In some places, politics is a battle of ideas. In Chicago, it’s a contact sport.
An Illinois state legislature candidate said two campaign workers for his opponent held him on the ground, smacked him in the head with a beer bottle and popped a staple into his forehead.
Bob Zwolinski said he ended up with a broken nose and a cut that required six stitches, not to mention bruises.
Felony charges were filed against the campaign volunteers, one of whom is the 26-year-old daughter of Zwolinski’s opponent, incumbent 4th District Representative Cynthia Soto.
“You expect these kinds of things out of Trump supporters but not a 16-year sitting representative,” Zwolinski said.
Argument over campaign posters
Zwolinski said he confronted a man and woman who were hanging campaign posters for Soto, a fellow Democrat, outside his campaign office on March 6. He said he’d never seen them before and had no idea one of them was Soto’s daughter.
Tensions were high, he said, because his campaign workers were going door-to-door and putting up a good fight with limited resources. He said he told the two people to take down the posters.
The man held him down, Zwolinski said, while both campaign volunteers punched him. Then woman hit his head with a beer bottle and popped a staple into his forehead, using the staple gun they’d used to hang the posters, Zwolinski said.
“I’m not going to be fighting because I am running for office,” he told CNN.
The lawyer for the suspects, Jessica Soto and Bradley Fichter, who is also 26, confirmed that Cynthia Soto is Jessica Soto’s mother. The lawyer, Frank Avila, said Zwolinski was the aggressor and his clients acted in self-defense.
Felony charges filed
“Jessica Soto was not in the altercation,” Avila said, according to CNN affiliate WLS. “This is politics at its finest. Even though the mother is a state representative, they’re harming her because she is an elected official and she won. This is a disgrace. This is a tragedy, and we’ll make sure we get these charges dropped.”
The lawyer added, “If he’s going around saying a girl beat him up, that’s really sad too, especially a little 5’2″ girl. Maybe it’s good that he lost the race.”
Police arrested Soto and Fichter on Wednesday, a day after Cynthia Soto soundly defeated Zwolinski, 79% to 20%.
Chicago police said each suspect was charged with one count of aggravated battery/use of a deadly weapon, one count of aggravated battery/great bodily harm and one count of aggravated battery/public place. Fichter also was charged with a count of disorderly conduct/false report of an offense.
All the charges are felonies. The suspects bonded out of jail Friday, Avila said.
Cynthia Soto’s spokesman said he is looking into the matter and that the representative is on a leave of absence, WLS reported.