Progress Illinois

When voters go to the polls on March 3, they'll find a dozen Democratic candidates on the ballot: a crowded field of elected officials, activists, and outsiders.  Last week, we narrowed this pool down to the five campaigns that have raised the most money according to available FEC reports.  We then pored over their statements on a variety of issues and attempted to identify the relevant distinctions.

In the week since, we've taken a long, hard look at these five candidates' policy positions, their professional backgrounds, and the way they've conducted their respective campaigns.  Using this wide-angle view, we've determined that three of them are best qualified to advance a progressive agenda in Congress. They are:

Each of these candidates has a different profile and we urge you to read through the full assessments below to get a sense of their varying orientations.

We don't share the same confidence about the two remaining candidates, John Fritchey and Charlie Wheelan.

Fritchey's reform-oriented record in Springfield is admirable, but his political allegiances in Chicago -- as well as some of his policy positions -- are disconcerting to say the least.  Wheelan, meanwhile, has impressed us with his creative campaign tactics and fresh ideas on certain issues, but his platform is largely at odds with the progressive values we support.

Before proceeding, it should be noted that the biggest variable in this race -- beyond fundraising or name identification or advertising -- is the strength of each campaign's field operation.  In a low-turnout special election, GOTV efforts are going to be crucial.  At the same time, it's incredibly difficult to determine how each candidate is faring on this front and there may very well be some surprises come primary day.  So keep that in mind as you read our assessment of their campaign strategies.

Policy Positions
From a progressive standpoint, it's hard to find any red flags in Feigenholtz’s platform and policy statements. Her campaign is centered on the urgent need to expand and improve health care, an issue on which she has worked extensively as a state legislator. During his address to a joint session of Congress this week, President Obama said, “Let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.”  Feigenholtz would be a valuable ally as the president moves towards universal coverage.  She also appears ready to push for specific policy proposals in the interim, as evidenced by her pledge to introduce legislation requiring health insurance companies to cover mammograms for women 40 and over.  We were also encouraged by her call for more transparency from Mayor Daley regarding his stimulus wishlist.

Professional/political background
Her record in Springfield indicates that, while not known for having an independent streak, she is a dependable Democratic vote who is going to keep progressive interests at the forefront.  Case in point: Of the 118 members in the Illinois House last year, she had the 7th highest lifetime ranking (93.7 percent) on the Citizen Action/Illinois scorecard (PDF).

Campaign
Feigenholtz has shown herself to be an able fundraiser and so far has run a solid, positive campaign. But she has suffered a few missteps.  Many were disappointed by her performance at the first major candidate forum.  And her decision to not comment on a controversial message-testing poll attributed to her campaign allowed a relatively minor story in early January to become a recurring distraction.

(Full disclosure: The SEIU Illinois Council -- which sponsors Progress Illinois -- has endorsed Feigenholtz in the 5th Congressional District race.)

Policy Positions  
Fritchey’s platform and policy statements suggest a Democrat who appears more likely to break to the right than the left.  Indeed, when the Chicago Tribune editorial board asked him how he might challenge Democratic orthodoxy in Washington, Fritchey cited his support for repealing the estate tax (also known as the “Paris Hilton Tax,” because it largely affects the heirs of the wealthiest Americans).  He has argued that it represents "an unfair double taxation" -- an assertion roundly debunked by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities several years ago. His support for “defined contribution” pension plans and “clean coal” technology also betray more corporate-friendly leanings.

Professional/political background
In Springfield, Rep. Fritchey has supported a great deal of worthy legislation (his lifetime ranking on Citizen Action scorecards puts him in 21st place among last year's class).  He's also built a reputation as a reformer, largely due to his extensive work on ethics.  But that profile is undermined by his legal work and political connections back in Chicago.

As a zoning lawyer, Fritchey has trafficked in the murky world of real estate development, lobbying for land use changes on behalf of developers and corporate clients such as Bank of America, the Illinois Bankers Association, and Cash America International before the Chicago City Council’s Zoning Committee, which happens to be chaired by his clout-heavy uncle-in-law, Ald. William Banks.

Meanwhile, Fritchey could have distanced himself from his brother-in-law James Banks, the city’s “busiest zoning attorney,” whose clients’ names have surfaced in various federal investigations of Chicago’s shady development practices.  But instead, Fritchey has borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from his bank, shared a controversial client with him, and recently benefited from his fundraising prowess.

He could also have distanced himself from Ald. Dick Mell, who has routinely killed reform efforts on the City Council. To the contrary, Fritchey has reaped the rewards of Mell's support.

We can’t help but be concerned that these allegiances will become a liability down the road.

Campaign
In his first TV ad, Fritchey portrayed himself as above the Feigenholtz-Quigley fray, but his campaign has done just as much sniping as any other.  Indeed, he appears to have been the first top-tier candidate to run a straight negative mailer.  On the other hand, Fritchey has made himself very accessible and has effectively used technology to reach out to potential voters.

