Did Rahm's Failure, Solis' FBI Wire Make Chicago GOP Relevant?

City Hall politics got caught in a perfect storm and the unimaginable happened — Chicago Republicans became relevant again.

First, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s political failure led to his decision to not seek a third term, leaving the Democratic Party fractured for the first time since the '80s.

Out of nowhere, the feds charged powerful Ald. Ed Burke with allegedly shaking down a Burger King owner to benefit Cook County Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle, the supposed frontrunner to replace Rahm.

Then, word got out that Ald. Danny Solis wore a wire for the feds. So far, we know Solis secretly recorded Burke and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — each of them connected to Preckwinkle’s perceived top ballot rival, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza.

Now, the frontrunner in the hotly contested 13-way mayoral race is decidedly “undecided” according to every political poll out there. And Chicago Republican voters are positioned to wield heavy influence over the mayor’s race for the first time since Harold Washington won 51.6 percent of the vote to beat Republican Bernard Epton in 1983.

“If you think of us as one of the two major political parties, we’re not a very strong one in the city. … But if you think of us instead as an interest group, we’re the 800-pound gorilla of interest groups,” Chicago GOP chairman Chris Cleveland said.

“Can you think of any other interest group in town that gets 20 percent of the vote? It’s not the doctors or the lawyers or the cops or the teachers or the real estate interests or the bar owners or the teachers. Nobody can touch us. So, it’s too bad we don’t have a spectacular candidate we can all get behind. But we may well get behind somebody … the lesser of 13 evils.”

Cleveland said he’s been fielding calls from a handful of candidates who identify as Democrats running in Chicago’s non-partisan mayoral race, including Bob Fioretti, Willie Wilson, Garry McCarthy and Paul Vallas, who has a breakfast meeting scheduled with GOP leaders on Wednesday.

“The most interesting ones are McCarthy to some degree. If you want to go with competence, Paul Vallas is a reasonable choice. He’s not a Republican and not a conservative but he’s not championing liberal causes,” Cleveland said. “And a lot of rank and file like Willie Wilson.”

Indeed, the North Side GOP Club has already endorsed Wilson, recommending that “Republicans and center-right independents take a hard look at Willie Wilson for Mayor.”

Wilson, who voted for Bruce Rauner and Donald Trump, said the endorsement is a “big deal” and he welcomes Republican support.

“Every vote is important. We didn’t go seeking their support. They like the ideas I put out there, I’m told. It’s a nonpartisan race and I’m for inclusion. I’ll be a mayor for all citizens, Democrats, Republicans and others,” Wilson said.

Before leaving office last month, former Gov. Bruce Rauner told the Tribune that “probably Paul Vallas might make the best mayor. … Although Wilson would be an interesting option, too. A little more volatile.”

Back then the Tribune surmised Rauner’s endorsement might not mean much because he won about 15 percent of the vote in Chicago.

In today’s political reality, Republicans have become a significant enough voting bloc to catapult a perceived “also ran” candidate into the runoff election.

Wilson certainly thinks so, saying if he got “25 percent of 'em” on top of his base in the African-American community, “I’m on top.”

North Side GOP spokesman Matt Podgorski said there about 97,000 who voted in the Republican primary in 2016 or 2018, and 40 percent of those voters didn't vote in the 2015 mayoral election, according to his analysis of voter data.

"There's never been a race where there (wasn't) a clear frontrunner. ... Now, it's holy crap, nobody knows who could win. It was supposed to be Preckwinkle. Then it was Mendoza for like a week. Now anyone, Republicans or the Green Party, can rally and have a huge impact," Podgorski said. "This is about a network of folks talking to each other on Facebook posts and that could make a difference by starting a buzz: Did you know there's a candidate Republicans are looking at? And that conversation could spiral into a network of 100,000 people who go out to vote."

Cleveland, the city GOP chairman, said his party hasn't unified behind any mayoral contender but that could change before the Feb. 26 election.

“We don’t have a dog in this race, yet. But I’m still talking with the committeemen,” he said. “I’m talking to candidates. They’re recognizing that we’re a player.”

For Chicago Democrats, that's the new cost of corruption.

See Also:

• Mayoral Candidate Susana Mendoza Can't Be Taken Seriously Anymore
• Facts About Pay-To-Play Preckwinkle Help To Voters To Form Opinion
• Chicago Needs To Elect Bunch Of Snitches To Kill Code Of Silence
• Rahm's Podcast Isn't Practice For TV Gig; He Stinks On TV (VIDEO)
• Are You For 'Cockroaches' Or Reformers In Chicago Mayoral Race?
• Cash Connects 'Independent' Preckwinkle To 'Good Ol' Boys Club'
• Hmm, Mayor Candidate Bill Daley Doesn't Want To Dis Rahm Anymore

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the Chicagoland series on CNN.
Photo credit: Associated Press file photo