* This is one of the biggest problems for Rep. Feigenholtz and Commissioner Mike Quigley in the 5th CD special election race… …
Feigenholtz sported a well-known cadre of supporters, including endorsements from Equality Illinois Political Director Rick Garcia and Art Johnston, a popular co-founder of the gay rights group. Feigenholtz is going head-to-head for the GLBT vote with Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.
One key endorsement is off the table. Ald. Tom “Sticky Buns” Tunney (44th) is taking a pass. Chicago’s first and only openly gay alderman and Ann Sather’s proprietor is a longtime friend and ally of both, so he is not endorsing, though he will do fund-raising for both.
They’re going to split that 44th Ward and gay-friendly vote. They both need to get outside their base, and they are trying. Whether they succeed will determine if they have a chance in the March primary. Quigley has the name, Feigenholtz has the money. Rep. John Fritchey has the troop advantage.
North Side and openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris is backing a strange bedfellow: 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, Mayor Daley’s unofficial City Council floor leader and longtime Northwest Side pol. O’Connor launched his Council career in the 1980s as a member of the infamous “Vrdolyak 29,” the white ethnic bloc that stymied the city’s first black mayor at every turn.
That probably won’t dilute the Feigenholtz/Quigley base all that much, but it won’t help, either.
* Meanwhile, the Tribune will not give Rep. Fritchey a break. He gets the Illinois AFL-CIO endorsement while Feigenholtz is scoring the SEIU nod, so the Tribune hed reads thusly: “Unions divided in race to replace Emanuel.” There’s no analysis at all about how many union members are in the district (the unions backing Fritchey have far more in-district members than SEIU, for instance), or the relative strength that each union has (SEIU has a ton of bodies it can deploy at will, many of them experienced with precinct work, but the Chicago teachers and AFSCME are no slouches, either).
However, the real point is this: If a candidate is having trouble with the biggest newsaper in town, one should always keep an eye on that candidate because the trouble often spreads to other media outlets.
Feigenholtz, by the way, will be endorsed by UNITE/HERE this week. The union hasn’t been a gigantic player in ward politics, but it is with SEIU in the Change to Win splinter group and so will play a role in the campaign.
…CLARIFICATION… Local 1 of UNITE/HERE, which is the hotel/restaurant arm, endorsed Rep. Fritchey. As noted in Morning Shorts today, UNITE/HERE is pretty divided these days.
Fritchey won the endorsement of IVI/IPO over the weekend. That’s usually a great addition to a campaign mailer, but not so much as far as troops are concerned.
From PSB…
John has recently been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, IFT, AFSCME, the Jewish Political Alliance of Illinois, the American Muslim Task Force and the Illinois Committee for Honest Government, to name a few.”
Also, Tom Geoghegan is being endorsed by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committe. That will be good for a check and a press pop, but maybe not much else. We’ll see.
* Also via PSB, is a Sun-Times story that we missed several days ago…
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz is positioning herself as a progressive Democrat in the race to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress representing the North Side of Chicago and some of the west suburbs.
But one of her opponents is making sure voters know Feigenholtz’s name appears on two “clout lists” — lists of people who allegedly secured jobs for friends from then-Secretary of State George Ryan in the 1990s and from then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration.
State Rep. John Fritchey, a rival in the 5th Congressional District race, has been highlighting that connection in calls to voters.
Feigenholtz noted that Fritchey doesn’t mention that many elected officials in Illinois — including Emanuel, who is now President Obama’s White House chief of staff — also found their names on the list for acts as small as writing a letter of recommendation for people who got state jobs. That’s what Feigenholtz said landed her on both clout lists.
Add that to her missing the House ethics vote last week, toss in some expected controversy over her past campaign contributions and the nasty poll which stirred up a bit of ire and you can see a pattern develop, as least as far as campaigns are concerned. Nobody would ever actually come out and say that Feigenholtz is corrupt. They’ll just imply it.
Feigenholtz, however, can retaliate with misleading stuff like this, so it may all end up as a wash.
* Related…
* 5th CD Contact Database v 2.1
* IL-5: Endorsements And Non-Endorsements
* Fritchey Endorsed by IVI-IPO