Newly inaugurated Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Iris Martinez said she’ll likely call a meeting to pick her replacement in Illinois Senate in the next couple of weeks, the end of a process that could result in the successor she’s identified being appointed to the post.
A former opponent of Martinez for the Senate seat says he’s been shut out of that process.
Martinez was a member of the Senate until earlier this week, when she resigned to take on her new role as clerk the county’s circuit court. It now falls on Martinez and 10 others to decide who will fill the seat she held for 17 years in the state’s upper chamber.
The former senator has the largest share of the weighted vote — the winning candidate must receive 50% plus one to get the seat.
Martinez said she’s been “watching and grooming” Cristina Pacione-Zayas for a long time, and “she is the person I would like the committeemen to support,” though that doesn’t mean she won’t leave the position open to others.
“Many of them know her and were happy to hear about her,” Martinez said of her colleagues in the party’s ranks. “I think we’ve got ourselves a really good person who is committed to the neighborhood.”
Pacione-Zayas is currently the associate vice president of policy at the Erikson Institute, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is a former education director for the Latino Policy Forum and a culture of calm coordinator for Chicago Public Schools, according to LinkedIn.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a description of herself on LinkedIn Pacione-Zayas says she has a “demonstrated history of effectively working in schools, community and advocacy organizations,” and she also boasts skills in early childhood policy, family engagement, policy analysis and Latinx studies, among other areas.
She has a bachelor of arts in sociology and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in educational policy studies from the downstate university.
Pacione-Zayas was the sole candidate to appear at a Wednesday forum hosted by the United Neighbors of the 35th Ward and independent political organizations representing the 1st, 32nd, 33rd and 39th Wards, among others.
“I would have loved to be invited,” said Bart Goldberg, who ran for the position in 2018.
Goldberg, who has previously run for alderman and state representative, said only two committeepeople have been willing to speak with him.
“I think I have a really really unusual skillset, and I think I could address the big fundamental problems and help bring them to light in Springfield over the next two years,” Goldberg said.
The attorney said Pacione-Zayas “looks like an intelligent woman who is going to be very sharp when it comes to issues of childcare and very protective of immigrant rights —maybe affordable housing — and those are all important things to me as well, but they are not the larger issues that threaten are very ability to provide humane government.
“I think part of the reason I could be so effective is that I am an outsider,” Goldberg said. “Always been able to deal with other people, but we have to bring more people to the table ...”
Anthony Quezada, the committeeman of the 35th Ward, which gives him the second largest weighted vote, said Pacione-Zayas was presented with a questionnaire that listed “an array of progressive legislative priorities that we want the next senator to champion, and her answers were promising.”
Those issues include economic, housing and environmental justice.
Quezada said Pacione-Zayas “has that political perspective … and I think her experience working in community organizations strengthens” her qualifications for the job.
First Ward Ald. Daniel La Spata said Pacione-Zayas is “impeccably qualified.” He said he has heard from others who are interested in the position and is setting up a time to meet with them. Goldberg said he’s one of those people La Spata has heard from — though the alderman never followed up to set up a time to talk.
La Spata said the two are meeting this Sunday.
Martinez is the first Latina to be elected to the clerk position, which puts her in charge of keeping all the records and documents for the country’s second largest consolidated court system.
The former state senator bested Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi, former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin and attorney Jacob Meister in the March primary.
She walloped Republican challenger Dr. Barbara Bellar last month, garnering a little more than 71% of the vote.
Martinez campaigned on being an independent politician who would modernize and bring transparency to the clerk’s office. She’s previously said she plans to conduct an audit of the office and will bring in Freedom of Information Act officers to handle public records requests.
