There's only one lone city-based precinct in the Illinois House 23rd district Democratic primary that has yet to be counted, and it seems that state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, has defeated activist Rudy Lozano Jr., by a 50 percent to 45 percent margin on Tuesday.
And for those of you who want to think that either of the other two candidates who were on the ballot -- Martin Meza-Zavala or Rene Diaz -- deprived Lozano of votes that could have enabled him to win, forget it.
THEIR COMBINED 383 votes would not have plugged the gap.
So now we're going to see how Burke behaves as he enters his third decade in the Illinois House (he's been a legislator since 1991). He has tried learning the Spanish language to help communicate, and is the one white guy who makes an effort to include himself with the Legislature's "Latino" Caucus.
But he's going to have Latino activists watching him closely in coming years, which means he had better make the effort to reach out -- unless he really does want to lose his seat come 2012.
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Showing posts with label Rudy Lozano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rudy Lozano. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
EXTRA: It’s all about the $$$$$$
If state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, manages to defeat challenger Rudy Lozano, Jr., in Tuesday’s pr
imary election, the rhetoric to be spewed will consist of how the voters managed to put aside ethnic sympathies for the good of the district.
This is the campaign that has attracted attention because the Southwest Side district in the past two decades has gone from a majority white population to one that is overwhelmingly Latino – who account for about two-thirds of the registered voters living there.
BURKE, WHO IS the brother of 14th Ward Alderman Edward Burke, may try to claim some sort of moral victory in that he fought off a challenger who was trying to make a serious issue out of the fact that a political district with such an overwhelming Latino population ought to have a Latino public official representing it.
Excuse me for not buying it.
If Burke manages to win the Democratic primary for the Illinois House of Representatives 23rd district seat (as I write this, the polls will remain open for about another four hours), it will be a combination of low voter turnout (where I sit, there is a chill in the air and a light snowfall coming from the sky) and the advantages of campaign cash that make it possible for a candidate to get his message out and ensure that he gets the “right” people to go to the polls to support him.
That was the impression I got from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform study released Tuesday morning – one
that totals up the amount of cash the campaigns raised from Jan. 1, 2009 through Monday.
DURING THAT 13-MONTH period, Lozano (the son of the late Latino activist of the same name) raised $87,652.46. That’s not a huge amount of money for a legislative campaign, but it is not that far off the mark what most credible candidates manage to raise. He had sufficient funds.
But Burke, it seems, put together one of the largest campaign warchests for any legislative official this election cycle.
$546,387.72!
As far as I can tell, only state Rep,. Michael J. Zalewski, D-Summit, (at $912,239.96) had more funds.
WITH THAT KIND of money, he had the potential to bury Lozano in a mass of campaign activity, which means the true factor for determining whether this legislative district has truly changed is how close a campaign it turns out to be.
With that kind of funding, it should be a blowout for Burke. If Lozano manages to win anyway, then Burke will become one of those guys who spent so much money on a losing campaign.
If Burke wins, then we get to see him literally go around with the bulls-eye on his back for the next two years when yet another Latino challenger will invariably take him on.
One other fact from the campaign’s study caught my eye.
IT SEEMS THAT when the largest financial contributors overall were determined, Dan’s brother, Eddie, is one of the big-bucks guys who is willing to spread his campaign’s cash around ($313,500) to help other politicos in need.
I don’t know for sure how much of Dan’s money came from older brother Eddie. But considering that part of Burke’s influence in Chicago politics comes from the fact that he has a direct connection to the state Legislature in the form of his brother, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that he was more than generous in trying to keep Dan Burke at the “Statehouse in Springpatch” for another two years.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Are Chicago's changing demographics evidence that the composition of its politicians (http://chicagoargus.blogspot.com/2010/01/will-campaign-racialethnic-appeals-work.html) needs to change?
imary election, the rhetoric to be spewed will consist of how the voters managed to put aside ethnic sympathies for the good of the district.This is the campaign that has attracted attention because the Southwest Side district in the past two decades has gone from a majority white population to one that is overwhelmingly Latino – who account for about two-thirds of the registered voters living there.
