On a bright and brutally cold afternoon earlier this month, Todd Connor and Xavier Nogueras canvassed the Northwest Side of Chicago, selling their candidacies for commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and Cook County Board, respectively.
They knocked on doors, handed out literature and even helped a woman whose car was stuck in a frozen puddle. Along the way, they told voters that change was in the chilly air.
“What if we decided not to run? What would it look like? It would look like more of the same,” says Nogueras, who unsuccessfully ran for former Commissioner Roberto Maldonado’s 8th District seat after Maldonado was named 26th Ward alderman in July.
After Connor, a 31-old Navy veteran, declared his candidacy, he found willing partners in a number of other candidates who say they are tired of the status quo. What resulted was a political bloc dedicated to changing county government.
“I was traveling around Cook County, campaigning countywide, and looking at all of these bright, young candidates that were running against people who have been at the county board for a long time, sort of dinosaurs,” Connor says. “I thought this is really a turning-point year.”
After the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the spotlight is on government corruption. Couple that with rising voter dissatisfaction, and the time could be nigh for a new crop of reform-minded politicos. At least that’s what Connor’s crew hopes.
“They are a de facto reform party. They have essentially signed up to virtually all of the tenants of good government,” says Andy Shaw, head of the Better Government Association. “They have certainly found the right message at the right time. I wonder who’s going to see it.”
Of course, calls for reform are nothing new in Illinois politics. Everyone from Blagojevich to Mayor Richard M. Daley has run as a reformer at some point.
And while the slate’s members are self-professed outsiders, they include a former alderman, a foot soldier for former Mayor Harold Washington and a former prosecutor.
On changecookcounty.com, the slate’s Web site, they commit to transparency, term limits and ending patronage.
It all sounds very inspiring for voters fed up with the politicians who win elections every cycle.
Nevertheless, they fight an uphill battle in a system that is not kind to newcomers.
“Obviously, we’re going to be outspent,” says Nogueras, a businessman running against Commissioner Edwin Reyes in the county’s 8th District.
“All of (us) are running against regulars who do not have a record of being progressive,” he says.
Ray Figueroa, a former judge and 31st Ward alderman, is now running for Cook County assessor.
“We are, in Illinois, the laughingstock of the nation, and people need to know that there are people out there like us,” he says.
Sheila Chalmers-Currin, who is challenging 15-year veteran Commissioner Deborah Sims in the 5th District race, says the group of progressives shows voters that there is a chance to change the status quo.
“I hope it is an idea of giving people an opportunity to make a difference, and giving people an opportunity to see a group of candidates that (is) committed to transparency and accountability,” she says.
The bloc also includes architect Ade Onayemi, who is running against Commissioner Earlean Collins in the 1st District; attorney John Fairman, running for Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy’s 6th District seat; and physician Victor Forys, running for Republican Commissioner Liz Gorman’s 17th District seat.
Whether banding together is an effective campaign strategy for candidates strewn across the county remains to be seen. But if nothing else, the candidates are lending each other support, says Commissioner Larry Suffredin.
“I think what they’re looking at is to give each other moral support and to put forth a progressive agenda,” he says.
But neither sitting nor aspiring commissioners believe they’ll retake the board in one fell swoop.
“We need good candidates, and they’re not just going to appear in one election cycle,” said Commissioner Forrest Claypool, at a press conference in late December.
“I think that the measure of whether we are successful will have to do with our ability to collectively augment support,” Connor says. “Within individual communities, you will see progressive candidates running for office, but they often aren’t organized.”
Nogueras says the simple act of contrasting his candidacy against that of Reyes, who was named to his seat with the backing of Democratic stalwarts Dick Mell and Joe Berrios, is the key to gaining voters’ confidence.
“There’s not one house that’s not going to vote for us,” Nogueras said after canvassing in Logan Square.
Shaw, of the Better Government Association, says voters are ready for change, but reform candidates must do more than just promise it.
“This is, in fact, a perfect-storm moment,” he says. “The mechanics are in place, but I don’t think very many of these candidates can be effective or successful unless they handle the rest of the campaign well.”