Daley nephew topped primary foes in fund-raising but not in votes
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters cfusco@suntimes.com April 23, 2012 12:40AM
How Patrick Daley Thompson finished in the election
PATRICK DALEY THOMPSON’S TOTALS
Here’s how Patrick Daley Thompson fared in the Democratic primary for three available seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board. This chart shows his city and suburban Cook County vote totals, while the map shows where he finished in Chicago wards and suburban Cook County townships:
Candidate / City / Suburban / Total
1. Debra Shore / 111,953 / 82,983 / 194,936 2. Kari K. Steele / 111,853 / 70,516 / 182,369
4. Patricia Young / 75,723 / 53,947 / 129,670 5. Patricia Horton / 82,738 / 45,694 / 128,432 6. Stella B. Black / 74,636 / 50,511 / 125,147
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Updated: May 24, 2012 8:03AM
Patrick Daley Thompson, a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, raised more money than all of his Democratic primary opponents combined in his bid to be elected a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, newly released records show.
He says his third-place finish didn’t surprise him. “There were five other candidates running who ran for this office before; some had run for additional offices,” says Thompson, the first member of the third generation of Daleys to seek public office. “I knew it was going to be a challenge, but we worked hard. And the way it’s set up, the top three vote-getters win. From that perspective, I was satisfied.” Thompson’s uncle, the former mayor who left office nearly a year ago, continues to face criticism for the city’s budget problems and particularly for the deal that privatized Chicago’s parking meters. Even so, Thompson has no plans to change his ballot name, “Patrick Daley Thompson,” in the fall. Thompson finished third along the North Shore, as well as on Chicago’s North Side and throughout the north suburbs, election records show — heavily white areas won by incumbent Commissioner Debra Shore of Skokie, who was the top primary vote-getter overall.
Thompson finished first in near South Side and Southwest Side wards, many of which continue to be controlled by white politicians even as they’ve become more racially diverse. They include Thompson’s home 11th Ward — where he lives in the same Bridgeport bungalow where his late grandfather Richard J. Daley raised his family — as well as the 13th Ward, controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, and the 14th Ward, led by Ald. Edward M. Burke.Thompson
also finished first in the Southwest Side’s 19th Ward — known for its concentration of police, firefighters and other city workers — and in southwest suburban townships. “Without party backing in the old machine wards run by the old machine bosses, he wouldn’t have made it,” Simpson says. “That’s the strongest thing I can see in the numbers.” Simpson doesn’t see anyone beating Thompson, Steele and Shore in November because the others who’ll be on the ballot — Republican Harold “Noonie” Ward and the Green Party’s Julie Samuels, Dave Ehrlich and Karen Roothaan — aren’t as well-known to voters. Since forming his campaign committee in October, Thompson has raised $257,677. The other five candidates raised a combined $219,327 in the nearly eight months leading to the primary. That includes $99,380 raised by Shore and $49,054 by Steele.
Neither McCarthy nor Vanecko has been charged with any crime relating to Koschman’s death. Thompson notes that McCarthy is among more than 700 people who have contributed to his campaign. “I know Kevin, but I don’t know if he mailed [the contribution] in or if it came from a fund-raiser,” he says.
