When the “Rothenberg Report,” a nonpartisan political newsletter, ran a story about the race for Illinois’ Fifth Congressional District, it summed up the contest with the headline “Big Names Versus Polish Name.” The Democratic A-list had lined up behind Rahm Emanuel, the former Daley finance director and Clinton adviser. Meanwhile, Polish civic leaders, journalists, and well-wishers were gathering along the campaign trail to schmooze with Emanuel’s opponent, Nancy Kaszak. In this company Kay-zak became Ka-schak, which is how they’d say it in Gdansk.
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In 1987 Kaszak ran unsuccessfully for alderman in the 46th Ward. It was her last race until 1992, when she ran as a good-government liberal for state representative. Elected in a startling upset over incumbent Al Ronan (with a bit of help from Alderman Richard Mell, who’d fallen out with Ronan), she compiled a liberal record in Springfield, never, so far as anyone can remember, leading the charge for any specifically Polish cause.
In 1996 Kaszak tried to assert her last name by announcing her candidacy at the Pierogi Inn at Lawrence and Milwaukee, her political mentor, Abner Mikva, at her side. (When she was 15 and living in Calumet City she volunteered for Mikva’s first congressional campaign.) This year she upped the ante. Again flanked by Mikva, she entered the 2002 race standing in the Copernicus Center, surrounded by portraits of Polish kings.
The thing is, Chicago’s Poles may need her as much as she needs them. With congressmen Rostenkowski and Roman Pucinski gone, there are no longer any north-side Poles in important public offices, though they still compose a large portion of the city’s white voters. (It’s estimated that the Fifth District is now between 15 and 20 percent Polish.) City Clerk James Laski is Polish, but he hails from the southwest side. There used to be three or four north-side wards that were solidly Polish. Then there was one, the 30th Ward represented by Mike Wojcik. But last year’s redistricting tore it apart, and in the new ward map the 30th is mostly Hispanic. Pucinski’s daughter Aurelia, who as a Democrat was the Cook County circuit court clerk and is now running for the appellate court as a Republican, says north-side Poles feel abandoned by the Democratic Party and are “sick and tired” of their lack of representation.
Kaszak seems to be growing into the role of Polish heroine. After the radio interview she instructs me on the Polish pronunciation of Dziennik Zwiazkowy, the Polish name of the Daily News. “See, the ‘dz’ is pronounced like a ‘j.’ I just learned that.” She smiles and says, “At some point it will start to feel natural.”
