions of dollars). Berrios, a Puerto Rican, and whose daughter Toni is a State Representative, would become the first Hispanic to serve as Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party.
How much change the election of Commissioner Berrios as Cook County Democratic Chairman would have on upcoming elections is subject to debate. Various court rulings that (in theory, at least) have placed limits on political patronage have reduced the impact of the Cook County Democratic Party in election campaigns.
However, the local Democratic Party is still a major power in terms of slatemaking. Despite the well-mentioned shortcomings of some of its slated candidates in the 2006 elections, the "Machine" helped John Stroger win re-nomination as Cook County board President even after he had a major stroke, and then was able to elect his Todd as John Stroger's replacement on the November ballot. The party has also been extremely strong in electing most of its slate of judicial candidates during the chairmanship of Lyons (you must remember that Illinois elects judges at most levels, and Cook County has more elected judges than probably any area its size or population in the world... a total of over 200 elected judges).
Still, with no less than three probable Democratic Party Presidential hopefuls having ties in their lives to Cook County (current Illinois Senator Barack Obama and the two candidates born in Chicago, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Gen. Wesley Clark), Lyons' successor as Cook County Democratic Chairman will most definately be a player in Democratic Party circles, even if it is not at the level of Cermak, Arvey or Richard J. Daley.