ANCHOR: The closing stretch of Chicagos mayoral race is bringing attention to a nonprofit group in the citys Little Village neighborhood. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is accusing Jess Chuy Garcia of running up a deficit back when he led the

organization. But theres a chapter in Garcias career that tested something more fundamental: whether hes the neighborhood guy he makes himself out to be. From our West Side bureau, WBEZs Chip Mitchell has the story.

MITCHELL: In a rented Chevy suburban, Jess Chuy Garcas staffers shuttle him from one campaign stop to another.

GARCIA: Can you turn your radio off?

DRIVER: Alright, let me know where were going.

MITCHELL: Im along for the ride to ask about an election. Not this one. It was in 1998. Garcia was a two-term state senator on the Southwest Side. He had a challenge in the Democratic primary from a little-known Chicago cop named

Tony Muoz. This challenger didnt have much political experience and didnt speak much Spanish. But Garcia soon discovered what Muoz did have:

GARCIA: A massive army on the street. . . .

MITCHELL: A patronage army known as HDO, the Hispanic Democratic Organization, part of Mayor Richard M.

Daleys political operation. Garcia says these campaign workers went door-to-door.

GARCIA: They would say, Hey, is anybody here unemployed? Does anybody here need a job? And if there was someone unemployed, they would say, OK, were hiring you starting today. And then, once the campaign is over, were going to get you a city job.

MITCHELL: Muoz won with almost 54 percent of the vote.

GARCIA: There was a real shock. We were all at a loss to understand how it could be lost.

MITCHELL: Garcias critics in the neighborhood said he had it coming.

SALLAS: He thought that he couldnt lose because they thought that you have to speak Spanish to represent the Latino community.

MITCHELL: Augie Sallas was a union leader who ran against Garca in earlier elections.

SALLAS: Thats, in my opinion, arrogant.

MITCHELL: Sallas wasnt the only one blaming Garcia. Howard Erhman is a physician who helped form a Little Village environmental group. He points to Garcias time as an alderman in the 80s. His ward had an independent political operation. Erhman says Garcia ran it top-down and drove some folks away. He says that left him vulnerable in the State

Senate primary.

ERHMAN: The organization probably had a fourth of the members who were active on the street, going door to door for

Chuy, as compared to the first time he got elected or the second time he got elected alderman.

MITCHELL: Garcia says his own people were pointing fingers too.

GARCIA: Whose fault was it? Who in the campaign went to sleep? You know, somebody should be held responsible for

it [laughs]. Somebody should catch the blame.

MITCHELL (INTERVIEWING GARCIA): And you had never lost an election before. 10 elections?

GARCIA: Exactly. In some ways I took it as a rejection. And I said, How could people reject someone who had worked to be a full-time legislator, not have any other employment that I was pursuing. Working for a pretty modest salary. You

know, who speaks at community gatherings?

MITCHELL: Garcia says he could hardly make sense of the defeat.

GARCIA: I went through a lot of funk.

MITCHELL: And then something helped put it all into perspective. Hed gone one afternoon to his folks place for lunch Garcias father a working-class guy he said he kept getting asked a question in the neighborhood.

GARCIA: Why did Chuy lose? Why did your son lose? And I said, Well, what did you tell them? And he said, He lost because he had to lose eventually. And, when he told me that, I thought, thats just so simple. But it also came to be a practical way of looking at myself, to not take myself so seriously, that sometimes circumstances and the environment

play a role in your life. It doesnt define you as a person forever. And the most important thing to do is to accept it. And if youve got something good, still, to contribute, youre going to be able to do that.

MITCHELL: After that talk with his father, Garcia said he started thinking about what he could contribute. And, as he

served out the rest of his Senate term, he started getting job offers.

GARCIA: Was I going to become a lobbyist because, obviously, there were a lot of offers to . . .

MITCHELL (INTERVIEWING GARCIA): Sure, make some money.

GARCIA: Make a lot of money.

MITCHELL (INTERVIEWING GARCIA): Finally.

GARCIA: Uh, quickly [laughs]. You know, and have it made. Some banks wanted to hire me to do outreach, to do public

relations, to use my name. And I spoke to some people about it. I wanted to hear them out. You know, how do you begin

being a lobbyist? And what do you have to do to keep the job?

MITCHELL: Garca says he decided it wasnt for him.

GARCIA: Thats when the folks at Little Village Community Development.

MITCHELL: The group now known as Enlace the Spanish word for link.

GARCIA: They came to me and they started pitching me: Hey, this organization has a lot of potential. You could be the founding executive director. Its going to do all kinds of projects in the neighborhood.

MITCHELL: Around this same time, Rahm Emanuel left public service and became a banker. He made millions. Garcia

went the other way. He took the nonprofit job. Over the next decade, Enlace helped folks in Little Village learn English

and get their GEDs. It took on gang violence. It helped win a new high school, new parks. In the mayors race, in a debate against Garcia Tuesday night, Mayor Emanuel talked about Enlace.

RAHM: Hes right. Its a great organization and it does good work. Thats not the point. The point is, you claim as your veracity as a manager of a $2.7 million organization, which is a tenth of even what we do for, basically, after-school

programs, as your credential to be the mayor of a $6 billion operation. You left it in deficit . . .

MITCHELL: Garcia said Enlaces deficit stemmed from the recession, a time when lots of nonprofits were hurting. The debate about the groups finances went on. But back in Garcias campaign SUV, I ask something about that time just before he started at Enlace when he lost his State Senate seat, when his world turned upside down.

MITCHELL (INTERVIEWING GARCIA): What does your response to that defeat tell us about how you would be

mayor?

GARCIA: The fact that I didnt go corporate tells you that my interest in figuring out how to make neighborhoods more livable, more relevant, how you develop leadership in neighborhoods to be able to do that, has remained a passion of

mine.

MITCHELL: A question for Chicago voters next Tuesday is whether a neighborhood guy someone like Garcia -- is fit to lead the whole city. Chip Mitchell, WBEZ.