In 1995 George Pradel, known as “Officer Friendly” from his years on the Naperville Police Department, decisively beat veteran DuPage County administrator and Naperville City Councilman Jack Tenison to become mayor of Naperville. In 1999, Pradel ran for re-election and beat a less established opponent, Ric Romano, by a ratio of 7-1 according to the Daily Herald. These two victories appeared to scare away potential challengers in 2003 (there were none), and seemed to be working this year as well, with potential challengers like City Councilman Doug Krause, who had run and lost in the 1995 primary, prepared to run for mayor only if Pradel bowed out, and City Councilman Mary Ellingson deciding soon after Pradel’s day-before-Halloween re-election announcement to retire from the city council. Ellingson said at the time she was retiring because “it’s very difficult to wage a campaign in Naperville against Officer Friendly…. [And] I was considering running for mayor…because a number of residents were encouraging me.”
Apparently the residents encouraging 12-year veteran City Councilman Mary Ellingson to run for mayor never stopped - and they have convinced her. The Daily Herald reports Ellingson plans to run on a future-oriented platform, such as the importance of North Central College and Edward Hospital to the city’s future, and not on differences between her and the mayor.
“Naperville is entering a defining decade that is going to need consistent leadership,” according to Ellingson. “As mayor, I would try to provide positive and constructive leadership that fosters essential teamwork within the council for cooperative decision-making and affirmative working relationships with our outstanding city manager and his excellent staff.”
Mayor Pradel welcomed Ellingson to the race, saying he has a “wonderful relationship with Mary.” The Naperville Sun quotes the Pradel saying,
“We’re very fortunate to live in a democratic society where everyone has a chance to run for an office…. [T]he people need to make the choice. We just can’t take things personally. We want to certainly respect each other and do what’s best for Naperville.”
Pradel, who has recovered from health problems this summer, said that he would run on his record and would “campaign vigorously.”
Past elections don’t offer much guidance for the race. In the 2003 election Mayor George Pradel received 8,743 votes in an uncontested race drawing little interest (he received thousands more votes in 1999). By comparison, in a field of eight Naperville City Council candidates (pick four) Mary Ellingson received 7,203 votes in 2003, making her the top vote-getter in the field.
The Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin notes that “Ellingson may not be Pradel’s lone challenger. At least three of the 22 other residents to pull candidacy packets have indicated they have their sights set on the mayor’s job.” Both George Pradel and Mary Ellingson have longstanding community ties in Naperville and should run a genteel race. Regardless of whether anyone else jumps in, Naperville’s mayoral race will be interesting.
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