FOX 32 Sunday: Reporter’s Notebook: Ald. Mell not resigning yet
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By Mike Flannery, FOX 32 News Political Editor - bio | email
CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
When Dick Mell first won election to the City Council, he shared space on the ballot with a candidate seeking re-election as mayor, Richard Jay Daley. A lot's happened in the intervening 38 years, not least his emergence as leader of what is indisputably the North Side's most powerful ward organization.
The Sun-Times reported that he's preparing to hand the aldermanic reins over to his daughter, State Rep. Deb Mell. He told me by telephone that may happen one day, but not quite yet. He still has work to complete in the North Side 30th Ward.
Mell did NOT deny that he might step down before his current term ends in 2015, and since the death of his beloved wife, Margie, several years ago, Mell has talked privately of calling it quits.
He told me his daughter is one of many in the ward who'd be a good candidate for alderman. Family issues weigh heavily on him. Mell's son-in-law, ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich is now serving 12 years in a federal prison in Colorado, making Mell's role as grandfather more important than ever.
I was actually the first reporter ever to do a story on Dick Mell, way back in 1974, when he announced his plan to unseat incumbent Ald. Rex Sande, who campaigned in the Logan Square neighborhood as the "Fighting Viking." Whatever Mell decides to do, I wish him and his grand-daughters only the best.
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