Planted in the front lawn of former President Barack Obama’s Kenwood house are a pair of campaign signs for interim Ald. Sophia King, an illustration of the high-level backing she has going into Tuesday’s 4th Ward special election.
King was endorsed by Obama. She was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who once held the South Side ward’s seat on the City Council, has gone door-to-door to campaign with King.
In addition, the alderman has raised nearly $249,000 in campaign cash, nearly triple the combined amount of her four challengers.
All of that would seem to give King the edge as she tries to clear the 50 percent-plus-one threshold she needs to avoid an April 4 runoff between the top two vote getters. Also running Tuesday are minister and activist Gregory Seal Livingston and attorneys Ebony Lucas, Marcellus Moore Jr. and Gerald Scott McCarthy.
But anything can happen in a low-profile, low-turnout special election, which was required after the ward’s then-alderman, Will Burns, resigned to take a job with Airbnb. Indeed, as of Friday morning, 1,301 ballots had been cast — about 3.5 percent of the ward’s 36,588 registered voters, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
The 4th Ward, which extends along a lengthy swath of the South Side lakefront, includes an economically diverse set of neighborhoods extending from the South Loop to the edge of Hyde Park — with North Kenwood, Kenwood, Oakland and portions of Bronzeville, Prairie Shores, The Gap, Grand Boulevard and Douglas between. Parts of the ward are quite affluent, but the overall poverty rate was pegged at more than 30 percent when ward boundaries were redrawn earlier in the decade.
Obama makes endorsement in race for Chicago alderman Hal Dardick
Former President Barack Obama on Monday got involved in Chicago ward politics by endorsing Ald. Sophia King, 4th, in next month’s special election — a move a couple of her opponents tried to portray as a sign of weakness and meddling by the powers that be.
The endorsement from the former leader…
Former President Barack Obama on Monday got involved in Chicago ward politics by endorsing Ald. Sophia King, 4th, in next month’s special election — a move a couple of her opponents tried to portray as a sign of weakness and meddling by the powers that be.
The endorsement from the former leader…
(Hal Dardick)
To a person, the candidates cite public safety — and a growing violent crime problem that has even spread into Kenwood and the South Loop — as a top issue. The need to improve public school quality, economic development and communication with residents also are topics cited by the candidates.
The challengers have targeted King’s advantages and the powers that be who have her back to persuade voters the ward needs a change.
"People are tired of these meddlers," said McCarthy, referring to the established politicians endorsing King. "It’s ridiculous. . . These things have been going on for 20 years, and nothing has changed."
Lucas questions whether King puts the interests of the ward above those of the mayor who put her in office last April.
"She isn’t independent. She doesn’t have a interest of the people in the 4th Ward first," Lucas said. "So for me, I put the interest of the people in the ward first. I’m an independent voice."
King points out that she’s backed by Preckwinkle, who at times has been critical of Emanuel, and mentions the times she’s voted against the mayor. On Wednesday, King voted against the mayor’s plan for spending unclaimed property tax rebate money, contending more of the money should have been directed at crime prevention efforts.
King, who lives in Kenwood, noted a history of community involvement and prior work as a Chicago Public Schools administrator and said she wished the race wasn’t so focused on her allegiances.
"It’s become a bigger part of the story than I’d like," she said, contending she earned the backing over time. "I really work hard in the community, and mostly under the radar, for 30 years. I met all these people while I was working in the community."
Among the challengers, Lucas, like King, was initially trained as an educator, but she later earned her law degree and now is a practicing real estate attorney who leads a local park advisory council and block club.
"I want to start the Chicago Public Schools and the community organizations to start bringing back some of the programs that have been taken out of the schools as a part of the budget cuts, like the arts and music programs and those programs that really supplemented children’s education that I think is a key part of the education," she said.
Lucas, who lives in the Oakland neighborhood, also owns about three dozen condominiums in the city. In connection with her investments in one 4th Ward building, a state attorney oversight agency has accused her of "conduct involving dishonest, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," the Tribune reported Thursday. She flatly denies the allegations and says she’ll be vindicated.
Moore, who lives in Bronzeville, is an attorney who started out his career doing real estate transactions. He now has a private practice, where he focused primarily on serving as a court-appointed attorney to represent the interests of children in divorce cases. He also serves on two local school councils.
"I think I have the appropriate balance of background, experience, credentials, interpersonal skills and civic commitment to the community that the ward needs in its representative," Moore said. "My difference and distinction with Ald. King is I’m not connected politically."
Public records show the Internal Revenue Service has placed liens of nearly $47,000 on Moore’s home for unpaid taxes. He said he’s paid down some of the debt and is working out a payment plan with the IRS for the rest.
Livingston, who lives in Bronzeville, is a Christian minister who once worked for the Operation Rainbow/PUSH Coalition led by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Livingston now runs the Coalition for a New Chicago, a group that morphed out of the protests triggered by the late 2015 release of police dash cam video showing black teen Laquan McDonald being fatally shot by a white Chicago police officer.
Livingston, a spokesman for the unsuccessful 2015 mayoral candidacy of Willie Wilson, has gotten political contributions from donors aligned with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and aired a radio ad featuring former Democratic state Sen. Rickey "Hollywood" Hendon. Livingston is running as much against Emanuel as King. "Rahm Emanuel’s name will not (be on the ballot) but I know that back behind the big curtain it will be him I’m running against," he declares on his website.
Last year, the state of Illinois placed on a $6,386 lien on his home for unpaid taxes. Livingston said he’s working on a payment plan and chalked up the debt to being "just a poor preacher."
McCarthy, who lives in Kenwood, is an attorney, accountant and former professor of business law and accounting. He also raises scholarship funds for African-American students at St. Ignatius College Prep, among other community activities. He cites former 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller, known for her advocacy on behalf of lower-income city residents, as a model.
"I have the diverse background to deal with any aspect of the 4th Ward," McCarthy said. "And the one thing I’ve discovered from talking to the residents of every neighborhood (is) they basically want the same thing. They want peace on their streets, quality public education and economic sustainability in their neighborhoods. And that’s what unites us all."
hdardick@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ReporterHal
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