Polacco to Run for Mayor in 2015

I have received confirmation from an impeccable source that Ron Polacco intends to give it another shot and will run for Mayor this year.  This has been speculated for some time, but this source was actually verbally told by Polacco himself that he will run.

This creates a fascinating dynamic within the Republican City Committee.

Everyone knows about the controversy between newly re-elected Republican City Chair Tony Sinagra and myself.  His betrayal of me is well known in city politics.  However, the animosity between Ron Polacco and Tony Sinagra, though perhaps not as well known, is much deeper.

Let us go back in time for a moment to reflect.  It is January 2010 and Polacco and Andi Turco-Levin, the 2 Republican Aldermen, each want to be Minority Leader.  So, the tie was broken by Chairman Sinagra.  Instead of just breaking the tie, Sinagra decided foolishly to go on the attack against Polacco and said Polacco was "too close with the Democrats".  In political circles, saying someone is "too close" with the other side is tantamount to calling him a traitor.

From that day on, Polacco and Sinagra have flat out hated each others' guts.  That hatred played no small role in Polacco's decision to run a primary in the 2011 Mayoral contest, a primary that he ended up winning.  I must point out that in 2005, Polacco had expressed interest in running for 6th Ward Alderman, but stepped aside because the party was backing someone else -- me.  In 2011, however, Polacco did not step aside and many (including myself) felt that Sinagra's mishandling of the minority leader issue was a big reason why.  It is no surprise that Sinagra's bungling of the entire 2011 election resulted in his resignation shortly thereafter.

Now, back to the present ...

City Republicans have no candidate for Mayor. Andi Turco-Levin has told anyone who will listen that she is not interested in running again.  Honestly, I cannot say I blame her.  She and I both took the brunt of Sinagra's political misplays in 2011.  She never really got the opportunity to test her political strength city-wide.  With Polacco winning the Republican line and me winning the Conservative line, she had no ballot line.  Had the entire matter been handled better by Sinagra, Ron and I might have gotten out of the race and Andi would have had her opportunity.

Nevertheless, with no party candidate, the Republican line is Polacco's for the taking in 2015.  Sinagra cannot stop him without a candidate.  Moreover, since Ron has proven that he can win a primary over the objections of the City Chair, what candidate is really going to come forward?

So, Chairman Sinagra, by his own doing, has placed himself between a rock and a hard place.  He either finds some patsy to take the line at the convention only to get destroyed in a primary OR he swallows his pride and a great deal of crow and backs Polacco.  He will try to put spin on it, but everyone will know it to be a shotgun wedding at best.  Basically, Sinagra has put himself in a position usually only seen in the Kama Sutra.

Is this Kharma or what??