Does a contentious Chicago City Council really want another Big Foot in City Hall?Is the 11th still your grandfather’s ward?Can progressives spoil the decades-long Daley party?
Last week brought those questions, along with the first volley of the 2015 aldermanic sweepstakes, as Patrick Daley Thompson revealed he will run for 11th Ward alderman.
The news is rattling Chicago’s contentious political teacup.
Thompson, the nephew of Richard M. and grandson of Richard J., could reboot the family legacy and bring it back home to Bridgeport. Thompson is a real estate lawyer and Metropolitan Sanitary District Commissioner. He resides in Bridgeport, in his grandparents’ bungalow at 35th and Lowe (you gotta love the symbolism).
There was no Daley in the queue 17 years ago, so “Da Mayor” appointed James Balcer, a Daley loyalist and Vietnam veteran, to assume the mantle until the time was right.
That would be now.Balcer is passing on a reelection bid, saying he is ailing from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Now, from the bowels of Bridgeport rises the next generation.
