For the past year or so 35th Ward alderman Vilma Colom and her challenger, Rey Colon, have been eyeing each other with unmasked contempt, and now Colon wants everyone to know that their race has implications that go way beyond personal dislike. “This campaign is very deep,” he says. “It’s about the future of independent politics all over the northwest side.”
Gutierrez let it be known that he would support Colom so long as Mell and his organization didn’t work against any of Gutierrez’s allies. The truce became widely known in the area as the “incumbent-protection arrangement,” because it guaranteed that most incumbents would work for other incumbents’ reelection, no matter how much they despised one another.
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If Colon has a chance this time around, it’s because Colom has alienated a lot of residents in the past few years. As she puts it, she’s an “antipolitician,” someone who’s not afraid to take an unpopular position if she thinks it’s right. Colon responds that his campaign has more than 200 volunteers, many of whom are still bitter about Colom’s stand on a variety of zoning and planning issues. In December he filed more than 4,000 nominating signatures, even though only 240 are required to make the ballot.
Colon scoffs, “Oh, now she’s against the Home Depot. Where was she a year ago when the community really needed her? Where will she be after the election?”
Colom admits she refused to debate Colon, though she says it wasn’t because she was afraid of anything. “Oh, he’s always whining–always with the sour grapes,” she says. “He has no record, so he attacks me. I’m the incumbent. I have the track record. Why should I debate him?”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Jon Randolph.
