Kadner: Chicago pols expand grip over fate of Southland

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Andrew Byrne Hodorowicz, of Palos Heights, for state representative, 35th District. | Supplied photo

Updated: March 20, 2012 8:17AM

Chicago Democrats are poised to extend their control over Southland state legislative seats in unprecedented fashion this year.

Typical of the makeover created by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s remap is the Democratic primary election for the 35th House District seat.

“The Democratic Party picked the secretary of the 19th Ward alderman and decided to run her for a House seat that would represent Worth, Palos Heights, Orland Park and Orland Hills as well as the 19th Ward,” said Andrew Byrne Hodorowicz, of Palos Heights, the only suburban candidate running in the Democratic primary. “She has no prior experience except that she worked for (former 19th Ward) Ald. Ginger Rugai and now works for Matt O’Shea.”

Indeed, Frances Ann Hurley touts her experience as an aldermanic aide, claiming that she was responsible for constituent services in the 19th Ward office. There she shared office space with 19th Ward politicians such as former state Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago) and current state Rep. William Cunningham (D-Chicago).

Also running in the new 35th District Democratic primary is Anthony R. Martin, a resident of the Mount Greenwood community and a Chicago fire lieutenant.

Hodorowicz contends that Martin is a stalking horse for Hurley, put up by the 19th Ward organization to split the anti-Hurley vote.

A spokesman for Martin told me that contention is “a lie” and claimed that Martin has the support of the Chicago firefighters union and the union that represents firefighters in Orland Township and is putting up some of his money to campaign.

“The Democrats put up a secretary in the 19th Ward Democratic Organization to run for the House without considering anyone else who might be qualified,” Martin’s spokesman said. “I think you should ask the Orland Township Democratic committeeman why he didn’t run a candidate for the office from that suburb.”

That committeeman is Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin. I attempted without success to get a comment from him in time for this column.

As for Hodorowicz, he told me he decided to run for the House seat after getting a tip from his brother, a 19th Ward precinct captain, that Cunningham would run for a state Senate seat instead of seeking re-election in the House.

“My brother is my campaign manager,” Hodorowicz said, “so people in the 19th Ward are well aware he’s supporting my campaign. He just believes someone who is qualified should be running for the state Legislature.”

Hodorowicz, 52, is the former chief executive of Hawthorne Racecourse and claims credit for creating the dog racing industry in Wisconsin. Now a mortgage banker with Paco Mortgage, he once worked in the Illinois auditor general’s office where he claimed to have obtained a unique insight into state finances.

Although he now lives in the suburbs, Hodorowicz boasts of having grown up in the 19th Ward’s Beverly community and having several relatives who live there.

What troubles me about the Chicago-centric flavor of these legislative races is that there are a number of key issues pending that would naturally seem to pit Chicago against the suburbs.

For example, Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) want to shift the financial burden of teacher pensions from the state onto suburban school districts. Chicago has a separate teacher pension system that it subsidizes.

An argument could be made that many so-called suburban legislators in the past sold out their constituents to do the bidding of Madigan.

Still, there was at least an appearance that suburban legislators might fight for their district residents during bargaining sessions over votes in Springfield. That appearance would be gone if the legislators make their homes in Chicago.

The new 35th District, like many House districts created by the remap, begins in Chicago (around 87th Street and Ashland Avenue), continues southwest through much of the 19th Ward, then snakes through portions of Worth and Palos Heights via a corridor about a mile wide until it reaches Orland Park.

The Orland Park section of the district runs from about 88th Avenue on the east to Will-Cook Road on the west and from 131st Street on the north to 171st Street on the South.

The eastern portion of Orland Park is basically handed to state Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island), while the south portion, which tends to have more Republican voters, will be part of a district represented by Rep. Renee Kosel (R-New Lenox).

The south and southwest suburbs have been sliced and diced by Madigan to reduce their influence.

But it creates a small opportunity for Republicans to become relevant again in some parts of Cook County.