Scott Waguespack: Aldermanic candidate close-up

By: Sara Eisen and Alex Sherman
It’s six days until election day. Inside the makeshift campaign office of 32nd Ward aldermanic incumbent Scott Waguespack, a deserted storefront across from a Shell station on the corner of Diversey and Ashland, the mood is quiet and subdued, but hopeful and determined. The front of the room is open, and in the back there’s a coffee machine, a water cooler, some mailboxes lining the walls, four desks, and shelves with food and papers. “Do you know where the tape measure is Scott?” asks Joan, a volunteer from Roscoe Village, trying to center a “Time 4 Change” sign she is taping to the window.

Joe Lake, 70, a Bucktown community activist who refers to himself as ‘007’ because of his crusade to target local political corruption, is sitting behind one of the three computers. He has just finished posting a new article or tidbit to his Bucktown Public Square Web site, a thorough database of information on the 32nd ward aldermanic race in support of Waguespack. Another young woman sits behind a desk waiting for the phone to ring. Others present include Waguespack’s brother Sylvester and a woman nursing a baby. And of course there’s Waguespack, 36, cool and amicable, chatting on his cell phone, wearing khakis, a black turtleneck and a black fleece jacket, with black square-shaped glasses. His voice is calm and friendly.

A 90-year-old woman named Elvina hobbles in. She hugs Waguespack and tells him she needs to speak with him, that she’ll be around for a while, and then seats herself at a desk in the back. Atop Waguespack’s desk is a pile of thick packets, lists of all residents of the 32nd Ward with their phone numbers and addresses, which the team uses for cold calling and door-to door campaigning. With two cell phones in hand, seated at his desk, he proceeds to share a story about how he decided to run for alderman. He speaks about frustrations with the 8-year reigning alderman, Ted Matlak, who has collected $200,000 for his campaign and is endorsed by Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Sun-Times. Waguespack has gathered $30,000 toward his campaign and received endorsements from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Journal. While there are no official polls, according to the AlderTrack Web site Thursday, Waguespack’s stock is trading at $56.30, while Matlak’s is $19.13. In other words, according to AlderTrack, Waguespack is the favorite.

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Wasguespack has lived with his two brothers in Bucktown for 12 years. A native of Chicago, he was raised on a ranch in Colorado. After graduating from Colorado State University with a political science degree, Waguespack volunteered in Kenya with the U.S. Peace Corps. He returned to his native Chicago for his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been involved in various projects, including Global Chicago, the American Bar Association ABA-CEELI, and worked as an advisor to the President of Kosovo and the government following the Kosovo War. His latest feat was managing the campaign of Berwyn mayoral candidate Michael O’Connor, as well as the campaign of the Independent Voters of Berwyn (IVB).

Waguespack’s decision to enter the race originated from frustration with the alderman’s office when Waguespack umpired Little League baseball in the mid-1990s. At the time, Matlak was chief of staff for former alderman Terry Gabinski. “The alderman’s office basically rung its hands of any problems we had with fields or [league] organization,” Waguespack says. “It stuck in my mind.” More recently, Waguespack has become fed up with the lack of notification to Bucktown residents about ongoing construction. In August, his anger reached a boiling point. “I just woke up one morning and said, ‘I’ve had enough of this,’” he said. “I wanted to start forcing [Matlak] to look at issues he has been ignoring.”

The central theme of Waguespack’s campaign is openness. He wants to install cameras in the alderman’s office and stream city council meetings on his Web site to reach younger voters who frequently use the Internet. Waguespack also believes Matlak has purposefully stopped involving community organizations in his decision-making on zoning. Both Waguespack and co-challenger Catherine Zaryczny have hammered away at Matlak’s disregard for current zoning codes throughout the election. In 2004, the 32nd ward restructured its zoning codes to encourage development while preserving the character of Bucktown and Wicker Park. However, Matlak supports “spot zoning,” an aldermanic right to override codes for specific development changes for individuals and business. Matlak admitted to sometimes ignoring the opinions of committees like the Bucktown Community Organization during a Chicago Tribune Editorial Board forum. “The [committees] are only as good as the people in the groups,” Matlak said.

Waguespack’s campaign frames this election as “Scott vs. The Machine.” They point to Daley’s endorsement of Matlak and allegations of patronage and corruption among 32nd Ward officials, such as the Feb. 13 arrest of precinct captain Lester Cioch. The city’s Inspector General’s Office has filed charges against Cioch for collecting signatures for Daley’s campaign while on the job. Matlak campaign spokesman Michael Moffo said the arrest had “nothing do to with Matlak and his campaign,” according to a Feb. 21 Chicago Journal article. Moreover, Waguespack believes members of “the Machine” are paying people to distribute flyers that deliberately smear Waguespack’s reputation. “That’s the way the Machine works. They just took some guy from the South Side and paid him $100 to distribute handouts in people’s mailboxes that spread lies about my campaign,” Waguespack says. “The alderman won’t say anything. I asked him, ‘why don’t you denounce this type of stuff?’ He just looked at me and said, ‘denounce what?’” Multiple phone calls to Matlak’s office were not returned.

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Joan announces that she has finished taping, and everyone shifts their attention to the front window to admire the new signs. The phone rings; Sylvester jumps to answer it, with a fluorescent post-it pad and pen in hand. “Citizens for Scott Waguespack…” As the campaign has progressed, Waguespack says, he has gained a significant amount of recognition and encouragement. “You’re the Peace Corps guy,” he said people will say to him, “or you’re the Kosovo guy, or you’re the Chicago Tribune-endorsed guy.” Waguespack expects the election to be close—and his campaign will be monitoring “The Machine.” “I’m just waiting for them to pull out the dead people,” Lake said, making reference to past alderman elections when the non-living have voted. On election day, Waguespack will be in his campaign office with his loyal volunteers, win or lose. “I knew it was a long shot when I entered, but people want change.” Waguespack said. “A woman stopped me at the train station and said to me, ‘Kick [Matlak’s] ass!’ You’re kinda sitting there and you’re like, ‘wow!’ That’s the sense you get from people out there.”