This diary is not intended to outrage or incite readers, so it will probably get few comments or recs and will slowly scroll down. But it is designed to provide info regarding our Democratic primary in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District so that kossacks will be better informed about one particular primary this season (March 20). The incumbent is Mike Quigley, who is a “regular” Democrat — the kind that in the old days we would describe as a “machine” Democrat. His voting record is standard issue — he votes party line on all rules and on most issues, he is a reliable down-the-line Dem. He’s been in Congress since 2009 and is usually unopposed in primaries and virtually unopposed in Novembers, unless you count the mealy-mouthed Republicans who “claim” that they are liberal on social issues (to fit the District) but really aren’t and are fiscally “conservative” but really aren’t (more like Paul Ryan clones whose policies would starve grandmothers and lavish tax breaks on millionaires) who routinely top out at about 27% or the Greens whose issues sound good on first blush but are kind of bizarre if you dig a little deeper (last time, the Green wanted to abolish Christmas Day as a sanctioned federal holiday which has some merit in theory because of separation of church and state but would be an utter fiasco in practice when someone would have to tell kids and teachers (and parents) that they would have to go to school on Christmas), who usually get less than 5%, if that.
This is Dan Rostenkowski’s old District, which, after his downfall, was represented by a Republican (Flanagan) for 2 years and then has been held by Blago and then Rahmbo, who most know all about for various reasons. It covers a good portion of Chicago’s North and Northwest sides and extends out into the suburbs a bit. It is decidedly Democratic, with lots of yeastiness, with ethnicities of every kind you could possibly think of. Very urban, very liberal. Very pro-choice; pro-LGBT, anti-gun, VERY pro-immigrant; pro-mass transit, anti-crime, pro-education, pro-Cubbies. The way America should be. It’s “home.”
Quigley is “okay.” You’ve seen him on TV recently because along with Adam Schiff, he’s on the House Intelligence Committee and has been in the news in connection with the Russia probe — he’s in favor of the investigation and opposed to Nunes’ attempt to de-rail it. To the extent that it’s done anything, it’s because Schiff and Swalwell and Quigley have been asking questions. He’s also on the Appropriations Committee, and like any good little Congressman should, he attempts to bring home the bacon to Chi-town — like bike trails, CTA expansion and renovation, universities, etc.. He’s not in the “College of Cardinals” group of subcommittee ranking members as yet, but he will be in another term or so and if the Dems flip the House, he’ll be in a position to arrange Chicagoland earmarks that will benefit many.
But...he isn’t for Medicare for All. He isn’t for expanding Social Security and increasing COLA’s. He doesn’t support the $15 minimum wage. He voted to re-authorize FISA, He takes PAC money. He voted for the Defense Authorization Act. He rarely holds town halls. He isn’t “outspoken.” Until this Russia probe, he never made news; he isn’t covered by the media; he’s quiet; he doesn’t “fight” Trump. He’s an “insider.” This primary is to determine whether we can do better.
Sadly, he’s almost certainly going to win. And that’s because he’s being challenged by 3, count em, 3 underfunded candidates who are all determined to claim the “progressive” label and knock him out (despite the fact that he is spending heavily and is on TV every hour on every channel). I don’t really want him to win — I don’t “hate” him and I’ve voted for him countless times, but I’ve always been voting for challengers against him for at least 30 years. He ran for alderman against Helen Shiller, a Mayor Daley critic who I really liked. He ran for and got elected to the Cook County Board and proceeded to raise all kinds of taxes innumerable times. And he’s been a Congressman for nearly 10 years.
The challenger who has gotten the most national attention is Benjamin Thomas Wolf — primarily because he claims he’s the “Cannabis Candidate” and did an ad smoking a blunt. He also did an ad holding an AR-15 claiming that he wants to outlaw them. Cool, right? Not so fast. He’s also a serial embellisher, claiming variously that he was an FBI agent, had served in Iraq, was a special “human rights attache” to the State Department, was one of the first responders on 9/11, was a professor at two Chicago universities and more. All of that has some kernels of truth in them, but he wasn’t really a FBI Special Agent, just an employee (he claims under-cover); he wasn’t in the military and was only in Iraq as part of the State Department, he isn’t really a professor at Roosevelt, he was just an adjunct for 1 semester, State doesn’t really have “special human rights attaches” etc… What’s worse, one woman (he claims a disgruntled “volunteer” who wanted to have sex with him and then stalked him and his family) has accused him of harassment. He has good positions on issues, but all this other junk is just overwhelming everything else. At the forum I went to today (see below), he had multiple hecklers and many of the questions to him concerned all this extraneous junk. He’s toast.
Thankfully, though, there are two other really good candidates. For Bernie fans, there’s Steve Schwartzberg. I met him today for the first time and he’s impressive (much more so than I expected because his website is all Bernie all the time and while I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary, I think local candidates should stand on their own). He went to Fletcher and has a PHD from Yale in history and he’s written extensively on Latin American policy, the history of the Cherokee people and lots more. Moreover, I was just sitting there before the forum and he deliberately engaged me for 20 minutes or so talking about every issue under the sun and he’s clearly super bright and in touch on all the issues and, like wow! I’ve never had such a long detailed conversation with a politician in my whole life! He’s a good speaker, has none of Quigley’s problems and would be a great Congressman, I’m quite sure.
And then, there’s Sameena Mustafa, who is also super impressive! She’s the daughter of Indian-American immigrants, is of Muslim descent, went to Northwestern, is a comedienne (2nd City), headed a Planned Parenthood office in town, demonstrated for LGBT rights, has been a tenant advocate for low income housing and I could go on and on. Like I told her, she also resembles Prince Harry’s fiance. Before I met Steve, I was leaning towards voting for her — I’d love to vote for a Muslim woman for the time ever for Congress. I agree with her on all issues, from healthcare, to immigrants, to wages and taxation, to privacy rights, guns, campaign finance reform, Dodd-Frank reform — you name it, she agrees with me! She’s super smart, funny, down-to-earth, a normal person. She’d be great!
Anyway, there was a candidate forum this morning and Quigley gamed it be saying that he had another function to go to, so he boringly spoke for 10 minutes, got 10 minutes of questions (to which he boringly responded) and then left. Booo! There was also an annoying Republican there (I forget his name) who claimed that immigrants were criminals and got roundly booed (for real) and otherwise took way too much time mumbling inanities. Wolf’s antics (or rather the antics of his large heckler group) was clearly the entertaining element of the show! Fun times! Schwartzberg and Mustafa stole the show though with their passion and eloquence and their command of issues. Too bad they’re going to split the votes and Quigley seems likely to cruise.
So, who should I vote for? Quigley and Wolf are clearly out. It’s between my new friends Steve and Sameena. WHY CAN’T ONE OF THEM WIN??!! The primary is only in a week and a half, but feel free to donate to either of them or just watch and be entertained. Steve said he’d be running again in 2020.
All thoughts and comments welcomed!
