Who's running against Rahm?

[zipplewrath]

Anyone know what other democrats will be running against Rahm in Chicago? I got money to spend.

[dave29]

1. hmm lets see

http://tinyurl.com/2ey9owv

[zipplewrath]

4. Looking for a bit of local knowledge

Kind of wondering who the more progressive of the candidates.

[MineralMan]

22. LOL!

But, I'm not sure the OP was really asking that question....not really.

[Codeine]

28. That's insanely awesome.

:rofl:

[HughMoran]

40. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

:rofl:

Effing hilarious!!!

[metapunditedgy]

2. I'd be a bit scared to run against Rahm. n/t

[mod mom]

3. Here's a list of contenders. I'm sure $ is going to be a big factor.

http://www.progressillinois.com/posts/content/2010/09/10/whose-running-mayor

[frazzled]

5. Do you live in Chicago?

And are you registered to vote in Cook County? Do you ride the el here, or send your kids to school? Pay property taxes?

No? Then there is little need for you to stick your nose into the business of this city of 2.8 million (third largest in US).

But I guess your abstract hatred is so deep-rooted that time and money spent here are of more consequence than mayoral races in your town.

[bigwillq]

6. I don't see an issue with folks donating

to Democrats in other states. It's their money. They can choose to do what they want with it.

[frazzled]

9. Because you don't know the issues or the candidates

I don't like it when Republicans pour money into local races in other states, so I have to be consistent and think it's not healthy for our side either.

Have you ever met Rickey Hendon? I have. Do you know who Miguel Del Valla is? Did you know what James Meeks has said about gay people? Didn't think so.

[bigwillq]

13. I would hope

people would do some research before sending money to a candidate. I know I would. I have never donated to a candidate that didn't compete in my state. I hardly give $$ to candidates in general but, if I did, I would do research before donating. I think this OP is going to do the research, which is why the OP asked the question.

And to answer your questions:
No
Yes
Yes

[notesdev]

So suggest one

I'm sure people who have money to spend on spiting Emmanuel could benefit from your greater knowledge of the issues and candidates.

If someone is willing to help put the best person in office (which pretty much by definition cannot be Rahm Emmanuel), that's a boon not an imposition!

[LiberalFighter]

25. If you don't like contributions from outside the area I would think

you would be against Rahm running. I'm sure a lot of his campaign funding is from outside the Chicago area.

I would prefer that contributions be limited to those living in the district. But until there are laws against it is not wise to stay out and let the other side do it.

[frazzled]

29. Yo, this is a MAYORAL race. It's about this city only

It's not for Senate or House of Representatives, in which people from the outside might have an interest because the elected representatives have a vote in matters that affect the whole nation.

This is about garbage collection, local water reclamation, street sweeping, development, parks and green spaces, local arts funding, neighborhoods, etc. So no, I don't think people from the outside should have ANYTHING to say about who should run our city.

[zipplewrath]

30. EMILY's list

The way to get more progressives in congress is to support them early on in their careers. Furthermore, the way to move the party to the left is to create progressive leaders at all levels. And it is also important to send all the members of the DLC into as early a retirement as we can.

[frazzled]

34. Emily's List is hardly the model for progressive politics

And I say this as a woman and a feminist. But face it, they support candidates simply because they are women (Democratic women, yes, but often not progressive women). Witness their support of Hillary Clinton in the primaries, who had at least as big a DLC problem as Rahm, if not more so. (NARAL supported Obama.) And candidates like Jean Shaheen. Sure, we wanted Shaheen to win because she's a Democrat and not a Republican. But she is anything but progressive.

Emily's List is not where I look to move the party to the left.

You people are still not convincing me about the spite campaign to interfere in a city's mayoral election.

If you're so interested in Illinois politics, you should be sending your money in to Alexi Giannoulis, who (even though I'm not that hot on him and supported another candidate in the primaries), is in one of the tightest Senate races in the country. Our next senator could well be a Republican. Donations to Alexi's campaign would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, not interested in donating to elect a Democrat from Illinois to the Senate? Thought that might be the case. This is all about the boogey-man, eh.

[zipplewrath]

35. Actually, already have

But keep making assumptions that aren't true. Probably helps keep up the seriously superior feeling you seem to be thriving upon.

And my reference to EMILY's list was that there is a solid political strategy based upon supporting candidates very early, and at very "low" levels in order to build overtime. Even better, the level of contribution I can make is far more effective at this level, before the big dollar contributors get involved, than trying to go up against the wall street folks in presidential campaigns. And in this case, even more important is working to displace DLC types from the system altogether.

[LiberalFighter]

32. I agree. But Chicago is how big?

Do you think that people and businesses that don't live or have an address in Chicago won't make contributions. They are hoping and probably will receive benefits by making a contribution.

