John Fritchey Meets the Bloggers

The campaign of Rep. John Frichey, candidate for Congress in the IL-05 Democratic primary, took questions for almost an hour from area bloggers interested in the race. A little background first. Fritchey was the first elected official who started blogging in the Chicago area. When we held our first "Blogger's Breakfast," I invited him to join us. So it should be no surprise that he was the first candidate in this race to invite questions from local bloggers. As he said in the end, every candidate should do it.

Fritchey did not start with a prepared statement. There was no attempt to frame the discussion in one area or to refuse questions in another. We all knew that the recent Progress Illinois article. But they just opened the floor. Having no manners, I jumped in.

"Can you walk us through your decision-making process about getting into this race," I asked. Having Fritchey (as well as Mike Quigley and Sara Feigenholtz) as Facebook "friends," I watched him walk through the process publicly.

In a normal election cycle, you would have considered it measured, methodical, even comprehensive. But in a special election, it seemed either strategic or cautious. Having heard his campaign manager's version of this, I wanted to see if they were trying to be smart politically. Specifically, I wondered if Fritchey was lining up financial commitments but decided not to officially get into the race until after the FEC deadline passed, in order not to be unfavorably compared to Feigenholtz.

Of course, I had forgotten all about the Blagojevich scandal. Freudian slip, I guess.

Fritchey said he only started thinking about running after Rahm's appointment to the President's chief-of-staff was discussed in the press. Fritchey's manager had previously said that Fritchey had not really considered Congress, which is definitely contrary to local conventional wisdom. In Chicago, where open Congressional seats are rare, politicians plot for years about running for Congress when the next opening comes up. At the drop of a hint, some have been known to poll on their name recognition. They are ready.

But "John's an Illinois guy," Josh Levin (Fritchey's campaign manager) had told me. Fritchey's response last night fit that meme. Fritchey's response was that it was a "life-changing decision," that his decision was "not driven by ambition," but by the unique opportunity to serve with the president, with whom he first entered the state legislature in Springfield. He said that he was "getting in for all the right reasons."

Finally, after I pushed back a little (looking for an admission that it was a strategic political decision), Fritchey responded bluntly. "Look," he said, "who was it going to hurt but me? I knew I was behind 100,000 dollars or 300,000 dollars." He made it clear that he wanted, maybe even needed, the time to think through this decision (even though some of us -- including me -- believed it was a foregone conclusion), to consult with his family and get comfortable with the reality of running for Congress.

Later on, as a sort of follow-up, I asked if he knew he was starting from behind, whether he believed he could still win. "Of course," or something like that, he said. "I wouldn't do it otherwise." But, Fritchey told us, he wants to be "pro-active to get in there and fight for those resources." He noted time and again that he's been a fighter for his constituents, and would take that approach to Congress, if he's elected. He framed this race in those terms when he repeated it: "We need a Congressman who will get in there and work to bring back those resources."

Then we started talking about the President's stimulus package. Fritchey reminded us of his long-time support of a high speed rail corridor between Chicago and St. Louis. He expounded on his support for the stimulus package in a variety of ways, and patiently explained as others (who were clearly taking much more extensive notes than I!) sought to get him down exactly as he wanted.

I won't belabor the discussion about the Progress Illinois story, as I'm sure others will post about it, except to say that Fritchey answered all the questions about it and tried to spin it as a plus. "I don't mind" (to paraphrase him) "having to file the paperwork because it makes what I've done more open and transparent." He said he was down to one private client, and pledged to drop "even her," if he's elected to Congress. Fritchey made it clear that he thinks of his lobbying work as a part-time job, working mostly for non-corporate clients. In essence, he doesn't think of himself as a real lobbyist or a "hack lawyer."

Fritchey was asked about redistricting, especially in light of the Madigan-Hastert agreement that basically preserved Republican dominance of our Congressional delegation outside of Chicago. He had a laissez-faire attitude about it, telling us that he thinks of himself as a citizen-legislator.

As we started to wind down, I asked him how he thought the campaign was going, to provide a kind of political analysis of the race for us. Fritchey bemoaned that the race seemed stuck in the minutia, that he really wanted to campaign on substantive issues. He admitted that he loved the forum held at DePaul and wished there would be more of "those kinds" of forums. He said he wished the next three weeks would focus on "Who they (the candidates) are, what they've done and why they think they will be the best Congressman for the district." Of course, every candidate says that.

When asked why he thought that the traditional media wasn't really covering the election, Fritchey said: "substantive policy discussions don't sell papers." He continued:

I want people to know what my record is. I want people to know what are the records of my opponents.

Fritchey did take one crack at an opponent. "Let's put a name to it," he said when we were discussing some of the accusations around Feigenholtz, and then named her. I got the sense that he really saw the race boiling down to himself and Sara Feigenholtz. Without his fund-raising report (which is due in today) and polling to support such a conclusion, I'll have to fall back on what we do know. In my own (minor) effort at talking to voters, I still found Mike Quigley to be the best known candidate (two weeks ago). Fritchey was just beginning to blanket the district with all those signs I found in his campaign office.

In the end, John Fritchey was combative, blunt and forceful about his positions. He answered all of our questions in an articulate and honest fashion. There was no attempt to dodge questions, even the ones you know he didn't want to go into over and over again. Repeatedly, he said "the public has a right" to know, a right to access, a right to their democracy. He ended the question and answer session saying that he's tried "hard to be open and accessible" throughout his career, and planned to continue this practice win or lose. He challenged his opponents to do what he had just done -- open themselves to the questions of the people who really are following the race. I agree. If other candidates want to do a Q & A with bloggers, I'm in...

Other bloggers included in this call were:
· Jesse Greenberg, http://publicaffairs2point0.wordpress.com/
· David Ormsby, http://davidormsby.wordpress.com/
· Josh Kalven - Progress Illinois, www.progressillinois.com
· Windy City Cityzen
· Aviva Gibbs, Mechanix (?)

look for other coverage of this blogger presser from them!