Eye On Illinois: New Senate vacancy begins cascading appointment process

It’s time for another spin on the appointment carousel.

Today’s painted pony is the 20th Senate District seat, vacated Monday when Cristina Pacione-Zayas left to work for new Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Pacione-Zayas first got the seat in December 2020 when Iris Martinez resigned after being elected Cook County clerk of circuit court. She won a full term in a landslide last November and wouldn’t stand for reelection until 2026.

Russ Stewart, a retired lawyer whose political analysis specializes on Chicago’s Northwest Side, wrote a May 10 blog post (at russstewart.com) exploring rumors the new 20th District Senator will be current 40th House District state Rep. Jaime Andrade. Stewart expertly broke down the voting power of the elected precinct committee officials in the 11 Chicago wards that share the 20th District, as well as what would happen to Andrade’s seat, as his district encompasses eight wards.

A large thrust of Stewart’s post is the internal struggle among Democrats (defining “left” and “far left”) as well as the national heritage backgrounds of the districts’ various voting blocs, and how this appointment process could further reveal trends from Chicago City Hall up to Capitol Hill. All very interesting. But from a statewide perspective it’s more of the same story.

Andrade, like Pacione-Zayas, first joined the Legislature through appointment. When powerful Chicago Alderman Richard Mell retired in July 2013, he appointed his daughter, Deb, to his council seat. (Another daughter, Patti, married Rod Blagojevich). That appointment opened her House seat for Andrade, one of Mell’s veteran aides.

Winning subsequent elections isn’t guaranteed, but the reality is the current rules and our state’s multiple overlapping political subdivisions establish conditions for allowing people to being their careers in elected office without first standing for direct election, often with cascading effects from the Senate down to a county board or city council.

As has been written here often: most appointments reflect party leaders’ power, but all deprive voters of direct input.

ON THIS DAY: It’s another banner day for birthdays of famous folks with Illinois ties. Consider biochemist Fred Koch (1876, Chicago), broadcaster/writer Studs Terkel (1912, New York, but a Chicagoan since age 8), politician and judge James Murray (1917, Chicago) and, 100 years ago today, Merton Miller.

Although not an Illinois native, Miller was a distinguished economist on faculty at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business from 1961-2000.

Miller won a Nobel Prize in 1990 and was a board member for both the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He shared the prize with two other economists; the Nobel Foundation said Miller’s contribution was a theory demonstrating “how a manufacturing company funds its activities is less important than the profitability of those activities.”

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.