Maria Teresa Gonzalez vs Alderman Moreno: 1st Ward Democratic Committeeman

The Ward Committeeman for the Democratic Party in the 1st Ward, Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno has a challenger. It is Maria Teresa Gonzalez, a 28-year-old well educated public defender, born in Puerto Rico, with a passion for transparency, inclusion, increasing voter turnout and better vetting of judges. 

Though many residents may not know much about this unpaid position, it is an important one for each political party and, in the long run, each resident. Committeemen* (see below) handle such tasks as slating and appointing replacements for vacated positions, recommending polling places, managing elections and making endorsements for positions such as judges.

Maria Teresa Gonzalez
A Cook County assistant public defender working with public defender Amy Campanelli, Maria Teresa Gonzalez says that she feels strongly about having open and clean processes, qualified candidates and well informed residents who vote and are free from intimidation. 

Beyond her job as a public defender, she chose to pursue her passion for clean operations, qualified judges and well informed residents by being a member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association (PRBA) of Illinois. She became its President and then went on to chair the Judicial Evaluation Committee for the Alliance of Bar Associations. 

"Chairing the Evaluation Committee is what led me to want to be committeeman. I see what happens everyday in court with my clients. I want qualified judges ruling over cases," explained Gonzalez. "I have gone to the slating of judges. Committeemen are the ones who slate them. More than half of the committeemen also serve as aldermen in their wards. I believe that more qualified people need to be involved in slating the judges and participating in other elections. 

"Committeemen slate judges and committeemen are responsible for getting out the vote and having voting places where voters are not intimidated," she said and then explained, "In the Mayoral Runoff election, the 1st Ward ranked 40th in Chicago's 50 Wards for voter turnout. Voter turnout would be my number one priority." 

Her passion for justice began early. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she went to under grad in Fairfield, CT, where she took a double major in philosophy and English with a minor in religion. "I had the wonderful opportunity to study a year at Oxford in England before beginning my work toward my law degree at Loyola Law School in New Orleans. 

"While there, I had a great opportunity to work as a public defender for the homeless in the aftermath of Katrina. That was followed by another great opportunity to clerk for a Federal Judge back in Puerto Rico." 

In love with Chicago for years, she spent summers here throughout her graduate years working in the public defenders office. By the time Gonzalez was offered the job here three years ago, she gladly joined her sister who had lived in Chicago for several years. Gonzalez now lives in Logan Square.

Proco "Joe" Moreno
Initially appointed as 1st Ward Alderman when Manny Flores stepped down in 2010, Proco "Joe" Moreno was first elected alderman in 2011. Moreno had multiple contenders for his Aldermanic seat last year. The race got nasty and ended with a lawsuit but he won the election by under 50 votes.

In his bid for 1st Ward Committeeman in 2012, he faced two opponents. This year it is one.

"Before [me] the committeeman in the ward just listened to party bosses and Democratic machine candidates. I'm proud of my record. We have supported people like Will Guzzardi, Illinois State Representative 39th District, Milagros "Milly" Santiago, 31st Ward Alderman, and Gilbert Villegas, 36th Ward Alderman. 

"I've opened up the process so more people can be involved in endorsing candidates. It is not just me saying who is to be slated. So it has been a really good process." 

When asked what he feels the qualifications are for this position, Moreno said, "knowing the community and being able to bring different people together." Regarding his Board of Directors, he said that it includes men, women, Latinos and White and that they have overseen 100 interviews with candidates for a variety of races over the last four years. "We have just been through that community process with Tammy Duckworth," said Moreno. 

Since he was elected committeeman after the last presidential election, he looks forward to the this year's national elections, his first as a committeeman.

Regarding the future, he says that being the committeeman is not the job of 40 years ago but that it is still important. "You're in charge of election day and making sure election judges are placed. 

"While some aldermen are committeemen not all are. I don't plan to be committeeman forever…or alderman, but I really hope that someone else, after I win, will be as dedicated as I am and steps up and wants to do it. Hopefully that will happen in my next term." 

Both candidates are to be present in Roots, 1924 W. Chicago Ave., from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Thursday night event being put on by Chicago Grand Neighbors Association, East Village Association and the West Town Neighbors Association.

Our Urban Times does not endorse candidates but encourages everyone to be an informed community member WHO VOTES! The next election is March 15, early voting is already in progress.

*What is a Committeemen?  
Each political party has a ward structure headed by a committeeman. In Cook County, the political structure is a combination of ward and township committeemen. That body, fifty from the city and thirty from the townships, forms the County Central Committee. 

Each committeeman is elected into the unpaid position and serves for four years. They handle such tasks as slating and appointing replacements for vacated positions, recommending polling places, managing elections and making endorsements for positions such as judges. 

In Chicago, the fifty wards have a majority of aldermen also serving as the Democratic committeeman in their ward. Petitions for the Mar. 15, 2016 elections were required to be submitted between Nov. 23 and 30, to be on the ballot. 

"Who sent you?" was the normal question posed to people who asked a Ward Committeeman for a particular service or assistance.

An example of those days of power known as the "Chicago Machine" is Richard J. Daley. He became Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee in 1953 and held that position as well as that of Mayor of Chicago, starting in 1955, until his death in 1976. Those were the days when there was strong control of the rank and file from the mayor down to the grassroots. Today, that practice is generally not as prevalent.