Chicago Business Rep. Elected Mayor of Des Plaines, Ill.
May 11, 2009
 After a highly-publicized mayoral contest, Marty Moylan, a business representative in Chicago Local 134, was elected to lead the suburban city of Des Plaines. Moylan won with almost a 1,500-vote margin over three candidates in the city of 54,000. He was sworn in on May 4.
“Our message of hope and vision, community involvement and listening to what the residents were saying prevailed,” said Moylan, who knocked on 5,000 doors throughout the city and received strong support from Local 134 co-workers, the building trades and other labor organizations.
Elected alderman in 2007 by a 2-to-1 margin, the 43-year journeyman wireman will grapple with how to spread the financial benefits and costs that come from last year’s approval of Des Plaines as a casino gambling venue by the Illinois Gaming Board.
More immediately, Moylan will lead the city’s efforts to stem yet another flooding of the Des Plaines River, which resulted in widespread property damage last September.
Moylan’s efforts as alderman to strengthen electrical licensing were featured in a December 2007 story in The Electrical Worker. Twenty-seven of the 100 Local 134 members who live in Des Plaines showed up at a hearing to help win changes to the electrical code.
The same grassroots orientation made a huge difference on Election Day, says Moylan, who was endorsed by the city’s major newspaper.
“Just to be able to say that one of our members and a long-time business agent is the mayor of a major city is a huge accomplishment,” says Tim Foley, Local 134 business manager. Foley recalls Moylan’s tireless efforts to organize crews of citizens to pile sandbags to hold back flood waters. Moylan, who takes office with several new members of the city council will “really have to bear down,” says Foley, “but he will find a way to make it work.”
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user voxefx...
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