Tomorrow are the Chicago municipal elections. And for the first time in decades, we have a chance for real change here in Chicago. A two-year spate of indictments and convictions has severly weakend the corrupt patronage system of the Chicago machine, giving progressive organizations a chance to make Chicago the battle ground for important legistlation like last summer's historic big-box Living Wage ordinance.
Though Mayor Daley seems poised for an easy re-election, groups like SEIU and the Chicago Federation of Labor have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of workers into electing a slate of indepenent, progressive Chicago aldermen, and I believe that tomorrow we will see a political shake up that will change the face of Chicago politics. Democracy for America has also been getting involved. Our two active Chicago-based groups have endorsed candidates and have been out canvassing for months. Then on February 16th national DFA endorsed Aldermanic candidates in nine races (there are 50 aldermanic seats up for election). Those candidates are:
David Askew (Ward 2)
Greg Brewer (Ward 50)
Joe Moore (Ward 49)
Leroy Jones, Jr.(Ward 21)
Manuel Flores (Ward 1)
Michele Smith (Ward 43)
Ricardo Munoz (Ward 22)
Sandi Jackson (Ward 7)
Toni Preckwinkle (Ward 4)
I haven't really seen this blogged about much on Daily Kos, though I have been blogging quite a bit about these elections on Blog for America. Below I have cross-posted my latest update, which includes descriptions and photos of various election-weekend events I participated in. If you live in Chicago, it's not too late. History is in the making!
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Cross-posted at http://www.blogforamerica.com/...
Election Day Preparations in Chicago
Our nine DFA-List candidates for Chicago's aldermanic elections have just finished a busy weekend of activities as they get ready for the election that is now just two days away. I had the pleasure of attending events for three of these outstanding candidates, and below is my recap of the weekend's activities.
Friday night was a fundraiser for 21st Ward Aldermanic Candidate, Leroy Jones, Jr. And yes, I will brag a bit and say that this event was organized by me. :-) I had run into one of Leroy's campaign staffers, DFAer and SEIU employee Wendy Howell, at another event, and she said that they were coming up short on money to print GOTV (Get Out The Vote) materials. I hate to see a DFA candidate going without, so I gathered up a few of my fellow DFAers and we did a little Friday night cocktail event for Leroy. A pic from the event is here on the left. Leroy is at the far end of the table addressing the group, and yes, that blond hair on the left belongs to former DFA-List candidate Christine Cegelis who is a good friend of mine, and who came out to support Leroy. In fact, Christine has been quietly helping out a number of DFA candidates, and if you call DFA candidate Joe Moore's campaign HQ on election day, you might just find Christine answering the phone!
None of my DFA buddies have particularly deep pockets, but still we managed to raise about $1300 at this event. Wendy emailed me later to thank me, and told me that we had very nicely "filled in the corners" of their GOTV budget. Go Leroy!
Saturday morning I was up bright and early to get ready for the 10 a.m. election day training and GOTV blitz at Joe Moore headquarters. Like a good netizen, I checked my email first thing only to see a message from my friend Amy saying that she didn't like the looks of the weather and was going to bail out on Saturday and come Sunday instead. I took a look out my window, saw the cold, clear skies, pulled on another layer of fleece and headed out the door.
Moore campaign HQ was packed, filled with people of all races and ethnicities, a visual demonstration of the diversity of Joe's ward, and one of the themes of Joe's campaign. To quote from the speech he gave at his campaign kick off :
"Against a backdropof a nation sharply divided, a nation of segregated communities and widening income gaps, our neighborhood stands as a beacon of hope. Attend our neighborhood schools and hear over thirty languages spoken. Walk down Clark Street, Morse Avenue or Howard Street and visit stores and restaurants from cultures spanning the globe. Randomly knock on the door of any home in the 49th Ward and you cannot predict the race and ethnic heritage of the person answering. Have we in the 49th Ward completely conquered the racial divide? Of course not. Racism exists in our community, often in insidious forms. But our community is much closer than most to embodying the dream of an America where people of different races and cultures can live and work side by side."
