May 29, 2013
2015 CULLERTON-SPOSATO RACE LOOMS IN 38TH WARD

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

A Chicago city council without a Cullerton or Cullerton kin is like a Hollywood awards’ ceremony without cleavage. It’s obligatory, traditional and predictable – and, to some, completely superfluous, if not insulting.

There is a Cullerton Street , named after Eddie Cullerton, elected alderman from Chicago ’s West Side in 1871, before the Chicago fire, and served 48 years, until 1919. Cullerton Clan descendants moved northwestward. When the 38th Ward was created in 1931, in its present locale, nephew P.J. (Parky) Cullerton was elected Democratic committeeman in 1932 and alderman in 1935, and kept the latter job for the next 23 years. The Cullerton Dynasty persevered.

In 1955, P.J. Cullerton made an astute decision: He backed South Sider Richard J. Daley over Ben Adamowski and Mayor Martin Kennelly in the Democratic mayoral primary. Daley won the nomination and election, and Parky got his reward in 1958, when Daley dumped Assessor Frank Keenan, who had backed Kennelly, and slated Cullerton for the powerful post.

Back in the 38th Ward, it was “all in the family”: P.J.’s brother Willie got the aldermanic seat (1959-73), followed by nephew Tom (1973-93), then great nephew Tim’s wife’s sister’s husband Tom Allen (1993-2010), and now great-nephew Tim. The ward has had only three Democratic committeemen in the past 81 years: P.J. (1932-81), Tom (1981-93), and now Tom’s daughter, Patti Jo (P.J.), who had a job in the assessor’s office for most of her adult life, recently retiring.

For the 140 years from 1873 to 2013, a Cullerton Clan’s been alderman for 127. That’s a dynasty.

In the city Department of Buildings, Tom Cullerton was the chief electrical inspector from 1952 to 1973, and passed along that job to son Tim, who kept it until 2005, when he retired.

P.J. recognized that neither he nor Daley were immortal. He chose to “go for the gold,” and make the 38th Ward “Bridgeport North” – the new cradle of mayors. His deputy assessor was Tom Tully, a 38th Ward product and protege. Cullerton retired in 1974, got Tully slated as his successor, and expected that Tully would be mayor in 1979 or later. Daley died in 1976, succeeded by Bridgeport ’s Mike Bilandic, and Tully inexplicably retired in 1978, handing the assessor’s post to South Sider Tom Hynes.“Bridgeport North” died aborning.

In researching this article, I retrieved a column I wrote on Feb. 2, 1983, when   police office Walter Dudycz was running a quixotic campaign for alderman. His quote: “Being an alderman is not a birthright. One’s ancestry has nothing to do with performance. He (Tom Cullerton) is running on his family’s reputation.” Added Dudycz, who was elected state senator as a Republican in 1984: “Everywhere there are signs which proclaim that we ‘must preserve the Cullerton tradition.’ It’s as though it’s more important to keep a Cullerton in the city council than it is to have an alderman who is effective and energetic…and if there’s one thing that Cullerton isn’t, it’s effective and energetic.” Cullerton sniffed that “nobody’s paying any attention” to Dudycz, and the alderman was re-elected with 50.9 percent in a three-way race, with Dudycz getting 41.2 percent..

As Yogi Berra one said, “it’s déjà vu all over.” To be sure, Tim is Tom. And 2015 is another 1983.

Getting back to political cleavage, the city council’s ward remap did Cullerton no favors. A new 38th Ward was created, extending from the alderman’s political base in Portage Park , west ofLaramie , along Addison to the city’s western limits, and then north along the Cumberland Corridor to Foster. About 45 percent of the new ward’s precincts are from the old 38th Ward, 45 percent from the old 36th Ward, and ten percent from the 29th Ward. Cullerton’s base was cleaved in half, meaning he will have to introduce himself to 35,000 new constituents.

And, most ominously, Cullerton, age 64,  will likely face 2015 opposition from a fellow alderman, Nick Sposato (36th), who had 45 percent of his current constituents put into the new ward. Unlike 2011, when Cullerton raised $332,749 and spent $329,974, thumping the unknown and woefully underfunded Tom Caravette 4,761-3,119 (60.4 percent) in the runoff, Sposato will be no patsy.

