Ready, Set, Grovel; It’s Slate-Making Time

This Chicago News Cooperative article has this tidbit about Kari Steele who is again running for a commissioner's slot at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District:

The reclamation district competition had candidates promoting their fund-raising acumen. Debra Shore, a reformist incumbent, also said she’d deal with medicines flushed into toilets (she won slating), while Kari Steele cited her current job as a chemist for L’Oreal USA. (Ms. Steele, daughter of an appellate judge and ex-alderman, also won.)

Patrick Daley Thompson, a lawyer and grandson of the legendary mayor, underscored how he had been a precinct captain in the Daleys’s 11th Ward for 20 years. He also came out for disinfecting the Chicago River. He won.

I would like to wish Ms. Steele the best of luck in her bid. It couldn't hurt that she won slating in her bid for her first elected office.


The article illustrates the county Democratic Party's slating process something all aspiring elected officials have to go through if they hope to make headway in Chicago Democratic politics:

For two days, current and mostly aspiring officeholders submitted to the groveling that is party slating. Their jury included living ties to Daley via Aldermen Richard Mell and Edward Burke, and Commissioner John Daley, a son of the great man.

The committee perfunctorily listened to candidates for judgeships, court clerk, recorder of deeds, state’s attorney, and commissioner posts at the reclamation district and the Board of Review, and then decided in private who’d get its formal backing in the March primary.

Selection can be a virtual guarantee of victory, especially with positions like reclamation district commissioner, since most voters care little about them and will probably toe the party line in a Democratic stronghold.

If the few minutes allotted for speeches constituted a moment in the spotlight, suspense fell short of “American Idol.” The real dealing went on covertly, with the contestants’ fates mostly sealed.

If you're interested in the slating process this article is well worth your time.

Hat-tip Newsalert!