Openline covers the Aurora mayor race

From OneMan, caught a new local blog that will cover the Aurora mayoral race: Openline. Anyone who calls me famous is alright by me.

Speaking of the Aurora mayoral race, I noted here a while back that I had drinks with Richard Irvin, one of the Republicans running in the race. That thread led to an incredible 78 comments (so far, they’re still trickling in) from supporters of the various campaigns. OneMan asked at the time whether anyone else in the race would reach out.

Several weeks back, I heard from Gerry Galloway, formerly Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s political director and someone I got to know while volunteering on the Dean campaign. Gerry is managing Tom Weisner’s campaign, and set up a lunch for the three of us just before the holidays.

Tom’s commitment to the city of Aurora is impressive — he worked for the city for 18 years, created or worked closely with a number of local charities, and has lived in Aurora for more than 30 years. He’s outlined his plan here, and has a pretty broad cross-section of the Aurora political establishment (Republican and Democrat) behind him.

For those who are interested, yesterday’s Tribune has a wrap-up on the first mayoral forum. OneMan caught the most interesting comment from the Trib’s article; the race is certainly going to be interesting to watch.

(For those who aren’t local wondering why I’m writing about this: Aurora neighbors my city, Naperville, and it’s the second-largest city in the state. Combined with Naperville, the two cities have a combined population of nearly 300,000.)