Batten down your mailboxes. Stockpile trash bags. It's "Marina time" in the 45th Ward, and we're not referring to a boat dock.

There's a new political machine in Chicago: the unions, particularly those that represent government employees. That includes the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and others under the umbrella of the Chicago Federation of Labor. They've decided to spend $250,000 to $500,000 of their workers' union dues to elect their candidate as the 45th Ward's next alderman.

In the 5 weeks preceding the Feb. 22 primary, union money will pay for three wardwide mailings per week, a total of 15, singing the praises of Marina Faz-Huppert, the 33-year-old political director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, at a cost of $13,000 a pop for postage and printing.

Here's a no-brainer multiple-choice question. If somebody or something (like organized labor) spends a quarter-million to a half-million dollars to elect you as alderman, how do you vote in the City Council?

a. Like you are told. b. Like you are told. c. All of the above. Answer: c.

"I will support working families," insisted Faz-Huppert. "I will represent the interests of the 45th Ward." She met Pat Levar, the ward's 24-year alderman, when she was lobbying against Walmart stores in Chicago if they didn't pay a $13-per-hour minimum wage. "He was impressed by her," said one ward insider.

When Levar retired last October, he muscled his ward organization into endorsing Faz-Huppert. Even though she had been a resident of the ward for barely a year, she had, said the insider, "good credentials and education, was a woman, and could deliver plenty of money." In short, a candidate with access to others' deep pockets.

Not surprisingly, Faz-Huppert's six opponents are livid. "She's a carpetbagger, a walking conflict of interest," fumed Michael Fitzgerald Ward. "She'll vote for the best interests of the unions." A joint statement by candidates John Arena, John Garrido and Anna Klocek "denounced" her for "trading campaign cash for political influence" and asserted that her "pay-to-play campaign" is a typical Chicago "backroom deal." "She's not a Northwest Sider," Garrido added. "She's barely a Chicagoan." "The voters are intelligent," Klocek said. "They won't allow themselves to be manipulated or deceived."

Faz-Huppert was born in Mexico, and she grew up in Berwyn. At a Jan. 26 forum, she twice stated that she has lived in the ward since 2008. Records from the Cook County Clerk's Office indicate that she voted in the April 2009 election in suburban River Forest under the name Marina Yolanda Martinez, having first registered there in 1996. Records from the Chicago Board of Elections indicate that she re-registered in Chicago at her fiance's condominium on July 2, 2009, and married in August of that year, but that she is not an owner. She changed her surname to Faz-Huppert in November of 2010.

"As Winston Churchill once said, she's guilty of 'an economy of truth,'" said Don Blair, fudging on his pledge to avoid nasty comments about his opponents. The remaining candidate is Bruno Bellissimo.

The operative question: Will a $195,000 blizzard of mailed propaganda transform the union's "sweetheart" into the 45th Ward's "sweetheart"? If so, it will be the equivalent of making a silk purse from a sow's ear.

The 45th Ward encompasses Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Gladstone Park and Forest Glen. Levar, who was first elected in 1987, was the choice of his fellow precinct captains. He's been a Daley loyalist in the City Council, rarely deviating from the mayor's edicts, although he did vote against the foie gras ban. In 2007, facing former aide Terry Boyke, Levar won an unimpressive 7,380-4,004 victory, getting 56.2 percent of the vote.

Adjectives like "shabby" and "decrepit" have been used to describe the ward's commercial districts in the last decade, particularly the Milwaukee Avenue corridor. Gateway Chevrolet and Gladstone Bakery are shuttered. Development on Lawrence Avenue east of Milwaukee is stalled. "The storefront vacancy rate is 40 percent," Blair claimed. "There's no effort being made to market our ward to businesses," Ward complained. Levar is the scapegoat.

With health problems and facing a grueling re-election campaign, Levar pulled the plug. He was elected the ward's Democratic committeeman in 2008, succeeding Tom Lyons, who died in 2007. Barely half of the ward's 53 precincts have Levar workers. Had he run for re-election, the vote would have been a referendum on his performance. By embracing Faz-Huppert instead of a precinct captain, Levar climbs onto a $250,000 deep-pocketed lifeboat. If Faz-Huppert wins, Levar retains a residue of power as the committeeman; if she loses, the ward's Democratic organization is vaporized.

Here is a "scouting report":

*Faz-Huppert: Appears stony and arrogant at forums, but handlers claim she is just introverted . . . works precincts every day . . . heralded as "champion of social change" in Citizen Action endorsement, and the SEIU swoons over her "progressive work" . . . distances herself from Levar, who she said "served the community to best of his ability" and "gave what he gave," but that it's "time to move forward" . . . does that mean ward has stagnated or moved backward? . . . claims to be sparking "enthusiasm" among women, Hispanics and immigrants . . . Hispanics are 15 percent of ward's population . . . says she is "next generation of leadership" . . . as to charge of lack of ward roots, avers that she "has always been helpful to the needs of our neighborhoods" . . . 15 mailings in 5 weeks will make her either a household name or a household irritation, and a good filler for the recyclable trash bin . . . is pro-choice on abortion, backs gun control . . . if she can't exceed 40 percent of the vote on Feb. 22, is toast in April 5 runoff. Message to Marina: The 45th Ward isn't Oak Park.

