(Cross posted from SoapBlox/Chicago. Yes it's a county office, but it's the city machine.)
by bored now
i attended the democratic committee of cook county slating meeting today, where todd stroger was overwhelmingly elected to replace his father on the fall ballot (by weighted vote). it was a strange and perplexing experience.
there was never any question (in my mind, at least) what would be the outcome. there was no horse-trading, lobbying or even spirited discussion before the meeting. everything was eerily calm as the democratic committeemen and women came in to take their seats.
the room was absolutely packed -- so packed that people were standing out in the hall until the hotel opened up the room behind us to let more people in. so packed that forrest claypool, who had a staff person or volunteer saving him a spot, was refused entry by security (before the back room was opened up). so packed that burt natarus asked that the proceedings move to a large space.
we were reminded, more than once, that this proceeding was in accordance to the law -- they didn't say, remember that illinois is not a reform state, but it had the same effect.
welcome... to the machine.
setting aside the question whether this should be the law for replacing someone on the ballot who dies, resigns or is no longer able to serve, we were asked to observe that this wasn't a "smoke-filled room." i kept thinking, isn't smoking illegal in chicago? but i suspect that their point was much different. speaker after speaker reminded us that this was an open and transparent vote.
as long as you ignored the fact that the fix was in!
perhaps we were supposed to overlook that this wasn't an open and transparent process, more akin to the smoke-filled rooms that selected presidents, governors and mayors in years gone by than they'd like to admit. maybe we were supposed to understand that by electing democratic committeemen and women in the first place that we were ceding our rights to have a say in who represented democrats on the ballot in cases like this. what other power, several committeemen asked, did they have? we couldn't deny them this now!
seemingly fair, mike madigan -- temporary chair of the county party meeting -- suggested that they go in alphabetical order (meaning that stroger would go last, right before the vote). knowing that the fix was in, this might seem appropriate, given that davis had so little support. but like most football teams that win the coin toss, there are advantages to deferring, to speaking last. did i detect a smug look on madigan's face when he announced this?
danny davis got up and gave a rousing speech, listing his credentials and the reasons why he sought this office (to oversee the county health care system). while davis is a very deliberate speaker, he hit his points before giving up the podium. as he concluded, the crowd literally went wild. chants of "vote with the people" erupted in the back of the room.
stroger, otoh, was defensive from the start. his most important credential? that he has two children! stroger was given mostly polite applause, although he definitely had people in the crowd who were supporting him.
madigan then asked if any of his fellow committeemen and women wanted to speak in support of davis. they directed their words at their fellow committeemen and women, hoping to persuade those undeclared or possible swing votes in the crowd. all too often, these speakers were interrupted by davis supporters in the public area. karen yarborough spoke about all the calls and emails she's gotten asking her to support davis -- which she did!
but what was most interesting -- to me, anyway -- were the comments by stroger's supporters. alderman lyle reminded us that this was by no means the first time that a son, daughter or wife has succeeded their father in office. unfortunately, the alderman confused those who were elected to succeed their spouse or father with alderman stroger, who was appointed (don harmon suggests "annointed") to fill his father's place on the ballot.
then alderman lyle suggested that it was for reasons of race that people objected to stroger's appointment. i can't say for sure, but perhaps ald. lyle is unaware that both bobbie steele and davis are black.
burt natarus tried a different approach -- he started to lecture the crowd. apparently, being an alderman and responding to constituents is a really demanding job, and he wanted us to know how hard he worked! unfortunately for burt, his argument got lost in his defense of his hard work, and he tempered his comments as he concluded them.
then lou lang came out and told us that the process was fair, because that's how he got his job! oh, and everyone there was a progressive! he even admitted that his constituents in attendence would resent his vote, but we needed to get a grip! after all, it could produce good people, too!
what was really interesting was that the stroger forces were so confident in their success that they didn't even deign to address their comments to their fellow committeemen and women. their comments were definitely directed at the public! they didn't appreciate being mocked for participating in a rigged process, one that excludes democrats of all kinds. trust them, they lectured. (isn't that the same rationale we hear from george bush?)
as i was leaving, karen yarborough was walking with a group in front of me. she related that one of the people in attendence there mentioned that they would now be voting for peraica. how could this be?, she wondered. how could democrats -- activists -- be so alienated by this process that they would abandon democrats at the top of the ticket? why, indeed.
yes, dorothy, we aren't in kansas anymore. welcome... to the machine.
this whole thing left me disappointed. while there was so much hope in steele and davis, but danny davis made little effort to actually win the vote. as much as i would have liked to see him succeed, i'm as interested in someone just handing him the position as i am in stroger's annointment. david fagus mentioned in his ward democratic organization meeting that only stroger had called him to ask him for his vote. rule #1 in politics: people rarely vote for you when they're not asked to do so...