Todd Stroger a distant 3rd in poll - Dorothy Brown outpaces Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in poll of Democratic primary voters

Todd Stroger a distant 3rd in poll - Dorothy Brown outpaces Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in poll of Democratic primary voters
By Hal Dardick and Robert Becker
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
December 11, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-poll-county-presidentdec11,0,1399687.story


Faced with widespread voter dissatisfaction, embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger trails Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown and Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle in the race for the Democratic primary nomination, a Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

Brown had the support of 29 percent of likely Feb. 2 primary voters, ahead of Preckwinkle's 20 percent, in the poll of 502 likely voters. Stroger received 14 percent and Terrence O'Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, had 11 percent.

But the survey found that 26 percent of primary voters are undecided in the race or for someone else -- meaning plenty of room exists for the contest to become even more fluid in the post-holiday sprint to the ballot box.

The survey, conducted from Dec. 2 to Tuesday, had an error margin of 4.4 percentage points.

About two-thirds of Democratic primary voters expressed disapproval with the job performance of Stroger, whose tenure has been dogged by hiring scandals and a controversial, penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase. About 16 percent approved.

Elizabeth Girtley, of Chicago, who supports Stroger, said she met him when she worked for the city and did not blame him for the unpopular sales-tax increase.

"That wasn't Mr. Stroger's doing, that was Mr. Stroger's subordinates," Girtley said. "I think he did a good job for keeping all the medical facilities open, and a lot of the people I know don't have health insurance."

But 62 percent of voters said they disagreed with Stroger's repeated vetoes of County Board efforts to roll back the tax increase. A recent change in state law made it easier for board members to override Stroger's latest veto to cut the tax hike in half.

"We need a change," said Victoria Yates, 61, of Riverdale, who favors Brown and expressed dissatisfaction with Stroger. "He came up on the father. The father did a good job, but he doesn't know everything yet. She (Brown) probably doesn't either, but she seems like she would be better. It looked like he was just thrown in there."

The father, John Stroger, was board president for nearly 12 years until he was incapacitated by a stroke just before the 2006 primary. Stroger nevertheless won, and party leaders later selected his son to replace him on the general election ballot.

Stroger also gained notoriety when he fired his cousin, former Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings, over the hiring and firing of a former steakhouse busboy who was paid $61,000 a year.

Stroger's troubled history is helping to fuel support for his opponents. More than 70 percent of voters who said they were backing Brown disapprove of Stroger's job performance as did 89 percent of Preckwinkle and O'Brien backers.

Brown also has faced controversy during her nine-year tenure as circuit clerk, most recently for accepting cash gifts from her workers. But her name recognition among voters was 91 percent and 38 percent had a favorable impression of her, compared with only 18 percent who viewed her unfavorably.

Preckwinkle, 4th, in her fifth term as an alderman in President Barack Obama's ward, was known to only 62 percent of county voters -- including barely half of suburban voters. The findings indicate she could tighten the contest further if she becomes better known and gets her message out.

"There's no scandal associated with her right now," said John Goodman, 65, a retired Chicago Fire Department battalion chief who lives in Orland Park and tends to vote for the candidate he dislikes the least. "I don't know about the future, when things get dirty. ... She (Preckwinkle) appears to be doing a fine job where she is right now. And she has the president's ear."

Only half of the voters knew of O'Brien, who for 12 years has led a little known government agency that nevertheless has a nearly $1.7 billion budget.

"I think he's done a really good job and I think we need someone with a proven record of accountability to straighten out county government," said Michael Jekot, a 51-year-old radio sales media broker from Des Plaines who knows O'Brien and has roots in the same Chicago neighborhood.

O'Brien is the lone white candidate in the race, but the prospect of three African-American candidates splintering the black vote to enable him to win isn't borne out in the survey.

Instead, Brown and Preckwinkle each received support from about a quarter of white voters, with another quarter undecided. O'Brien gets about 17 percent of the white vote while Stroger only gets 3 percent, the poll found.

Among African-American voters Brown and Stroger each get about 30 percent support while Preckwinkle gets 17 percent.

Stroger has maintained he has been unfairly criticized because of his race.

The survey showed that 81 percent of white voters had an unfavorable impression of Stroger, while black voters were equally split -- 35 percent favorable and 35 percent unfavorable, with 29 percent having no opinion.

The poll found 42 percent of Stroger supporters said race was a factor in their choice -- far above the 16 percent who said it was a factor in selecting Brown, 14 percent for O'Brien and 11 percent for Preckwinkle.

Two Republicans, Roger Keats and John Garrido, are running for the chance to challenge the Democratic primary winner for a seat that Democrats have held for more than 40 years.

hdardick@tribune.com

rxbecker@tribune.com