It's clear that Del Valle is the best man to lead Chicago in the post-Daley years. He is the only one among the major candidates who has been elected to city-wide office as the current City Clerk. He was the first to announce his candidacy and he has stayed on message the whole time. He also is the most qualified candidate to lead city government. He was a State Senator for 20 years, and his connections in Springfield will be a huge asset to the city.
Voters need to think long and hard about who they want for the next mayor of the City of Chicago. I'm not saying that Del Valle is perfect, and it's true that he is a politician. Here is a look at Del Valle's competition, and they all pale in comparison. Rahm Emanuel is using his Washington, DC beltway experience as tool to convince voters he is best for the job, and this is a ruse. He has the most money and buys expensive television and radio ads, but he never talks directly to reporters or to the people. He's trying to appeal to Chicago's inflated sense of itself as an international city, the home of President Obama, as if that is going to help anyone in the neighborhoods. Rahm is a smart fellow and a consummate back-room deal maker, but his brash style and carpetbagger ways are only going to help him and his buddies from corporations. He has a bad record on the unions and won't represent working families and people who have to live and work in this city. Rahm is a great chief of staff and majority leader in the legislature, but he would make an autocratic and weak leader for Chicago at this critical time.
Gery Chico was leader of the city schools while my daughter was growing up. He was Daley's point man on education. It was clear to me as a parent that the Chicago Public Schools system was broken, especially when addressing the achievement gap between black and white students, and even more so when it came to special education. Chico sponsored a college prep high school on the far North Side that was referred to as Chico High because he spent lavishly on the building so his own kids could go there. Chico is ambitious and clearly out for himself, and he didn't spend enough time as city schools chief to really make a difference. It looks good on his resume, and he seems to know the way the administration of city government works, but that is not good enough for Chicago at this time.
Carol Mosley Braun pulled off a stunning upset when she became the first African American woman elected to the US Senate in 1992. She botched the opportunity badly and became a one-term senator. There is nothing in her resume that says she can effectively lead the city at this time. Each time she has the limelight she seems to use it to stir controversy, like her sadistic comments about mayoral candidate Patricia Watkins and Police Superintendent Jody Weis. With Braun the whole campaign is smoke and mirrors and the cult of personality. I think her approach has backfired and she doesn't have a chance.
Patricia Watkins and Williams "Dock" Walls III seem like they have some good ideas for Chicago and are a lot stronger African American candidates than Carol Moseley Braun. But this is Chicago politics and they are not real contenders for the position of Mayor. I like Walls the best among the candidates running against Del Valle, but I understand he doesn't have a chance to win, and Del Valle is such a strong candidate, and he has built such an impressive grassroots organization that I need to put Walls aside. He appears like perennial Presidential candidate Harold Stassen to me.
State Senator Rickey Hendon says that politics is like a marriage and you have to coexist with your chosen mate. Del Valle endorsed Daley in 2006 and paved the way to the City Clerk's office in the 2007 election. He alienated some people from his Hispanic base when he did that. Del Valle has also endorsed Patricia Horton for City Clerk, over fellow Hispanic Susana Mendoza, a State Rep from Chicago. This was definitely the right move for Del Valle. Horton is a great candidate and will make a fine City Clerk.
Bottom line is that Miguel Del Valle is highly qualified for the job of Mayor. It has nothing to do with his ethnic background. He grew up in Chicago and loves the city. He is suitably humble and hard-nosed at the same time. This is the twenty-first century folks and the candidates for Chicago Mayor look like a cross-section of America. Del Valle is progressive and will fight for the people. We need more of these kinds of leaders in this day and age. A vote for Del Valle is a vote for the future and for someone who will lead the city at a critical time in history.