If Cullerton’s ward was cleaved, Sposato’s was disemboweled. All of Galewood and a quarter of Montclair (north of North Avenuearound Harlem) was put into the black-majority 29th Ward ( Austin ), which has a black alderman. The rest of Montclair , plus Sposato’s residence near Palmer-Harlem, was put into the new Hispanic-majority 36th Ward, which took all of Cullerton’s Hispanic precincts south of Addison, and all the 36th Ward from Belmont to Roscoe and east of Sayre. Willy Oquino, an ally of county Democratic chairman (and Assessor) Joe Berrios, is expected to get the seat. “They did their best to cripple me,” said Sposato.

“I’m running (in 2015),” Sposato insists. In 2011, against great odds, Sposato, a firefighter, scored a huge upset over John Rice, the anointed successor to longtime alderman (1983-2009) Bill Banks. Rice was Banks’ chief-of-staff, but in reality was his driver and factotum. Instead of integrating his 2011 campaign with Rahm Emanuel’s, as did Cullerton, the Banks-DeLeo Machine decided to go it alone; Rice had 5 opponents, and Rice got 48 percent to Sposato’s 24 percent in the  primary. In 2007, Sposato opposed Banks, and got 2,595 votes (24 percent). The warning signs were there: A solid 52 percent of the 13,953 2011 voters backed somebody other than Rice, and wouldn’t back him in the April runoff.

Sposato spent a $48,809, but won 40 of 55 precincts, topping Rice 5,651-4,423 (56.1 percent) -- a repudiation of Banks and Rice. Rices’s vote collapses from 6,709 to 4,423, while the anti-Rice vote of 7,244 waned only to 5,651. Sposato was elected ward Democratic committeeman in 2012, and the Banks-DeLeo Machine is history.

“I will be running in 2015,” said Sposato, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but is on medication and vigorous. Under city law, an alderman must live in his or her ward for one year prior to installation, which next will be May 2015. “I have five options,” said Sposato, age 54, stating that he can run for alderman in the 29th, 30th, 36th or 38th ward, all of which include parts of his current ward, or he can run for mayor.

Regarding Emanuel, Sposato concedes that he “is the king of the photo ops” (opportunites), but that “he does what he wants and he listens to nobody.” Adds Sposato: “I’m an alderman. I’ve been asking (Emanuel’s staff) for a meeting for six months. He ignores me, and many other aldermen.”

Sposato said that there are many issues – school closures, charter schools, privatization, police hiring, pensions – where there has been “no debate” in the city council. “Too many aldermen are afraid to stand up to the mayor.” He said there must be an “independent” candidate to oppose Emanuel in 2015, mentioning aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd), Bob Fioretti (2nd) and Joe Moore (49th). “If none of them runs, I might,” emphasized Sposato. “I bet Cullerton hopes I run for mayor.”

In terms of accomplishments, Sposato named five: (1) He and John Arena (45th) opposed Emanuel’s library hour and staffing cuts. “Two freshman alderman sttod up to the mayor, and we won.” (2) A new playground at Shabbona Park . (3) Procurement of federal and state flooding aid in 2012. (4) Formation and participation in the council’s “Progressive Caucus,” an anti-Emanuel contingent of 9 aldermen. And (5) an “open and accessible” ward office, with mailings, emails, newsletters and “service without asking for reciprocity,” as was the case under Banks-Rice, Sposato said. As a firefighter, Sposato noted he worked 85 days a year; “now I work 85 hours a week.”

I posited the same question to Cullerton. Are you running for re-election? What are your accomplishments?  I had interviewed Sposato on May 18. On May 21, I phoned a request to Cullerton’s office for an interview on the possibility of a 2015 “Cullerton-Sposato” race. On May 22, Cullerton phoned Sposato, who reiterated his “five options.” On May 23, I received a fax from the alderman which said: “I spoke with your client, Ald. Nick Sposato…to ask if he was aware if there was, indeed, a ‘Cullerton-Sposato contest’ – he was not.” I then had a terse conversation on May 23 with Rita Sattler, his chief-of-staff, who said the alderman has “answered my question,” and to submit all other questions in writing, which I did – getting no response.

“What is the purpose” of the interview? inquired Sattler. For my column, I replied. “I never read your political column.”

Since April 1, 2011, Sposato raised $107,353. to Cullerton’s $127,219. As of April 1, 2013, Sposato had $18,003 on-hand, to Cullerton’s $29,322 and sister P.J.’s $15,329. In 2011, Cullerton got $163,250 from 81 PACs, unions, and Democratic politicians, and $160,600 from 227 individuals and businesses. Can he replicate that in 2015? Sposato will outwork, but not outraise, Cullerton.

My predictions: Sposato will move into the 38th Ward. The 2015 winner will be “No Cullerton.” And nobody on Cullerton’s staff will read this column.