While much of the big story has been the defeat of the remnants of the white machine, there is another significant story in the burbs where the machine of the Shaw brothers took another hit and Robert Shaw was defeated by Larry Rogers.
In this case it isn’t so much being replaced by the more modern versions of politics, but by the Jacksons who, say what you will, are better than the Shaws. Most importantly, the kind of static patronage driven operations aren’t nearly as effective as they used to be.
Can we stop with “the Machine is Dead” crap. The Machine died in 1979 when Jane Byrne got elected mayor. THAT’S 25 FREAKIN’ YEARS AGO!!!
Yet every time an organization candidate loses, the media is filled with “the Machine is Dead” stories. When Harold Washington won in ’83…..when Phil Rock got crushed in the ’84 Senate primary….when two LaRouchies won spots on the statewide Dem ticket in ’86….”The Machine is Dead”…..”The Machine is Dead”…..”The Machine is Dead.”
And there are plenty more examples.
It’s time for the political media to get off their butts and come up with a new post-election angle.
Let’s get every political pundit in Illinois’ together in one room…pols, reporters, and activists…and come to the following consensus: There is no longer a Democratic Party “machine” operating anywhere in Illinois. There are a handful of politicians (Daley, Madigan and others,) that have good political organizations that can control a certain amount of votes, (particularly at the bottom of the ballot,) but these organizations are seperate entities, with seperate interests, that frequently do not work in concert.
Let us also agree to the following rule about low turn-out Dem primaries: they are dominated by African-Americans and liberals, not old guard organizations.
Pundits who have spent the last two days trying to pass themselves off as political wise-guys by talking about the Machine’s demise display a certain ignorance about Illinois politics.
Analyzing Tuesday’s Dem Senate primary is an easy task. The best candidate– with the best record, and best commercials — won.
the machine beat Vallas. rod is a hollow man.
Vallas lost downstate. He pulled more votes out of Chicago and the collars.
I worked very hard for Vallas, ran a phone bank. Love the guy, think he’d have made a better governor.
But Vallas beat Vallas.
He could have counted on a better share of the African American vote till he lectured Roland Burris on being black, which pissed people off.
He could have counted on decent support downstate until he lectured Rod on his ‘downstate economic development plan’ without offering anything in its place, which made him look shabby.
His idiotic media advisers told him to run away from his success at the schools, so for two critical months he told everyone that he had been a great budget-cutter at CPS rather than that he had turned the damn system around. When he finally got around to talking about the successes, he used a ridiculous commercial that pretended that it was all about helping near-sighted kids get glasses.
He had cleaned the Augean stables of their filth, restored discipline to a system that had given up on its very mission. And then his commercial made it all sound trivial, like any fool could have done it.
And despite these mistakes, and despite Blagojevich’s early and overwhelming money advantage, and despite the whole frikkin’ congressional delegation getting behind Rod because they thought it might help them during the remap, Vallas only lost by 25,000 votes.
Sigh. Where we might be now …
Surely not sending a fat birthday present to the GOP mafioso boss of Rosemont, that shell-corporation/tax shelter/strong-arm operation that bills itself as a village.
If only. If only!
To go back and respond to the original post, machine white wards have dominated low-turnout primaries for decades. Just check the primary turnout in 11, 13, 19, 23 and 36 for the last decade. It’s why we have the dishonest pastry-faced judiciary we have. When the party candidate didn’t win, it was usually because a few SW aldermen led a revolt against the county slate and pushed their own candidate.
This year was really, really different. The fact that these wards all turned out below 12,000, with the exception of Hynes ward, where almost half the vote went against Tommy’s son, is an amazing about-face.
True, the machine has died many deaths, but in each case, one could see the continuing strength of the organization. This time, it’s hard to see where they go. Judicial slating is done by weighted primary vote, so it’s hard to see the Irishmen ever controlling that again.