[LWolf]

37. I think the OP is ASKING about the issues and the candidates. nt

[mod mom]

10. really! I send $ to effective politicians (progressives) to help counter the corporate $

regardless of their location. Maybe if we could remove the effects or corporate/big donors there would be a level playing field, but you can bet that rahm willing be getting big bucks form his investment banking buddies & corporate cronies, so any legitimate progressive Dem who opposes him is deserving & will need financial help imho.

[Radical Activist]

14. Raising money will be Rahm's biggest strength as a candidate

and much of it will come from outside of Chicago. You make a good point.

[w4rma]

8. Payback is a bitch. :) (nt)

[dave29]

12. wow. sad. n/t

[zipplewrath]

16. I give money all over the country

I support progressive candidates all over the country. Supporting progressives anywhere helps build the party.

Oh, and I have a sister in Chicago.

[dave29]

33. Maybe you should ask her who she is voting for? (n/t)

[AtomicKitten]

7. Better to donate to support another candidate rather than purely out of spite. nt

[Radical Activist]

11. Here's a running tracker of candidates and potential candidates.

http://progressillinois.com/posts/content/2010/09/10/whose-running-mayor

The frontrunner in the race is probably Tom Dart. He has been called the most liberal sheriff in America.

[madrchsod]

20. dart would make a decent canidate and...

he has a lot going for him at this time. i don`t remember reading anything that could really harm him with any community in chicago.

[ieoeja]

15. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Sheriff Tom Dart and State Sen. Rev. James Meeks are the front-runners.

Rep Luis Gutierrez is often cited as the most prominent elected official in the country of Hispanic ethnicity. He has a long, distinguished career in the US House of Representatives.

Sheriff Tom Dart has worked at all city, state and county levels and done an exceptional job in every position he has held. At the beginning of this foreclosure crisis, he refused to enforce evictions without a longer notification than then required by law (both the state and the feds have increased those required notifications since then). Heck, even prisoners have commented that the prisons seem to be run more efficiently since Dart took over.

Sen/Rev James Meeks has his good points. But as one local commentator lamented, why does the African-American community always have to send us people with that "Rev." before their name? A lot of us feel uncomfortable voting a religious figure into authority over secular matters. In fact, I have already eliminated him based on that fact.


Chicago has a well-established tradition of running just to get something. In this manner, most Chicago elections are decided well before the first ballot is cast. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr appears to be in that mode for this election. A year ago he would have been a serious candidate. But he has some messes on his hands right now. The pundits say Dart is in it for the long haul, and that Meeks may be as well. I don't believe Gutierrez ever officially entered, and may bow out early.


On edit: I have not yet heard/read anyone in the Chicago market claim Rahm as *the* front-runner. Some place him among the front-runners. Others say he isn't even that. The only role he has ever served at the state and city level was as a fund-raiser. And he only did those for a very short time. Old Man Daley (D-deceased) once said, "we don't want nobody that nobody sent." And Rahm has a problem in that nobody sent him.

His possible ace card is if he convinces people he has enough influence in Washington or with the President to bring home the goodies. Of course, he had no prior relationship with the President before being named Chief of Staff. Everybody (except FNC viewers) knows this.

[frazzled]

17. Gutierrez and Dart aren't in the race yet; stay away from Meeks

A spring 2007 newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Meeks one of the "10 leading black religious voices in the anti-gay movement". The newsletter cites him as both “a key member of Chicago's ‘Gatekeepers’ network, an interracial group of evangelical ministers who strive to erase the division between church and state” and “a stalwart anti-gay activist… … has used his House of Hope mega-church to launch petition drives for the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), a major state-level ‘family values’ pressure group that lauded him last year for leading African Americans in ‘clearly understanding the threat of gay marriage.'”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Meeks

Will Guitierrez or Dart run? I don't know. Dart is already on the ballot for Cook County Sheriff. People aren't going to be too happy if he resigns the day after he's elected, leaving that office open. Guiterrez could have a chance and is popular with the very large Hispanic population here. But he has some skeletons in his closet--a quid pro quo in which he got a personal loan of $200,000 from a campaign contributor and then lobbied the mayor for backing on a real-estate development for said contributor.

Not that everyone here doesn't have some sort of stink on them. It's Chicago.

[Saturday]

18. Rahm was a congressman.

Why do you say at the state and city level his only role was a fund raiser?

[ieoeja]

23. Because at the state and city level his only role was a fund raiser.

At the federal level he has done lots of things. Congressman being one such.