Shortly after 10:00 a.m. the event kicked off. First there was some basic election day training. For those who have never worked on election day, there are lots of jobs that need to be done to get your voters to the polls and to monitor the electoral process. Then they started getting into individual assignments, and had all of the area chairs stand at the front of the room and be introduced. An area chair is like the middle management of a campaign's field operation. Precinct workers report to area chairs, area chairs report to the field director, and the field director reports to the campaign manager. It is a position that often requires months of work, and is an invaluable service to the campaign for those willing to take it on. The picture above is a shot of the area chairs, and I am proud to say that three of those folks are active members of my local Edgewater/Rogers Park DFA group.
We then heard from the candidate himself, pictured here with his field director, Wayne Frasier, seated next to him, and the 49th Ward Democratic Committeeman, David Fagus, standing behind them. Though I have heard Joe speak many times before, it was still very inspiring, as he thanked the volunteers, both new people as well as those who have been with him since he was first elected. He talked about how proud he was to serve the people of the ward, and how proud he was of the many things they had accomplished together, and how humbled and honored he was by the trust and commitment of the many people who who were there that day to support his campaign.
After Joe spoke it was a flurry of excitement as people got ready to hit the streets for the final pre-election blitz. We all were given bags containing neatly labeled GOTV reminders to be placed on voter's doors. I grabbed my bag and headed out with fellow volunteer Maureen to cover a nearby precinct. It was cold and windy, and I was wishing I had put on one more layer of fleece! Maureen lent me her scarf as a few brief flurries of hail descended upon us, the harbingers of the storm that would begin that evening. At 2:00 I was too cold to keep going, so Maureen and I called it a day, and I decided I would get my wayward friend Amy to help me finish up on Sunday.
That night snow started to come down in those giant, puffy flakes that always make you want to catch one on your tongue. I called Amy to confirm that she will still coming the next day. "Sandra," she said, "I think I made the wrong choice on the weather. But don't worry, I'll be there."
At 11:00 a.m. on Sunday I show up at Moore HQ to find Amy already there, helping bundle up precinct packets for election day. We helped in the office for a bit as volunteers come in to pick up packets and hit the streets. Finally we head out to finish our precinct, sloshing through the wet snow, putting up the last flyer just as the snow turned to freezing rain. We quickly grabbed a couple of tacos from a neighborhood taqueria and headed over to the Greg Brewer campaign for their election day training.
Greg Brewer is a DFA-List candidate who is running in the 50th Ward, and though the campaign office is always buzzing with activity, today they had an absolutely ridiculous amount of people jammed into their back room for election day pollwatcher training. DFAer Nalani McClendon, who is part of the campaign staff, led the training. I have worked with Nalani on two campaigns before, a successful campaign to elect fellow DFAer Lali Watt as Wilmette Village Trustee, and a not-so-successful campaign to elect Democrat Dan Seals to U.S. Congress in place of Republican incumbent Mark Kirk. The training was extremely well done, something I have come to expect from the Brewer campaign. The training broke up, and a few of us DFAers hung around to coordinate election day rides and look over our training materials. That's us in the picture -- I'm the bedraggled looking one in the blue jacket. For those who have worked on campaigns before, I am sure you are noticing the copious amount of sugar on the table (partially obscured by my papers). And on the very top of the photo, above the Greg Brewer sign, you can see a giant package package of toilet tissue. Which just goes to show that campaigns don't run on ideas alone! ;-)
I was home by 5:00 p.m. to finally take of my layers of wet socks, and to once again watch the snow falling outside my window. Today I am heading off to my "day job" as a civil engineer, but tomorrow is election day, the day we have been working for and waiting for these many months. I'll be at Brewer campaign HQ at 5:30 a.m., and polls will open at 6:00 a.m. If you are in the Chicago area, it's not to late to come and lend a hand. The DFA candidates page has links to all of our endorsed candidates. Give one of them a call and see how you can help us WIN THIS ELECTION!
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For those who live in a ward not on that list, I would highly recommend using one of these two lists as your guide:
http://www.seiu-illinois.org/...
http://www.iviipo.org/...
And if you are already working on an Aldermanic campaign, please share your stories below.
Thanks!
P.S. Vote Dorothy Brown for mayor! :-)