She’s the younger daughter of one of the few Chicago aldermen with a political structure capable of turning out the vote, and she’s the s
ister-in-law of an Illinois governor who’s desperate enough these days to have allies in high political places that he might throw his support to her.
Despite those facts, how many people take seriously the notion that Deborah Mell is capable of winning a special election that must now be held on account of the fact that Rahm Emanuel is giving up his seat in Congress from Chicago’s Northwest Side in order to become President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
EMANUEL’S DEPARTURE FROM Capitol Hill to the White House has created a frenzy, with about a dozen people openly admitting they want to serve in Congress, and who knows how many others have the same dreams but haven’t opened their mouth yet.
I don’t live in the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois (I did for one summer back when I was in college some two decades ago), but the political junkie in me is going to be watching this brawl closely to figure out who wins a primary likely to be held sometime in February 2009, with a general election in April.
The shorter time schedule means that there isn’t time for many of the name-promoting stunts, so the act of winning this campaign will be cheaper than most congressional bids. It also means that the virtual unknowns ought to give it up now – this is going to be about who comes into the race with the most name recognition.
And that is why Deborah Mell, on account of her last name, does not get immediately laughed at for suggesting that she could serve in Congress, even though she has yet to serve one day in the Illinois House seat to which she was elected last week.
IT’S TRUE.
Mell is the gay rights activist who decided she wanted to get into electoral politics, and she chose the entry route used by many of the creatures who pervade City Hall – she’s going to Springfield.
She decided to run for election to her neighborhood’s Illinois House seat, which means that the incumbent, Richard Bradley, had to get out of her way and try to move himself up to an Illinois Senate seat. Challenging that incumbent, Iris Martinez, triggered off a vicious debate among Latinos as to what constitutes a Latino (Bradley’s mother’s side of the family is from Mexico) that still has some people miffed.
But Mell, with the help of her father, got the clear shot in the Democratic primary to a seat in the Legislature, then won the general election this month without opposition.
BUT SPRINGFIELD ALREADY isn’t a big enough stage for Mell. Upon realizing on Election Night that the Congressional seat for her home neighborhood would likely open, she began talking up the possibilities of making a typical second step for Chicago political creatures – moving “up and out” from Springfield to Washington.
But people who do that usually serve a couple of terms at the Statehouse, if for nothing else than to pick up a little bit of legislative experience. Her brother-in-law, Gov. Milorod, did just that, serving in the Illinois House from 1993-96 before moving up to Congress in 1997 – only to be replaced by Emanuel when Blagojevich became governor in 2003.
If it sounds like these political seats are perceived as some sort of prize to be filled by the Mell family and its allies, it may be so. That could be why Deborah Mell feels no shame about wanting to move up already. If it is “preordained” that she will someday go to Washington, then why wait?
Could Dick Mell envision that his younger daughter (the older one, Patti, is Illinois’ first lady, and does not appear to have electoral ambitions of her own) will someday be alderman – which in the minds of Chicago political geeks is the ultimate political prize?
I’M NOT GOING to rule out the possibility that Dick Mell could orchestrate the next few months so as to put daughter Deborah in Congress (could that mean Rich Bradley gets his Illinois House seat back a few months from now?)
I’m not even going to automatically assume that Deborah Mell is some sort of incompetent who would never have gotten elected to a seat without her father’s name. My few dealings with her throughout the years have shown someone with a sincere interest in public policy who likely would have risen through the ranks on her own.
In many ways, she is like Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, with a certain innate intelligence that could serve well in public life. At age 40, Mell is also of the younger generation that is taking control of government (our new president is 47), so she’d fit in.
If only she could have followed Madigan’s lead in actually serving a term or two in the Illinois Legislature (Madigan was in the Illinois Senate before wanting to move up to state attorney general), there would not be the stigma (except among the far right) of someone whose ambition is far too overreaching.
FOR THAT IS what the Illinois Fifth Congressional is going to turn into. Are the people of the various neighborhoods on the northwest side (a collection of Polish and Eastern European communities that are slowly turning Latino – primarily Puerto Rican) going to be so offended at the thought of a political rookie in Congress that they will vote for anybody but her?
