Sunday, July 02, 2006

Last week at Cook County...

There were a couple of good columns from Mary Mitchell and Mark Brown on what's going on at the county in the past week. I wanted to opine on Mary Mitchell's column from Thursday with regards to the unfairness of a deal overlooking Commissioner Bobbie Steele in consideration for the county board presidency. I'd honestly would rather she either be the interim president or even the nominee than Ald. Todd Stroger who I really think would prove very weak even with his family name.

Then another variable has been thrown around, sexism. I've been hearing about this since there has been discussion about actually replacing the ill John Stroger sexism has come up. I don't recalling seeing this in any major media outlets but Mary Mitchell discusses this in her column this morning.

I've concluded (and I say this by not exactly knowing how other races and ethnicities respond to each other) that there isn't a group of people who are as critical of themselves as blacks. Some of this is even over some surface stuff that really doesn't matter. I won't get into what that means here, but what I will state that apparently gender can be one issue that may prove to be something of a problem for us. Especially given the fact that black male politicians are proving themselves as sexist against a black female politician while (as Mitchell states) that the largest voting block in the black community are black women. All the same I don't know as much about Bobbie Steele as I do about Commissioner Peraica.

Now I just would like to ask about how sick is John Stroger. Is he actually capable of writing a letter? I'm sure someone out there is questioning whether Ald. Beavers and other spokesman who claim to have seen or been in touch with John Stroger are really telling the truth about Stroger's condition. Is John Stroger even capable of designating his son as his successor at this moment?

I got one more for you. I would question that the Ald. Todd Stroger my have a sense of entitlement since we hear reports that he's garnering support to moving up to the county (whether for county board president or to his dad's commissioner's seat). He has been touting himself as his father's successor in the press. I wonder how he's run the 8th ward as an alderman. I've heard some negative things about him with regards to that.

Either way I think Mark Brown had it right in his earlier column last week...

The Democratic political powers-that-be in Cook County have outfoxed us again. You say you don't like the deal that Ald. William Beavers says has been struck to install Ald. Todd Stroger as the party's candidate for County Board president in place of his father, John H. Stroger. Neither do I.

But what are you willing to do about it?

Would you vote for a conservative Republican instead -- handing him the reins of power for four years -- just to teach them a lesson?

They're gambling that you won't -- or at least not enough of you to make a difference in a county that has long voted Democratic but turned extremely so in recent elections. These are your only choices. As we used to say as kids, like it or lump it. Thus, the odds-on favorite to run the $3 billion county government is a genial fellow whose political career can only be described as lackluster and whose only claim to fame is a powerful father. The scenario is beyond familiar.
If you read this morning's column you will see that he seems to talk up Peraica as a better alternative. Not sure if Brown will vote for him though...

In the most recent version of the replacement deal, County Board Finance Chairman John Daley is supposed to finish out Stroger's term as the interim president, putting him on a collision course with Steele, who also wants it.

Daley could probably get the job if he forced the matter to a vote, but that could be tricky, especially if Republican commissioners provided the votes to put him over the top.

The other commissioners say they will push Daley and Steele to work it out among themselves so that it doesn't come to a contested vote.

The more aggressively John Daley pursues the position, the more you start to wonder whether his brother, Mayor Daley, is planning to run for re-election.

Everybody involved in this deal runs the risk of getting muddied up.

All I can say for an absolute certainty, though, is that this situation has been nothing but good for the Republican nominee, Commissioner Tony Peraica, who is looking more and more like a contender.

10 comments:

Anonymous,  3:26 PM  

This is an excellent post ..and thought provoking to boot.

What we are seeing (actually recording) is the maturing of local African American politics. This should not be a surprise to anyone, not even to the 11th ward School of Plantation Politics. The transition-- from ethnic mono-block to cultural and economic diversity was predicted by Edward Banfield and chronicled by Pierre DeVise.

Remember Byrne to Washington to Sawyer to Daley? Well it is about to get replayed-- in reverse.

Anonymous,  9:26 PM  

I think that Commissioner Bobbie Steele deserves to serve as Cook County Board President until the Dems pick whoever will replace John Stroger. She is qualified. She is backed by Sen Ricky Hendon who is much more in tune with reality than the old Machine Black pols. We might be seeing a shift from South Side Black Machine Blacks to the West Side nore Progresive Politicans.

Anonymous,  9:25 AM  

Why is anyone surprised that the ward bosses are going to pick the Cook County board president? The voters certainly aren't -- they chose to renominate a guy in the hospital with the full knowledge that 'their' bosses would pick his successor in a back room. Ask any precinct worker in a ward that endorsed Stroger.

I didn't vote for the guy, but the voters said this is how they wanted it to play out -- and I can live with that. Because I think that's what it takes for those voters to wake up and smell the coffee.

fedup dem 9:48 AM  

Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica is hardly the "conservative" Republican the original post labels him as. It should be noted that he has teamed up with progressive Democrats on the County Board like Mike Quigley and Forrest Claypool to battle the waste the present administration has brought to Cook County.

Anonymous,  11:20 AM  

Levois,

You have been an outspoken black. Who would you vote for: Peraica or Todd Stroger?

Anonymous,  1:06 PM  

Levois, it's not about racism, sexism or any of that.

It is about the MONEY, the juicy CONTRACTS, and keeping the UNIONS happy so they will endorse and work for the Machine candidate.
It is about maintaining the POWER to keep handing out the MONEY, and the juicy CONTRACTS, and keeping the UNIONS happy.

It is all one hopelessly corrupt self-serving structure.

Levois 4:32 PM  

Anon 11:20AM-At this moment all I will say I I wouldn't vote for Todd Stroger. Peraica is going to have to earn my vote. For now I'll keep who exactly I would vote for to myself.

Anon 1:06PM-Thanks for adding one more variable to this situation. Besides I heard a statistic (if I can call it that) that Cook County's budget is larger than 30 states. Who wouldn't want control over all that money?

B News 5:49 AM  

you guys have to realize that JPD is the best man for the job. No question, no way that he is number one. The kind of man that gives up free throws for a good cause.

Anonymous,  6:41 AM  

Alderman Beavers and Todd Stroger remind me of the two house guests of old Bernie in the 1980's movie "Weekend at Bernie's".
In this dark humor movie, two youths were invited to spend the weekend at a posh home with a swimming pool that an older gentleman named Bernie lived in. Poor old Bernie suffered a fatal heart attack while the two houseguests were there.
They did not want to have to leave their posh surroundings by reporting the home owner's (Bernie's) death so they would dress the corpse each day and prop old Bernie up in a chair beside the swimming pool. This way the neighbors would think that Bernie was still "alive and ticking" and the two young houseguests could continue to live the good life that they were growing accustomed to.
Eventually, the neighbors discovered the sham being played on them and that Bernie had been dead for several weeks. The two young houseguests eventually had to move out of the deceased's house.
It makes Cook County residents wonder if Alderman Beavers and Todd Stroger are pulling a "Weekend At Bernie's"?

Anonymous,  10:06 AM  

Bobbie Steele should get the ballot slot in November...she is qualified and cogent on the issues facing the board...a poll was taken of roughly 400 Cook County Voters over last week and 91% of those queried would not vote for Todd Stroger...I beleive the Stroger family totally mishandled the President's media and PR effort after his serious health issue arose in March...the Cook County Dem Committeemen better think twice about following Beavers and company to the trough...they are not dealing with Cook County voters of twenty years ago who don't watch the Board and their dealings...It's time for an African American woman to step up boys...Shame on Barack Obama for doing his part in the endorsement of Stroger in March...

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