A feisty Bridget Gainer considers a run for Chicago mayor

Despite the perils of what may be the least enviable job in America, being mayor of Chicago, America's third largest city, is very much on the mind of a field of contenders, from all manner of professions:  educators, business people, school administrators, and perhaps even more as we write.

Waiting on the sidelines is Cook County Board Commissioner, Bridget Gainer, the flame-haired, and outspoken scion of a working class Southside family, whose forthrightness seems a shoo-in for this city of strong shoulders, and even stronger opinions.

“Who else is in the race is irrelevant . . . It’s not about who is in the field and who is not in the field in this incredibly growing field. Pretty soon, we’ll have to rent a bus if the candidates have to go anywhere but it’s a big field. That’s not the reason. The reason is the motivation to have an impact,” Gainer told the Chicago Tribune, proving that she comes by that red hair honestly.

Taking on the top job means handling an economic crisis - albeit inherited -  that has at its basis, meeting mandated pensions, and a public school system, mired in debt, and where both the pensions, and the budget hole, have been met by borrowed funds, ensuing thousands of dollars in interest payments.

Take the added weight of a long legacy of racial intolerance, and segregation (some say the most in the nation) is often the source of some of the city’s more glaring problems with equity.

An example is the huge gap of distrust between the police force and many of the black communities Taken together, the die is set for a job that most would shun, as even tackling one problem creates another one, much like the proverbial Russian stacking dolls.

The incumbent, Rahm Emanuel, has been seen as out of touch with most residents, especially in the aftermath of the shooting of a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times, by a white police officer, who said he was fearful of being attacked.

The video showed the exact opposite but, only after it was ordered released by a local judge, which caused a public uproar and demands for his resignation, and the defeat of the states attorney.

In a revealing interview with Chicago magazine last year, as rumors began to swirl about her interest in becoming mayor, Gainer, seemed to set the stage as a scrapper, when she said: “I’ve thought about it. It’s something I’ll continue to think about. It’s still a couple of years in the future, but I love the city, I grew up here and I’m going to live here until I die, so I want to be a part of whatever is going to make it better.”

No one ever said that redheads are not feisty, and this note of spice may be just what the city needs, and also seems to be consistent with the recent entry of more women in state and local races; which some attribute to the #Me too movement, and to others the well augered defeat of Hillary Clinton for the White House.

The fact that Jeanne Ives came within three points of defeating incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, for the GOP nomination, speaks volumes for the strength of female candidates.

With a resume that includes work in New York City as a community organizer it seems that alone might be a ticket for admission, considering another famous Chicagoan who had this on his resume.

That work led to intensive boots-on-the-ground labor, getting schools to be open later for low income people of color for much needed activites, and as she noted, “I did a year of volunteer work with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I made $400 a month, lived with five other people in a rectory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. One of the people I worked for was Geoffrey Canada, who has gone on to do the Harlem Children’s Zone and Waiting for Superman. I was trained in Alinsky-style organization.”

As was Hillary Clinton.

For a white woman from the Southside, this may give her some cred in the black communities, whose need is just as great, right here in Chicago. Gainer has also showed some creativity as she adapted a program for abandoned properties to be sold for reuse in these same communities.

“So I’m reading through stuff one day, and I found this example of the land bank, started by a man in Flint, Michigan, when he was the county treasurer. I found money in my budget and I asked him to consult on how to create a land bank in Cook County,” as she described how the Cook County Land Bank was created.

Using examples from the land bank she said, in the interview, that she gained a lot from working with African Americans on bread and butter issues, and “from sitting together looking at neighborhood maps and determining how many young people we could employ if we bought 20 houses and used them as job sites. People and communities have most of what they need to help themselves. The role of government is to challenge the things that get in their way—whether it’s government, the court system, or the free market.”

Helpful also is her Catholicism, in a town where the Roman Catholic Church has long held power in politics, and her open admiration for Pope Francis gives her points with progressive Catholic liberals with whom she self-identifies.

“As a woman who’s a progressive, the Catholic church can test your faith sometimes. I am pro choice. At mass at the Vatican, I looked around and thought, we have a really universal church. Every corner of the world is represented, and the pope is up there, and he has done and said wonderful things. . . .I don’t talk about my faith a lot, but when you think we have this call to mission, to serve the poor, you realize we’re part of something that has lasted for centuries.”

Lest this all sound too perfect, Gainer has had to take it on the chin for missing a lot of Cook County Board meetings, and after some initial sparky comments, such as this one in January: “Have I missed some meetings? Sure,” Gainer said. “I’ve missed some of my kids’ games, too. And that bothers me more.”

She later tempered them - somewhat -  in an interview published in the Chicago Sun-Times, ““Being a working mother is part of who I am. Like starting the land bank is part of who I am. Just like encouraging women to run for office is part of who I am. I don’t think it’s something to hide behind,” and also added, “Sometimes, I have commitments in the neighborhood with constituents doing what I think to be a lot of work of the county board. As far as attendance goes, everyone can always do better. I can do better.”

Another sticking point: her admiration for the Daley's, père et fils, may cost her some votes, should she run, as many residents blame them for the pension holidays and parking meter privatization deal that cost the city millions of revenue that could have stayed locally, rather than in the coffers of New York bankers.

As we saw in the recent primary money means a lot, in modern political races, and as the Tribune reported, “If Gainer enters the Feb. 26 race, she will have a leg up on the competition. She has $804,142 in her campaign fund, second only to Emanuel’s revised total of $3.8 million after a flood of contributions reported Friday.”

Let’s wait and see what the lady decides.

After weeks of speculation and hopes, the last Saturday in July, Gainer decided to not enter the mayoral race, despite high hopes that in the year of the woman,  she would get those votes, "as well as residents of both the Northwest and Southwest sides," noted the Sun-Times, as well as the cash that she had, $843,265, second only to Emanuel's Midas Fortune of $7.56 million.

She will continue her focus on the Aon's Chicago Apprenticeship Network for young adults, as well as the Cook County Land Bank. She has told the media that "no deals were made to get her to drop out," the Sun-Times also reported.

Updated 30 July 2018 at 7:19 p.m. (CSDT)