EXTRA: No more jokes on Judy

I woke up Wednesday to a slew of e-mail messages consisting of the various statements sent to me by assorted government officials, all eager to see who could be the first to eulogize Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

She was 70 and suffered a stroke Tuesday. After being taken to a suburban Berwyn hospital, she was pronounced dead early Wednesday.

THERE ARE THE endless reminisces about her ability to work in a bipartisan political manner, which is a rare commodity these days amongst elected officials.

There also are the “crazy aunt” Judy type stories being shared about her outgoing personality with a quirky sense of behavior.

Personally, I can recall her walking around the state Capitol building in Springfield wearing slippers designed to look like the feet of a gorilla. Topinka justified them by saying they were comfortable.

I also recall the 1995 inaugural ceremonies when she was first sworn in as state Treasurer when she shared a campaign anecdote that basically was a fart joke – which left many of the Republican-types eager to celebrate their overwhelming victory in that electoral cycle completely stunned.

WHEN IT COMES to bipartisanship, I recall a Republican campaign event where she offended some of her GOP colleagues because she invited then-Cook County Board President John Stroger – who showed up!

But I also recall this was a woman who back in 1996 seriously believed her GOP colleagues should nominate Phil Gramm to be president – and she was one of the few Illinois Republicans with enough of an independent streak not to “follow the leader” and think that Bob Dole was the key to defeating Bill Clinton in that election cycle.

Personally, I recall when I got laid off from my then-job at the Statehouse with United Press International in 1999. Topinka was the one public official who came to see me and offer condolences, including a kiss on the cheek. Most political people would have given me a "smack" with their fists.

A day later, her aides told me a job was open on her staff, if I was interested.

I WOUND UP not taking it, and in fact came back to Chicago in coming months. But it was nice to know that the offer was there and that somebody had noticed me in a favorable way.

There also was the fact that Topinka in the 1990s got hit with a so-called scandal when she tried to resolve a debt owed to the state by a company that built a luxury (by Springfield standards) hotel.

The company owed some $40 million and was likely to default. Topinka was willing to write off the debt in exchange for a $10 million payment – which turned out to be better than the miniscule amount of repayment the state ultimately got.

Topinka wound up getting dinged with repeated jokes about her love of luxury and hotels – which was about as far removed as possible from the reality of a woman who often shopped at consignment stores.

I EVEN REMEMBER once being on the brunt of a Topinka diatribe who was convinced I was going to find another excuse to write about that long-ago issue.

But if there’s one plus to the fact that Topinka’s spirit is no longer with us, it is this – she won’t have to endure any more stupid hotel jokes at her expense.

Rest in Peace, Madam Comptroller (and Treasurer). And condolences to son Joseph, daughter-in-law Christina and grand-daughter Alexandra.

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Sawyer and Stroger set precedent for Obama

At a time when Barack Obama is running very close with Hillary Clinton in their electoral fight for the Democratic nomination for president, it is important to remember some of the people whose presence and struggles made it possible for us to seriously contemplate the notion of an African-American male in political office.

Former Mayor Eugene Sawyer and retired Cook County Board President John Stroger both succumbed to physical ailments in recent days. Sawyer, 73, and Stroger, 78, both had suffered strokes and died Saturday and Friday respectively due to complications.

Both men were among the millions of African-American people (Negroes, to use the terminology accepted back then) who fled from the segregated way of life in the South (Alabama for Sawyer, Arkansas for Stroger) in the first half of the 20th century – boosting Chicago’s black population from about 40,000 in 1910 to over 1 million today.

After being educated at southern colleges (Alabama State University for Sawyer, Xavier University in New Orleans for Stroger), the two men turned to Chicago to give them opportunities to get ahead in life.

Invariably, both men turned to electoral politics. Neither was a maverick. Both made their accommodations with the regular Democratic organization (the “machine” to its critics), and both rose to the top posts in the respective branches of government in which they chose to serve.

Sawyer was the long-time alderman of Chicago’s 6th ward in 1987 when the city’s first African-American mayor, Harold Washington, died. Following a raucous, late-night City Council meeting that will never be forgotten by political junkies, Sawyer was chosen to serve as mayor until a special election could be held early in 1989.

Sawyer tried to use his low-key personality (his critics labeled him “Mayor Mumbles”) to maintain calm and keep the Washington political agenda going. But his time in political life came to an end when he was defeated in the Democratic primary of that special election by Richard M. Daley – who has now held the post for nearly 19 years and still counting.

Stroger had lived in Chicago for 15 years when he first got involved in politics. He was named Democratic committeeman of the city’s 8th ward in 1968, and used the post to get himself elected to the Cook County Board two years later.

He served on that board for more than three decades, and in 1990 was chosen to be county board president. His son, Todd, succeeded him after it became apparent that a stroke John suffered early in 2006 would prevent him from handling his duties during another term.

When it comes to African-American people in Chicago politics, Harold Washington gets all the attention on account of being the first black man to serve as Chicago mayor. Perhaps the attention is deserved, on account of all the racially-motivated grief he had to put up with during his five-year stint as mayor during the mid-1980s.

Past black politicos in Chicago were men more in line with long-time U.S. Rep. William L. Dawson, D-Ill., whose district covered the Black Belt (a.k.a., Bronzeville). His top concern was political power for himself. He was willing to make accommodations with the white power structure and accept a smaller share of the political pie than his community should have received – provided that white politicos allowed him total control over dividing up that share of the pie among black people.

Dawson also gained a taint of shadiness to some people because of his willingness to allow the policy rackets to operate openly in his neighborhoods. It was illegal then, although the fact that we now have a completely legitimate Illinois State Lottery makes us wonder how much should Dawson’s legacy be frowned upon.

Sawyer and Stroger were different.

Sawyer as a second black mayor and Stroger as a long-time county board member made it possible for many people to see through their prejudices and realize that African-American politicians were not just tools for people like New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton or engaging in borderline illegal activity.

They were just as capable of working with the establishment as other politicos for the good of their neighborhoods. Also, when looking at the collection of Chicago aldermen and other city officials who have been prosecuted for various crimes involving government corruption, we see there is a mix of politicos of all races. There really is no “better” or “worse” when it comes to politics and racial categories.

It is due to the example set by Sawyer and Stroger and many other politicos like them that Chicagoans were able to start looking past race – giving Carol Moseley Braun solid majorities of support when she ran for U.S. Senate in 1992 and 1996 and giving solid backing to the 2004 Senate bid of Obama.

On Monday, it is very likely that Obama and other politicos will use a brief moment of their campaign activity to pay tribute to the memory of the slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In Obama’s case, he also ought to give a moment of reflection for Stroger and Sawyer – two other men who adopted Chicago over their childhood homes in search of a better life. We all need to remember that their example played a partial role in the way people view his candidacy seriously today.

-30-

EDITOR’S NOTE: For those who want to know more about the lives of Sawyer and Stroger, check here (http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=399&category=civicMakers) and here (http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=666)