Illinois 2010 Elections: House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, Senator Kwame Raoul, Proviso, 43rd Ward Democrats Back Todd Connor for Water Board

(Chicago, IL) — January 11, 2010. Newcomer Todd Connor is on a roll.

Connor, who is seeking a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners in his first ever bid for public office, has picked up another batch of big-time Democratic endorsements.

In the past few days, Connor, a former Navy Officer and Gulf War veteran, has won the backing of House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) State Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), the powerful Provision Township Democratic Organization, and the 43rd Ward Democrats.

Currie, Raoul, Proviso, and 43rd Ward Democrats add themselves to a bulging roster of progressive Democrats and organizations backing the former investigator at the Illinois Inspector General’s office.

They include:

Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (D-4th), U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, State Senator Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), State Senator Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest), State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer (D-Chicago) State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), Alderman Tom Tunney (D-44th), former State Senator Carol Ronen (D-Chicago), State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston), Northfield Township Committeeman Mike Kreloff, and Cook County Commissioner Roberto Moldonado (D-Chicago), State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), Maywood Mayor Henderson Yarbrough, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley.

Illinois Sierra Club, Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO), Citizen Action, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the Northfield Township Democrats, and the Evanston Democratic Party,  etc.

You get the idea.

Why?

Connor, who earned his MBA from the University of Chicago, is likely the hottest candidate on the 2010 Illinois campaign train.

At 31, Connor combines the ideal balance of boyish-good looks, brains, charm, and genuine earnest that has persuaded political personalities across multiple demographics give him their support. These Obama-like political skills have also inspired a fiercely loyal group of volunteers and staff–such as campaign manager Leslie Fields and field director Sean Kennedy–to round up 22,000 petition signatures to get Connor on the ballot.

Capturing a seat on the nine-member Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is no easy quest. Despite Connor’s list of backers, he still needs to capture roughly 200,000 votes throughout Cook County for an office is virtually invisible and unknown to voters. And he must overcome the Cook County Democratic machine which is backing other candidates for the three seats in contention. But it can be done.

Four years ago, Debra Shore, an environmentalist, a progressive and openly lesbian candidate, beat the Democratic machine and won a seat on the board, a board desperately short of progressives.

Shore needs an ally.

And Connor is it.