OK (sigh), we’ll help you

The Jewish Council for Good Government (JCGG) decided to expand its operations beyond the 50th ward in the 1978 general election and decided to spend a weekend working Jewish precincts in Skokie. After the first day of campaigning, it received a call from Lou Black, the Democratic candidate for State Senator, whom it had endorsed, in a district that included part of Skokie.

“I don’t need any help in Skokie,” he claimed. “I could really use your help in Wilmette.”

Well, the group didn’t want to do any campaigning in Wilmette. It wanted to get Skokie voters to split their tickets and support some of the Republicans it had endorsed. Besides, Black was running in a Republican district and he had no chance to win.

And, he was a member of the Niles Township Democratic Organization, which may not have wanted Independents working on its turf and he was really just trying to get the group to campaign somewhere else.

But JCGG felt that when an endorsed candidate asked for help, that person should be helped. So, folks campaigned in Wilmette on the next day. The precincts there were much larger than those in Skokie and Chicago and they covered a lot less territory than they had planned. They pledged not to go there again. And Black lost.