You’d think Richard Mell would have learned his lesson the last time he pushed a family member to the head of the line. That was back in the summer of 1991, when the 33rd Ward alderman let his fellow northwest-side power brokers know that his daughter Patti had a husband, Rod Blagojevich, who’d be running for state rep whether they liked it or not.
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It started last summer, when Deborah announced she was running for state rep in the 40th District, a seat held by Richard Bradley since 1997. As legislators go, Bradley hasn’t been any great shakes. Basically, he does whatever house speaker Michael Madigan tells him to do. (Of course this could be said of just about every statehouse Democrat and quite a few Republicans.) Bradley got his start in the late 70s as a precinct captain in the political organization of none other than Richard Mell, and for his loyalty over the years he’s been rewarded with not one but two relatively cushy, well-paid positions he holds simultaneously: state rep ($60,000 a year) and assistant general superintendent in the Department of Streets and Sanitation (about $100,000). His wife, Cynthia Santos, makes $50,000 a year as a commissioner on the Water Reclamation District board, and his brother, Shawn Bradley, is ward superintendent for 30th Ward alderman Ariel Reboyras. Obviously, this is a family that knows how to work the system.
Bradley says Alderman Mell approached him over the summer and made it clear his daughter would be running regardless of whether he stayed in the race. “Dick said, ‘Rich, my daughter wants to run—what do you think?’” Bradley says. “I said, ‘I want to continue to serve.’”
Why would Martinez risk the wrath of the chair of her own party? “Joe Berrios has always hated me—he didn’t want me to have my seat in the first place,” she says. “Now that I’m in he’s always trying to tell me what to do. But let me tell you, I don’t take orders from no one.”
With all this in the background, the stage was set for Reyes, Berrios, and Mell to strike a deal that would leave Deborah Mell unopposed and give Martinez her comeuppance. According to Bradley, the three came to him last fall to offer their support for him in the state senate race. Apparently it didn’t matter that Mell had already endorsed Martinez, appearing with her onstage at her reelection campaign kickoff in August.
And what does your father think about this?
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