BURKE, WHO IS the brother of 14th Ward Alderman Edward Burke, may try to claim some sort of moral victory in that he fought off a challenger who was trying to make a serious issue out of the fact that a political district with such an overwhelming Latino population ought to have a Latino public official representing it.
Excuse me for not buying it.
If Burke manages to win the Democratic primary for the Illinois House of Representatives 23rd district seat (as I write this, the polls will remain open for about another four hours), it will be a combination of low voter turnout (where I sit, there is a chill in the air and a light snowfall coming from the sky) and the advantages of campaign cash that make it possible for a candidate to get his message out and ensure that he gets the “right” people to go to the polls to support him.
That was the impression I got from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform study released Tuesday morning – one
that totals up the amount of cash the campaigns raised from Jan. 1, 2009 through Monday.DURING THAT 13-MONTH period, Lozano (the son of the late Latino activist of the same name) raised $87,652.46. That’s not a huge amount of money for a legislative campaign, but it is not that far off the mark what most credible candidates manage to raise. He had sufficient funds.
But Burke, it seems, put together one of the largest campaign warchests for any legislative official this election cycle.
$546,387.72!
As far as I can tell, only state Rep,. Michael J. Zalewski, D-Summit, (at $912,239.96) had more funds.
WITH THAT KIND of money, he had the potential to bury Lozano in a mass of campaign activity, which means the true factor for determining whether this legislative district has truly changed is how close a campaign it turns out to be.
With that kind of funding, it should be a blowout for Burke. If Lozano manages to win anyway, then Burke will become one of those guys who spent so much money on a losing campaign.
If Burke wins, then we get to see him literally go around with the bulls-eye on his back for the next two years when yet another Latino challenger will invariably take him on.
One other fact from the campaign’s study caught my eye.
IT SEEMS THAT when the largest financial contributors overall were determined, Dan’s brother, Eddie, is one of the big-bucks guys who is willing to spread his campaign’s cash around ($313,500) to help other politicos in need.
I don’t know for sure how much of Dan’s money came from older brother Eddie. But considering that part of Burke’s influence in Chicago politics comes from the fact that he has a direct connection to the state Legislature in the form of his brother, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that he was more than generous in trying to keep Dan Burke at the “Statehouse in Springpatch” for another two years.
-30-
EDITOR'S NOTE: Are Chicago's changing demographics evidence that the composition of its politicians (http://chicagoargus.blogspot.com/2010/01/will-campaign-racialethnic-appeals-work.html) needs to change?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Will campaign racial/ethnic appeals work?
Todd Stroger wants to be sure we comprehend that he’s the official “black” candidate running for Cook County Board president, while Rudy Lozano Jr. is making sure we all understa
nd that he’s the Latino running for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives.
I’m not sure how it’s all going to play out for the latter, but I’m skeptical that going for the racial vote will be enough to ensure that Stroger gets the nomination to run for another term as county president come the November general election.
NOW I’M WILLING to give Stroger the benefit of the doubt that he would never have approved the flier circulating in select South Side neighborhoods that portrays a local government consisting of white Irish guys – IF Stroger is not re-elected.
It also uses bluntly racial slurs to depict the other African-American candidates running against Stroger in the Feb. 2 primary. It’s a scare tactic meant to try to stir up the black vote in Chicago to turn out in percentages that haven’t been seen since the days of Harold Washington.
But Stroger doesn’t need to resort to such blunt tactics when his own official campaign stunts also play off the idea that black people should want Todd back in office to look out for their interests.
Several government officials on Tuesday made it public that they support Strogoer for re-election, including the county bo
ard members who kept voting in his favor with regards to repealing a portion of the county’s share of sales tax revenues.
ANOTHER OF THOSE government officials who is willing to back Todd publicly is Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the man who most recently is remembered for a borderline incoherent diatribe in support of Roland Burris for the U.S. Senate.
Some pundits (the ones who most enjoy getting up on their pedestals and giving us their Rush Limbaugh impersonations for being balls of hot gas) are saying that Rush is engaging in race-baiting politics, and will continue that trend in speaking out publicly for Stroger.
