Retiring Republican Alderman Brian Doherty is bemoaning the lack of a GOP presence on the new Chicago City Council. Doherty, who has been representing the 41st Ward since first elected in 1991, holds the GOP leadership responsible for the party’s loss of a bully pulpit.
“I think [this] shows very poorly on the Republican leadership in the state level, county level,” Doherty said last week. Doherty maintains that state and county GOP officials failed to respond to his calls during the campaign, though representatives of those offices say they never received any calls.
Peter Bella, executive director of the Chicago Republican Party, said it was “disingenuous” for Doherty to criticize the party’s commitment to city council races.
“A lot of time and effort went into this,” said Bella. He further stated that the group expended a lot of resources on the campaign for John Garrido of the 45th Ward, as well as for Maurita Gavin, Doherty’s handpicked replacement.
Lee Roupas, who leads the Cook County Republican Party, said his organization donated $500 and took on volunteers to support Garrido, who wound up losing by only about 30 votes.
Pat Brady, who oversees the Illinois Republican Party, says that they are working towards greater GOP representation in city council races, but admits that money is sometimes an issue.
“Certainly I would like to give our candidates as much support as possible, and we do the best job we can and we’ve done a lot in the last couple years,” Brady said. “But, you know, we don’t have everything we need sometimes.”