POLITICS
The Greatest Speech
You'll Never Hear
By Danny K. Davis
The day before the Cook County Democratic Committeement met to select
a new candidate for county board president, Cong. Danny K. Davis told reporters
he was not presenting his credentials because he was under any illusion he
would win but “because there are some things that have to be said.”
This is what he said:
Speaker Madigan, members of the committee, Ald. Stroger, fellow Democrats
and citizens all.
I thank you for the opportunity to stand and ask for your support, to be placed on the November ballot as the Democratic nominee to replace the Honorable John H. Stroger, Jr. as candidate for president of the cook county board of commissioners.
John had a long and illustrious career capped by his enduring commitment to upgrade the accessibility and quality of health care for the medically indigent, that is, the poor people of Cook County with no health insurance. And all of us should always be grateful to him for that.
I am a long-life Democrat and have held elective office for 26 years at three different levels of government: City Council, 11 years; County Board, 6 years; U.S. House of Representatives, almost 10 years.
I am well prepared academically and experientially. Three earned college degrees including a doctorate in public administration with a focus on health care planning and organization. I have attended hundreds of workshops and training seminars on financial management, administration and staff development. I hold five honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Chicago.
I know the mission, the role and function of county government. And I have the public interests, especially the needs of the poor at heart. I am fair, honest, open, above-board and have respect for all people. I am a unifier, a consensus builder, inclusive, I have a wealth of human relations experience.
The philosopher Albert Camus is reported to have once said: I want to be able to love my country but I also love justice. To paraphrase Camus, I love my Democratic Party, but I also love justice. Therefore I urge my party . . . I urge you my colleagues . . . I urge you my party’s leaders . . . please listen and hear the beat of the not too distant drum.
And I tell you the drums are rumbling and the people want to be heard. They want your decisions to reflect your views. I am concerned with the way this process has been handled. I am confident that it has not helped the Cook County Democratic Party and it has not bolstered people’s respect for and confidence in the political process.
We all have lineage, we all have heritage, we all have ambition and we all have a desire to serve. To serve in the broadest sense means some sense of fairness, equality, equal opportunity, equal treatment and equal justice.
I don’t like the idea of children growing up in my neighborhood feeling that they have to move to another community to be seriously considered for a job in county government. I don’t like the idea that the community where I have chosen to live and work is sometimes treated like a stepchild by government bodies, bureaucrats and other elected officials. I don’t like the idea that family ties and pedigree will continue to trump other kinds of experience credentials. . . .
We all know that Cook County government, like all governments, is facing some difficult times. There is a great deal of talk about reforms and cuts. I agree with anyone who suggests and demand that everyone do a day’s work for a day’s pay, that we get rid of overlap and duplication, that we combine and consolidate where prudent and rational, that we get rid of waste and inefficiency, that we use attrition as a way of paring down the work force.
However, I must confess that I get alarmed when we start talking about cut, cut and more cuts. Especially, when we talk about the most positive aspect of the Stroger legacy, and that is health care for the poor. Let’s make sure we are not dismantling a good health care delivery system because of our perceived need to cut. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water.
And Mr. Chairman, where I live, if all you do is cut, cut and cut, all that you get is blood, blood and blood. And clearly, the only ones who benefit are those who have the knives.
And finally, Mr. Chairman, and fellow Democrats, I have a strong feeling that your decision is not where the people are. And therefore I urge that we find a way to be more in tune with the people. And that we seek to get the best that we can find.
Let’s stop objecting and rejecting some of the brightest individuals in the party – people like the Barak Obamas, the Jesse Jackson Jrs., the Dorothy Browns, the Joy Cunninghams, the Roberto Maldanados, the Riccardo Munozs, Joe Moores, Jeff Shoenbergs; the David Orrs and the Deborah Shores, the Patricia Hortons and, perhaps, the Toni Preckwinkles or the Danny Davises and others who simply have a desire to be a part of the group.
By right, in my estimation, Commissioner Bobbie Steele should have moved up to be president. But she had three strikes against her. She didn’t have the right pedigree. She didn’t have the right gender. And, of course, she did not live on the right side of town. But after all the speeches have been made and the voting is over, I urge you my brothers and sisters and fellow Democrats, let’s unify as Democrats. . . .
I pledge to do my share, and I hope when the dust settles in November, we shall all have been victorious and the people shall have won. I thank you and God Bless you.
