On the wall of the dim, book-cluttered office of Professor Dick Simpson on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago hangs a framed black-and-white photo of an outraged Alderman Dick Simpson on the floor of the City Council being restrained by two squat men, one a policeman. Simpson was demanding the disclosure of details of city insurance contracts given to the sons of Mayor Richard J. Daley. Daley ordered Simpson to sit down and shut up, and when Simpson didn’t obey, his microphone was turned off, as was customary when Simpson wouldn’t shut up. But this time Simpson kept standing and shouting and Daley sent this little round policeman and a sergeant at arms to sit him down. They couldn’t budge him and Simpson sat down when he had had his say.
Today he plans to try to unseat a congressional fixture, either Dan Rostenkowski or Frank Annunzio. This time he’s talking about the bungalow-laden northwest side, where voters haven’t changed a congressman for 27 years.
So Simpson will run in a manner that should give him volumes of practical tips should he decide to write a book on winning independent reform campaigns in the 1990s. He will run a “populist campaign using the latest in modern technology.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“I’m hoping to put together a political movement that will affect the aldermanic and state legislative elections for the next decade. If I can win, I think it will be seen as a bellwether throughout the country because they are thought to be powerful congressmen and all that stuff. If I lose badly, people will assume that Congress is going to be made up of these impervious lords forever. There will be no attempt to break through on the northwest side for the next decade.”
At a council meeting his rookie year, Simpson stood to be recognized. In the chair was Daley’s president pro tem, Alderman Claude W.B. Holman, who called Daley “the greatest mayor in the country, the world, the universe, the stars, and outer space.” Simpson stood for seven hours and Holman never did recognize him.