I’ll agree that Rush is part of an effort to get those old-school black activist-type voters to make the effort to turn out on Election Day to cast ballots. But I’m not sure I see that as some sort of evil conspiracy.
Or should we think it equally reprehensible that, earlier this week, Rush’s congressional colleague, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., performed her own endorsement stunt by backing Stroger opponent Toni Preckwinkle.
SHE LABELLED PRECKWINKLE, an alderman from the Hyde Park neighborhood, as the only “progressive” candidate in the campaign, and there is a good chance that many of the more liberal voters who normally are needed to elect a black candidate over the vociferous right wing that wants to believe picking better qualified people always means going with the white guy will side with her.
One could argue that the Preckwinkle endorsement will carry with it certain racial connotations. So I’m not offended by Rush. Not nearly as much as by the activity of Wallace “Gator” Bradley, the South Side political activist who allegedly was behind the fliers that labelled some black government officials as “house n----rs” for the white political establishment.
Insofar as Stroger’s chances of winning only with the black vote, I can’t help but look back at Chicago mayoral elections of the past couple of decades where Richard M. Daley ran against African-American candidates who tried to win with only the black vote (instead of the black, liberal white and Latino coalition that put Washington in office in 1983 and 1987).
Rush should remember He was Daley’s Election Day victim in 1999, and had no better luck with such a strategy than did people like Tim Evans or Danny Davis.
THEN, WE GET to the case of Lozano, who wants to enter electoral politics in the way that most p
eople in Chicago do so – they gain experience and training by winning a position in the Illinois Legislature.
Specifically, Lozano wants the Illinois House seat for his home community, which is a majority Latino (mostly Mexican-American) neighborhood and is surrounded by neighborhoods with significant Latino populations.
The “problem” is that the district has been represented in Springfield by Dan Burke, who not only has the advantages of incumbency but also of family – his brother is the long-serving, influential alderman Ed Burke. Part of Burke’s influence in city government comes from the fact that he has a “family connection” at the Statehouse in Springpatch.
So even though the neighborhood is no longer the Polish/German/Irish mixture that it once was, the Burkes are going to go all out to keep the seat.
LOZANO AND HIS supporters on Tuesday held their own press conference to complain about Burke’s campaign fliers – which they say try to make it appear as though Latino community leaders who support Lozano actually back Burke.
Lozano-ites go so far as to call these fliers “racist,” although not having actually seen one but had them described to me, they sound like the usual campaign confusion.
Trash, best tossed into the can to eliminate litter – rather than becoming the basis of a campaign “issue.”
But it did give Lozano a chance to remind voters once again that their neighborhood has changed, and that perhaps it is time for people to re-think who they are sending to Springfield to represent them.
Now I’m not saying flat out that Burke needs to go. He has made some efforts to keep in touch with the growing Latino constituency (which encompasses about two-thirds of the Southwest Side legislative district'sa registered voters). Ultimately, Lozano needs to convince voters he can better serve the people.
IF HE CAN do that, then he deserves to win. If he can’t, then Burke should get to extend his public service into a third decade (he has been in the Illinois House since 1991).
But this campaign ultimately reflects on the shifting population of Chicago and the surrounding area, and Burke would hardly be the first official to depart because of demographics. Take Vito Marzullo, the alderman who served in the City Council for three decades until retiring because the changing demographics turned his community from Italian to Latino.
There are times when a politician’s changing neighborhood has been evidence that it was time to go.
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nd that he’s the Latino running for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives.I’m not sure how it’s all going to play out for the latter, but I’m skeptical that going for the racial vote will be enough to ensure that Stroger gets the nomination to run for another term as county president come the November general election.
NOW I’M WILLING to give Stroger the benefit of the doubt that he would never have approved the flier circulating in select South Side neighborhoods that portrays a local government consisting of white Irish guys – IF Stroger is not re-elected.
It also uses bluntly racial slurs to depict the other African-American candidates running against Stroger in the Feb. 2 primary. It’s a scare tactic meant to try to stir up the black vote in Chicago to turn out in percentages that haven’t been seen since the days of Harold Washington.