Xochitl Flores ran only 20,000 votes behind Majewski for Water Rec commissioner (and if you think Obama was a tough name, try selling one that starts with X and has a tl at the end.) She didn’t even have the benefit of a good neutral last name, like Dunford, which sounds black to blacks, Irish to the Irish and anglo to suburbanites.
The low-ticket offices are the bread-and-butter of the machine. For three decades, it’s been difficult to control votes for major executive office, Congress or Senate, but as long as they controlled the judiciary (for contributions from lawyers), the Assessors Office (contributions from fatcat developers and building owners), the Water Rec district (an enormous contracting operation that nobody pays attention to – the next “Hired Truck” scandal will take place here), they could funnel cash and manpower gleaned here into holding onto such things as legislative seats.
The other reason the machine is dead is because the Jackson’s have now defeated the Shaws once and for all. They’re going to be looking in new directions — you’re going to see some contested aldermanic races in two years, with Barack and Jesse Jr. competing to sponsor the most newcomers. They won’t be fighting each other – instead, each will pick 2 or 3 proxy wars where they’ll fight the mayor’s patsys. Whoever wins 3 becomes south side boss, and from there, city hall begins to respond to the black community in a way that it hasn’t since Harold died.
This is no dig at fitz-Daley, who is much more responsive than his dad or Janey, but realistically, somebody like Joyce is not going to run the Fire Department in 5 years. You’re not going to have the in-laws of Ed Burke getting Hired Truck contracts in 5 years. Eddie himself won’t be chair of the finance committee. And Jesse may give up on his south suburban airport if his aldermanic proxies can break the grip of the NW-side white clique on Ohare contracts.
This election has changed a lot more than you think.
Good post Wilson. I agree with some of what you wrote, but disagree with most, particularly your conclusion.
I’m not convinced (yet,) that Obama’s landslide will have the long-term affect you see. I think his success is based on his personal appeal more than any macro-political phenomenon.
I don’t see Obama getting involved in many local races as a sitting U.S. Senator. He will immediately become a national figure and it would be foolish for him to get his hands dirty in aldermanic contests.
As far as hooking up in an anti-Daley political alliance with Jesse Jr. is concerned, I’m skeptical about that too. The Jacksons don’t play nice when it looks like another African-American is starting to grab the spotlight. Look at their Cold War with Al Sharpton, for instance. Besides, the Jackson family is making a lot of money with Rich Daley on the 5th Floor.
Futhermore, this notion that the Shaw Brothers were part of the once vaunted “machine” is utter nonsense. The Shaws worked for the Shaws — and no one else. They opposed the Regular Democratic Organization as often as they were with it. In fact, they frequently worked both sides in the same election — and all the pols knew it. As far as their battle with the Jacksons is concerned, it was never much of a fight. The Jackson won almost every time.
Finally, slated judicial candidate have been losing more often that not for most of the past ten years –and its not because the party is slating too many Irishmen. Slated candidates won only two of the five countywide judicial races Tuesday — that’s pretty typical of late. The Cook County court system is filled with judges (mostly women) who won because they had Irish surnames and the slated candidate didn’t.
One more thing — the reason vote totals are down in the wards you mention is massive Hispanic influx, (except for the 19th.)
given the narrow Vallas-Blago margin, any number of variables might have tipped the scales. If Chico had supported Paul and Hynes the elder hadn’t sat on his hands, Vallas would be governor. Had Daley given him the high sign at the last minute instead of to Rod, Vallas would be governor.
Which is not to say Wilson’s inside info isn’t correct, and it would have certainly been more gratifying and empowering to do it without the aforementioned, but they sure didn’t want an independent governor.
So what are we to think about all this? Watch for Daley (who’s openning shot against Obama was to defend — read that, defend — Jack Ryan) and his cronies to do what they can, quietly, subtley to defeat Obama. They hate “movement” candidates, because they are a threat to their “bread and butter.” This is going to be tough and ugly because what is left of the machine won’t slink away and let Obama, the Jacksons, or anyone else threaten their power.
