Ald.: Rahm can get ‘ sizeable’ part of black vote
With Karen Lewis out of the race, Mayor Rahm Emanuel could get a “sizeable chunk” of the African- American vote after using his $ 9.5 million campaign warchest to explain 50 school closings and other decisions that alienated black voters, an influential alderman said Tuesday.
Ald. Howard Brookins ( 21st), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, denied that African- American voters disenchanted with Emanuel would be inclined to stay home without a charismatic, movement- style candidate like Lewis in the race.
Brookins noted that Emanuel has yet to spend a penny of his massive campaign warchest to rebuild his image with black voters who helped put the mayor in office but abandoned him in droves after the school closings.
“You say he’s highly vulnerable. I say he hasn’t mounted a fight against anybody . . . People bought pet rocks . . . Money and message can change the dynamics. Even polling. Look at how Pat Quinn has come back once he got on TV, and he started articulating his message,” Brookins said.
At Emanuel’s request, Brookins served on the School Closing Commission that held marathon hearings across the city that preceded school closings on the South and West sides that demonized the mayor in the black community.
On Tuesday, Brookins bemoaned what has so far been a “one- sided” debate.
“The mayor hasn’t vigorously defended school closings. . . . The question is, can he articulate the reasons why that has happened and what it means for the vitality of the school system going forward,” Brookins said Tuesday.
“When I tell people, ‘ Did you know that there was a school with 64 students in it?’ They say, ‘ Oh. That school should have been closed.’”
Lewis, who went toe- totoe with Emanuel during the teachers strike and school closings debate, dropped out of the mayor’s race this week after having surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor.
Ald. Bob Fioretti ( 2nd), the mayor’s highest- profile challenger, wasted no time in appealing to Lewis’ supporters for campaign donations.