Or will Dick Mell try to make amends for orchestrating the 2002 campaign that gave us Gov. Blagojevich by giving his home residents an intelligent person in Congress?
And if they do take offense to Deborah, who will they vote for?
With names including Cook County commissioners Forrest Claypool and Mike Quigley, state Reps. John Fritchey and Sara Feigenholtz, both D-Chicago, and Chicago aldermen Thomas Allen, Gene Schulter, Patrick O’Connor and Manny Flores, all in the running, there won’t be a shortage of choices.
AS I LOOK at the list, two names jump out at me.
Nancy Kaszak, the former state representative and Chicago Park District attorney who caught the imagination of the “goo goos” (good government types) when she tried to win the Congressional seat in 2002, says she may try again. Will people who loved the thought of Nancy six years ago still turn out for her, or is her time past?
Then, there’s Tom Hansen, who was the token Republican opponent of Emanuel last week. But he claims he’s really liberal on issues, could get through a shortened special election season with his finances, and could be the one who stands out. Could ’09 be the year that Chicago sends a Republican to Congress – the first since Mike Flanagan’s two-year term in 1995-96?
Or is this destined to be the year that Claypool gets the consolation prize of a seat in Congress after the voters of Cook County rejected his bid (choosing the Stroger family instead) to be county board President.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Deborah Mell wouldn’t exactly go to Congress as a political (http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=19683) amateur. But would the way in which she got an easy ride to Springfield be remembered negatively by (http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theworks/080124/) Latino voters in the congressional district?
This is what (http://tomhansonforcongress.com/) a “liberal” Republican looks like. Meanwhile, Citizens for Deb Mell is trying to get her an elective office somewhere (http://www.debmell.org/).
ister-in-law of an Illinois governor who’s desperate enough these days to have allies in high political places that he might throw his support to her.Despite those facts, how many people take seriously the notion that Deborah Mell is capable of winning a special election that must now be held on account of the fact that Rahm Emanuel is giving up his seat in Congress from Chicago’s Northwest Side in order to become President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
EMANUEL’S DEPARTURE FROM Capitol Hill to the White House has created a frenzy, with about a dozen people openly admitting they want to serve in Congress, and who knows how many others have the same dreams but haven’t opened their mouth yet.
I don’t live in the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois (I did for one summer back when I was in college some two decades ago), but the political junkie in me is going to be watching this brawl closely to figure out who wins a primary likely to be held sometime in February 2009, with a general election in April.
The shorter time schedule means that there isn’t time for many of the name-promoting stunts, so the act of winning this campaign will be cheaper than most congressional bids. It also means that the virtual unknowns ought to give it up now – this is going to be about who comes into the race with the most name recognition.
And that is why Deborah Mell, on account of her last name, does not get immediately laughed at for suggesting that she could serve in Congress, even though she has yet to serve one day in the Illinois House seat to which she was elected last week.
IT’S TRUE.
Mell is the gay rights activist who decided she wanted to get into electoral politics, and she chose the entry route used by many of the creatures who pervade City Hall – she’s going to Springfield.
She decided to run for election to her neighborhood’s Illinois House seat, which means that the incumbent, Richard Bradley, had to get out of her way and try to move himself up to an Illinois Senate seat. Challenging that incumbent, Iris Martinez, triggered off a vicious debate among Latinos as to what constitutes a Latino (Bradley’s mother’s side of the family is from Mexico) that still has some people miffed.
But Mell, with the help of her father, got the clear shot in the Democratic primary to a seat in the Legislature, then won the general election this month without opposition.
BUT SPRINGFIELD ALREADY isn’t a big enough stage for Mell. Upon realizing on Election Night that the Congressional seat for her home neighborhood would likely open, she began talking up the possibilities of making a typical second step for Chicago political creatures – moving “up and out” from Springfield to Washington.
