State Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) has decided to run for 50th Ward Democratic committeeman, setting the stage for a battle with Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), Silverstein’s longtime mentor and the ward’s current party leader.
“I think people are looking for some change politically in the 50th,” Silverstein said Tuesday. “There are groups that I think want to get involved in the political process, and I think we have to reach out to these groups and be inclusive.”
Stone had a different view.
“You must pay for every good deed you do,” he said. “I have been supportive of him from the very day he started his career. He bites the hand that feeds him. So what can I do?”
Silverstein, 46, a lawyer who started as a precinct worker in the North Side ward, has served in the General Assembly since 1999. Stone, 79, is the oldest alderman on the council and one of its longest-serving members. He first was elected in 1971 and has been returned to the council by voters nine times since.
But the alderman earlier this year faced three challengers and was forced into a runoff, ultimately defeating Asian-American opponent Naisy Dolar with about 53 percent of the vote. The narrow victory was seen by some as a sign of political weakening in a ward that was becoming more ethnically diverse.
Stone, who has served as committeeman for the last eight years, said he should be returned to that post in next February’s election.
“When you deliver 80 percent of the vote to the Democratic Party as I have, I think that is a pretty good job,” he said.
Stone said reports of Silverstein’s challenge were on the street before the senator “finally came to me and told me he is running against me” last week. “He essentially told me I was too old, that we need someone young and vigorous to attract younger people to the ward organization.”
“Probably if he had taken an interest in the ward’s affairs, I would have encouraged him and, probably by this time, he would have been running for ward committeeman with my support,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, he did not take an interest in ward affairs. He rejected any work in the ward, and I have no choice but to continue on as committeeman.”
Nevertheless, Stone conceded that Silverstein “was a good [precinct] captain” when he served in that role and is “a good family man.”
“I have always liked him,” he said. “I still like him, even though he has sort of betrayed me.”
Since last April’s runoff election, Silverstein said that he “hasn’t seen the [appropriate] outreach” from Stone to ethnic groups in the ward, including its growing Asian community.
“We have one of the most diverse wards in the city,” and there is a need to “bring them into the political process,” he said.
Whether to run for committeeman was “a very difficult decision, and I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Silverstein said.
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gwashburn@tribune.com
