Aldermen Sam Cunningham, 1st, and Lisa May, 7th, listened politely to each other’s policy positions during a mayoral forum Wednesday evening at Waukegan High School’s Brookside Campus that went over quite civilly. They found moments of agreement, and they shook hands and posed for pictures together when it was over.
But tempers flared afterward, following the discovery in the parking lot of fliers similar to the ones that plagued current Mayor Wayne Motley during his unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign.
This time, the fliers were directed at May, who is running as an independent in the April 4 election. Cunningham became the Democratic nominee after he defeated Motley Feb. 28.
The phrase “WHO REALLY IS LISA MAY” was printed in capital letters on the flier, which were apparently placed on cars in the parking lot while the forum, attended by at least 100 people and moderated by Waukegan Advanced Placement government students, was happening.
The leaflet questioned whether May is a liberal or conservative, a Democrat or a Republican, and described her as “unemployed.” It also speculated that May’s plan to transfer land at the city’s lakefront to the Waukegan Park District would raise property taxes, a point Cunningham also made during the forum.
The fliers mark a turning point in a mayoral campaign that previously saw May and Cunningham in agreement on many issues and united in their disapproval of Motley, who they painted as unprofessional.
May, who would be the city’s first female mayor, dismissed the flier.
“That’s what we’re running against — dirty, partisan politics,” said May, who has cast her independent candidacy as an untarnished alternative to the two-party system. “And that’s enough. Whoever is doing this is insulting the entire community, not just me.”
May said she didn’t want to speculate about who orchestrated the attack. She added in a phone interview Thursday that she has treated her jobs as alderman and a mayoral candidate as full-time affairs. A former mortgage banker, May also worked as a substitute teacher for three years during her time as alderman, she said.
“When I first became alderman, I made a conscious choice to dedicate myself full-time, and I talk about it all the time in my campaign,” May said.
Aldermen make about $22,000 annually, May added.
Similar fliers attacking Motley appeared on vehicles throughout Waukegan during the contentious primary campaign. Those fliers, which read “WANTED,” included a photo of Motley manipulated to look like a police mug shot and accused him and another public official, Motley’s friend and city collector Jorge Torres, of possible corruption, including bribery, prostitution, payoff activities for liquor licenses or building permits, protection of drug cartels and sexual harassment, among other alleged offenses.
Motley and Torres denied all the allegations on the flier and sued Waukegan activist Margaret Carrasco, a frequent critic of the mayor and a candidate for school board in Waukegan School District 60, for defamation, accusing her of preparing and distributing the flier and publishing defamatory posts on Facebook. The case was still listed as active Thursday on the Lake County Circuit Court Public Access System.
In interviews, Motley also accused Cunningham of being behind the flier, but both Cunningham and Carrasco repeatedly denied any connection to it.
Motley even found three people distributing the flier prior to the primary and had them cited by police for violating a city ordinance against placing handbills on vehicles.
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Carrasco again denied any connection to the new flier attacking May on Wednesday.
“If I do something, I put my name on it,” Carrasco said.
Fliers urging residents to vote for Carrasco in the Waukegan District 60 school board elections were also circulated at Wednesday evening’s forum.
Waukegan School District 60 spokesman Nick Alajakis said surveillance cameras did not reach far enough into the parking lot to capture whether anyone was placing fliers on cars.
“Nothing came up showing people putting fliers on cars,” Alajakis said.
The scene briefly became heated upon the discovery of the fliers. A man apparently supporting May walked into the auditorium and approached Ald. Larry TenPas, 6th, who has endorsed Cunningham’s candidacy. The man angrily suggested that TenPas may have played a role in distributing the fliers.
TenPas became incensed at the suggestion, spouting expletives as the two men came face to face before they were separated.
“I don’t play that kind of game,” TenPas said of the accusation. “Lisa might be a good mayor, too. I plan to work with both of them. All I want is a better Waukegan.”
Cunningham forcefully denied he was involved, either.
“I don’t operate like that,” Cunningham said. “I don’t have time for that. That’s a distraction.”
He said he was “upset” at the man’s assuming Cunningham would be involved. Cunningham, who would be the city’s first African-American mayor if he wins, said he has heard racially tinged rumors spreading that he would “bring the ‘hood back to City Hall” if elected, but he has not assumed May’s campaign was behind such remarks.
“I don’t believe that’s part of Lisa’s makeup,” Cunningham said.
As for the forum itself, Cunningham and May fielded questions from the Waukegan High students ranging from economic development to immigration.
May, who won the endorsement of the Sierra Club, an influential environmental group, expressed support for building a clean-energy economy focused on gradually moving away from NRG’s coal-fired power plant at the waterfront. She also emphasized she is not “beholden” to any political party and would run a professional City Hall operation that wouldn’t hand out favors to supporters or friends.
May additionally pitched the possibility of switching the city’s governance model to a council-manager style, acknowledging the mayor would have to take a lesser role and salary to make way for a city manager trained in running a municipality. Such a change would require either voters to approve a referendum or a supermajority of six members of the City Council, she said.
Cunningham outlined a vision for turning Waukegan’s lakefront into an entertainment and recreation complex akin to Chicago’s Navy Pier. He said he would hire a chief of staff to run day-to-day operations for the city while he acted as Waukegan’s “salesman,” drumming up support from state and federal officials and attracting interest from the business community.
Cunningham also wants to update the city’s comprehensive plan, which dates to 1987. He said doing so would help attract federal and state grants that could be used to “beautify” and “enhance” the city.
Both candidates agreed that local police shouldn’t assist federal officials with immigration raids and that there should be more cooperation and interplay between the city and its school district. At different points throughout the night, the audience responded enthusiastically to both Cunningham’s and May’s remarks.
After May and Cunningham made closing statements, Waukegan High School senior Abby Crombie urged the crowd to vote on April 4, saying residents “all need to keep our voices heard.”
She lamented that turnout in the Feb. 28 primary was only about 9 percent and hoped the number would increase substantially next month.
“We really need all of us to do our part to increase that voter participation,” Crombie said.
Twitter @lucashammill