Mike Madigan Lends Help to Veteran, Storied Congressman's Primary Challenger

Howard Brookins Jr., a Chicago alderman for the last 12 years, has a curious and powerful ally in his race to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. That’s Mike Madigan, the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and iron-fisted ruler of the Illinois House.

The last time someone with serious credentials challenged Rush in a Democratic primary was 2000, when a young state senator named Barack Obama threw his hat into the ring only to have Rush easily stomp Obama’s congressional hopes flat.

Brookins, however, is getting help from Madigan’s 13th Ward organization, according to Dan Mihalopoulos, reporting for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Brookins, who represents the 21st Ward on the Chicago City Council, is the preferred candidate on “sample ballots” Madigan is mailing to voters in his district.

Rush, 69, told the Sun-Times he doesn’t know why Madigan is lining up help for a challenger.

“In 23 years, we haven’t had any reason to have any major differences,” Rush said.

The First Congressional District stretches from East 26th Street, just south of McCormick Place, through Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Englewood, and Auburn-Gresham into suburban Blue Island, Crestwood, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Frankfort, New Lenox and out to Elwood in Will County.

In 2011, Illinois’ First District was remapped in such a way to guarantee substantial numbers of African-American votes from Chicago would outweigh voter preferences in the suburbs. Rush’s most noteworthy general election challenge came from former Blue Island mayor Don Peloquin in 2011, and Rush won 75 percent of the vote.

Rush served in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1968, and joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1966, before going AWOL from the Army. He later was honorably discharged. Rush founded the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Following a stint in prison for firearm possession, he established a free medical clinic. He holds two master’s degrees, one in political science and the other in theological studies. He was elected to Congress in 1993. In 2008, Rush successfully battled oral cancer, but the disease took a tremendous toll on his body. In 2010, Rush was sued by a bank to recover home mortgage loans because he failed to pay property taxes.

Local mayors will not speak publicly against their congressman because they want the lines of communication open when they need him. But privately, insiders have said Rush is not very responsive to the needs of his suburban constituency.

In this presidential election season, with Donald Trump running away with the Republican vote in Illinois, according to recent polls, will suburban voters give up their presidential primary vote and pull a Democratic primary ballot to vote for Brookins over Rush?

Brookins only narrowly won re-election to the City Council in an April 2015 runoff election, capturing 51 percent of the vote to Marvin McNeil’s 49 percent. Will he be able to muster enough Democratic votes to topple Rush?

Brookins, on his campaign website, blasted Rush for “looking out for himself and his family” instead of his district.

He misspent money meant for the community. He got a one million dollar grant from SBC (now ATT) to spend on creating jobs in Englewood, but he didn’t create a single job. When pressed, he said he didn’t keep any records of how he spent the money.

He then took more than half a million dollars in donations from lobbyists and big corporations for his campaign. Then he used that money to pay his wife more than half a million dollars. At the same time, he personally profited from lobbyist money, he voted to steer tax dollars to them and he made it easier for them to outsource jobs.

The Better Government Association published a detailed report examining Rush’s mismanagement of the SBC grant and the Rebirth of Englewood Community Development Corp. Rush was unable to explain how he spent $1 million. In 2014, Congress subjected Rush to an ethics probe regarding the grant.

Brookins, an attorney by profession, worked as a prosecutor, public defender and special assistant attorney general. He’s a partner in Brookins and Wilson Law Firm. He attended Mendel Catholic High School, Southern Illinois University and received his law degree from Northern Illinois University. He was elected to the Chicago City Council in 2003.

Brookins is married with two children.

His father, Howard B. Brookins Sr., was a state senator.

“I asked the speaker early on if he would support me, and he said he’d help me,” Brookins told the Sun-Times. “I’ve known the speaker for more than half of my life, since my father was a state representative. I’m proud to say he’s supporting me.”

Brookins tried to get Rush tossed off the ballot last year by challenging the congressman’s nominating petitions. In December, the Illinois State Board of Elections ruled in Rush’s favor, and Brookins dropped his challenge. Another Democrat, O. Patrick Brutus, is also on the ballot.

On the Republican side, August (O’Neill) Deuser and Jimmy Lee Tillman II are vying for the nomination and the opportunity to lose to the Democrat.