Monday, February 04, 2008

(Democratic) Party crasher wants to be a judge

T.J. Somer is an attorney with dreams of being a Cook County judge.

The resident of Chicago Heights who is corporation counsel of his hometown has never won an election – even though he has tried repeatedly.

The closest he has come to success thus far is when he ran for mayor of Chicago Heights. He gained public attention by losing, challenging the results in court and taking 19 months before conceding defeat.

Somer's dreams of running for office began in the 1990s when he was the former Chicago Heights police officer who was the sacrificial lamb to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., when the Republican Party needed someone to challenge the son of the civil rights leader in a congressional district that was rapidly developing a significant African-American population.

So what is different about Thomas J. Somer now that makes him think he has a chance of winning the election Tuesday?

He has changed political parties. Somer is running as a Democrat for a judicial post within a suburban subcircuit.

Somer is the latest example of someone changing his politically partisan label in hopes that “joining the other team” will give him a better chance at winning. After all, it is not that Somer has anything significantly new in his background.

His hometown used to be a Republican bastion in the south suburbs. Officials who controlled Chicago Heights politics were white ethnics (largely Italian) who leaned toward the GOP because they saw the party as their political instrument that kept them from being bowled over by Chicago city government.

Shifting parties is just a sign Somer can “smell the coffee,” so to speak, of his changing community. Growing African-American and Hispanic populations in Chicago Heights (along with a federal investigation of the Chicago mob during the 1990s that sent former Chicago Heights Mayor Charles Panici to prison) have changed the town’s politics.

Somer (who was not caught up in the Chicago Heights political corruption) is basically the same “white ethnic” guy whose focus is fellow working-class people.

There really is little difference between people of Democratic and Republican persuasions, particularly if they come from the same region. Similar life experiences will produce similar views on issues that triumph over political party ties. I’m convinced the only reason some “hard-core” Democrats in Chicago support the party is because it is the establishment and they do not want to be mavericks.

Force those same people to live in a downstate Illinois community where the GOP is dominant, and they likely would convert within weeks. I also know that while I am a Chicagoan who leans Democrat, I find I have more in common with those rare Chicagoans who identify as Republican, than with those rural Illinois residents who vote for Democrats.

Somer’s political conversion is not unique.

The most prominent flip in recent Chicago political history was when Edward R. Vrdolyak, then an alderman and head of the Cook County Democratic Party, decided he wanted to be a part of the political party of Ronald Reagan.

After losing a 1987 mayoral primary to incumbent Harold Washington, he flipped to the GOP, where he campaigned for Cook County circuit court clerk in 1988 and later another mayoral bid as a Republican write-in in the 1989 special election.

His GOP bids were never traditional campaigns, as they were caught up in the mid-1980s spirit of “Council Wars” that poisoned our local politics. He was never appealing to hard-core Republican voters as much as to racially motivated ones.

I also remember when Ald. Bernie Stone of the far North Side’s 50th Ward declared himself to be a Republican on the grounds that Democrats were too preoccupied with racial disputes. He resumed use of the “Democrat” label when it became apparent no one believed the GOP conversion.

Digging back into Chicago political history, one of the biggest flips was that of Richard J. Daley, who won his first campaign for electoral office as a Republican representing the Bridgeport neighborhood in the Illinois House of Representatives.

The GOP label was a technicality that Democrats used when organizing a write-in campaign for Daley after the Republican incumbent died just before Election Day. Back then, Illinois House districts were required to have representatives of both political parties, and Daley as a GOPer was really a trick to steal a seat.

Daley became a Democrat officially in his second election, when he moved up to an Illinois Senate seat.

So what are the chances that the public (or at least those living in the 15th subcircuit of Cook County) will take to Democrat Somer any more than they did to the Republican version?

He could win this time around, but not because of any ideological flip.

The difference is that he has some money for a campaign (the Illinois State Board of Elections showed him spending $13,994.48 during the latter half of 2007, and starting this year off with $20,330.52), and he has put money into advertising billboards and public benches.

I have sat on Somer’s name in recent weeks, and it may help him get enough public recognition that some clueless voter will recognize the name when running through what seems like an endless list of people on the judicial portion of the ballot.

But then, I have yet to see an “idiot” card that lists him. None of the public officials who are organizing voter turnout are bothering to urge people to cast ballots for Somer, although the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers both say he is “qualified” to be a judge.

The Illinois State Bar Association, the Hellenic Bar Association and the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, however, all say he is “not qualified.”

