Elections Insider: 16th Ward race heating up

February 16, 2007 (WLS) -- On Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times endorsed a community activist and reformed gang member over incumbent Alderman Shirley Coleman in the race for the 16th Ward.

Coleman, who's been struggling for 16 years to improve the quality of life in the deeply troubled Englewood community on the south side, is paying a very high price for a close friendship with a woman who allegedly ripped off investors for half a million dollars on the purchase of vacant lots in the community. Coleman says she didn't profit personally and she hasn't been charged with anything. But it cost her a very important endorsement and shifted the momentum of the race.

Politics is a ministry and a mission to me. Often, when you put your faith in people sometimes you're let down," said Alderman Shirley Coleman of the 16th Ward.

Alderman Coleman says one mistake doesn't overshadow $300 million dollars in economic development, including a new police station, community college, housing and eventually a Wal-Mart store. She said she is disappointed the Sun-Times is endorsing one of her opponents, longtime community activist Hal Baskin. "One mistake made does not put the reflection on the hard work I've done for these year s," Coleman said.

Baskin is also picking up the endorsement of two other candidates who dropped out of the race Friday. He's hoping all of that momentum will outweigh the negative impact of his gang activity as a teenager, which contributed to losses in four previous aldermanic campaigns.

"When I was a kid I was involved in gangs. I had to go to school in that particular community. Hal Baskin is not involved with any gangs, only as a kid growing up in the community," said Hal Baskin, 16th Ward Candidate.

"We grew up in the same community. I was not in a gang. We make choice and the choices we make are for good or bad," Coleman said.

The other viable candidate is county jail correctional lieutenant JoAnne Thompson, whose support of the so-called "big box" ordinance won her the support of organized labor.

"It's very important to people in the 16th ward know that I will be for working names. Simple as that," said JoAnne Thompson, 16th Ward Candidate.

Thompson and Baskin each got about 20-percent of the vote in the 03 election, which Coleman won easily. But this time around organized labor is pumping money and manpower into the Thompson campaign, Baskin's picking up some key endorsements, and Coleman's still reeling from the vacant lot scam.

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