Saturday, September 13, 2014

Robert Fioretti for Mayor. I don't know anything about the man except that the Sun-Times does't care for him.


Ald. Fioretti off to the mayoral races

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 - Ald. Bob Fioretti - Stephen J. Serio
Ald. Bob Fioretti
Stephen J. Serio

He's tanned, he's fit, he's ready. And you even may have heard of him. But does Bob Fioretti actually have a chance to unseat Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel?
The first part of answering that question will come tomorrow, when by all indications the 2nd Ward alderman is scheduled to announce that he's going to take on Mr. Emanuel, whether or not Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis eventually enters the fray.
The alderman, a progressive who has allied with a few City Council colleagues to battle Mr. Emanuel over spending, crime and education, will be in the race to stay, says his campaign manager, Michael Kolenc. "His decision will be final."
Mr. Fioretti's ward on the Near West and Near South Sides is predominantly African-American, but he'll be targeting voters of all races and ethnic backgrounds with a focus on crime, education and job creation, Mr. Kolenc continued. While Mr. Fioretti's message "will be positive," Mr. Emanuel's job approval reading was a sorry 29 percent in one recent poll, Mr. Kolenc added.
Mr. Fioretti, 61, has an engaging personal story to tell.
A native of the Pullman neighborhood, he built his own law firm focusing on business clients and civil-rights cases, survived a brush with cancer and began to move toward a mayoral race after Emanuel allies sliced and diced his 2nd Ward into a half-dozen pieces in the latest reapportionment.
NOT A 'CREATED CANDIDATE'
His mouth can get him into trouble. He was sued shortly after taking office by owners of the Congress Plaza Hotel, who alleged that he blocked their renovation plans to help a union that was on strike at the time. Emanuel aides have been known to shake their heads after hearing Mr. Fioretti's latest positions on tax-increment financing and other issues.
"Bob likes to say it the way it is," Mr. Kolenc responds. "He is not going to become a created candidate."
Still, most political strategists usually advise against multiple contenders running against a powerful incumbent because they split the anti-incumbent vote. By that standard, Mr. Fioretti likely would be better off if Ms. Lewis took a pass, and vice versa.
In a quick phone interview today, Ms. Lewis, like Mr. Kolenc, insisted that what someone else does will not affect her.
"I think Bob should do what Bob should do. It's a democracy!" Ms. Lewis said. Whether Ms. Lewis runs is "a question of hitting my benchmarks" on fundraising and voter registration — not on another candidate, she said. And her decision whether to run will come "when I hit my benchmarks."
Mr. Fioretti's campaign fund had about $326,000 in the bank as of June 30 and since has raised perhaps another $50,000. That clearly won't match Mr. Emanuel's nearly $10 million, but Mr. Kolenc expressed confidence that Mr. Fioretti could raise $3 million — "just enough to organize."
We'll see. Meanwhile, as of tomorrow, the race for mayor of Chicago officially begins. The election is Feb. 24.
Update, 2:10 a.m. — Mr. Fioretti and Ms. Lewis do, indeed, risk splitting the anti-Emanuel vote, says Chicago political consultant Thom Serafin, potentially preventing each other from gaining critical mass. But if both gain traction, they could pull enough votes to hold Mr. Emanuel short of the 50 percent margin needed to avoid a runoff.
Follow Greg on Twitter at @GregHinz.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/16/2014

    would trust a italian one thousand times over a narrow back irish sell out,recall the fire strike yrs back Moon Muscari was on the LTS list and went to jail for what he beleived in.would never see a irish suck ass do that,they bit his back and then voted him out,how nice,but typical of the narrow back isnt it....

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  2. Anonymous9/18/2014

    Again spoken like a true silverback.

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  3. Anonymous9/24/2014

    if the Slum-Times doesn't trust or like him, he already has a good chance of getting my Vote. The worse the Media slams and bashes a political candidate, the better that Candidate is for the average, working, Middle-Class Taxpayer.

    ReplyDelete