MAY 7, 2025
"GOSSIP & TRIVIA" ABOUT PRECKWINKLE, MARTWICK, REILLY, ARENA, RAMIREZ-ROSA
This week this columnist is on “spring break.” Lots of sun and libations. So I’m not writing the customary analysis. It’s time to empty my “In-Box” of inconsequential, irrelevant, idiotic, hypocritical drivel – which could fill two columns.
So here’s a catalogue of the latest rumors, insipid gossip, inane trivia and generally forgettable stuff that our esteemed political ruling class is busily doing or not doing. And be forewarned, they’re not doing it in the interest of “serving” the public. Can you say “self-service”? And I don’t mean a supermarket check-out aisle.
RUMOR ONE: REILLY VS. PRECKWINKLE? If Lori Lightfoot can beat county board president Toni Preckwinkle (D), as she did in the 2019 Chicago mayoral runoff by a thumping 73.7-26.3 percent margin, then why can’t Gold Coast alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) do likewise in the March 2026 primary? Well, for first/second/third/fourth he’s a White guy/running against a Black woman/with 100 percent name recognition/while he’s unknown outside his ward. That’s why he is usually referred to as “Downtown Alderman Reilly.”
Add to that a Black base of at least 35-40 percent in a low-turnout county Democratic primary, plus Preckwinkle’s support among Black women, and it should be End of Story. She is county party chair and will be re-slated for re-election to a fifth term. But she is age78 and a slated Black man, Clayton Harris III, lost for state’s attorney in 2024 to Eileen O’Neill Burke. Harris was a total unknown, had the baggage of Kim Foxx’s record and ran a lackluster campaign. The powers that be eventually put him in as the chief of staff in Illinois House speaker’s office. How’s that for losing, huh?
“He will get smoked,” said one party operative of Reilly, age 53 and alderman since 2007. A run in 2026 may be part of his 2027 mayoral strategy – i.e., use an anti-Preckwinkle, anti-status quo race to get name ID and cement himself as 2027’s anti-Johnson Great White Hope. That’s what Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is also doing. “That’s a risky move,” said one committeeperson (D). “If he loses badly he’s done. He should just focus on 2027.”
As of March 31 Reilly had $712,803 cash-on-hand compared to Preckwinkle’s $350,157. But the county party and governor JB Pritzker (D) will come through with $3 million for the county slate and for Pritzker-endorsed senate candidate Juliana Stratton, dumping a ton into Black wards. They need Preckwinkle to win big.
In 2010 Preckwinkle beat Todd Stroger, Dorothy Brown and Terry O’Brien, the White MWRD president getting 44 percent in a 700,000 turnout primary. In 2018 she was opposed by Bob Fioretti, a White ex-alderman and won 444,943-296,675 getting 58 percent in a 756,991 turnout. Prediction: Reilly is running for re-election – nothing else.
RUMOR TWO: MARTWICK FOR JUDGE? “I would love to be a judge,” said state Senator Rob Martwick (D-10) but that he is “consumed” with his responsibilities in Springfield, especially on pension, budget and school issues. “I do not now have any plans” to run for judge in 2026 but he has a clear path if he wants to – via rather the front door (election) or backdoor (slating).
The clock is also ticking: Martwick is age 59, has two boys with who he spends much time. He is an influential man in Springfield but the time spent plus the grueling weekly 400-mile round-trip lessens family time. A younger lawyer expects to spend 2-3 years in Traffic or Domestic Violence court, then 2 more in Municipal court hearing civil lawsuits. Then it’s up to Divorce, Probate, Law or Chancery or off the hear felony/criminal cases at 26th and California or a suburban courthouse.
Judges in their 60s are at the zenith of the ladder, are division presiding judges and are ready to retire. Nobody wants to be a junior judge at that age.
The other ticking clock is 2026 Democratic slatemaking, which will conclude July 17-18, with petition circulation starting Aug 5 to Nov. 3. Martwick is the 38th Ward committeeperson (D) and will be front and center. The judicial subcommittee is chaired by senate colleague Don Harmon, of Oak Park. Harmon will make the picks. There are just 4 countywide vacancies and they are already picked. But there will 7-10 alternates, ranked slates in-waiting for some non-subcircuit judge to retire by or before Nov. 3. If Martwick so chooses he would be Alternate Number 1.
