'No Real Choice' in Two New Latino Wards

By: Pamela A. Lewis It looked like a big win for the Chicago City Council’s Latino Caucus. On Nov. 29, 2001, in a surprising 48-2 vote, the council approved a new ward map that included four new predominately Latino wards—the 10th, 14th, 30th and 33rd.

The map should have brought unprecedented political power to the fastest-growing minority group in Chicago. Presumably, it would give Latinos the opportunity to elect four additional leaders of their choosing in those wards on election day, Feb. 25th.

But there’s virtually no chance that will happen in two of those four wards, given their seemingly unchallengeable leadership.

Aldermen Edward M. Burke of the 14th Ward and Richard F. Mell of the 33rd Ward—both of whom are white—are two of the most powerful members of the City Council. And it’s widely believed that neither alderman will ever be unseated, according to many political analysts and Latino advocacy groups.

“Hispanics were definitely shortchanged in the outcome,” said Juan Andrade, president of the Chicago-based U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, which promotes Latino voter registration and turnout.

The redistricting process was intended to give minorities a reasonable and fair opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

But Maria Valdez, senior litigator with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the political reality in the 14th and 33rd wards is that there is “no choice—no real choice.”

When given the choice, Latino voters generally prefer Latino candidates, said Valdez. The seven Latino wards in existence prior to the remap all have Latino aldermen.

In the two other new Latino wards, the 10th and 30th, a total of nine aldermanic candidates filed in December.

But there will not be a Latino alderman in the 10th Ward, where Alderman John Pope, who is white, is now unopposed. Three challengers originally filed, but none remain on the ballot.

Two candidates withdrew from the race in December, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. The board removed the other, Humberto Prado, for not having enough valid signatures on his petitions.

In the 30th Ward, five hopefuls filed to fill the seat being vacated by Alderman Michael Wojcik, with four remaining: Joseph L. “Jose” Pagan, Ariel E. Reboyras, Miguel Sotomayor and Julio Vargas.

But no one is challenging Burke. Mell’s only challenger, Deb Gordils, 42, a political newcomer, is running because she wanted women and mothers to be better represented. She, too, faces a challenge to her petitions.

“Because I’m Hispanic is a plus in my book, but not the driving force,” said Gordils, a substitute teacher and a mother of two. “There’s no doubt I feel predominantly Hispanic wards should be represented by Hispanics,” said Gordils.

The Southwest Side’s 14th Ward has been under Burke’s leadership since 1969. According to the new boundaries, 70 percent of the ward is now Latino.

And Mell’s 33rd Ward, on the Northwest Side, is now 51 percent Latino. He has held the seat since 1975. Mell, father-in-law of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is the chair of the council’s Rules and Ethics Committee, which oversees ward redistricting.

Data from the 1999 election show these two wards had the lowest voter registration rates among all Latino wards with the exception of the 12th, which includes the inmate population at Cook County Jail. About 42 percent of the voting-age population was registered in the 33rd Ward and 37 percent in the 14th. In the 12th Ward, 30 percent was registered.

“When you have real competition, legitimate opposition,” said Andrade, “that seems to increase Latino turnout. … Why bother to vote for the same old guy that’s been re-elected five, six times already?”

In 1995, three new Latino wards elected Latino aldermen—Jesse D. Granato in the 1st Ward, Rafael “Ray” Frias in the 12th Ward and Vilma Colom in the 35th Ward—to replace whites who either decided not to run or were mapped out of their wards.

But when it comes to Burke and Mell, “no one is going to commit political suicide … putting up their hard-earned money against two behemoths,” Valdez said. “So the net gain for the Latino community is nothing in [the 14th and 33rd] wards.”

But Frias disagrees: “I don’t care how much money someone has. If you mistreat someone, you’re going to get an opponent.” Neither Burke nor Mell responded to repeated requests for interviews.

The near-unanimous vote to pass the map surprised many who assumed it would be tied up in court like the previous remap. An Illinois Supreme Court judge finally approved the city’s 1990 map, which included three additional Latino wards, in 1998.

The map was challenged by groups, including MALDEF, who claimed the multi-ethnic makeup of some wards denied blacks and Latinos the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice.

As a result, a black ward was added, but Latino groups were unsuccessful in their attempt to add more Latino wards.

Valdez said MALDEF is considering a legal challenge to the latest redistricting. But she said the fight Latinos face in the 14th and 33rd wards is a political one, not a legal one.

The Latino population surge during the 1990s left the council no choice but to create majority Latino wards, said Paul Kleppner, director of the Office for Social Policy Research at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. “If they could have drawn the lines somewhere else they would have.”

Burke and Mell care most about their political standing and “don’t care that the majority of their wards are Latino … because they are going to win anyway,” added Kleppner.

“It’s not a situation where there has been a clamoring for a revolutionary political change. And Burke, probably more so than anyone, realizes that,” said James H. Lewis, executive director for the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. “So I don’t think he looked at [the remap] as taking a risk.”

Political Chameleon
Some members of the City Council’s Hispanic Caucus said they did not see the new map as a failure.

“I wanted to make sure we created the additional wards where the communities would have an opportunity to elect a candidate of choice,” said 22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo “Rick” Muñoz.

“Does that mean [Burke and Mell] won’t represent Latino interests? That still remains to be seen. But does that mean an Irishman cannot represent Mexican-Americans? No,” Muñoz said.