But people who do that usually serve a couple of terms at the Statehouse, if for nothing else than to pick up a little bit of legislative experience. Her brother-in-law, Gov. Milorod, did just that, serving in the Illinois House from 1993-96 before moving up to Congress in 1997 – only to be replaced by Emanuel when Blagojevich became governor in 2003.
If it sounds like these political seats are perceived as some sort of prize to be filled by the Mell family and its allies, it may be so. That could be why Deborah Mell feels no shame about wanting to move up already. If it is “preordained” that she will someday go to Washington, then why wait?
Could Dick Mell envision that his younger daughter (the older one, Patti, is Illinois’ first lady, and does not appear to have electoral ambitions of her own) will someday be alderman – which in the minds of Chicago political geeks is the ultimate political prize?
I’M NOT GOING to rule out the possibility that Dick Mell could orchestrate the next few months so as to put daughter Deborah in Congress (could that mean Rich Bradley gets his Illinois House seat back a few months from now?)
I’m not even going to automatically assume that Deborah Mell is some sort of incompetent who would never have gotten elected to a seat without her father’s name. My few dealings with her throughout the years have shown someone with a sincere interest in public policy who likely would have risen through the ranks on her own.
In many ways, she is like Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, with a certain innate intelligence that could serve well in public life. At age 40, Mell is also of the younger generation that is taking control of government (our new president is 47), so she’d fit in.
If only she could have followed Madigan’s lead in actually serving a term or two in the Illinois Legislature (Madigan was in the Illinois Senate before wanting to move up to state attorney general), there would not be the stigma (except among the far right) of someone whose ambition is far too overreaching.
FOR THAT IS what the Illinois Fifth Congressional is going to turn into. Are the people of the various neighborhoods on the northwest side (a collection of Polish and Eastern European communities that are slowly turning Latino – primarily Puerto Rican) going to be so offended at the thought of a political rookie in Congress that they will vote for anybody but her?
Or will Dick Mell try to make amends for orchestrating the 2002 campaign that gave us Gov. Blagojevich by giving his home residents an intelligent person in Congress?
And if they do take offense to Deborah, who will they vote for?
With names including Cook County commissioners Forrest Claypool and Mike Quigley, state Reps. John Fritchey and Sara Feigenholtz, both D-Chicago, and Chicago aldermen Thomas Allen, Gene Schulter, Patrick O’Connor and Manny Flores, all in the running, there won’t be a shortage of choices.
AS I LOOK at the list, two names jump out at me.
Nancy Kaszak, the former state representative and Chicago Park District attorney who caught the imagination of the “goo goos” (good government types) when she tried to win the Congressional seat in 2002, says she may try again. Will people who loved the thought of Nancy six years ago still turn out for her, or is her time past?
Then, there’s Tom Hansen, who was the token Republican opponent of Emanuel last week. But he claims he’s really liberal on issues, could get through a shortened special election season with his finances, and could be the one who stands out. Could ’09 be the year that Chicago sends a Republican to Congress – the first since Mike Flanagan’s two-year term in 1995-96?
Or is this destined to be the year that Claypool gets the consolation prize of a seat in Congress after the voters of Cook County rejected his bid (choosing the Stroger family instead) to be county board President.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Deborah Mell wouldn’t exactly go to Congress as a political (http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=19683) amateur. But would the way in which she got an easy ride to Springfield be remembered negatively by (http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theworks/080124/) Latino voters in the congressional district?
This is what (http://tomhansonforcongress.com/) a “liberal” Republican looks like. Meanwhile, Citizens for Deb Mell is trying to get her an elective office somewhere (http://www.debmell.org/).
1 comment:
I'm curious, in light of all the "pay to play" schemes erupting around the Governor. How much did Representative-Elect Deborah Mell have to pay for the Governors support? Clearly blood is not thicker than money in the Blago-Mell Clan. And more importantly will Representative-Elect Mell take after her namesake and embark on yet another long career of manipulation and corruption. Perhaps she is as skilled and articulate as her Father at dodging the Feds. Only time will tell. My guess is the Feds are already putting two and two together.
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