Dorothy Brown, where are you?

Dorothy Brown, where are you?
BY LAURA WASHINGTON
September 25, 2006
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times


As the leaves fall, the political tidbits are piling up. Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown has engaged Richard Barnett in her incipient mayoral campaign. The prodigious West Side political strategist was a key player in the election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first black mayor.

Brown broke up our dog days reverie to rush into the race, and now she's practically invisible. What's going on, Madame Clerk? You're getting short shrift in the media scrum and playing second fiddle to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who's not even running yet. Too busy filing? You can't afford to allow Jackson to suck up all the opposition oxygen.

Meanwhile, Jackson's mayoral exploratory effort is reaching out to Hal Baron, who once served as Washington's chief policy adviser.

Mayor Daley is rocking everyone's world with new "initiatives" aimed at the February primary. Big Box vetoes, Olympic stadiums -- who knows what he'll appropriate next from Bill "Dock" Walls?

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley has emerged from the shadows of the Claypool debacle and is building a bridge to the Todd Stroger campaign. We chatted last week. In the hallowed tradition of the lesser of two evils, Quigley says he has decided to help Stroger get elected.

Quigley says that when he dropped out of the contest for Cook County Board president to support Forrest "I don't vote" Claypool, "No one questioned my motivation. They questioned my sanity."

Now he has dispatched his able chief of staff, Jennifer Koehler, to work in Stroger's campaign. Quigley is feeding him policy positions. Some are questioning his motives. To me, his motives are crystal clear. Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, the Republican nominee, is bad on gun control and even worse on choice and gay rights. "He wants you to look the other way," Quigley says.

Are you wondering why Rod Blagojevich is riding high in the polls even as the federal investigations pile up? On Thursday 2,000 ladies lunched at the Hyatt Regency for the Chicago Foundation for Women's annual benefit, and Blago was front and center. The governor made a big splash by doubling down on the foundation's new anti-violence initiative. He made the surprise announcement that he was adding another million to a $1 million state grant spearheaded by state Sen. Carol Ronen. The money will support efforts to fight human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, the sex trade and other forms of violence against women. The room went nuts.

Ah, the advantages of incumbency.

It's going to be a different story in the citywide aldermanic races. The chickens spawned by Chicago's "rubber stamp" City Council are finally coming home to roost. Serious aldermanic challengers are cropping up in many of the city's 50 wards, and they're loaded for bear.

Naisy Dolar is aiming to make history this week when she announces her bid to become Chicago's first Asian-American alderman.

She is taking on 50th Ward Ald. Bernie Stone, a political dinosaur of the first order. Dolar was 3 years old when her family immigrated to Rogers Park from the Philippines. The longtime neighborhood activist directs the Asian Advisory Council for the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. The ward's Asian population has exploded in recent years, and Dolar hopes to capitalize on that tsunami.

Speaking of demographics, gays may be gunning for 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller. The gay population of the 46th (Uptown) has surpassed that of the 44th (Boys Town), says Rick Garcia, political director for Equality Illinois, a gay advocacy group.

Shiller has a perception problem with gay voters, who think she's in the pockets of the poor, opposed to development and downright unfriendly. There's a cadre of gay, middle-class white men who "absolutely hate" Shiller, says Garcia, a Shiller supporter. "All these guys talk about is that 'I stand behind one of these poor people in the Jewel with the Link cards and they buy things I can't afford to buy.'"

Shiller does indeed advocate for the poor, supports responsible development, and she's quite shy -- which may come off as unfriendly. The five-term incumbent will likely have a gay opponent, despite her years of fostering gay-friendly policies.

Finally, to the political prognostication of the week. Drum roll, please: In addition to bringing the Olympics to Washington Park, the mayor will propose a casino deal for McCormick Place.