Robert Shaw (Illinois politician)

Shaw was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1979, this time defeating Adducci.[13][14][15] During the campaign, Adducci filed a lawsuit, accusing supporters of Shaw's campaign of forging a letter that made Adducci (who was Aducci, who was white) appear racist.[7] In 1979, the Illinois Board of Elections investigated allegations that Shaw had violated the state's Campaign Disclosure Act during his aldermanic campaign.[16]

Shaw rose to prominence as a main African American community ally of mayor Jane Byrne.[10] He received criticism from Black independents when he voted in favor of Byrne's redistricting map for the city's wards, which a federal court would subsequently rule as being unfair to African Americans and Latinos.[10] When Black protesters showed up at the City Council chamber to protest Byrne's firing of Black members of the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Housing Authority Board, Shaw called for the removal of the protesters and stood in support of Byrne and Chicago Housing Authority chairman Charles Swibel.[10]

A January 1981 article by F. Richard Ciccone of the Chicago Tribune described Shaw as "no stranger to city council controversy, though only a freshman alderman".[17]

In 1981, Shaw introduced legislation that would have stripped the city's personnel code by drastically increasing the number of patronage hires, taking 15,000 civil service jobs away from having job security and merit-based testing as a hiring practice. He partnered with Edward Vrdolyak on this legislation.[10][13][18] He would tell the media, "I asked my friends, Ed Vrdolyak and Fred Roti to help me out, and they did".[17] Shaw also credited City Council floor leader Wilson Frost with assisting in redrafting the proposal on the City Council floor.[17] The legislation was overwhelmingly approved in a city council vote.[17] Shaw and Wilson Frost both argued that eliminating the personnel code, and its testing requirements, would be beneficial to Black job applicants.[17] The legislation was ultimately vetoed by mayor Byrne,[10] after facing strong opposition from Chicagoans (a Chicago Tribune poll found 76% of Chicagoans opposed removing the personnel code).[17]

In 1981, Shaw introduced legislation that would require gas stations to have public restrooms. This was quickly shot down by the City Council.[19] In 1982, Shaw voted against the handgun ban ordinance championed by mayor Byrne. The legislation passed without his support.[20] In 1982, Shaw also introduced an ordinance that would have increased the salary of aldermen from $27,600 to $46,350.[21] After this, Mayor Byrne publicly declared she would veto any pay raise for Chicago aldermen.[22]

Shaw lost reelection to Perry H. Hutchison in 1983.[13][23] Shaw's loss was attributed to his choice to endorse incumbent mayor Byrne over Harold Washington in the coinciding mayoral election.[5][10][11][24] Washington won 80% of the vote in the 9th ward during the Democratic mayoral primary.[10] Ahead of his city council runoff election, which coincided with the general election for the Chicago mayoral election, Shaw tried to align himself as a supporter of Washington's campaign.[25] Hutchison had supported Washington against Byrne in the mayoral primary.[26] During the runoff campaign, Hutchison complained of a pamphlet that was being distributed in the ward in support of Shaw's campaign that implied that Hutchison had been involved in drug trafficking.[26]

In 1984, Shaw and his brother took up the cause of calling for legislation to be passed to require black history to be taught in public schools.[2][8]

In 1987, Shaw defeated Hutchison to regain his old seat on the Chicago City Council. Hutchison had been indicted for taking bribes in a federal sting operation ahead of the election.[5][13] For this campaign, Shaw repositioned himself as a supporter of Harold Washington.[10][13][27] Shaw was reelected in 1991 and 1995.[28][29][30] His 1991 reelection saw him defeat Chicago Transit Authority bus driver Johnny J. O'Neal by a mere 37 votes.[31][32] O'Neal would subsequently, in 1993, attempt to have the legitimacy of the vote count reinvestigated through litigation.[33]

Shaw was a strong advocate in support of pay raises for members of the City Council.[10] Shaw clashed numerous times with civil rights and community leader Jesse Jackson, who called Shaw "a hack".[10] Harold Washington derided Shaw as a "two-bit hustler".[10][27]

In 1987, Shaw introduced legislation to remove the ship from the seal of the City of Chicago, replacing it with a depiction of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable

In September 1987, Shaw and fellow alderman Allan Streeter introduced a bill to remove the image of a sailing ship from the 150-year old city seal, alleging that it represented "official government sanction of slavery". Their legislation would replace the ship on the seal with a depiction of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable.[34] City documents had once described the high-masted sailing ship on the seal as, "emblematic of the approach of white man's civilization and commerce".[35] Shaw declared, 'The ship represents institutionalized racism in this country."[35] He also believed that it bore a resemblance to slave ships.[35] Mayor Washington and a group of other black aldermen joined in support.[35] Washington declared, speaking on the issue with the seal, "It's old, it's degrading, and it has historical baggage."[35] It would have cost more than $1 million to replace the use of the seal.[35] Shaw personally estimated that it would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.[35] The push to change the seal received criticism from some City Council members, such as Bernard Stone, who called it, "ridiculous", and Edward M. Burke who called it, "preposterous".[35] The debate was reported to largely fall upon racial lines, with black aldermen supporting the change and white aldermen standing against it.[35] The seal, ultimately, remained unchanged.

In September 1987, Shaw introduced a proposed ordinance that would require the Chicago Transit Authority to open its bathrooms.[19]

After Harold Washington's death in office, Shaw joined Edward M. Burke in stopping Timothy C. Evans' bid to be appointed his mayoral successor.[10] Eugene Sawyer instead won the vote to be Washington's successor.[36] Shaw also called for a more thorough investigation into Washington's cause of death.[37]

Shaw had a tendency to make racially inflammatory statements.[38] In 1988, Shaw was criticized for questioning witnesses at City Council hearings about their ethnic backgrounds, and was also accused of having made antisemitic remarks about "Washington Jews". In regards to the allegations of antisemitism, Shaw, who had received his early political training from Jewish political operatives in the 24th Ward, defended himself by writing, "I have enjoyed a long and happy relationship with the Jewish community," and that, "my many Jewish friends and I am personally hurt," by the accusations of antisemitism.[5][39] In 1988, Shaw also opposed a measure that would aim to stop the use of racial, ethnic, and sexual insults at committee hearings. He argued that it would infringe on the right of the council to, "protect the public interest."[40] That same year, he also told the Chicago Defender, "A white should not be mayor. When they were mayor, they did not treat blacks and other minorities fairly. They do not know how to be fair."[38]

During the mayoralty of Richard M. Daley, Shaw was a somewhat independent member of the council, giving criticism to the mayor and casting votes in opposition to his budgets.[5] In 1989, he opposed legislation championed by Daley to create a watchdog to oversee all of city government. The ordinance later passed, but with revisions that made aldermen exempted from the new inspector general's oversight.[41][42]

In 1990, Shaw proposed an ordinance to ban an AIDS awareness advertisement campaign that had seen posters placed on city transit that included same-sex couples kissing, claiming that the posters were, "promoting a lifestyle, which I object to."[43] In January 1993 Shaw, joined by Dorothy Tillman, offered half-serious criticisms of former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka after Edward M. Burke proposed naming the 7th anniversary of the Bears' Super Bowl XX victory "Mike Ditka Day" in Chicago.[44] In 1993, Shaw opposed Daley's nomination of Thomas Scorza to be appointed Chicago city clerk. Shaw opposed him due to testimony about improprieties in Scorza's office during his tenure as assistant U.S. Attorney.[45] Shaw raised further allegations against Scorza, without providing any evidence publicly.[46]

In 1996, as part of Operation Silver Shovel, the U.S. attorney's office subpoenaed financial records from Shaw's campaign and ward funds, as well as telephone records. Before this, federal agents had unsuccessfully sought to interview Shaw.[47]

After resigning to serve on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, he backed the candidacy of his son Herbert Shaw in the 1999 election to succeed him. However, Anthony Beale, a political unknown backed by Jesse Jackson Jr. and James Meeks, defeated him in an upset.[14][48][49]

In 1984, Shaw was one of four individuals who challenged incumbent U.S. congressman Gus Savage in the Democratic primary for Illinois's 2nd congressional district. Other challengers included state senators Glenn Dawson and James C. Taylor.[70] Savage won renomination, with Shaw placing fourth.[71]

In October 2004, Shaw announced that he would be challenging incumbent village president (mayor) Don DeGraff in the April 2005 South Holland, Illinois, election.[57] Shaw was defeated in an immense landslide, with DeGraff receiving 91% of the vote, to Shaw's 6%.[72]

During his campaign, Shaw pledged to bring more business and job opportunities to the village, if elected. The village had a 10% unemployment rate at the time.[8]

During the campaign, Shaw accused incumbent mayor DeGraff, who was white, of preventing more minorities from working for the village by utilizing the village's residency policy, which allowed village employees, with the exception of department heads and their deputies, to reside outside of the village.[73] Shaw proposed making residency in the village a requirement for all village employees.[74]