And, yes, Virginia, there is still a machine. If you have ever backed a non-slated, local candidate in Chicago or Cook County, you know…you know. It’s not invinicble (see the results of Sub-Circuit 8 A in this week’s judicial race), but it’s still astonishingly potent and should never, never be underestimated.
Buckle up everyone, and get ready for a fight we haven’t seen since the “council wars.”
really? i hear Richie’s going to work hard to get a brother who got 66% of the democratic vote in the city as far away as possible, say, to Washington, D.C. lmfao at the machine
Transplanted Harvard grads don’t built street organizations. His background is the track for policy wonk, US Senate, Ambassador, Executive Branch, even Prez.
Organization pols like Daley and Jackson Jr. go to schools like DePaul and NC A&T. I think Jr. has Mayoral ambitions but will have to wait for Ritchie to croak.
That Hispanic demographic will explode politically sooner or later. Any ideas why they don’t show at the polls? I’m guessing because it’s a young cohort.
As long as Obama votes to fund the bulldozing of Bensenville, Elk Grove and Wood Dale he will have the Mayors full support 😉
I agree with Unknown Dem. Obama and Daley are from different worlds and have different ambitions. As for Jesse Jr., I’m not sure. Is he a Chicago guy or a Beltway guy?
He spent as much of his childhood in Washington as he did in Chicago and he went to St. Alban’s Prep in D.C. (as did Al Gore and the sons of many other rich and powerful.)
I always thought he was pointing for the Senate, but he passed up his best chance to get elected this year. (Given Obama’s, success I wonder if he regrets that decision.) Which leads me to believe he is a Chicago guy and will run for mayor.
But as he waits for Richie to retire or die, Chicago’s black population is declining.
What worries me most about the Richie-doesn’t-care-let-him-go-to-DC comments is how much they underestimate Daley and pals’ paranoia. From where did Harold Washingotn hail? DC. And Harvard grads don’t build street organizations…where were you on election day?
Richie, btw, was at it again yesterday defending Ryan.
It’s far, far better to think the worst and act accordingly in this race, than to get blindsided by the Irish-Catholic pols who have no intention of letting their power erode away, whether that is done by Obama, Jackson, Gutierrez, or anyone.
Everyone: get real.
I only know two guys that built serious new street organizations in the last 30 years in this town:
– Jesse Sr. at Operation Breadbasket/PUSH/the Jesse Jr. campaign, which continues to grow with the Rogers victory; and
– Bob Creamer at IPAC/Citizen Action.
While Citizen Action is on the decline in my opinion, arguably Creamer’s wife Jan Schakowsky has built her own campaign into something resembling an organization.
I’d say the defining quality of a political organization is that it lasts beyond one election and applies itself to something larger than one person’s race for a given office. The Schakowsky campaign qualifies because she has put people including volunteers and paid staff to work on the Blagojevich campaign among others.
Barack Obama built Project VOTE, but it withered quickly. His campaign wasn’t based on an organization. He attracted a lot of individuals to help him personally for this race. It’s an amazing feat.
But I think Barack would be the first to tell you he doesn’t have an organization right now.
Dick Simpson and others built IVI-IPO, but it’s about dead. John Schmidt helped build the Chicago Council of Lawyers, which once had an impact on Judicial elections, but he let it go long before his failed runs.
Everyone who has an organization today just inherited it from someone else. Most participatory organizations, like IVI and CCL, are suffocating.
The North Shore Democratic township parties are participatory organizations. The Oak Park party is a curious hybrid – a purged participatory organization, sort of like Putin’s Russian democracy; the DPOP votes on nominations, but only now that many of those who might have been unruly left the organization. Still, they help other candidates than just Harmon, the committeeman/Senator, and the members make some of the important decisions.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Barack builds an organization. But first, he’ll need to win his election