By Ben Joravsky
The office for which they’re running–commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago–is one of the most obscure in local politics. Yet it’s sort of the soul of the machine. For Water Reclamation and offices like it (and all of Cook County government for that matter) have always solidified the regular Democratic organization, giving it quiet, unnoticed venues for contracts, favors, and jobs.
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Most candidates take option two because they have no choice. Johnson knows a lot of politicians, being the son of Sally Johnson, a former aide to mayor Harold Washington. But none of them is willing to back the former CHA policeman and longtime youth league basketball coach (his teams have played in park and church leagues all over the city). “I’ve been around politics all of my life so it’s only natural that I run,” says Johnson. “I’m running for Water Rec because I want to be a voice for the community. So many people don’t know about the district and yet they’re taxed for it every year. I tell the people wherever I go, ‘I’m no puppet. I’m not part of anyone’s machine. I want to be a voice for the people.’”
His love for politics comes from Teresa Avila, his 88-year-old mother, who used to be a precinct worker in the First and 46th Ward Democratic organizations. “I worked some precincts in the 46th with my mother,” says Avila. “I helped elect Billy Marovitz when he was just a young man running for state rep. Back in the 70s I also helped elect Chris Cohen alderman.”
She says she was one of only three women in the organization. “It was mostly me and the boys. I circulated petitions, brought in the voting tapes, and went door-to-door to meet the people–‘warm bodies,’ we called them–and bring out the vote.
“I wasn’t disillusioned. I learned a lot, though my education didn’t come cheap. Actually, I enjoyed it. They had three lawyers come up from Springfield to handle that case. I figured I must have been some sort of threat for them to bring out so many lawyers.”
On March 21 their alphabetically arranged names (Avila, Johnson, and Popielarczyk) will be the first three names voters will see under the office of reclamation district commissioner. “Those names will just roll off the voters’ tongues,” says Johnson. “Well, maybe not Zsa’s name, though I know how to pronounce it. Hey, when you’re in the rainbow coalition, you’d better know your allies’ names.”
