EXTRA: ‘Mayor Chuy’ after all?

It seems we’re likely to get yet more evidence of the “superiority” of Chicago municipal government, at least in the mindset of those who are a part of it.

GARCIA: Give up Congress for mayor?

For it seems that soon-to-be retired Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has let it be known he does NOT want to be the next mayor of Chicago. Yet he definitely wants to have a hand in deciding who will succeed Rahm Emanuel.

HIS CHOICE? NONE other than Jesus Garcia, the Cook County Board member who already is on the ballot for the Nov. 6 election to move up to the seat in Congress that Gutierrez held for 16 years. Which was Chuy's way of handling the fact that he lost his bid for the mayor's post when he challenged Rahm Emanuel back in 2015

Also the post that Gutierrez was able to use to make himself one of the most significant Latino elected officials in government.

Gutierrez on Wednesday, in saying he’s not going to seek the mayor’s office himself, says he will undertake the effort to get Garcia on the ballot for the Feb. 26 municipal elections for mayor (with a possible run-off come April 2, if necessary).

As though Garcia ought to be all-too-eager to jump for the chance to become mayor of Chicago that he’d gladly give up a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

GUTIERREZ: The voice behind the mayor?

I’M SURE THAT to people outside of Chicago, such a move makes no sense. Being a part of Congress and the national scene might well seem more important and ego-satisfying than getting tangled up in the mess that is our local political scene.

Then again, many Chicagoans have such a local fixation that we believe our officials and our problems are far more significant than anything those clowns in D.C. are contending with. Particularly since it would mean having to deal up-close and personal with the people leading this Age of Trump we’re now engaged in.

In Garcia’s case, he’d be the Mexican-born official serving in the U.S. federal government. I don’t doubt that the people enthralled with The Donald as president would likely view him as some sort of foreign subversive.

WASHINGTON: Made a similar shift in '83

Perhaps they’d try to have him deported in ways similar to the harassment they’re dishing out to people born in South Texas whom they want to believe aren’t really U.S. citizens and are trying to have their citizenship status revoked.

OF COURSE, AS mayor of Chicago, Garcia would come under fire from those same ideological nit-wits for being the leader of what they insist has to be a corrupt city.

But as mayor, Garcia would have some of the perks of being able to defend himself, rather than being just another anonymous member in the mass that is Congress.

So would Garcia gladly give up a chance to be a part of Congress to make a run for mayor? We’ll have to wait and see, particularly in the period between the Nov. 6 Election Day and early December, which is when he’d have to file nominating petitions to get on the ballot for the mayoral election.

It wouldn’t be the most unusual move. Harold Washington himself gave up a seat in Congress to become mayor.

IF ANYTHING, THE real question might well be why won’t Gutierrez run for the mayor’s post himself?

EMANUEL: Now, he'll be able to relax

Some might think he just doesn’t want to endure Chicago-style weather any longer; what with his talk about how he wants to move to Puerto Rico (where his ethnic origins lie) and be a part of the island’s rebuilding following last year’s Hurricane Maria.

Or it could be a much simpler explanation; he likes the idea of being the guy who can tell the mayor of Chicago what he should do.

In some ways, a much easier task with power and influence – without having to deal with the stress of actually having to do the job. Just look at Emanuel these days.

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