Waukegan businessman and community activist Jack Potter officially announced Thursday what almost everyone in town already knew.
He plans to run for mayor next year when Democrat William F. Durkin steps down after two terms at City Hall.
But in a surprise move, Potter said he is going to take his time before deciding to run as a Democrat, Republican or independent.
“The people will tell me what label to wear, whether it’s Fruit of the Loom or Jockey,” said Potter, a former GOP precinct committeeman who knows that running under the Republican label could make his quest more difficult.
Nearly four years ago, GOP mayoral nominee Larry TenPas, the 6th Ward alderman, was basically a non-factor in a mayoral race that Durkin won by a handful of votes over independent Newton Finn, founder of the TOWN community group.
Rather than start in the also-ran column, Potter wants to position himself best for what is expected to be a crowded field.
Businessman Bill Shorts, husband of Lake County Board member Peggy Shorts (D-Waukegan), previously announced he plans to run as a Democrat in the Feb. 27 primary. The general election will be April 3.
The Shortses recently helped form a dissident political group after expressing dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Lake County Democratic Party chaired by state Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills).
While Bill Shorts will undoubtedly have the support of the new group in his mayoral bid, City Treasurer Dan Drew is expected to receive the backing of the regular Democrats if he also decides to run for mayor as expected.
While it is highly unlikely Potter would join the Democratic Party’s primary battlefield, it also would be difficult for him to abandon his GOP roots.
But Potter, who ran for mayor as a Republican eight years ago but failed to qualify for the ballot, said he wants to attract all of Waukegan’s residents to his camp.
Party labels, he argued, really don’t mean much except when it comes to the statewide or national political scene.
That means Potter might ultimately decide to run as an independent, since the GOP hasn’t made any major inroads in the traditionally Democratic-voting city in the past three years.
Regardless of what party label he uses, Potter, a Waukegan native and a key player in the ongoing efforts to revitalize Waukegan’s downtown, says he is in the race to stay.
“I can see the big picture and I can project it to others so all of us can take action,” Potter said as he announced his candidacy during a news conference in front of the Genesee Theater.
Future CPA? Seven-year-old Grace Bowen of Kenilworth was the lucky winner of a recent peanut-counting contest sponsored by the 10th Congressional District campaign of GOP nominee Mark Kirk.
During a fundraising event in Winnetka, Grace guessed there were 950 peanuts in a big glass jar that actually contained 943.
The lucky guess by Grace, whose uncle happens to be Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford of Charleston, S.C., earned her the first-place prize, which was an American flag that flew over the Capitol Building in Washington.
Kirk’s Democratic opponent is four-term state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash of Highland Park.
