Politics begins and ends on the streets. It’s where party functionaries and public officials organize the votes that put them into power, and where they send government services. It’s where they must prove themselves, and where they’ll be measured.
This is certainly true in Chicago, where local wards make up the building blocks of a citywide Democratic power base. That these wards also constitute an age-old map of contending neighborhood alliances is something most Chicagoans know instinctively.
It’s something other Illinoisans —who grasp regionalism on a larger scale and see Chicago as a monolith — may be about to learn, as well. If Chicagoans take control of the Statehouse, intra-city rivalry in the state’s largest metropolis might simply move to Springfield.
Of course, Election Day is more than a month away, and much can happen between now and then. But as it stands, Chicago Democrats appear poised to take control of the Executive Mansion for the first time in nearly three decades, keep the Illinois House and win the state Senate. And so far, because the traditionally fractious Democrats can almost taste the victory, that party is working to keep differences to a minimum.
Still, some tension is apparent, even in unity. The most powerful Democrat in the Statehouse, and arguably the state, is House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also controls the 13th Ward on Chicago’s Southwest Side. He invoked ward politics in stressing his support for Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic nominee for governor. Madigan pledged to prove it on Election Day the old-fashioned way.
“There’s no problem between Blagojevich and [me]. Blagojevich will probably get a better vote out of the 13th Ward than he gets out of the 33rd Ward. And I’ll dare his father-in-law to do better.” That father-in-law, Ald. Dick Mell, is boss of the 33rd Ward on the city’s Northwest Side.
In fact, U.S. Rep. Blagojevich has emerged from relative obscurity into the upper echelons of Illinois Democratic politics over the past year.
Critics say he couldn’t have done it without Mell’s help. Before entering the race for governor, he was little known outside of his congressional district on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Now he’s outpacing two-term GOP Attorney General Jim Ryan in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. George Ryan. In three months, he could be directing the policy agenda in Springfield.
To get his way, he would need help from Madigan, who has been calling the shots for Democrats in Springfield for two decades, and from Emil Jones, another South Sider, who is expected to win the Senate presidency should the Democrats take that chamber. Both would decide whether a governor’s agenda sees the light of day.
There’s no question, though, that Democrats throughout Illinois are united behind Blagojevich. They’re thrilled at the prospect of reclaiming the governor’s mansion from Republicans, who have occupied it since 1977. Thus, personal adjustments — and political trade-offs — could be made.
“I haven’t seen unity like this since the Lyndon Johnson election of 1964,” says Cook County Democratic Chairman Thomas Lyons. “Nobody is worried about upstate/downstate or whatever. Nobody is worried about anything but winning this thing.”
Meanwhile, a Blagojevich victory could energize ward politics in Chicago, where South Siders such as Madigan and Mayor Richard M. Daley have long dominated the power structure. “The South Siders feel they are intellectually brighter from a political point of view,” says Thom Serafin, a Chicago-based political consultant. “They know how to play the game and they’ve been in charge longer.” So some Democrats see Blagojevich’s candidacy as an opportunity to level that playing field by establishing a substantial power base on the North Side.
Both the North and South sides are strewn with working-class neighborhoods. And there is no great philosophical divide between the two sectors. Instead, the city historically has been divided into ethnic enclaves: The Germans and Poles, for example, migrated to neighborhoods north of the Loop, while African Americans and the Irish took up residence on the South Side.
The city has been gentrified in recent years and such ethnic blocks have been diluted. Partly as a result of this phenomenon, political power no longer is centralized as it was in the 1960s and 1970s when the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, the current mayor’s father, had virtual absolute control.
There's no question, though, that Democrats throughout Illinois are united behind Blagojevich. They"re thrilled at the prospect of reclaiming the governor's mansion from Republicans.
But several ward organizations still operate under the regular Democratic organizational umbrella. And the South Side Irish, who proved to be exceptional organizers, still claim several of the strongest ward organ- izations in the city. In addition to Madigan, South Side Irish ward bosses include mayoral brother John Daley, a Cook County Commissioner (11th Ward), Ald. Edward Burke (14th Ward) and Thomas Hynes, the former Cook County assessor (19th Ward).
Yet if Blagojevich wins the governor’s race, North Siders will win bragging rights. “There have been some regional differences within the party and certainly having a governor from the North Side will help even up the ledger, I think,” says David Axelrod, the mayor’s political adviser.
There’s also a practical consideration: jobs with such agencies as the state transportation department, and contracts that would be under Blagojevich’s control should his gubernatorial bid be successful. In fact, North Siders are banking on Blagojevich doling out such work, according to five other political consultants who, for reasons that are clear, asked not to be named. To the extent that he could bargain with the mayor, Blagojevich also would have control over city jobs.
But Ald. William Banks, committeeman of the 36th Ward near O’Hare International Airport, plays down this dynamic. He and Mell are considered the North Side’s most powerful ward bosses. “We [Banks and Mell] have never had any conversations about power bases,” Banks says. “It’s all about electing Democrats.”
Downstaters also are expected to figure into this equation. Downstate Democratic county chairmen, and other allies outside of Cook County, were key to Blagojevich’s primary victory. In fact, Blagojevich placed only third in the city behind former Attorney General Roland Burris and former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas.
“The party leaders that had the most to do with Blagojevich’s victory in the primary were really downstate county chairs,” Axelrod says. “I would really look for him to build a statewide organization.”
Democrats are keeping quiet about issues that could divide their party before the election. And this serves them well as they try to contrast their unity with routine eruptions between GOP leaders.
In any event, conflict within the Democratic Party has not reached the level of combat seen 30 years ago when former Gov. Dan Walker’s feud with the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley cost Walker his job. Walker, who lived in suburban Deerfield, campaigned as an “independent” Democrat against Daley’s political organization. He bested the machine’s slated candidate, then-Lt. Gov. Paul Simon, in the 1972 primary election. He then beat Republican Richard Ogilvie, the incumbent governor, and served one term.
In 1976, Daley ran then-Secretary of State Michael Howlett against Walker. Howlett won the Democratic nomination but lost the election to Republican Jim Thompson, beginning the GOP’s 26-year reign.
But Blagojevich is not a Walker-style outsider. He was not the junior Daley’s first choice for Democratic nominee — the mayor wanted his brother, William, who declined to run — but the mayor is chairman of Blagojevich’s campaign.
Nevertheless, Democrats are bracing for power shifts in the hierarchy of their party as they consider the prospects after November. Madigan likely will have the heaviest burden in this regard. He has controlled the House for all but one of the last 10 two-year legislative sessions.
And the speaker has not been above asserting power, even in this campaign. “I don’t plan to get into any criticism of Blagojevich,” Madigan says. “I could do that. I could talk about his indiscretions. But I’m not going to do that because I believe in solidarity within the political party.”
Blagojevich responds: “I’m the first to admit that I’m not perfect, and I’m sure somebody could make a case about that. But the bigger issue here is we’re a party that’s united. And there are differences even between the leaders of our political party, but they’re not deep-rooted, deep-seated.”
Another Democratic leader may be in for adjustments. Chicago Mayor Daley could be dealing with a Demo-cratic governor for the first time. His political adviser reminds, “Daley measures by only one yardstick, and that is what he can get done for the city.”
Make no mistake, each politician has his own turf to protect.
Aaron Chambers can be reached at statehousebureau@aol.com.
Illinois Issues, September 2002
