The resignation last week of Alderman Sandi Jackson had me recalling that time, not so long ago, when her husband and political sponsor, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., was the great hope for progressive politics in Chicago.
On top of that, the trains weren’t even running on time. Worse, the two primary public transit lines—the Red and Blue—were falling apart for lack of adequate maintenance.
For the better part of the next year, Jackson maintained a strong public presence, assailing corruption, bloated spending, harsh treatment of unions, and poorly conceived infrastructure planning. He feverishly worked behind the scenes to line up a rainbow dream ticket, with Alderman Rick Munoz running for treasurer and former county board commissioner Mike Quigley for city clerk.
In retrospect, I can understand why he folded. It would have been an uphill fight. Daley had more money and the backing of civic Chicago, which, as always, was ready to ignore all the corruption in the name of stability.
It’s so hard to find serious progressive contenders—and just when they thought they had one, he bowed out. In 2007 Daley stepped around the scandals and rolled to reelection over lackluster opposition. And when Daley decided to hang it up three years later, Rahm Emanuel—backed by the Daleys—brought his emperor’s act to town.
God, I’ve got myself so depressed, I think I better have a drink. And I don’t even drink.