But Stroger doesn’t need to resort to such blunt tactics when his own official campaign stunts also play off the idea that black people should want Todd back in office to look out for their interests.
Several government officials on Tuesday made it public that they support Strogoer for re-election, including the county bo
ard members who kept voting in his favor with regards to repealing a portion of the county’s share of sales tax revenues.ANOTHER OF THOSE government officials who is willing to back Todd publicly is Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the man who most recently is remembered for a borderline incoherent diatribe in support of Roland Burris for the U.S. Senate.
Some pundits (the ones who most enjoy getting up on their pedestals and giving us their Rush Limbaugh impersonations for being balls of hot gas) are saying that Rush is engaging in race-baiting politics, and will continue that trend in speaking out publicly for Stroger.
I’ll agree that Rush is part of an effort to get those old-school black activist-type voters to make the effort to turn out on Election Day to cast ballots. But I’m not sure I see that as some sort of evil conspiracy.
Or should we think it equally reprehensible that, earlier this week, Rush’s congressional colleague, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., performed her own endorsement stunt by backing Stroger opponent Toni Preckwinkle.
SHE LABELLED PRECKWINKLE, an alderman from the Hyde Park neighborhood, as the only “progressive” candidate in the campaign, and there is a good chance that many of the more liberal voters who normally are needed to elect a black candidate over the vociferous right wing that wants to believe picking better qualified people always means going with the white guy will side with her.
One could argue that the Preckwinkle endorsement will carry with it certain racial connotations. So I’m not offended by Rush. Not nearly as much as by the activity of Wallace “Gator” Bradley, the South Side political activist who allegedly was behind the fliers that labelled some black government officials as “house n----rs” for the white political establishment.
Insofar as Stroger’s chances of winning only with the black vote, I can’t help but look back at Chicago mayoral elections of the past couple of decades where Richard M. Daley ran against African-American candidates who tried to win with only the black vote (instead of the black, liberal white and Latino coalition that put Washington in office in 1983 and 1987).
Rush should remember He was Daley’s Election Day victim in 1999, and had no better luck with such a strategy than did people like Tim Evans or Danny Davis.
THEN, WE GET to the case of Lozano, who wants to enter electoral politics in the way that most p
eople in Chicago do so – they gain experience and training by winning a position in the Illinois Legislature.Specifically, Lozano wants the Illinois House seat for his home community, which is a majority Latino (mostly Mexican-American) neighborhood and is surrounded by neighborhoods with significant Latino populations.
The “problem” is that the district has been represented in Springfield by Dan Burke, who not only has the advantages of incumbency but also of family – his brother is the long-serving, influential alderman Ed Burke. Part of Burke’s influence in city government comes from the fact that he has a “family connection” at the Statehouse in Springpatch.
So even though the neighborhood is no longer the Polish/German/Irish mixture that it once was, the Burkes are going to go all out to keep the seat.
LOZANO AND HIS supporters on Tuesday held their own press conference to complain about Burke’s campaign fliers – which they say try to make it appear as though Latino community leaders who support Lozano actually back Burke.
Lozano-ites go so far as to call these fliers “racist,” although not having actually seen one but had them described to me, they sound like the usual campaign confusion.
Trash, best tossed into the can to eliminate litter – rather than becoming the basis of a campaign “issue.”But it did give Lozano a chance to remind voters once again that their neighborhood has changed, and that perhaps it is time for people to re-think who they are sending to Springfield to represent them.
Now I’m not saying flat out that Burke needs to go. He has made some efforts to keep in touch with the growing Latino constituency (which encompasses about two-thirds of the Southwest Side legislative district'sa registered voters). Ultimately, Lozano needs to convince voters he can better serve the people.
IF HE CAN do that, then he deserves to win. If he can’t, then Burke should get to extend his public service into a third decade (he has been in the Illinois House since 1991).
But this campaign ultimately reflects on the shifting population of Chicago and the surrounding area, and Burke would hardly be the first official to depart because of demographics. Take Vito Marzullo, the alderman who served in the City Council for three decades until retiring because the changing demographics turned his community from Italian to Latino.
There are times when a politician’s changing neighborhood has been evidence that it was time to go.
-30-
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