Who's Backing Who In The 17th District State Rep Race?

GLENVIEW, IL — The race to replace state Rep. Laura Fine (D-Glenview) in her North Shore district has so far included a school board investigation, a cease-and-desist letter, a series of complaints about nasty mailers and one local Democratic organization saying it would have rescinded its endorsement if it could. Five Democrats have been campaigning fiercely for Fine's seat as she runs unopposed in the Democratic primary for the 9th District state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Daniel Biss' bid for governor.

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Glenview attorney, has received the backing of Fine and most of the local Democratic party leadership and has reported more than $600,000 in donations from party political committees since January alone, much of it from funds controlled by Speaker Michael Madigan and more than half of it coming just a week before the election.

Gong-Gershowitz says other candidates are bitter that she received the support they sought, suggesting anyone who is not independently wealthy requires financial support from like-minded organizations.

Candance Chow, a current member of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board, lists numerous endorsements from notable Evanston residents on her website and has the endorsement of a pair of powerful progressive North Side lawmakers in Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy.

Gong-Gershowitz, whose backers backers have sent mailers linking Chow to President Donald Trump and Gov. Bruce Rauner, has criticized Chow for financing her campaign with the help of a $95,000 loan from her husband.

Chow's campaign has also faced criticism from Luecke for an email soliciting volunteers sent to a District 65 email address, prompting a school board investigation, and for suggesting she has the endorsement of the Illinois Educational Association by including its logo in on one of her mailers, leading to a cease and desist letter from the IEA.

Mary Rita Luecke, who has, in fact, been endorsed and received backing from the Illinois Educational Association, said the primary reason that the Democratic leadership got involved in the race was to elect someone who would be beholden to them.

Luecke, the former District 65 board president, said she has the strongest record as an independent and pointed to her experiences on the Harold Washington campaign in 1983 and 1987. She has also received the support of progressive group Reclaim Chicago and its union backers.

Alexandra Eidenberg, a Wilmette resident, and president and founder of a Skokie-based health care insurance agency, has received endorsements from several state lawmakers with whom she has worked on family leave acts and health care reform.

Eidenberg said she was told by party officials that the Democratic Party leadership would be staying out of the primary and was disappointed to find they'd thrown their weight behind Gong-Gershowitz.

Pete Dagher said he would not be publishing a list of the people and organizations that had endorsed or offered to endorse his candidacy.

He said official endorsements are unhelpful in primaries and suggested he did not want to make trouble for organizations that do not view Madigan and Cook County Democratic Party Chair Joe Berrios as "crime bosses."

Newspapers were split.

The Sun-Times endorsed Luecke, the Glenview Journal endorsed Gong-Gershowitz, and the Tribune endorsed Chow, describing her as the "most independent" and noting Gong-Gershowitz ignored its request for an interview.

The other candidates, it wrote, "had the guts to show up."

When we invited candidates to meet with us for an interview, the so-called front-runner, Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview, didn’t respond or show up. That made us nervous about her, as did the gobs of money flowing to her from Madigan and his allies. The most independent candidate for this seat is Candance Chow of Evanston, a local school board member who would be a contrarian voice in the group-think of Springfield. We were impressed with two other women running, Mary Rita Luecke of Skokie and Alexandra Eidenberg of Wilmette, who had the guts to show up.

The Evanston Roundtable published an editorial earlier this month suggesting voters hesitate to vote for Gong-Gershowitz because of flyers it said went beyond the pale. After more such mailers were sent, the paper encouraged voters not to vote for Gong-Gershowitz in a subsequent editorial.

New Trier Democratic Organization, one of the groups of party activists that endorsed Gong-Gershowitz, announced after a meeting earlier this month that the group will not provide her campaign with any financial support. The group's president said there were enough votes on the executive committee to retract the endorsement, but the group's bylaws did not allow for it.

In November, the winner of the Democratic primary will face Wilmette attorney Peter Lee, who is running unopposed on the Republican side.

» Read more: Madigan's Shadow Looms Over North Shore State Rep Race

Here are a full list of political and organizations backing each candidate, or scroll down to watch a video of four of the five Democratic candidates at a League of Womens Voters forum in Wilmette earlier this month.

Candance Chow

• Chicago Tribune
• Sen. Heather Steans
• Rep. Kelly Cassidy
• Democratic Party of Evanston Chair Eamon Kelly
• Democratic State Committewoman Carol Ronen
• Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty
• Former Evanston Mayor Liz Tidahl
• Former Evanston Ald. Dolores Holmes
• Former Evanston Ald. Mark Tendam
• Our Revolution Evanston

Alexandra Eidenberg

• Rep. Sara Feigenholtz
• Rep. Mary E. Flowers
• Rep. Ann Williams
• Rep. Anna Moeller
• Rep. Rob Martwick
• Sen. Toi Hutchinson
• Wilmette Library Board Member Dan Johnson
• New Trier Township Trustee Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg
• District 39 School Board Member Ellen Sternweiller
• Wilmette Trustee Joel Kurzman
• Evanston Parks Board Member Denise Barreto
• West Deerfield Township Trustee Kaye Kharasch
• Messenger Public Library of North Aurora Board Trustee Cori Sparks
• Wauconda Area Library Board Trustee Becky Coolidge
• Consumer Affairs Commission President Joanne Haeberlin
• Former District 17 State Rep. Candidate Theresa Coomer
• National Organization for Women
• VoteProChoice

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz

• The Glenview Journal
• U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider
• Rep. Laura Fine
• Sen. Lou Lang
• Former Sen. Jeff Schoenberg
• Rep. Theresa Mah
• MWRD Commissioner Josina Morita
• Northfield Township Democratic Committeeman Mike Kreloff
• Glenview Trustee Debby Karton
• Glenview Trustee Scott Britton
• Skokie Corporation Counsel Michael Lorge
• Niles Township Supervisor Marilyn Glazer
• Niles Township Trustee Mark Collins
• Skokie Trustee Michele Bromberg
• Skokie Park District Commissioner Mike Reid
• Skokie Park District Commissioner Khemary Khoeun
• Illinois AFL-CIO
• Illinois Federation of Teachers
• Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois
• SEIU Local 73
• AFSCME
• Personal PAC
• Equality Illinois
• Citizen Action/Illinois
• Indo-American Democratic Organization
• Democrats of Northfield Township
• New Trier Township Democratic Organization
• Niles Township Democratic Organization

Mary Rita Luecke

• Chicago Sun-Times
• Rep. Robyn Gabel
• Rep. Will Guzzardi
• Honorable Julie Hamos
• Skokie Trustee Edie Sue Sutker
• Skokie Trustee Randy Roberts
• Skokie Trustee Ilanka Ulrich
• Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart
• Illinois Education Association
• Reclaim Chicago
• Our Revolution
• National Nurses United
• The People's Lobby
• Independent Voters of Illinois - Independent Precinct Organization

Pete Dagher explained why he declined to release any endorsements:

I am calling for Mike Madigan and Joe Berrios to not simply "step down" as the head of the Illinois and Cook County Democratic parties, but to be arrested, prosecuted, and removed from power. These two crime bosses are vindictive- and I don't want to make trouble for organizations that did not know this about the leadership of the Illinois and Cook County Democratic parties.

Furthermore, as a former Deputy Political Director of the Democratic National Committee, I find the whole elected official endorsement game to be unhelpful in a primary campaign. Hillary Clinton received many endorsements from elected officials and organized groups back in 2007- Barack Obama did not. We know how that turned out.

Watch: 17th District Candidate Forum