In the days after Harold Washington’s death, Alderman Richard Mell rises to help the Chicao Machine stage a City Hall coup.
Chicago Alderman Richard Mell announced the other day that he was retiring from his City Council job. He has been Alderman for 38 years and his retirement was not unexpected. This is a post I ran in February.
I may have told you about my Richard Mell moment before. But in case you forgot.
I once lived in Mell’s ward.
I didn’t move. He did.
Or to be more precise, I got remapped out of his ward two or three ward remaps ago.
I only met him once.
It was during the Harold Washington campaign. I had been working my precinct hard for Harold. I knew pretty much how every registered voter was going to vote. In Mell’s Machine ward I knew we weren’t going to win. But if we could keep the margin close, the south side and the west side would carry Harold to City Hall. And I knew we were keeping the margin close.
So did Richard Mell.
I had gotten all my voters to the polls by closing time. I became a poll watcher. I had just presented my credentials to the judges when Richard Mell himself came running in, waving his hands and yelling, “You’ve got to keep the polling place open. We have more voters coming!”
The cop on duty turned to the Alderman and said, “You need to get the fuck out of here.”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” said Alderman Mell.
“I don’t give a fuck who you are. But if you don’t get out of here in the next thirty seconds, I’m throwing your ass in jail.”
Richard Mell turned and left, cursing and flailing his arms around.
I turned to the cop and said, “Well, that was something. Do you want my name in case he tries to cause you trouble.”
“He can’t cause me any trouble,” the cop said. “I’ve been putting up with these asshole politicians for thirty years. But I retire next month and I don’t have to put up with their shit anymore.”
My Richard Mell moment.
We barely lost the ward in the primary.
But we took it in the general.
Fred Klonsky 
In my Richard Mell moment, no one calls him an “asshole politician”, he just acts like one.
I also lived in his 33rd Ward and was working for Washington at Lathrop Homes, the low-rise public housing project down the street from my house. We knew there were lots of votes for Harold there. So did Mell. I was in the polling place when he was making his rounds, checking in with his precinct workers. I was old enough to remember the mayor before the first Daley, and was used to the well-oiled Machine delivering impressive vote totals for their guy. But when Mell was told that the turnout was low, he smiled and told them to keep up the good work.
My Richard Mell moment was a teaching moment, a lesson in how the City That Works works. Harold’s sadly brief moment as mayor taught us even more, though,.with the city services in Mell’s 33rd Ward improving markedly under a Washington administration. Harold was our guy.
My last year of teaching is going to be one long emulation of the cop’s treatment of Mell. So looking forward to it!