Aug 20, 2008 9:59 pm US/Central
Truth In Politics: Emil Jones III's Easy In
State Senate Campaign A Strange One, Even By Chicago Standards
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
He hides from reporters, ignores phone calls and won't explain why he's running. Sources tell CBS 2, though, that Thursday evening he'll effectively win a seat in the State Senate.
In "Truth in Politics," Political Editor Mike Flannery takes a look at a strange campaign–even by Chicago standards.
CBS 2 waited for five hours outside Emil Jones III's office at the Thompson Center. Gov. Rod Blagojevich pays the 30-year-old high school graduate $59,400 a year to do "community outreach." But Jones is suddenly in line for a big pay raise.
His father, State Senate President Emil Jones, Jr., is retiring and is greasing the skids for his son to move up.
"They look at 'em and say, 'How can I game this system to benefit me, my friends and family?'" Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association said. "And it's just the latest chapter. And again President Jones isn't the first to do this. Nor will he be the last."
Truth in Politics has learned that a small group of Democratic Party officials will meet Thursday night on West 111th Street. They'll formally seal a backroom deal putting Jones III on the November ballot in place of his father.
In a district where Democrats routinely win in a landslide, Jones III faces only token Republican opposition.
Jones and others point to the Daleys the Madigans and others as plenty of precedent in parents helping their children's way into politics. The big difference, though, is they all ran in hotly contested primaries. And Mayor Richard M. Daley actually lost in 1983, the first time he ran for mayor.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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