Hundreds Gather for 'Dock' Walls' Announcement of 2007 Mayoral Run

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[Walls] said he would end the privatization of city jobs by implementing a "hire Chicago first" program. "These are our tax dollars," he said. "People from Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana shouldn't be able to come here and take these jobs. We need jobs like we need oxygen."

Supporters said the crowd of Blacks, Latinos and whites reflected the grassroots organizing Walls have been doing for three years with his Committee for a Better Chicago organization. "I don't think the mayor expected all the people from the different neighborhoods to get together and trust each other, and that's what has happened," said Lincoln Park resident Rachel Goodstein, whose group, The Meigs Action Coalition, became part of the committee when Walls supported its bid to save Meigs Field. Goodstein is now a co-manager of Walls' campaign.

"The toughest challenge is to get people to believe that we can do it," said co-campaign manager Bruce Crosby. "[Richard M. Daley] has decimated other candidates. But it's significant that (Walls) is the only person in Chicago, outside of Mayor Daley, who can say they were trained to be mayor of Chicago. [Harold Washington] told (Walls) that there's no school for mayors while he was actually training him every day."

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Hundreds Gather for 'Dock' Walls' Announcement of 2007 Mayoral Run

Surrounded by hundreds of cheering supporters, William "Dock" Walls III, an attorney and protégé of the late Mayor Harold Washington, Sunday announced his candidacy for mayor of Chicago.

"I...

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