*Garrido: From Gladstone Park . . . has best signs . . . running since 2009 . . . used his 2010 Republican primary bid for Cook County Board president (getting 31.3 percent of the vote) as a launching pad for this campaign . . . got 836 votes in ward . . . 18-year city cop who advanced to lieutenant . . . also a lawyer . . . ward has roughly 1,500 police officers and firefighters and their families, who will back him, plus the Republican base, which is 1,800 registered voters . . . hapless 2010 Republican assessor's candidate got 2,276 votes in three-way race . . . has raised $48,392, but has exhausted his funds . . . viewed as tough but likable . . . supports abortion ban with exceptions, gun ownership and death penalty.

*Ward: From Forest Glen . . . wealthy former commodities trader and onetime chef . . . says he is "fiscally conservative" . . . deep pockets enables him to spend $200,000 . . . bellicose and belligerent at forums . . . opposes property tax increase to fund city pensions . . . claims ward is a "drive-through," not a "destination" . . . says voters who are fed up with politics as usual will back him . . . supports gun ownership, abortion rights and the death penalty . . . has raised $109,730, all from individuals.

*Arena: From Portage Park . . . low-key campaign is effectively networking the ward's liberal base, which is 20 to 25 percent . . . has decade-long connections among community activists . . . Obama got 6,086 votes in the ward in the 2008 primary (to 6,240 for Hillary Clinton), Dorothy Brown got 1,461 votes in 2007 for mayor, "reformer" Pete Conway got 4,475 votes for alderman in 2003 . . . "independent" Forrest Claypool got 7,104 votes (46.4 percent of the total) for assessor in 2010 . . . has raised $35,264 . . . terms self "moderate," but is pro-choice, pro-gun control, anti-death penalty . . . endorsed by Sun-Times . . . charismatic . . . could surprise.

Blair: From Portage Park . . . portrays self as "trained economist" with acumen for "business strategies" . . . the brainiest candidate, but also the geekiest, blandest and least charismatic . . . campaign is vastly under-performing . . . has raised $83,558, including $67,000 in loans from self and father-in-law, but had only one mailing . . . blew the rest on high-priced consultants and paid precinct workers . . . promises four more mailings and $200,000 input . . . general consensus: fading fast . . . claims "not out of the game" . . . Arena cuts into Portage Park base . . . is pro-choice, backs gun ownership and death penalty.

*Klocek: From Forest Glen . . . real estate agent and "soccer mom" who ran in 2007, getting 1,086 votes (8 percent of the total) . . . has raised $5,525 . . . opposes property taxes hike to pay for pensions . . . pro-life, backs right to guns in home, opposes death penalty . . . is "independent conservative" . . . "no new TIFs."

*Bellissimo: From Gladstone Park . . . accountant by training . . . supports abortion rights, death penalty, gun ownership . . . has ideas to cut spending . . . has raised $4,000 . . . is sincere but plodding.

Had Rahm Emanuel been booted off the ballot, ward turnout would have ballooned to stymie Carol Moseley Braun. But now that Emanuel is a shoo-in, turnout will be normal. It was 13,125 in 2007, and in 1991, with a highly contested mayoral race, it was 19,416.

My prediction: Turnout on Feb. 22 will be 17,500. Given her money and manpower, Faz-Huppert will finish first, getting in the realm of 30 to 35 percent of the vote, or 5,500 to 6,000 votes. Democrat Joe Berrios, the 2010 assessor nominee, got 5,294 votes, which is the "Machine's" controlled vote.

Garrido will top out at 3,300 to 3,600 votes. Ward will get 2,500 to 4,000 votes, depending on whether he becomes the "Stop Marina" candidate. Arena will pull 3,000 to 3,500 votes. Each could finish second, making the runoff.

Blair will get 1,200 votes, Klocek 600 and Bellissimo 300. Overall, the anti-Marina vote will exceed 65 percent. In a Faz-Huppert vs. Garrido or Faz-Huppert vs. Arena runoff, the unions' next $250,000 cash infusion will keep her competitive. If it's Faz-Huppert vs. Ward, he will match her dollar-for-dollar. Despite her big bucks, Faz-Huppert's prospects of being alderman range from bleak to nil. The ward's voters are too astute to elect a candidate who is in debt to the unions as alderman.

(Editor's Note: Stewart, an attorney, represented Garrido in a ballot challenge filed by Levar's and Ward's attorneys. He is not involved in any campaign.)