White guys in charge

Two incumbent White Alderman were replaced by Blacks in predominantly Black west side wards in 1971.

Long time pol Harry Sain, in the 27th ward, was forced by the Machine to step aside in favor of Eugene Ray, a ward precinct captain, and not seek re-election.

The White guys kept the Democratic Committeeman post, though. Ed Quigley, Commissioner of the Sewer Department, who was registered to vote at a hotel on the ward’s eastern border, held that job.

In the neighboring 28th Ward, Alderman Joseph Jambrone, who was later convicted of bribery, was replaced on the ballot at election time by Jimmy Washington.

State Representative Isaac Sims, an employee in Quigley’s Sewer Dept., ran unopposed for Democratic Committeeman. In all the west side Black wards, though, White political operatives still ran things behind the scenes.

Replacing Whites with Blacks was not about equity. It was about practicality. The Democratic Party deemed it politically advantageous for Black wards to be represented by Blacks.