At the less public levels of politics, the bulk of a candidate’s votes usually come from having the support of someone with an organization who can turn out voters on one’s behalf. The various bar association rankings are interesting, but many voters don’t pay them much attention.

Insofar as eye-catching political mailings are concerned, he’s running against Anna Helen Demacopoulos, an assistant state’s attorney who also wants to become a judge. (Take a guess who the Hellenic Bar Association would like to see win.)

Her mailings emphasize the notion that government could be spying on us, and that we ought to elect judges who will protect our personal privacy rights.

So who will wind up winning Tuesday; the Republican convert or the prosecutor appealing to our outrage over potential abuses of the Patriot Act?

-30-

Originally posted at www.ChicagoArgus.blogspot.com

4 comments:

Anonymous,  12:35 AM  

Hilary Clinton won 3 to 1 the Hispanic votes in Nevada. This was even though the unions with heavy Hispanic membership endorsed Obama (but the leadership is not Hispanic--sort of like the SEIU with heavy Jewish and far left influence in predominantly Black and Hispanic unions) So the white and Jewish union bosses endorsed Obama but the rank and file mostly Hispanic union members went with Clinton.

In Florida Clinton also won the Hispanic vote for the Democratic nomination over Obama. In the Republican primary John McCain won the Hispanic vote in Florida which won Florida for him over John McCain. The knock on Obama in Florida besides voting to build a wall on the Mexican border is he has no experience with the Hispanic community.

Jesse Jackson Jr here in Chicago talks about a Black/Brown alliance but it is only Browns supporting Blacks and never the other way around at least not for Jesse Jr or most of the other official Black leadership (with some exceptions). There was much ado about billboards with Congressman Luis Gutierrez for now Judge Joy Cunningham over the slated white candidate and a Black/Brown alliance but there was no corresponding Black support for Brown only Brown support for Black.

Some interesting notes are that:
1. There are NO Hispanics elected Statewide at large. NONE, ZIP, ZILCH, ZIPPO, ZEROE.
Never a Governor, Treasurer, Lite Governor, Comptroller or Secretary of State. African Americans have had Roland Burris and Jesse White.
There has never been a major Hispanic candidate supported by the Democratic party for these offices.

The Countywide offices also have no Hispanic elected office holder except for Commissioner Frank Avila of the MWRDGC which is an important but relatively obscure office. Only 1. The African American community has representation in the County Board President (even if it is controlled by John Daley), the Recorder of Deeds, and Clerk of the Circuit Court out of the major offices and two of the 9 MWRDGC Commissioners. There are no Hispanics in any of the major posts and only 1 Hispanic at the MWRDGC.

Commissioner Avila endorsed Barack Obama and has made calls to California for Barack Obama.
However, Senator Ricky Hendon is supporting two candidates one black and one white and targetting him for defeat uniquely so if Senator Hendon is successful there will be no Hispanics on the MWRDGC board and none at all at any post countywide in Cook County. None.

Similiarly, Congressman Danny Davis (who has received Hispanic support) is not supporting any Hispanics and has a separate almost all Black slate. There is a Soul Slate that is all Black.
Professor Starks has an all Black slate. Congressman Jackson is not supporting any Hispanics and is even targetting for defeat Commissioner Jose Berrios of the Tax Board of Appeals and Commissioner Avila of the MWRDGC.
If Jose Berrios and Frank Avila were to lose there would be NO representation of Hispanics at any level of government. The Assessor who is targetting Jose Berrios for defeat (Jose Berrios appeals his tax assessments) has almost no Hispanics working in his office with estimates from 1 to 3% while the population is 20 to 25% in the city and growing.

Judge Jesse Reyes (the only slated Hispanic judicial candidate) is not getting the commensurate Black support that now Judge Joy Cunningham got from the Latino community. There has NEVER been a Judge elected Countywide at large who is Hispanic. Out of the 200 or so judges in Cook County only 8 are Hispanic. Where is Jesse Jackson or Danny Davis or Ricky Hendon to elect a Hispanic Judge for judicial diversity or fairness.

Jose Berrios is the only elected official from a district that is 1/3 of the County that employs Hispanics in any great numbers in his office. Hispanics are non existent in County government with less than 4% and with 1 or 0 (NONE) in some areas. Hispanics supported John and Todd Stroger but minority only means Black to them and there is no diversity for other minorities.
If Jose Berrios loses there will be no Hispanic representation on issues dealing with property taxes and dozens of Hispanic men and women who lose jobs.