“You don’t have to be Latino to take up Latino interests,” he added. But “we as a community … need to make sure that whoever seeks to represent us actually has our best interests in mind.”

Frias, whose 12th Ward neighbors Burke’s, said Burke is one of the best aldermen, if not the best, at providing services to his constituents.

“You’re not going to get me to say anything bad about the guy,” he said. “If I thought he was doing a terrible job, I would be the first to [say] it.”

Lewis said it’s important to remember that most of the current Hispanic leadership supports Mayor Richard M. Daley, a close ally to both Burke and Mell.

State Rep. Susana Mendoza, whose district includes Burke’s ward, referred to him as a “political chameleon.”

“He is great at adapting to changing demographics within his ward, and he’s open to it,” said Mendoza, adding that Burke has begun learning Spanish.

But Andrade said Burke has not reached out to the Latino community as a whole.

“He must be doing something for some of them,” Andrade said, “but nothing that would improve the quality of life for all Hispanics in the 14th Ward.”

Still, some Latino residents in the 14th Ward said it’s not common ethnicity that makes a good leader, or wins their support.

Supermercado Cabrales, a small grocery store located in the heart of the 14th Ward at West 51st Street and South Washtenaw Avenue, is surrounded by many other businesses with Spanish signs. But there is one exception—the very large sign for the 14th Ward Regular Democratic Organization and Burke’s office.

Olivia Cabrales, who owns the market, said she would like to see Latinos enter the political arena. But “it’s good like this, I guess, because [Burke’s] powerful and he can get things happening,” Cabrales said in Spanish.

Although Cabrales is not aware of what Burke has done for the ward—she recently moved there from west suburban Cicero—she has confidence in his abilities because of his standing in the city. She said that she would vote for Burke over a Latino opponent.

Humberto Rodriguez also has confidence in Burke. He said he has experienced the difference between a Latino alderman and a powerful white one.

Rodriguez owns La Quebrada, a Mexican restaurant at the corner of West 51st Street and South California Avenue. He also owns a grocery store in the 25th Ward, where Daniel E. Solis, who is Hispanic, is the alderman.

Rodriguez said two of the most important issues for him are gangs and garbage. At his 14th Ward location, his alleys are clean, the buildings don’t have gang graffiti sprayed on them and people don’t loiter on the street corners, he said. But at the 25th Ward location, Rodriguez said, his alleys are always overflowing with garbage, and graffiti and gang activity are rampant.

Rodriguez wants to vote for Latinos, but, “when it’s a choice between a Latino or effective government, I want effective government. … Latinos need more experience in order to govern effectively.”

“I think Alderman Burke has a lot of influence and a lot of clout, but so do I,” countered Solis, who, as the City Council’s president pro tempore, oversees council proceedings in the mayor’s absence.

Solis, who was appointed to the council in 1996, argued that his ward is among the city’s leaders in development and infrastructure improvements. “I believe I am taking care of services and bringing things to this ward for the people who live here,” he said.

Edgar Sanchez, a graduate student at DePaul University who lives in Mell’s 33rd Ward, agrees with Rodriguez that Latino politicians are not necessarily the first choice for Latino voters.

“You don’t have to be a specific race to help people,” he said. “But it’s also good to have choices.”

State Rep. Mendoza concedes that it would be a lot easier for Latino candidates if they did not have to go up against powerful figures, like Burke.

“It would be an Hispanic versus Alderman Burke, who everyone knows,” she said. “He posts a good challenge to anyone who runs against him.”

Key Supporters
With the kind of money Burke has in his campaign coffers, it would be very difficult to seriously challenge him, said Lewis.

A Reporter analysis of campaign finance data shows Burke had $1.5 million on hand at the end of 2002. Last year, Burke contributed more than $21,000 to various political campaigns for offices ranging from alderman to Illinois attorney general. The largest contribution paid out by the Friends of Edward M. Burke Committee last year was a $5,000 donation to his brother, Daniel, for his successful state representative re-election campaign.

Illinois sets no limits on the amount political committees or candidates can transfer to another committee or candidate.

In all, including his transfers to other political committees, Burke spent about $300,000 last year.

Lewis did a similar analysis of Burke’s campaign disclosures six years ago and found similar results: Lots of money was coming in and little was being transferred out.

“I’m not sure what his ultimate goal is,” Lewis said, “but he has vastly more than anyone would need to discourage competition.”

Mell’s disclosure statements showed that he lacks the financial backing Burke has, but still had a sizeable war chest of over $321,000 on hand at the end of last year.

But more importantly, say political analysts, his political support from Latino leaders has proven to be priceless.

Mell has been more savvy than Burke when it comes to Latino relations, Andrade said, and that will help the constituents in the 33rd Ward long after Mell leaves office.

For instance, Mell helped Colom gain her seat in 1995. And several of Mell’s precinct captains are Latino, according to Andrade.

“[Mell] knows by the end of this decade Hispanics will outnumber blacks and will probably outnumber whites,” Andrade said. “He sees the writing on the wall, so he has started to groom certain Latino candidates of his choosing, his liking and his making.”

That’s how Mell helped spread his own political base as well, according to Andrade, and that base helped get Blagojevich elected to the U.S. Congress in 1992 and then to the Illinois governor’s mansion last November.

“[Mell] is no dummy,” Andrade said. “He said, ‘Your leaders will be your people, and your leaders will be my people.’ And they are people that Mell helped put into place.”

Contributing: Fernando Díaz. Ryan McFarland helped research this article.