The other option would be to run in the 11th subcircuit which has 2 vacancies, one already appointed. The second seat awaits Martwick. The 11th is one of 20 local subcircuits throughout the county which were created to insure racial “diversity.” It includes the38th Ward, the south half of the 41st and 45th, Norridge (where Martwick was born), Harwood Heights and all of Oak Park.
Martwick was elected state rep from the 19th District in 2012 when Joe Lyons retired. It includes the east half of his current senate district. Martwick in effect appointed himself senator in 2019 when John Mulroe took a judgeship. He faced re-election in 2020, 2022 and 2024. “I do not have to run” in 2026, he said, so he can do something or nothing. If elected judge he would take the bench in Dec. 2026 so he would have plenty of time to anoint his successor – which would likely be Lindsey LaPointe (D-19), his House successor.
RUMOR THREE: LaPOINTE GETS A CHAIR. Also appointed in 2019, LaPointe won easily in 2022 and 2024 after a close 2020 race. She is now the House Mental Health and Addiction Committee chairwoman. Martwick can keep his seat while running for judge and then resign. One false rumor is that new 45th Ward committeeperson (D) Michael Rabbitt would seek LaPointe’s seat. Rabbit lives in Edgebrook in Mike Kelly’s (D) 15th House District. “Impossible. I’m not moving,” he said. What’s not a rumor is that Rabbitt is definitely running for alderman in 2027 against Jim Gardiner.
NON-RUMOR FOUR: A LOSER NO MORE! Those of us in the political realm who came to know ex-alderman John Arena (45th) have dismissed him as the consummate LOSER – literally, figuratively and in every way imaginable. He lost for re-election in 2019 to Jim Gardiner (and that was not easy to do), he lost his consolation job in the Lightfoot Administration because of his political antics, he didn’t even try to win again as committeeman (D) in 2020 and is the embodiment of a has-been.
I never thought I would ever write this but Arena, at age 59, is now a WINNER. Arena got booted after 2 terms, 2 years before his city pension vested He needs 10 years. And now he’ll have them. Mayor Brandon Johnson is a kindred ideological spirit and Arena always sucked-up to the CTU (where Johnson was an operative) as alderman.
Arena was appointed as a deputy mayor, a job budgeted at $147,744 and duties including “lobbying” for Chicago in Springfield. The aldermanic salary during Arena’s terms was $123,000 (it’s now about 153K) and the pension is calculated at a range of 80 percent (for 30 years) to 25 percent (for 10 years) based on the average of the last 4 years. So Arena will get about $34,000 for life, starting at age 60. And about 300K for the next 2 years. WAY TO GO, JOHN.
Johnson will lose in 2027 and be out-the-door in May – and so will Arena, who has an at-will job.
SOCIALISM AT THE PARK DISTRICT? Ex-alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), a “democratic socialist” who multi-tasks as chair of the Chicago Socialist Party (of which Johnson was reportedly once a member) was appointed CEO of the CPD in April. The job pays over $225,000, entails managing all parks, fieldhouses and Soldier Field, providing recreational programs to adults and children as well as structured sports activities. The park district has 4,100 employees and 4,000 seasonals and a $598 million budget.
Why, at age 36, with a safe seat and 9 years, 11 months. of seniority (he was elected in 2015), would he quit? The obvious reason is a hefty pay hike. The more obvious reason is that, uh, pension stuff – like maybe $40-45,000 a-year for life. Another reason could be that he believes that shopworn, discredited Marxist theory of “to each according to his/her needs, from each according to his/her abilities” and that the district satisfies kids’ needs and hones their athletic abilities. On second thought, I’ll stick with greed and selfishness.
But the March of Socialism never sleeps. The mayor appointed Ramirez-Rosa’s 29-year old protégé and comrade, Anthony Joel Quezada, as his aldermanic replacement (to serve until 2027) and the Puerto Rican North Side Democratic committeepersons picked Jessica Vasquez, R-R’s chief-of-staff to replace Quezada as county commissioner. Quezada was elected in 2022, so Vasquez must run in 2026.
OK. Feels good to empty my In-Box. Now back to the libations and springtime.
Read more Analysis & Opinion from Russ Stewart at Russstewart.com
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