* Our buddy Jake, the 14 year old video blogger who broke through last year when he was interviewed by Chicago Public Radio, is making news again. Jake just scored an interview with mayoral candidate Dorothy Brown, which you can view in three parts, here, here and here. Congrats, Jake!
* Dog Fight in the 50th, a blog about the four-way battle in broken down warhorse Bernie Stone’s 50th Ward race, is coming of age. A recent post about AFSMCE’s endorsement of Greg Brewer has 78 comments. Go take a look, it’s quite the flame war. Brewer, himself, blogged at his own site yesterday about yard signs being stolen, which is not an unusual thing in politics.
* The Sun-Times has an interesting story about the 25th Ward race. Seems that Ald. Danny Solis is being accused of forgery.
The charge is serious: Ald. Danny Solis (25th), the president pro tempore of the Chicago City Council, had someone forge his notarized signatures on his statements of candidacy and economic interest while he was on a fact-finding trip to Israel with other Hispanic aldermen.
He was back from the trip before the final deadline, but they had to be filed while he was away to make him eligible for the lottery for top ballot spot for the Southwest Side ward that includes Pilsen.
Solis’ attorneys have said he signed the documents himself before he left, and they expect the lawsuit filed against him Friday will be thrown out just as the electoral board threw out the charge earlier.
But Solis reportedly was seen talking angrily to his Chicago staff on his BlackBerry while in Israel, and handwriting expert Diana Marsh says whoever signed “Danny Solis” to the statement of candidacy and economic interest is not the same person who signed “Danny Solis” on all of Solis’ other documents.
* Chicagoist has a good backgrounder on the race.
Adding to the bitterness of this contest is not only Medrano’s attempt to reclaim the seat he lost when he went to prison, but the various other people who have thrown their hat into the ring against Solis. Having fallen out with the pro-Daley Hispanic Democratic Organization (which has seen diminished influence in the wake of federal corruption probes) over his ties to such HDO rivals as Rep. Luis Gutierrez, and Solis’ own congressional ambitions. Besides Medrano, he is also facing Aaron del Valle and Joe Acevedo, who, while not necessarily strong challengers, have added enough chaos to the mix to give Danny a headache.
We can’t prove it, but we suspect that they are stalking horses put into the race to muck things up. While it seems a fair bet that he will pull a lot of votes in the election next month, being drawn into a bitter runoff against a strong challenger probably isn’t Danny Solis’ idea of a good time. Taking on either the HDO or Medrano, and whomever the group of losers throw their support behind, will just complicate things for him. […]
(T)his race is as much about getting control over the spoils of TIF money and development in the ward as it is about making political careers. […]
With so much at stake, and so many cynical players grabbing for power, it seems that there are no good choices to be made in this race, with the status quo being the only real prize for residents.
This is a local elections open thread and, as always, it is not limited to Chicago politics. Have at it.