Stroger, Brown, Davis and Preckwinkle bring huge interest to Cook County Board race

Stroger, Brown, Davis and Preckwinkle bring huge interest to Cook County Board race
BY LAURA WASHINGTON
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
August 31, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/1743774,CST-EDT-laura31.article


It was standing-room only Thursday night at Malcolm X College, where four candidates for Cook County Board president faced off in a rambunctious and heated debate. More than 400 people showed up for the forum. The audience was overwhelmingly African American. It has been a long time since I've seen a black crowd this worked up about a local race. Believe me -- they care about this one.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger won a standing ovation from dozens in the crowd when he was introduced by moderator and WVON-AM host Cliff Kelley. The Stroger loyalists were vociferous and plentiful. No revelation there, as the county workers who live in Stroger's 8th Ward probably could fill that auditorium.

Despite rumors that Stroger is wavering on his re-election bid, his appearance was feisty, confident and in it to win it.

His challengers in the Democratic primary, Dorothy Brown, clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court; U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, and Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), gave Stroger a rough ride. They hammered him on management stumbles, cutbacks at Stroger Hospital and his tax increase. Stroger shot back that he has balanced three county budgets and protected vital services for the poor.

(According to forum sponsor WVON, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien, the only white candidate in the race, could not attend "due to a prior engagement.")

Dorothy "the Pearl Lady" Brown was uncharacteristically strident. In her opening remarks, she came out swinging. "We don't need people that need training wheels to be in this job," she jabbed.

Brown touted her management experience and alphabet resume -- JD, MBA and CPA, arguing "we need new ideas, not new taxes."

She also bragged, "I have not accepted a pay raise in the nine years since I've been in this office." A sign of her civic dedication, no doubt. Of course, she wouldn't need a raise, because for years she accepted cash "gifts" from her employees, a practice she finally ended after she was called out on it in June.

The tensions between Brown and Davis, who sat side by side on the dais, were palpable. I'm not sure why, but there's no love there. Davis, the seven-term congressman, former alderman and Cook County commissioner, pitched himself as the elder statesman and political bigfoot in the race.

Davis, whose stentorian skills are considerable, intoned that "our county, not just our county government . . . could very well be in a state of crisis." He has won more than 80 percent of the vote "every time I run," he proclaimed.

His booming elocution, however, couldn't cover for his lame response to a festering question about his campaign. Davis is circulating two sets of petitions for the 2010 ballot: one for the county job and one for his current seat. When asked why, he obfuscated.

Davis is a respected veteran legislator and grass-roots advocate for the disadvantaged. But his petition shenanigans are a transparent, Chicago-style maneuver to game the system. It's beneath him.

Preckwinkle, meanwhile, flunked a key political test. She didn't bring her posse. Every other candidate had a partisan cheering section, waving signs, sporting campaign T-shirts, shouting "four more years" or "time for a change." The Hyde Park alderman's cogent, wonky raps were greeted with a smattering of polite applause.

The wide-ranging forum covered many burning issues: taxes, conditions at Stroger Hospital, clinic closings and jail overcrowding. The evening's hottest topic was a question about the decriminalization of marijuana, centering on a new county ordinance that allows people caught in possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to be ticketed rather than jailed. The law applies only to unincorporated Cook County.

To raucous cheers and giggles, all four candidates endorsed the measure.

Heh-heh. This campaign could put a new spin on the phrase "smoke-filled room."

Laura Washington blogs at TheWashingtonReport.org.