Page 33 - FOP Magazine March 2019

A Rally Big Show
Night to support candidates highlights how first responders are becoming a political force in Chicago
29th Ward Alderman and retired Chicago Police Officer Chris Taliaferro talks with a member during the candidates’ rally at the FOP Hall on Feb. 20.
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
■ PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Candidates to the left. Candidates to the right. Candidates for alderman and mayor everywhere in the FOP Hall on Feb. 20. Less than a week before the general elections for mayor, city clerk, city treasurer and all 50 seats on the city council, more than a dozen candidates flocked to the Chicago Lodge 7. On an historic night, members of FOP 7 and Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 staged a rally to get out the vote for first respond-
er brothers running for alderman.
Chicago Police Officers Chris Taliaferro and Joe Duplechin,
police officer-turned-firefighter Anthony Napolitano and fire- fighters Nick Sposato, Jim Gardiner and Tom Schwartzers head- lined the event, officially titled “A Night to Support our Broth- ers.” City treasurer candidate Melissa Conyears-Ervin attended as a special guest.
When Facebook and Twitter blew up with word of the gather- ing taking place, a few more council candidates and six of those in the horserace for mayor added the FOP Hall as a must-be campaign stop. Such buzz and bustle served to accentuate the scope of the political presence and that power Lodge 7 and Lo- cal 2 members have brewing as a voting bloc.
“Look at how many candidates showed up to be acknowl- edged. They recognize something is going on with these two
unions,” Napolitano observed. “I’ve been telling everybody for years if we can get these two groups together, the sky is the lim- it. When you look at the connections we have when we come together, we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
For an event of this magnitude that has never been held be- fore and that came together in nine days, the rush from the eve- ning indicated many more of these nights are likely ahead. The invited candidates lined up to express their support for first responders, and the mayoral candidates seemed to file in like they were exiting one of those little clown cars from which peo- ple seem to pour out endlessly.
“I think it was a stepping stone to getting more allies in the city council, and you need those relationships to get important legislation passed,” explained Lodge 7 Field Rep Bob Bartlett, whocoordinatedtheeventfortheFOP.“Ithinkthisshowsthat we are a group of people that transcends every ethnic group and every neighborhood in the City. Everybody either knows, or is related to, a police officer or firefighter.”
They wanted our support
Police and fire union members typically get together for bat- tle of the badges events. For some reason, playing on the same team has never been a natural occurrence.
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