Ald. Nicholas Sposato (36th) and attorney Larry Andolino are dueling for 36th Ward Democratic Committeeman. At the same time, both candidates mercilessly skewer the new ward map City Council approved January 19, and are open to a legal challenge regarding the very ward boundaries they are vying to represent.

The current map will be in effect when voters cast their ballots March 20 for ward committeeman. The map will probably stay in place until 2015, the next election cycle for aldermen. Aldermen and committeemen, who are political party representatives, are the sole elected officials representing Chicago wards.

The City Council has yet to officially publish the new ward map, says Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. “The possibility of enacting the map between now and March 20 is virtually impossible,” Allen says. “We would have to alert hundreds of thousands of voters.”

Plus, “all the candidates have been running under the expectation that the old map would be in effect,” Allen says.

The anticipated 2015 transition is a thorny issue for committeeman candidates, who would perform their duties – get out the vote drives, campaign fundraisers, votes on judicial nominees, and the slating of Cook County Democratic Party candidates – for a new set of constituents in three years.

The 36th Ward on the city’s far Northwest Side, will veer south to more heavily Latino neighborhoods.

“Eighty percent of the people that are going to elect the committeeman aren’t going to be living in the new ward,” Sposato says.

Sposato vociferously fought against the remap that passed City Council and he is poised for a legal challenge. Sposato says that he talked with four different groups regarding a challenge, but won't reval the identity of the groups as of now.

Meanwhile, the alderman continues his candidacy for committeeman, though Sposato says he has yet to start actively campaigning. “I will tell people that they have me for the next three years,” the alderman says.

Andolino has actively campaigned. “I’m walking door-to-door, going to every block,” says Andolino, who is the cousin of city aviation commissioner Rosemarie Andolino and enjoys the endorsement of retiring committeeman William Banks.

Of course, many of the people Andolino is meeting door-to-door will soon leave the 36th Ward. “People that I talk to are very concerned and confused,” Andolino says.

“This remap is terrible,” he adds. The candidate is open to a legal challenge, but has not decided if it is the best course of action.

Other ward committeeman races have also been complicated by the remap, including the 6th Ward contest between Ald. Roderick Sawyer and Richard Wooten, a former police officer, who is also running for state representative.

The South Side's 6th Ward moved north in the new map, cutting out communities like West Chesterfield, Burnside and parts of Chatham. Sawyer was the only member of the Black Caucus to vote against the remap.

The alderman says that he is not looking at a legal challenge. But Sawyer is also clear that he will represent voters in the current, not future, 6th Ward boundaries. “I serve the people who elected me,” Sawyer says.

Wooten organized community meetings against the remap, criticizing it for cutting out the 87th Street business district and communities below 87th Street. A call to Wooten this afternoon was not returned.

Another race to watch is the 32nd Ward contest between challenger Ald. Scott Waguespack and incumbent John Fritchey, a Cook County Commissioner. Waguespack also voted against the remap, as the new 32nd Ward snakes around the Near West Side with few coherent neighborhoods.