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Mell, the former owner of a spring-manufacturing company, is one of the last of the old-school machine Democrats. His 33rd Ward organization still controls dozens of government jobs, and no one’s been able to put together a serious challenge against him since 1991. Last fall he managed to move state rep Rich Bradley out of the way so his daughter Deb could be slated for the 40th District seat. “I thought I’d get her in there the first time,” he said. “Then she’ll work her ass off and win them over.” He’s also a loyal soldier for Mayor Daley in the City Council: in May he used his position as chairman of the Committee on Committees, Rules, and Ethics to help Daley bypass usual council procedures and repeal the city’s foie gras ban.
On Tuesday, though, he sounded ready to drop the whole business and join the antiglobalization movement.
The meeting was over within minutes, but Mell continued to hold court in the hallway and then his office, reminiscing about the industrial economy in his hometown in Michigan, recalling his days as a manufacturer, ripping into corporate CEOs for outsourcing American jobs, marveling at the success of the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, and predicting social upheaval in the future. “Here’s a good example of how bad we are right now,” he said. “When I go in the Jewels I see people standing in line at the coin machine and trading in their coins, which tells me these people are really strapped, that they have to tap into their piggy banks to buy groceries. Where are we headed? . . . We’re approaching 2 percent of the population shopping at Nieman-Marcus and the rest shopping at Target and Wal-Mart and the dollar stores, and that is a prescription for revolution . . .”
