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Slatemaking dead for Dems:
By CHARLES N. WHEELER III If "Duh Boss," the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, were alive, he'd be spinning in his grave at the news from his beloved Democratic party: Its leaders have decided NOT to slate anyone in any of the statewide races in 1994. With apologies to the legislator — who shall remain nameless — who first uttered that delightfully mixed metaphor, the scrambled syntax seems perfectly apropos to the circumstances. For years, Richard J. was the undisputed kingmaker of Illinois politics, able to rocket an unknown into statewide office, or squash an upstart into political oblivion. With a handful of trusted commit-teemen, Daley would shape the Democratic ticket from governor to judge, taking care to insure proper ethnic and geographic balance, rewarding allies and punishing enemies. This election season, however, for the first time in anyone's memory. Democratic party leaders opted not to endorse for constitutional office. The decision to forego the party's traditional role reflected the realities of modern-day politics, said Sen. Gary LaPaille (D-Chicago), the party's state chairman. "Politics have changed and the leverage of the state party has diminished," LaPaille told reporters. "In the old days, the endorsement could be an organizational hammer. If you weren't endorsed, that sent a pretty strong signal that you wouldn't have the money or the political support to wage a primary campaign. Today, it makes no difference." Indeed, the ability of party leaders to deliver the nomination to their choice has waned in recent years. Perhaps the most notable failure occurred in 1986, when two disciples of political extremist Lyn-don H. LaRouche Jr. captured the Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state over party-slated candidates, dooming the gubernatorial hopes of Adlai E. Stevenson III. The precedent of an open primary was set two years ago, when the state central committee endorsed no candidate in the three-way primary for the U.S. Senate in which Carol Moseley-Braun upset the then-incumbent, Alan J. Dixon. The Sunday after the Democratic chieftains acknowledged their diminished influence over primary voters, Cook County Board President Richard J. Phe-lan, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, signed the Shakman decree, committing his office to honor a long-standing court settlement that insulates public employment from political requirements. The occasion neatly embodied two powerful trends that have sapped party strength since Daley's days: the near-extinction of the traditional, job-based patronage system and the rapid rise of the free-lance, media-oriented candidate. In the heyday of Machine politics, the ability to control public jobs guaranteed an army of loyal foot soldiers to work the precincts for the party's slate. Employees hired through political clout understood their added responsibilities and knew their career advancement would depend — sometimes exclusively — on how well they carried out their party duties, from working a precinct to buying fundraiser tickets. And the rules were the same, whether the job came from Chicago's Democratic City Hall or from a downstate Republican courthouse. Over the last quarter century or so, however, the courts have limited severely the use of political considerations in hiring, firing and promotion decisions. As a result, public officials no longer can force most city or county employees to double as party workers, nor can they provide party loyalists with public jobs. That does not mean, however, that patronage is dead — instead, it's evolved into a new form in which no-bid contracts have replaced jobs as a way to reward friends of the party. At the same time, the beneficiaries of the new patronage tend to be professionals whose service is rendered not by working a precinct but by making hefty campaign contributions. Public payrollers 6/January 1994/Illinois Issues manning the precincts have been replaced by public contractors fattening campaign warchests. The growth in pinstripe patronage has coincided with the ascendancy of the free-lance candidate who relies not on party muscle but on media image — a much more costly proposition — to deliver votes. And as the pipeline for the old-time precinct worker has been shut off, limiting the party's influence, the spigot for campaign contributions has opened wide, bankrolling sophisticated campaigns that market the candidate through TV spots and direct mailings, relying on the media, not party workers, to carry the message to voters. It was no accident, for example, that Phelan chose to sign the Shakman decree outside of normal business hours; every savvy politician knows Sundays are generally slow news days, affording the best chance to make the TV evening news. Phelan, a wealthy attorney who bucked party chieftains four years ago to win the county board nomination over the slated candidate, belongs to the new breed. Should we lament the waning influence of party bosses? After all, it is more difficult to hold a party accountable for the programs and policies of its officeholders if its leaders are unable to control who runs under its banner. Or consider the plight the Democrats could face in this age of political correctness if their primary results in a ticket composed entirely of Cook County residents, or one devoid of any minority representation. Despite such perils, however, there's nothing wrong with trusting voters to pick the candidates they'd like to compete in November. Indeed, Illinois ought to do more to encourage citizens to exercise their right to choose party nominees. One worthwhile step would be the adoption of an open primary, in which a voter does not have to declare a party affiliation to receive a primary ballot. Letting voters keep their party preference secret would remove what long has been regarded as a major roadblock to primary participation, and could result in increased turnout. And after all, isn't that what democracy is supposed to be all about? Charles N. Wheeler III is director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at Sangamon State University in Springfield and a former correspondent in the Springfield Bureau of the Chicago Sun-Times. January 1994/Illinois Issues7 |
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