Sabonjian wins: article and video available

[fedupinwaukegan]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/video/index.html?pid=lvUv0FaVP_HdjmqWGx0Ty6KqekrLOlfm">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/vide ... KqekrLOlfm</a><!-- m -->

Above is a link video of Sabonjian's speech. The crowd roars their approval with "Yes, we can, yes we can."




Sabonjian beats Hyde

April 8, 2009
BY DAN MORAN <!-- e --><a href="mailto:dmoran@scn1.com">dmoran@scn1.com</a><!-- e -->

The son followed the father into City Hall on Tuesday night as County Board member Robert Sabonjian Jr. defeated incumbent Richard Hyde to capture the mayor’s office.

The 53-year-old Sabonjian, running as an independent four years after losing to Hyde in the Democratic primary, captured 54 percent of 7,500 ballots cast and defeated Hyde by more than 700 votes. Republican Greg Flesher finished a distant third.

“I don’t want to be cliché,” Sabonjian said outside a victory rally at La Chapala restaurant on Grand Avenue, “but the people of Waukegan spoke today, (and) they wanted change.”

A look around La Chapala shortly after the last precinct came in went a long way toward explaining Sabonjian’s victory. Mixed in a multi-ethnic crowd were such community and political figures as Henry Bogdala, Margaret Carrasco, Mary Ross Cunningham, Patricia Jones, Steve Kolber and Keith Turner.

Also in attendance was Newton Finn, who fell within a handful of votes of winning two different mayoral elections in the last decade.

“This is Waukegan’s version of what happened in this country (in November),” said Finn, though he added that “I’m stunned at the margin of victory. This is clearly a mandate for Bob.”

At the restaurant’s front door, Lorena Carbajal greeted arrivals by shouting “yes we can! Meet your new mayor!” She said Sabonjian’s upset win was the result of “everybody working together.”

Kolber, co-founder of the activist group Citizens for the Resurgence of Excellence in Waukegan (CREW), which endorsed Sabonjian in early February, said he wasn’t surprised by how election day played out.

“Not at all. All day long, you felt the vibe. Everybody we talked to felt the same way – they wanted change,” Kolber said, adding that “the Hispanic vote just exploded” as the race wound down.

Shortly after addressing supporters around 8:30 p.m., Sabonjian agreed that a cross-cultural collection of voters turned out to make his win possible.

“You see the crowd in there? I expected to win because of them,” he said. “They went out in all kinds of weather and put in hundreds and hundreds of man hours ... Sometimes I felt like I was along for the ride.”

Gathering with supporters at Louie’s restaurant on North Avenue, Hyde said he hoped to call Sabonjian before the night was over to offer congratulations.

“People kept pushing for this change business, and now it happened,” Hyde said. “But I wish him well. I hope the city continues on the path it’s on because a lot of great things are happening.”

Asked what factors he thought played into the vote totals, the 81-year-old Hyde pointed to comments published over the weekend in a Chicago newspaper that he felt focused directly on his age.

“(Sabonjian) said things like ‘old school’ and ‘time has passed him by,’” said Hyde, “and I think a lot of people believed in that.”

Hyde added that “I have no regrets at all. I had a wonderful seven years and three months as mayor, and I enjoyed serving the people of Waukegan.”

A former 8th Ward alderman, Hyde was first appointed mayor by the City Council following the January 2002 death of Dan Drew. He won a special election to fill Drew’s term in 2003, then won a four-year term in 2005 over a field that included Sabonjian in the Democratic primary.

Sabonjian, the only son of the late former Mayor Robert Sabonjian, has served on the County Board since 1998. His current term is set to expire in 2012.

Departing his victory party around 9 p.m., Sabonjian told supporters that he was going to turn in early “because we have a lot of work to do starting tomorrow.”

Among the orders of business for the mayor-elect are forming a transition team and mulling candidates for department heads, which must be named on the night he is sworn in, May 4. Sabonjian declined to offer any early insights into that process, saying he had some personal matters to attend to in coming days.

“I have to go out of town this weekend for a funeral,” he said, “and then my wife and I are going to get in the car and head west.”

for comments
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1515984,sabonjian-beats-hyde-040709.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... 09.article</a><!-- m -->