Larry Dominick appeared to have pulled off a stunning upset Tuesday, defeating incumbent Cicero Town President Ramiro Gonzalez by just 157 votes out of nearly 11,000 counted.
But even as Dominick, a burly former Cicero police official making his first run for political office, celebrated with supporters Tuesday night, his victory was anything but complete.
Gonzalez said he will decide Wednesday whether he might challenge the results.
“It is what it is … tonight,” Gonzalez said. “We will sit down tomorrow with my attorney and my advisers and decide what steps we can take.”
“Win, lose or draw, justice will be done.”
The prospect did not surprise Dominick’s camp.
“They’ve done everything they can do to hold onto power,” said his campaign spokesman, Dan Proft. “They’re not going to just say `congratulations’ and go away.”
Gonzalez accused Dominick’s campaign of intimidation, saying “thugs and a lot of gangbangers from out of town came in here, and it was obvious they were trying to intimidate the voters.”
On Wednesday morning, officials from Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office will begin counting an unknown number of provisional–or challenged–ballots cast.
And even if the provisional ballots don’t alter the election, the finish was close enough to allow Gonzalez, a protege of former Town President Betty Loren-Maltese, to ask for a discovery recount.
Following a recount of some precincts’ ballots, Gonzalez could challenge the results in circuit court.
Dominick’s apparent victory sent supporters at Alessandro’s Banquet Hall into delirium as well-wishers exchanged bear hugs with a teary-eyed Dominick.
“Thank God, everyone that came out [to vote],” he said, telling about 400 supporters that he was “humbled and honored” by the victory.
“I know you love this town as much as I do. … This is your victory as much as it is mine.”
Dominick made a host of promises, including getting rid of the town’s longtime legal adviser, former Chicago Ald. Ed Vrdolyak, who some believe has undue influence over the Gonzalez government.
“Eddie Verdolyak, you’re gone. His days of controlling this town and getting rich off our tax dollars are over,” Dominick said.
Dominick also said he would fire Police Supt. Wayne Johnson.
He also said he would ask federal authorities to do a full audit of the town.
Tuesday’s primary, which served as the election for town president because it involved only two candidates, capped a tumultuous two months for the Cicero.
A bizarre allegation surfaced Monday when a Dominick spokesman said one of Dominick’s campaign workers was struck by a car driven by a town employee–a relative of Gonzalez.
Cicero police acknowledged a Dominick campaign worker was injured, but did not confirm whom the car’s driver was.
The strange incident seemed fitting for Cicero’s first election for a town president serving a four-year term since Loren-Maltese was in power. She is now in prison for her role in an insurance scam that funneled millions of dollars in town funds for personal use.
Both Gonzalez, 37, and Dominick, 56, enjoyed favor under Loren-Maltese’s administration.
Gonzalez was appointed to the Town Board in 2002 by Loren-Maltese and has acknowledged her as a political mentor.
Meanwhile, after taking 14 years to gain promotion to police sergeant in 1998, Dominick became first deputy superintendent the next year.
When Gonzalez was picked as town president, and subsequently won a 2003 election to serve the final two years of Loren-Maltese’s seat, he represented the changing face of Cicero–more than three-quarters of the town’s nearly 85,000 residents are Hispanic. Many, like Gonzalez, hail from Mexico.
Critics, including Dominick, castigated Gonzalez for using the office as an employment agency for relatives. Dominick says about 20 relatives are on the town’s payroll, but town spokesman Omar Duque has said it is “in single digits.”
