YET MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE END IS PAST NIGH

So what to make of yesterday’s aldermanic elections in Chicago? While the media speculates on Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s “score” in this election (presumably 7 of the 9 aldermanic candidates he backed won—quite impressive), I see the final, unequivocal nail in the coffin of the old ward based political Machine in Chicago, as if the Machine displayed any more than the faintest of heartbeats prior to this election.

Why? The Banks family, which has long controlled the 36th Ward in close cooperation with State Senator Jimmy DeLeo, could not re-elect Bill Banks’ handpicked successor, his former drive John Rice, losing the election to Chicago fireman Nick Sposato. One could argue that the Cullertons maintained control of their century long bailiwick in the 38th Ward, but Tim Cullerton’s opponent, Tom Caravette, was deeply flawed, largely due to what some considered legitimate contentions that he is something of a slum lord. One could also argue that in the 50th Ward, Committeeman Ira Silverstein’s wife Debra Silverstein defeated 38 year alderman Bernie Stone, but this was a race between a new committeeman and the man he replaced only four years ago who had his own machine of sorts in the ward. Further, Ira Silverstein doesn’t fit the mold of an old time ward boss, a description that fits Bernie Stone to a tee. Neither of these examples negates the near fact that when the Banks/DeLeo consortium can’t carry the 36th Ward, the old ward based Machine is finished.

The Rice loss is only the latest example of a once formidable ward organization being unable to crank. In the last 6 months, we have witnessed:

--Last November, Ed Burke was unable to reelect Joseph Mario Moreno, his candidate for Cook County Commissioner in a district that encompasses Burke’s 14th Ward. In the same election, Ed Burke’s brother Dan won reelection to his state rep seat, in a district that likewise encompasses the 14th Ward, by only 55%-45% over Rudy Lozano.

--In February, Gery Chico carried only seven wards. With the exception of the 19th, all had at least Hispanic pluralities or, in the case of the 23rd, a population of Hispanics exactly even with its white population. Even in the 10th, 13th, 14th, and 23rd Wards, run by presumed powerhouses John Pope, Mike Madigan, Ed Burke, and Mike Zalewski, Mr. Chico won as much on account of his last name as on the backing of the wards’ committeemen. See my 2/22/11 post, “IT’S OVER, IT’S OVER!!!”

--In that same February election, the once vaunted machine of Alderman and Committeeman Gene Schulter in the “Fighting 47th” could not carry for Mr. Schulter’s handpicked replacement, Tom O’Donnell, losing to political novice Ameya Pawar and not even making it to yesterday’s April runoff. See my 2/23/11 post, THE FIGHT’S OVER IN THE 47TH.

The old Machine had a faint hint of its former glory when its nominal boss, 31st Ward Committeeman Joe Berrios, defeated Rahm Emanuel wannabe Forest Claypool for Cook County Assessor, but that was perhaps its last hurrah. While most would hail this development, one must feel a bit of wistfulness for the entertainment value of our former peculiar way of governing ourselves and for an era when people who were clearly and unabashedly in it for the money and the power, rather than those who protest to be in it for such namby-pamby and disingenuous motives as “the public good” or “reform” while reaching for infinitely larger chunks of money and power, were in charge. See my 3/28/11 post, HEY, THE BOYS NEED A LITTLE LUNCH MONEY…

One final note…

The most profound words of election night were uttered by old warhorse Bernie Stone former committeeman, and now soon to be former alderman, of the 50th Ward. Mr. Stone lost to Debra Silverstein (See the second paragraph of this post.) who had not only the backing of her husband, Ira Silverstein, who got the committeeman’s post in the 50th with the support of Mayor Daley, but also the unequivocal and highly vocal backing of Rahm Emanuel:

“I’m up against the Machine. I used to be the Machine.”

The Machine used to be in the hands of guys like Bernie Stone. Now, and for at least the last twenty years, the Machine is, and has been, in the hands of the guy who sits on the Fifth Floor of City Hall. And, as Bernie Stone also said last night:

“Instead of King Richard, he’s now Emperor Emanuel. If guys like Eddie Burke are pushed around by Rahm Emanuel, then this city is in for some rough times.”

Indeed, Alderman Stone.