JEFFERSON PARK — Voters in the 45th Ward won't pick an alderman for another four months, but the race is already in high gear with rival campaigns blanketing homes with political advertisements.
Ald. John Arena (45th) made his first pitch for re-election to residents of Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Old Irving Park, Forest Glen and Gladstone Park last weekend, touting his record at filling empty storefronts, building new playgrounds and preventing graffiti by painting murals on underpasses throughout the ward.
"It's a privilege to stand up for you as your alderman," Arena wrote. "I ask that you stand with me in my campaign for re-election."
Heather Cherone breaks down the 45th Ward race:
The deadline to submit nominating papers for the City Council election is Nov. 24, according to Chicago elections officials. The election is Feb. 24.
Arena, who won his seat on the council by 30 votes in 2011, wasn't the only candidate who had volunteers out distributing campaign fliers during the long Columbus Day holiday weekend.
Michelle Baert, who publishes a website and Facebook page filled with listings for family-friendly activities as the 45th Ward Mom, distributed fliers to residents Sunday promising, if elected, to reinvent the aldermanic office as a "community technology center."
The center will give children the "edge they need to become successful in a global economy," help seniors and adults learn new skills as well as offering community groups an opportunity to "interact with local government."
"It will be a hub of information and a meeting place for all residents," Baert wrote. "The traditional alderman's office is outdated."
Baert also mailed a flier to 45th Ward homes last week touting her pledge not to have a job outside City Hall during her term as alderman and vowing to reject a a city pension or any increase in salary. Baert said she would also fight proposals for a city income tax.
Chicago Police Lt. John Garrido is focusing his advertising on billboards, loaning himself approximately $32,500 to pay for the Clear Channel-owned space, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The ads will go up closer to Election Day, Garrido said.
Garrido's campaign committee owes approximately $81,000 to Garrido, who also works as a lawyer, and his father, John Garrido Sr.
As of June, Garrido had approximately $2,800 on hand for the campaign.
After the 2011 election, Garrido sued Arena and three unions that supported the alderman for defamation, claiming that advertisements asserting Garrido took money from a firm involved in the much-maligned 2009 parking meter privatization deal and would collect two municipal pensions if elected were "outright lies" that hurt his reputation and his career as a police officer and a lawyer.
Although it was initially dismissed, the suit was revived in June 2013, and is still pending, although Arena's lawyers have asked that it be dismissed.
Arena's advertisements were based in part on two $500 donations during the 2011 campaign from Juan Gaytan, the owner of Monterrey Security, which was hired as a subcontractor to the company responsible for the reviled parking-meter deal.
Gaytan gave Garrido another $1,000 on Sept. 24, according to records filed with campaign finance officials.
"I consider Juan a friend," Garrido said, adding that he had nothing to do with the parking meter deal. "There is no reason for me to give that money back."
Neither Garrido nor Baert have received any contributions from Chicago Forward, a political-action committee designed to help re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen who share his agenda, according to the latest campaign finance filings by the candidates' committees.
Arena has opposed the mayor on nearly every major issue and helped found the Progressive Reform Caucus, which often criticizes the mayor and his proposals. Earlier this month, Arena led the fight to put a referendum on the February ballot designed to gauge support for an elected school board — a measure opposed by Emanuel.
From April to June, Baert collected $17,300 in contributions — with $14,500 coming from family members or herself, according to campaign finance reports.
Her campaign spent approximately $2,000 during that time period, mostly on printing expenses, leaving her campaign with $31,000 on hand as of June.
Arena received $11,000 in contributions from April to June and spent about the same amount on a variety of expenses, including legal fees to his brother David Arena's Park Ridge's law firm, Di Monte and Lizak, according to campaign finance reports.
David Arena is representing his brother in the lawsuit filed by Garrido.
Arena had approximately $35,700 on hand as of June, according to the reports.
In addition, Arena, who supported the Chicago Teachers Union strike two years ago, got $2,000 from the union's political action committee on Sept. 11 and $5,000 from the Chicago-based Illinois Transportation Trade Association, which represents taxi drivers, according to the reports.
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