What Joliet election says about change at City Hall

“People said they want change. We’ll see tonight if they voted for change.”

That was Joliet City Council candidate Warren Dorris’s quote shortly before the polls closed Tuesday night.

The top vote-getter for the night was the one incumbent in the election for three council seats – Councilwoman Jan Quillman.

There was no revolution at the polling places.

Quillman and Joe Clement, a member of the Joliet Park District Board of Commissioners, were assured spots on the council on election night.

Clement is a retired Joliet police officer. Quillman is the wife of a retired Joliet police officer.

If Joliet wants what some call police reform or at least major changes in police policy, as some have advocated, the city didn’t vote that way.

But there is still a possible change agent waiting in the wings – not Dorris.

Cesar Guerrero, the young paralegal at the Spanish Community Center making a first run for elected office with backing from Working Families Joliet, which does want change in the City Council, is on the cusp of victory or defeat.

Guerrero finished election night 55 votes behind Robert Wunderlich for the third council seat on the ballot.

That, of course, is not victory, but it’s not quite defeat either because all mail-in and provisional ballots have yet to be counted. Remember what happened in the presidential election when mail-in ballots were counted.

“If I lose, I’m going to blame the Russians,” Wunderlich joked when asked about the prospect of his lead disappearing when the final votes are counted, which is scheduled to be April 20.

Wunderlich will be out of town that week. He promised to take his wife, who is a social worker for the Joliet Police Department, for a vacation for her birthday.

If you don’t think Wunderlich, a retired business owner with 44 years on the Joliet Junior College board, is a likely instigator on the City Council, you’re probably right.

Guerrero had a lot more going for him than support from Working Families Joliet. He ran an aggressive campaign, attracted endorsements ranging from the Illinois Nurses Association to U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Chicago, and conducted a petition campaign aimed at people’s concerns about the future of their water bills.

He spoke out to the council on the Lake Michigan water project.

Guerrero would not likely be a business-as-usual council member.

Roughly 16% of Will County voted in local elections this year. The usual dismal turnout was another indication that there was no uprising for change.

But depending on what’s in those last ballots to be counted, Joliet may have voted for a little change after all.