Tim Egan came in third in the ward fight, with Peter Zelchenko and Rachel Goodstein following behind but close to one another.
I appreciated the positive attitude, neighborly spirit, and "stand-up guyness," that Egan introduced to the election. It will be very interesting to see whether he decides to throw his support to Daley or Smith in the run-off. Or, will he sit on the sidelines and say "forgeddabout it"?
If I were Daley or Smith's campaign manager, I'd be trying like heck to get him in my camp.
I also appreciated Zelchenko's big-picture view of our ward's role in making this city better and his advocacy for the little guy. He ran a meaningful campaign and is clearly a friend of the city's and the ward's.
Rachel Goodstein seemed to struggle a bit in getting the word out about herself. I admire her for the stance she took with the Meigs Action Coalition and for many of the ideas about the ward that she introduced to the election. The world needs more people with principled backbones like hers.
I highly doubt that she, Zelchenko, and Egan will remain strangers of the ward now that their bid for election is over. Hope I'm right.
8 comments:
John Kass of the Chicago Tribune called Tim Egan
a plant. Egan said if he lost he'd support
Ald. Daley-told his workers that. City Hall
needs the 43rd Ward to control votes on ethics, affordable housing, big box, taxes & privitization.
Look for developer vs union $$$$$ here. They
will pour in. Peter will be around.
Hmmm. I couldn't find any direct reference in Kass's recent columns to this. Only a veiled reference. While I don't put "plants" past this city's political, I find it hard to believe Egan was one. WHO planted him? Had he stayed out of the race, Vi might have waltzed past the 50% + 1 she needed to avoid a run-off. It couldn't have been her or Richie's idea.
I don't doubt that it will be union money vs. developer money in the battle, but I hope both candidates will make a good run at getting beyond that issue, because both stink.
It would be interesting to see how many of the developers donating money in this race live in the ward as well.
Read Kass again, 2/28. O'Brien drafted Egan...
to rile her up and show her where the power is.
Vi angered that dynasty because of the automall
she was going to put in Old Town. Kass implies 19th Ward is real power in 43.
Committeeman Peg Roth (aka Tom Hynes.)
Egan never expected to win and early on actually
told his people to go over to Vi (aka statusquo)
right after Primary. Idea being they spanked her
but kept anyone else from winning outright.
So she'll kiss the ring as Kass puts it.
Kass suggests that all 4 challengers were drafted by O'Brien. It's a cute little conspriracy theory, but only a complete idiot would swallow it.
Ummm, only one. Egan was annointed
by the irate O'Brien/Old Town clique after the automall disaster. But he was not expected to
win, just cost everyone a first round victory.
Watch who ole Tim supports. It won't be Michele.
He already told supports to go over to Vi. Gotta love the machine.
You're right. It's brilliant! It's a lot of work just to embarrass an alderman, but I'll bet that Grossinger guy is blackmailing them all.
It's not all the much work considering the stakes -
we always wondered why Egan was running.
He did seem ike a pleasant person but his ideas
were a bit half-baked. We'll watch with interest.
Yeah, it's a total reach that the Kass article identifies Tim specifically as the plant.
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