Commissioner Frank Avila is an interesting example of lack of reciprocity to the extent you can vote for THREE in the MWRDGC rotating Board member race.
So Commissioner Avila a licensed Engineer and the only Hispanic in the race or on that Board is not even on the top three of the supposedly liberal and committed to diversity Congresswoman Jan Shakowsky or Commissioner and leading in the polls candidate for State's Attorney Larry Suffredin.
The Cook County States Attorney has very few Hispanic attorneys and deals with Hispanics and some say heavy handedly yet Larry Suffredin is not supporting a slated, qualified, and sole Hispanic--not even when he has three choices. Hispanics have given significant Republican votes in past national elections and McCain has a Hispanic following yet Shakowsky is trying as a national leader and Democratic leader and Congresswoman to in one election to eliminate ALL HIspanic representation. NONE. No Hispanics allowed in Cook County.

Congressman Jackson, who wanted to be Mayor of a City that is 25% Hispanic and growing is also oppossing every Hispanic running for office and two Hispanic incumbents one who supported him on his races and his allies (Commissioner Avila)

Anita Alvarez (a non slated non incumbent) is not getting any support by even her fellow Hispanics despite her arguably superior credentials (she has been a prosecutor even longer than Bob Milan) She is considered an outstanding attorney and comptetent prosecutor without scandal and came in after the Area 2 scandals. She is the only female running. She is the only Hispanic running. It seems that being female only counts when you are trying to get into office without credentials for a MWRDGC seat or a Judge seat. It seems that diversity does not include Hispanics. Anita Alvarez is uniquely qualified but there is no Brown slate, or Spanish slate corresponding to the Rev. Sampson Soul Slate.

How can Congressmans Jan Shakowsky and Jesse Jackson be national leaders and attempt to eliminate any Hispanic elected officials???
This is not leadership and if it were against groups they more closely identify with it would be racism and anti-semitism. But being against Hispanics is OK and the media doesn't care.

Sen Ricky Hendon is making racist and religiously bigotted statements against an American of Indian (east) descent yet the media says nothing. Silence on lies and explicit racist statements. Ricky Hendon is trying to eliminate Hispanics at the MWRDGC and the Tax Board of Appeals but that is not considered racist.

The Democratic Leadership may not worry about the Hispanic sleeping giant because they repeat the apparently accurate mantra that Hispanics don't vote, that the people don't care, and their leaders are bought off. If you make an anti-Black or anti-Jewish statment or opposse their candidates than that is bad and makes a front page story--but being anti-Hispanic is the last allowable racism and discrimination in America.

Barack Obama could lose the nomination because of lack of reaching out to Hispanics.
The Democratic Party may have a shock without any Hispanic elected officials.
The so called liberals like Shakowsky and Suffedin who supposedly believe in diversity do not include Hispanics in that Diversity.

The Rainbow of Jesse Jackson Jr is only Black unless you have Green (money) and than you can buy your way in like Larry Suffedin did.

The Hispanics running Countywide are:
Anita Alvarez for State's Attorney
Frank Avila for MWRDGC (slated and incumbent)
Jesse Reyes for Judge (sitting associate judge and slated for Countywide seat)
Many people are trying to get all three to lose. Even the incumbents and slated candidates.
Jose Berrios represents a District that is 1/3 the County and is the only Hispanic involved in the issue of taxation.

If the Cong Shakowsky, Cong Jackson, Sen Ricky Hendon cabal plan works---There will be NO (NONE, ZILCH, ZIP, ZERO) Hispanics in any political offices at all in Cook County NONE. That is racism pure and simple. That is also stupid politics--maybe not now--but in the future.

Anonymous,  8:52 AM  

Quit Whining! If you really want to elect a candidate of a certain ethnic background,a dubious wish at best, find a qualified candidate, find a winnable office, raise sufficient funds from your own community, and, most importantly, work really hard. If you won't help yourself why expect others to do your job for you.

Anonymous,  11:09 AM  

Listen to the radio ads that Senator Ricky Hendon is running.
They are racist. Insulting. Offensive.

Anonymous,  11:58 AM  

Hispanics should dump the hypocrite phony liberals like Jan Shanckocwsky and her convicted felon husband Bob Cramer who say diversity but don't practice.
Hispanics should dump Jesse Jackson Jr who is a pimp and a hustler. That is why Operation PUSH is called in the Black community Pimps United to Save Hustlers.

Hispanics should become Republicans. Hispanics should vote for
TONY PERAICA
and
JOHN MCCAIN for President

Dump the people who treat you like garbage. Republicans want Hispanics.

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