[KharmaTrain]

38. From A Friend On The 5th Floor

Who is a liberal and works for Daley...the ranks are forming behing Rahm. I live in the burbs but have many friends and family in the city and know of the candidates, the neighborhoods and issues. I like Dart but I don't think he has the citywide clout and name recognition to beat any candidate annointe by Richie and the Cook County Democratic party. If Rahm gets the nod he'll be the front runner. I asked my friend if he was familiar with Rahm...he said "yep...he's been up here many times and is still very close friends with the Daleys". While he doesn't have the machine his old man did, a Daley endorsement will tip the hand to whomever gets it and according to my source, that person is Rahm.

Meeks, besides being a big homophobe is emerging as the "black" candidate here but he's no Harold Washington and I suspect he'll have a tough time in raising money. From all indications Guiterrez is not going to run...he may have in the past, but right now he's enjoying being a national figure (immigration) and play power broker here with whomever he supports.

As far as money outside the city...it's been here before. Ya think Richie did it all without the help of his brother who brought in all the big Wall Street money not just for him but President Obama as well.

I'm going to wait and see...it won't take that long. Let's see what Rahm's candidacy boils down to...and who else jumps into the race. As the Chicagoan poster upthread has said, Chicago isn't a congressional seat and has its own perks and problems. I'm not concerned about some "progressive wave" coming in to mess up the elections here...they aren't able to do it elsewhere.

[ieoeja]

39. Aren't you worried about them privatizing water?

That is my biggest concern in this election. Daley really wanted to privatize water. So I don't want nobody Daley sends. As even one Conservative commentator (Steven Huntley: Sun-Times) admitted, Big Business is Rahm's primary constituency. If you aren't worried about Rahm fucking us over on the privatization of water, then you should give that some serious thought.


And while we're on the subject of water, if you live in a house, did you notice a drop in water pressure this year?

Everyone in my house independantly noticed a drop in pressure this year. I wonder if I have a leak coming into the house, or if the water department did something stupid.

I believe each election cycle sees one of the three members of the board that runs the water department having to run for re-election. Two cycles ago, a "we're running out of water" environmentalist was elected. And the person I heard most about last time also failed to notice that this city sits on the banks of a fresh water sea. I don't know if the second won or not as I couldn't find the results of that race listed anywhere. But that fuels my concern. I could see these two deciding we have to turn down the water pressure to conserve water.

Of course, no water will actually be preserved. Every thimble full Chicago does not pull out of Lake Michigan is just one thimble full more that drains out via the Chicago River and the canal.

And I could see the Daley machine backing these two for that very reason. Put nuts in charge of the city water department to screw it up so as to create a groundswell in favor of privatizing our water.

[KharmaTrain]

42. Richie Was Very Big Business As Well

The water issue is a complicated one. I'm in the burbs and get water through the Metropolitan Sanitation confab...mostly Chicago but other places (Wilmette) are involved. The water rights on Lake Michigan are a big political football among the states...thus the amount of water drawn has become a big issue in many areas. It's become even more accute as the metropolitan areas have sprawled...service used to extend just to about a 30 mile ring around Chicago...today it's extending out 60 miles or more. All this new demand on an aging infrastructure. Chicago is fortunate to have such a large supply to draw from but it's once the water is drawn where the expenses really kick in. The fact that little has been spent on maintaining systems that more and more people rely on is a serious issue not just with water but all utilities.

We've seen our water bills constantly rise since we moved to our current place over 15 years ago...but so have all other utilities. In many ways the city was sheltered by some of these costs until the past couple years...a reason property taxes went sky high on some properties. IRC, President Obama's home got hit pretty hard.

Regarding Rahm, his main job will be to recruit business to the city and the more businesses that set up shop and pay taxes the better. Maybe all those contact will come in handy.

If you want to talk being fucked over, then let's talk about Toddler Stroger...thank goodness he's not running.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

41. If Rahm can gain his residency.

that might be the dog biting his tail.

[KharmaTrain]

44. I Don't Think That Will Be An Issue

IRC, residency is based on voting records...and until 2009 he had a residence and voted in Chicago. I'm pretty sure his years in DC as a government official won't be used against him just as many others who have left federal service to run locally have done. Harold Washington also spent many years in DC and never owned a home.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

45. but under Illinois law, that's not the point

The point is having, either by rental or ownership, an address that is yours. If you lease or sublease it out, you no longer are a resident. He leased his out. If he cannot access it and live there at will, he is not a resident, ergo, he cannot run for mayor.

Seriously, a good friend does nothing but election law. Regardless of her politics, she firmly believes that he is not able to run. (She's even more liberal than I).

[KharmaTrain]

46. Then Riddle Me This...

Firstly, if he owns the property, doesn't that make him a taxpayer/resident? The tax bills are in his name and to the specific address...thus indirectly this would qualify as being a resident. Under this scenario you present, all he'd have to do is rent an apartment and/or some form of Chicago mailing address where he has access.

