Mudron 5 Losing Power With Duck's Departure: Ferak Column

JOLIET, IL — Seven months after Joliet City Councilman Don "Duck" Dickinson held his re-election fundraiser inside Joliet's historic Jacob Henry Mansion, the at-large councilman announced over the weekend he was not running for re-election in next April's city races.

"Family and Friends, with my 60th Birthday right around the corner, I’m going to make a few changes in my life,"Dickinson posted Saturday on his Facebook page. "My Councilman term ends in May. I will NOT be seeking re-election ... I’m announcing this now because people have showed interest in endorsing me. I’m flattered and humbled. But I do not want to lead anyone on. I’ve enjoyed meeting so many of our towns residents. So many good people. But lately I’ve been spending so much time on my phone. There really is no down time. In two years I will be retiring and I don’t want to step down mid term. It’s best if I just don’t run."

Without a doubt, Dickinson's announcement was a shocker to many. Even I was caught-off guard by his announcement — on a Saturday afternoon of all times — to make it.

But the reality of Joliet politics is that Dickinson was likely to get trounced if he were on the ballot in next April's election. I sensed this. I'm pretty certain he realized this. And if Duck did not realize this, surely, Duck's political handlers and political donors realized Duck was swimming upstream in his efforts to retain his seat with the April races quickly approaching.

Three at-large seats are on the April 2021 ballot: Dickinson, Mike Turk and Jan Quillman. Only Quillman is closely aligned with the political agenda of Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

Like Duck, Mike Turk has chosen to align himself with the Pat Mudron coalition.

The Mudron 5 tend to work behind the scenes, offering little input during the regular council meetings in explaining how they derived at their votes. It's been my experience that you can get away with voting against the will of the people once or twice, but when that becomes a pattern of behavior on the verge of your re-election as an at-large city council representative, you're basically a burnt piece of toast, and that's what Dickinson is these days.

In June 2019, Dickinson supported the Mudron 5's push to get rid of Marty Shanahan as city manager without articulating a solid reason for his vote.

Dickinson voted to give Steve Jones a $40,000 salary hike to serve as interim city manager for six months, and then Dickinson voted in February to let Jones "retire" in name only, that way Jones could start collecting his retirement pension and remain on the job as interim city manager as an independent contractor.

Duck's vote, in effect, condoned the controversial practice of "Double Dipping" that is frowned upon in most Illinois communities, but not in Joliet.

And when it came to addressing problems within the Joliet Police Department, Duck chose to align himself with the Joliet Police Supervisors Association that has been led by Sgt. Pat Cardwell and now-retired Sgt. Lindsey Heavener in recent years.

Earlier this year, Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner gave a presentation before the council making claims that Joliet's violent crime rates had dropped to 45- year lows, even though the same data showed that Joliet's homicide rate and number of shootings were rapidly on the rise. During that meeting, Duck proceeded to ask a couple of follow-up questions that made me suspect he and Roechner were in cahoots, that they would push back against the argument that violent crime was getting out of control in the city of Joliet.

Back in January, several off-duty members of the Joliet Police Department's upper administration visited the Jacob Henry Mansion to support Dickinson's re-election bid. The Joliet Police Department Supervisors Association also donated to Duck's re-election campaign earlier this year. The Joliet Police Supervisors knew that Duck was not about to make waves with the police administration.

In December, Duck voted to support Sherri Reardon's effort to raise Joliet's fuel tax from 1 cent per gallon to 4 cents per gallon. Duck voted in favor of the Joliet Public Library issuing several million dollars in city of Joliet bonds to pay for controversial renovations of the downtown library branch, a project that garnered little community support.

When it came to the vote on NorthPoint in April, the final vote went 6-3 in favor of the project. Most Joliet residents did not voice opposition to NorthPoint. The overwhelming opposition came from Elwood- and Manhattan-area residents. And yet at the end of the day, Dickinson chose to turn his back on Joliet's powerful labor unions who strongly supported the NorthPoint project, as did U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman Bobby Rush, Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Congresswoman Robin Kelly.

Instead, Dickinson chose to align himself with the mostly out of town anti- NorthPoint forces.

Voting to get rid of Marty Shanahan as city manager. Voting to raise Joliet property taxes to pay for a controversial downtown library renovation. Voting to raise Joliet fuel taxes by 3 cents per gallon. Blocking efforts to reform the Joliet Police Department administration. Voting to increase Joliet's downtown parking fees. Voting to increase Joliet's hotel and motel tax.

Voting against NorthPoint even though the Will & Grundy Counties Building Trades Council said the construction will generate at least 1,600 jobs for Local 151, Carpenters Local 174, District Labor Council 175, the International Union of Bricklayers, Laborers' District Council Labor-Management Cooperation Committee and Ironworkers Local 444.

The list goes on.

If you want to go places in city of Joliet and Will County politics, you need the support of local organized labor groups. Duck did not have this going in his favor heading into his April 2021 race.

Rather than embarrass himself in the April 2021 election, Duck probably made a smart decision over the weekend. He bowed out.

Next up to make a decision will be Joliet City Councilman Mike Turk.

Turk has yet to formally announce whether he will run for another four-year term in April.

Turk has served on the Joliet City Council since Ronald Reagan was our president. In other words, Mike Turk has been on the council for 33 years.