Shaw tried to characterize DeGraff as an "ultraconservative". Shaw claimed that DeGraff was supporter of heavily conservative politician Alan Keyes, who had been the Republican Party nominee who ran against Democrat Barack Obama in the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois. DeGraff refuted this by pointing out that he had supported Obama's campaign for the United States Senate.[75] Shaw charged that DeGraff practiced nepotism as mayor.[76] DeGraff denied that the allegations were true.[77] Businesses that Shaw alleged DeGraff was personally profiting from awarding contracts to either did not have any connection to DeGraff, or had not even received municipal contracts in South Holland.[78]

A victory by Shaw would have helped to reestablish the Shaw brothers' declining political influence in the southern part of the Chicago area.[4] Ahead of the election, commenting on Shaw's campaign in South Holland and his brother's coinciding reelection campaign in neighboring Dolton, Jennifer Shalka of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "a double win would give the Shaws their own fiefdom. Dolton and South Holland have a total of about 50,000 residents."[75] Political rival Jesse Jackson Jr. supported DeGraff in Shaw's race, and also supported an unsuccessful challenger to Shaw's brother William in the Dolton election.[4]

In 2006, Shaw ran for the Democratic nomination for the 29th district seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, seeking to unseat incumbent David E. Miller.[79] He was unsuccessful, losing to Miller by 70.88% to 29.12%.[80]

The campaign was seen as another effort by Shaw to stop the decline of his and his brother's political power in Chicago's suburbs. Political observers saw Shaw as unlikely to succeed, however.[81] This was another saga in the Shaw brothers' political rivalry with Jesse Jackson Jr., as Miller was considered Jackson's "point man" in the Illinois House of Representatives on matters such as education reform and the proposed Chicago south suburban airport.[81] Jackson gave his backing to Miller in the election.[59]

Shaw ran for Cook County assessor in 2010.[53] If elected, he would have been the first African American holder of the office.[53] In January 2010, the Chicago Reader reported that Shaw's campaign lacked not only a website, but also lacked a campaign office and phone number.[82] During the campaign, Shaw trained his criticisms at opponent Joseph Berrios, and largely ignored his other opponent, Raymond A. Figueroa.[38][83] Since soon after incumbent assessor James Houlihan announced that he would not seek reelection, Berrios had been considered the front-runner in the race to succeed him.[55]

Shaw placed second out of three candidates in the Democratic primary, with 34.09% of the vote, with the winner of the primary, Berrios, receiving 39.14% of the vote.[84] Shaw had placed first in 19 of the 20 wards in Chicago with the most sizeable black populations.[85]

In December 2013, Shaw moved from South Holland, Illinois, where he had lived since 1999, to the Hyde Park–Kenwood area of Chicago.[27][58] In March 2014, Shaw announced he would run in the 2015 Chicago mayoral election. He was the first noteworthy politician to announce that they would be challenging incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel, and second challenger to announce, after Amara Enyia. However, he ultimately withdrew his candidacy.[13][27][24][58][86][87][88][89][90]

In the previous 2011 mayoral election, Shaw had been an advisor to the campaign of Carol Moseley Braun.[24][58][91]

During his candidacy, he took positions, including supporting a move to having the Chicago Board of Education be an elected school board.[60] He criticized Emanuel for public school closures.[27][24][91] He also voiced concern of the city's ability to fund pension programs for municipal employees,[24][91] criticizing cutting benefits for retired workers.[8] He pledged to rectify both previously-implemented school closings and decreases of benefits for retired municipal employees.[8]

He described his campaign strategy as aiming to bring together a coalition of African Americans, Latinos, and others displeased with the policies of the incumbent mayor.[13] He stated he believed that he had strength as a contender, saying that he believed he had strong name recognition.[13] During his candidacy, an early July 2014 poll taken by We Ask America showed that, in a head-to-head matchup, incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel led him 47.7% to 29.6%, with 22.8% of voters being undecided.[92] Shaw's campaign had very low funds.[93]

After dropping out, Shaw endorsed Willie Wilson in the election.[94][95] Shaw would go on to again support Wilson in his 2019 mayoral campaign as well, taking part in his March 2018 campaign announcement.[96]

Shaw was a candidate in 2016 in the Democratic primary for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board. He withdrew his candidacy before the election, however.[97] He declared again to run in 2018.[3][98] He was ultimately disqualified from appearing on the ballot in 2018.[99]

Shaw died at the age of 83 of cancer on July 22, 2021, at a rehabilitation facility in South Holland, Illinois.[2]

1998

2002

2004