Policy positions
While other candidates say they’re for single payer health care when asked about it directly, Geoghegan offers it up as one of the three tenets of his platform (alongside opposing the bank bailout and increasing Social Security benefits).  As Harold Meyerson wrote in the Washington Post yesterday, he’s a “streetwise political intellectual” and it shows in his forward-thinking policy stances.  Moreover, his ability to put common sense proposals in a macroeconomic context is a great asset.

If elected, Geoghegan would push his colleagues from the left and help change the perception in D.C. of what is viable from a policy standpoint.  As he said during the Tribune editorial board meeting, “After 50 years of non-delivery, it’s important that the Democrats do something at last for working people in a concrete, tangible way.”

Professional/political background
Geoghegan’s experience as a labor lawyer gives him crucial perspective on the obstacles and injustices faced by the average worker and union member.  Not surprisingly, this on-the-ground experience has directly informed his platform, which is largely focused on strengthening our social safety net and holding corporate America accountable.

Campaign
When the race began, Geoghegan asserted on a conference call that each of the Democratic candidates were essentially unknowns in terms of name identification and that he didn’t feel handicapped as a result.  The meager polling that has surfaced over the course of the brief special election cycle, however, has suggested that the elected officials in the race are far more recognizable to voters.  In order to level the playing field, Geoghegan needed as much free media as he could possibly get.  But while an array of national political commentators have sung his praises, the local press has more or less sat this race out, making it a challenging feat to garner the requisite amount of in-district publicity.  His lawsuit today seeking a special election to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat is a great move; the only question is whether it came too late.

MIKE QUIGLEY

Policy Positions
As a congressman, Quigley wants to “reinvent, restructure, streamline, and consolidate” government in order to create a more efficient institution that can afford to pay for the policies it carries out.  He cites this as the area in which he will challenge the Democratic Party in Washington.  It’s refreshing to see a candidate who embraces the core party principles, but also exhibits a willingness to wade into the nitty-gritty of how to improve the federal bureaucracy.

Quigley’s knowledge about environmental issues, meanwhile, is unparalleled in this race.  Just as he has supported both green-oriented legislation and local initiatives in his time as Cook County commissioner, he appears ready to push from the left against some of the counter-productive policies supported by many congressional Democrats.  For instance, he is on record opposing tax credits for biodiesel production, arguing that we “should direct tax credits towards truly renewable energy sources like wind and solar, instead of food-producing crops like corn.”  That’s a position not many Midwestern Democrats are willing to take.

Professional/Political Record
In recent years, Quigley’s fervent opposition to County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration has earned him a lot of credit in reform circles.  Yet his support for Stroger’s FY 2007 budget has haunted him and allowed his opponents to question his commitment to the cause.  In response, Quigley cites the vote as a matter of principle: He says that he gave Stroger his word that he would vote for the budget if it included no tax increases and that he ultimately followed through on that promise.

Due to the environmental commitment mentioned above, Quigley can tout his sponsorship of "every piece of major environmental legislation adopted by Cook County in the last decade." He also deserves credit for his action on behalf of the laid-off Republic Windows workers last December.  And his commitment to reforming the tax increment financing (TIF) system in Chicago is admirable.

Campaign
Quigley’s image as a independent reformer -- which he's effectively touted over the course of the campaign -- should play well in the 5th District, as most Northsiders aren't too fond of Stroger (the centerpiece of his first TV ad).  Quigley’s vocal support for adding additional mass transit funding to the stimulus bill was a smart tactic also, though not rolled out as promptly or effectively as it should have been.  Furthermore, his nuanced position on taxes has occassionally been muddied by his more aggressive declarations in opposition to tax hikes.  And his recent mailers attacking Feigenholtz and Fritchey for their votes on the CTA bailout plan – which discard the relevant context and simply assert that his opponents supported “Blagojevich’s sales tax hike” – crossed the line, as the Sun-Times pointed out today.

CHARLIE WHEELAN

Policy Positions
Like Geoghegan, Wheelan is another intellectual outsider in a race against political professionals.  But unlike Geoghegan, his policy positions are less “streetwise” and more “academic.”  After all, he comes to the campaign as a University of Chicago economic professor, with a free trader platform and no desire to strengthen organized labor (he is the only top-tier candidate to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act). From a progressive standpoint, there are plenty of additional red flags. He is open to reducing Social Security benefits, opposes a federal living wage law, supports school vouchers, and has mostly good things to say about last year’s bank bailout. That being said, there are some bright spots in his platform: he is an ardent supporter of increased mass transit and his ideas regarding how to score and prioritize federal infrastructure projects make a lot of sense.

Professional/Political
As mentioned above, Wheelan’s background as a University of Chicago economics professor informs a lot of his policy positions – and not in a good way.

Campaign
For a complete unknown at the start of the race, Wheelan has done an excellent job raising his profile through a series of inventive advertising gambits.  His first ad – which was shot underwater – had little airtime behind it, but nonetheless had an effect by catching the attention of local news outlets and even MSNBC.  His subsequent paid media has been equally creative.