Alderman Anthony Beale

I hope Chicago aldermen were paying attention as the votes came in from Tuesday’s special election to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. as congressman from the Second District.

In particular, I hope they were eyeballing Alderman Anthony Beale’s tally.

To put it mildly, Alderman Beale got whopped, running a distant third in what was essentially a three-person race. Robin Kelly won with more than 50 percent of the vote. Alderman Beale got roughly 11 percent.

I know—there’s a lot of suburban areas to the district, where a Chicago alderman might not fare so well.

But Beale also got crushed in the city portions of the district. He lost badly in his own Ninth Ward (Kelly got 50 percent of the vote; he got 34)—and even worse in the neighboring Seventh and Fifth wards.

I don’t mean to be picking on Alderman Beale. OK, maybe a little. He’s been a rubber-stamping alderman from the time he got elected in 1999.

He’s voted for the parking meter deal and dozens of TIF deals and the 2011 budget, which jacked up water-sewer fees.

And what did he get for it? The aforementioned 11 percent of the vote.