Call me a cynic but after over 50 years of living in and near Chicago, I've seen the laws bent to serve the needs.

Cheers....

[ChairmanAgnostic]

47. Absolutely not.

One problem that Chicago has had with absentee slumlairds is that these scum live in Will or duppage. DuPage. Whatever. Simply owning property is precisely not enough. There is caselaw on it, and from what I have seen, Rahm has no basis for running as a resident.

I agree that residency would be achieved if he rented property, but then he gets bit by the second problem - the LENGTH of his residency. The instant that he rented out his entire house, and in the process, gave up his rights as a chicago resident, he voluntarily removed himself from Chicago. To run for office in Cook COunty, CHicago, whatever, there is a minimum amount of time that you must show as Chicago being his active residence - and this he cannot do.

That said, your cynical side won me over, and I agree, chances are that a rule will be bent, fractured, spindled, mutilated, folded, pierced, torn, shredded, and completely ignored . . . IF Rahm hires the right lawfirm, and finds the proper forum. Ahem.

[KharmaTrain]

49. Thank You For The Insight

I know Chicago clamped down on teachers and firefighters who lived outside city limits and had to prove residency. This afternoon I heard a lawyer mention the same facts you did. Now let's see if that opinion previals. The cynic in me says there's a loophole.

Cheers from the NW burbs...

[HopeHoops]

19. Well, the most impressive candidate against Rahm is himself.

If ANYONE can provide a voter with an excuse not to vote for Rahm, it is Rahm.

[Yavapai]

21. It seems that rahm is on the fast track to Illinois Governor, with

a campaign promise to upgrade the the governors wing at Joliet Prison, in Joliet, Illinois.

First a stint as Chicago Mayor then on to the governor's mansion and then to the Governor's penthouse suite at Joliet.

It is a quaint Illinois custom for those of you, who haven't heard.

[LLStarks]

24. $1,175,763.00 for Rahm. More than anyone else. His charm won't win him votes, but the money might.nt

[Dr.Phool]

26. Draft Bill Ayers!

Though I don't think it's possible, wouldn't it be poetic justice to see Rahm get trounced by a real far leftie?

[Codeine]

27. Spend it on candidates in your city and state.

Let Chicago decide who it wants rather than contributing to someone about whom you know nothing just because you've developed a nasty grudge against their opponent. This election doesn't effect you.

I was pissed when Utah Mormons stuck their ugly noses in my state's political process with Prop H8te and I'd be just as mad if I lived in Chicago and folks from Orlando decided they had a stake in my city's mayoral campaign. This isn't like a Senate or House race where you could actually be impacted by the outcome.

[zipplewrath]

31. It's about moving the party to the left

That has to be done at all levels. It's what the DLC did to move it to the right in the first place.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

36. Rev. Meeks, Jesse Jr.,

Carol Mostly Wrong, Gary Chico, maybe Tom Dart.

Meeks had a bad run in with a cop, claiming he was discriminated against, when most Chicagoans blamed Meeks for his actions during a traffic stop.
Jesse, well, his dealings with Blogo have sunk his campaign.
Carol Mosely Braun was an embarrassment then, and will be one now.
Gary Chico seems to have the inside track, but for Rahm, with Daley.
Dart is generally popular with unions, workers, cops, but it might not be enough

the dark horse who is also planning a run? Roland Burris. O M G. But it is true. Luckily, is ME ME ME soleum has enough wall space for not only his ego, but another title.

[PopSixSquish]

43. How About Spending That Money in WI for Russ Feingold Instead?

If you want to "move the party to the left", then winning this race would seem to be a hell of a lot more important than Rahm becoming mayor of Chicago. I hope Feingold pulls this one out because if he doesn't, the strutting and crowing by the GOP about knocking him off is going to be unbearable.

And if that idea doesn't blow your skirt up, how about keeping the Orangeman from Ohio from becoming Speaker of the House, or Rand Paul from becoming a Senator from KY or any number of other assorted nutbags from descending on Washington ready to wipe out unemployment insurance, EPA or civil rights laws and impeach the Barack Obama for the temerity of "Presidenting While Black".

If the Republicans take the House or the Senate or both, we'll all scream and point fingers. However, the fact will remain that any hint of progressive legislation, forward motion or even sanity will be gone for the next two years if not longer.

It took 12 years to take back the House and Senate last time and if we are faced with that prospect again, nobody on this board is going to give a good God-damn in hell who the fucking mayor of Chicago is...

[zipplewrath]

48. I've donate to several of those races

I also can donate to this one, and remove a rabid DLC'er from the pack.