With former Police Board president Lori Lightfoot now in the mayoral race (the Sun-Times‘s Fran Spielman has a shrewd assessment of her candidacy here), it’s going to be harder than ever—and it’s always hard—for mayoral candidates to get the nominating signatures they need to qualify for the ballot.
It takes 12,500 signatures to get on the mayoral ballot—and not just any old signature will do. They must be valid signatures that can withstand the careful scrutiny they’re all but certain to get.
So now a candidate needs a big family, lots and lots of friends, and/or a deep purse—enough money to pay people to gather signatures for them.
Mayor Rahm’s election lawyer is the legendary Michael Kasper, who bounces out of bed each morning reciting obscure passages of the city’s election code the way other people begin their day with yoga stretches.
Oh, wait. There’s Rahm. How could I forget Rahm? Sorry, Mr. Mayor.
There is no good reason—other than it gives incumbents another advantage. And, come to think of it, that’s not a good reason at all.
