It looks like veteran Chicago Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) may have to give up the Democratic ward committeeperson’s job he has held since 2000 — and he’s not the least bit upset about it.
“It’s more of a pain in the ass to be a committeeman now. Every other year, you’re spending $10,000-to-$15,000 to help people get out the vote. Paying workers, feeding judges. Transporting voters to the polls and there’s no return. There’s nothing to it. It’s not worth the headache,” Beale said.
A hearing officer for the Chicago Board of Elections ruled Wednesday that Beale submitted only 485 valid signatures, 189 short of the 674 minimum needed to qualify for the March 19 primary ballot.
If the full board affirms the hearing officer’s ruling, the 9th Ward would have no candidate on the ballot for ward committeeperson.
Beale could challenge the final ruling in court. He also could run as a write-in candidate if he files the required one-page form by Jan. 19. But he hasn’t decided.
Though the job allows him a vote on candidate endorsements and other party matters, it has been largely ceremonial since the Shakman decree banned political hiring and firing. So Burke isn’t sure it’s worth fighting for.
“It used to be that the committeeman had the patronage. But you can’t do those things anymore. There’s no more patronage. So what’s the incentive? What’s the use of being a committeeman when all you’re doing is spending money to let the party bosses dictate who they want on certain positions?” he said.
Community activist Cleopatra Draper filed the petition challenge against Beale that resulted in Wednesday’s preliminary ruling.
She has run against Beale three times — twice for alderperson and once for ward committeeperson — and lost handily every time.
Draper called Beale’s remarks about the ward committeeperson’s job “hard to hear,” but proof that new and more energetic political leadership is needed in the ward.
“He’s linking it to patronage. I’m here to link it to saving democracy,” Draper said.
“Registering folks to vote, getting people involved. This is beyond casting a ballot. This is organizing around issues. This is getting people involved and activated in a way that the 9th Ward hasn’t been under his leadership.”
Four years ago, Beale nearly lost the committeeperson’s post he wrested from Far South Side political powerhouse Robert Shaw in 2000.
But the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners ultimately ruled back then that he was three signatures over the minimum required to remain on the ballot.
At the time, a hearing officer had ruled Beale was six signatures short of the required minimum. But an independent handwriting expert reviewed the nine contested signatures and determined they were genuine. That put Beale three signatures over the minimum.
“The amount of resources that has to go towards this is totally unjust,” Beale said at the time.
Beale was one of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s most outspoken City Council critics. He has been equally contrary under Mayor Brandon Johnson and particularly critical of the new mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis.
Cleopatra Draper (right) has run against Chicago Ald. Anthony Beale three times — twice for alderperson and once for ward committeeperson — and lost handily every time. But in this year’s primary, neither one may be on the ballot for committeeperson. Draper never filed, and Beale was found to not have enough signnatures. Bpth could run as write-ins, but neither has said if they will.
Sun-Times file photos
On Wednesday, Draper sounded very much like she was gearing up for yet another run against Beale — this time, as a write-in candidate for ward committeeperson.
She acknowledged the Pullman renaissance, which started with Walmart, followed by: a Whole Foods Distribution Center lured from Indiana; a $60 million Amazon distribution center; a Method manufacturing plant; two indoor greenhouses by Gotham Green; Planet Fitness; S.E. Johnson; and the $20 million U.S. Bank Pullman Community Center, one of the largest indoor sports facilities in Illinois.
There’s also a Culver’s restaurant, 38 units of artists’ housing already built and the Pullman National Monument, part of the National Park Service, commemorating the 1894 strike that gave birth to Chicago’s labor movement.
But, Draper said, “The only show pony we have is in a five-block radius … nestled in 2% of my ward. I have one of the largest wards in the city. Roseland is on bended knees. … I live in a food, transportation and medical desert. … Given that he’s been here for 24 years, I do expect more and I expect it with equity. And that means west of the train tracks.”
Beale sloughed off the criticism from a perennial candidate whom he claims is “lucky we didn’t file theft charges against her for stealing my campaign signs” in 2023, saying two videos had caught Draper in the act.