POLITICS
Who Should Replace Stroger?
By Scott Jacobs
It’s pretty clear now, if it wasn’t the day after his stroke,
that John Stroger will not be the Democratic candidate for president of the
Cook County Board this November.
It took a Herculean effort on part of Stroger’s backers – and lousy weather contributing to a light turnout – for the 77-year-old to defeat his reform-minded challenger Forrest Claypool; and even then, Stroger held his seat by only 42,000 votes out of the 595,000 cast.
What remains of the old Democratic machine was solidly in Stroger’s corner. He was the chosen candidate of the Democratic Central Committee, backed by Mayor Daley and endorsed by everyone from Illinois Senators Barak Obama and Dick Durbin to former President Bill Clinton (who was, I’m sure, on pins and needles over the outcome.)
Before the county board race started, there had been some talk that Stroger would not even run. He has been on the county board since 1970, serving the last 12 as county board president, but his tenure has been, for the most part, lackluster. His singular achievement, no small feat, was replacing the antiquarian Cook County Hospital with a spanking new facility, which he immodestly named after himself. But what he gained in stature from opening the new hospital he lost by mismanaging the closing of the old one.
In the last four years, Stroger’s rule has come under fire from a cadre of young, insurgent commissioners on the board. Called “The Rebel Five,” they include Claypool, Mike Quigley (who dropped out of the race to manage Claypool’s campaign), Larry Suffredin, Gregg Goslin and Anthony Peraica, who won the Republican primary for board president in March, and will be facing the Democratic challenger in November.
The insurgents have made a point of attacking Stroger’s bloated budgets, frequent tax and fee increases, obsolete management systems and lack of oversight for county institutions like the juvenile detention center and county forest preserves. At the heart of their criticism is Stroger’s style of patronage politics. Stroger is from the old school of Chicago politics. For much of his reign, he has run county government more like an airline rewards program (“the frequent voter club”) than what it is: one of the largest public employers in the country, struggling to keep taxes up enough to support the bloated bureaucracy.
As the jockeying gets underway to replace him, that old school is rearing its ugly head again. The first to toss his hat in the ring was Stroger’s son, Todd, 43, an alderman and committeeman in Stroger’s 8th ward Democratic organization. In announcing his availability, Todd indicated he would step up only if his father wished it. But since he has been the sole voice of his father since the stroke, Todd left himself a lot of room to decide when and where his father would speak his mind. Nonetheless, that was enough for Ald. Arenda Troutman, of the 20th ward.
“If President Stroger says that Todd is his choice, then the people should stand behind him” she told reporters after Todd announced his availability. “Not to stand behind him would be a double standard.”
Just as Rep. Bill Lipinski stepped down to allow his son Dan to take his Congressional seat, and state Rep. Michael Madigan promoted his daughter Lisa for Illinois Attorney General, and 19th ward committeeman Tom Hynes got his son Dan placed on the Democratic ticket for state Comptroller, Troutman argued, as Mary Mitchell, put it in the Sun-Times that “black politicians have the right to be as sneaky as white politicians.”
Indeed, the model for primogeniture in Chicago politics was set by none other than the late Mayor Daley. Once challenged at a press conference because he ordered a sweetheart city insurance contract for his son, Daley responded angrily: “Anyone who doesn’t like it can kiss my mistletoe.”
To which, Mitchell adds: “Yes, it’s a pitiful parent who doesn’t uses their clout to pave the way for their child. But there is also a fine line between promotion and manipulation. Given the circumstances under which John Stroger is in the position to anoint his son, the younger Stroger’s ascension would seem to cross that line.”
If the seat does not automatically go to Stroger’s son, other black politicians argue, it certainly belongs to some black leader. County commissioner Bobby Steele believes she would make a better candidate, but her colleague Earlean Collins said she prefers Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown. Alderman William Beavers and former county commissioner Jerry (“Iceman”) Butler have also been mentioned. So has Congressman Danny Davis, who has some credibility having once served eight years on the board. (Although it is one of those “only in Chicago” moments to think a U.S. Congressman would relinquish his seat to take over the Cook County Board.)
The choice of who replaces Stroger on the ticket will ultimately be made by 80 city and suburban committee members on the Cook County Democratic Committee, although no one doubts two brothers named Daley -- Mayor Richard M. Daley and County Commissioner John Daley -- will play major roles.
Before the Democrats get too deeply into who would be the best black politician to replace Stroger as county board president, perhaps they should think about who among their number has the best chance of leading the reforms that are sure to come. They don’t have to look far. The answer is clearly the man Stroger narrowly beat, Forrest Claypool.
I find it odd that none of the candidates mentioned so far have expressed the slightest interest or concern in the drifting barge that county government has become since Stroger was stricken; and there’s been no discussion among the party committee members of even asking candidates to articulate an idea or two on what they might hope to accomplish if they are named to run for board president.
Whatever one thinks of Claypool’s ideas, he at least has some; and they’ve been forged in four years of nitty-gritty battling inside the board over the county’s priorities. He has a sense not only of what needs to be done, but what can be done in that politicized atmosphere. When he proposes a change, there’s substance to his argument, detail in his proposed execution and a good chance it will get done.
I have looked hard for precedents where the losing candidate in a primary was elevated to carry the party standard when the winner was incapacitated, and I must admit they are few and far between. But naming Claypool to replace Stroger is the kind of bold, reform-minded move Daley needs right now to re-establish his leadership credentials.
Inside city hall, Daley is beset by the fallout of the hired truck scandal. His top aides in inter-governmental affairs are on trial; federal agents continue to probe city hiring practices; and the Sun-Times, only last week, showed it has no intent to let up with a damning indictment of how the Roti family has extended its tentacles into city government. There’s no way the mayor can take any major step to clear up this mess without stepping into one of the hidden snares these scandals have spawned.
But by coming out strongly for a reform-minded leader on the county side of the building, the mayor can signal he hasn’t lost the fire to make this city better. And he can send that signal by backing someone who has already been his point person, first as his deputy mayor in 1989 and then, as the man he chose to bring reform to the Chicago Park District.
The Democratic committee needn’t worry about Claypool’s electability. He racked up 277,000 votes running against Stroger in the primary, which was 269,000 votes more than Republican Periaca received running unopposed.
He has a track record of working well in the past with the Daley administration; he graciously and deftly went out of his way not to criticize Stroger when he had everything to gain from pressing the limits while Stroger was in critical care; and he has the kind of inside understanding of how county government works necessary to bring the reforms Cook County needs.
With his own election on the horizon next Spring,
Mayor Daley must, of course, walk a thin line so as not to alienate black
leaders and drive them into the camp of his potential opponent, Rep. Jesse
Jackson Jr.
But given that Jackson himself all but endorsed Claypool during the primary,
it’s unclear whether promoting Claypool now would help or hurt Daley
with Jackson’s potential base, both African-American and Lakefront Liberal.
If the mayor took the lead on this, Jackson might realize that he can only
look petty and weak by opposing it.
What the mayor would do by promoting Claypool to
replace Stroger on the ticket is strike a blow for a reasonable and orderly
reform of county government. There’s much to be done, and using Stroger’s
stroke to move another party hack into the county board presidency only exacerbates
the problem. Forrest Claypool isn’t just the best choice to replace
Stroger, he’s the right choice.
