Just a few signatures appear to have saved Ald. Anthony Beale from losing the 9th Ward Democratic committeeperson post he has held since wresting it from a powerful Far South Side politician two decades ago.
Beale was a slim three signatures over the minimum required to remain on the March primary ballot, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners ruled Friday.
“I was not worried — it’s just — it was an inconvenience to go through this process, but I felt extremely confident,” Beale said afterward.
Nine contested signatures potentially could have kept Beale’s name from appearing on the March 17 ballot in the ward committeeperson race.
A hearing examiner determined last week that Beale was six signatures short of the required minimum of 891. Two people filed a challenge to Beale’s nominating petitions, arguing some of the signatures he collected were not genuine.
But an independent handwriting expert reviewed the nine contested signatures and determined they were genuine, giving Beale just three more than the minimum required.
“The amount of resources that has to go towards this is totally unjust,” Beale said.
After reviewing the handwriting expert’s conclusion, Board Chair Marisel A. Hernandez and the other two commissioners rejected the hearing examiner’s recommendation to boot Beale from the ballot. Hernandez said the burden of proof was on the challengers to prove the signatures were not authentic.
The ward committeeperson post, formerly called “committeeman,” is an unpaid party job that gives Beale a spot on the Cook County Democratic Party, allowing him a vote in candidate endorsements and other party matters.
Beale is no stranger to political battles.
He is a frequent critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, particularly her attempts to scale back aldermanic prerogative. A former Lightfoot supporter, Beale ran afoul of the mayor— and was stripped of his committee chairmanship — when he tried to marshal opposition to her choice of Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd).
Beale first came into power by taking on the South Side Shaw dynasty.
When longtime 9th Ward Ald. Robert Shaw was elected to the Cook County Board of Review in 1999, he resigned as alderman and backed his son, Herbert Shaw, to be his successor in the City Council.
But Beale, a computer data analyst backed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. James Meeks, defeated Herbert Shaw in an upset and became the 9th Ward’s alderman. The following year, Beale defeated Robert Shaw in the race for ward committeeman.
Friday’s decision virtually assures Beale will hold the ward committeeperson seat. He is now the only candidate whose name will appear on the March 17 ballot.
Rival candidate Cleopatra Watson was kicked off the primary ballot after her petitions were challenged. She has filed to run as a write-in candidate, an uphill effort in the low-profile race.
