POLITICS
The Todd Stroger Relief Fund
By Stump Connolly
After Chicago alderman William Beavers put the arm on Gov. Blagojevich for $100,000 to shore up Todd Stroger’s anemic campaign for county board president, the governor suggested it was time for all good Democrats to come to the aid of the party.
Why should he be the only Democratic candidate to contribute? Why not Attorney General Lisa Madigan? Or her father, state party chairman Mike Madigan? Blagojevich is in a hotly-contested race against Republican Judy Baar Topinka – a race, Beavers did not have to point out, where he will need every vote the south side alderman controls. So the burden of saving Stroger should fall on other wallets, Blogojevich contends.
“We’re looking to get . . . Lisa Madigan to help Todd Stroger because she doesn’t have a race of any consequence,” Blagojevich was quoted as saying in the Sun-Times. “We want the other candidates who . . . don’t have hard races to help . . . If they’ll help, we’ll help.”
From the looks of the campaign so far, Stroger needs all the help he can get -- finding his way onto the campaign trail. After the party committeeman anointed him in July to replace his father John on the Democratic ticket, Stroger has demonstrated little of his father’s 78-year-old’s vigor in seeking out votes and even less of his knowledge of the office he is running for.
That’s why I am proposing that all good Democrats who want to see the Stroger touch continue contribute $10 to a “Fund for the Relief of Todd Stroger.” There’s only one caveat: don’t give it to his campaign.
On Election Day, go to your local bank before you go to your polling place and take out two crisp $5 bills. While you are waiting to vote, turn to the person ahead and behind you in line and ask them if they’ve made up their mind on the county board president’s race. If they are undecided, give them a five-dollar bill and say, “I’m voting for Todd Stroger.” LEGAL NOTICE: Do not ask them to vote for Stroger or your generosity might be construed as a bribe.
There are several reasons why this is the best way to help the democratic candidate, not the least being that your $5 may be the most compelling reason they have to cast a ballot for Stroger.
If only 20,000 democrats join this effort, that would bring Stroger an additional 40,000 votes -- surely enough to tip a close election.
But more important, it would be a far more effective use of campaign cash and could lead to a complete overhaul of our current campaign financing system.
Consider that in the March 2006 primary, Beavers was on the finance committee for John Stroger’s race against Forrest Claypool. (But not the chairman. That distinction belonged to Tony Rezko, indicted last week for his work as Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign finance guru.)
In that capacity, Beavers helped raise and spend over $3,724,783 for Stroger. But that money produced only 318,634 votes for his candidate. This works out to about $11.69 per vote. Most of the money raised went to lawyers, campaign consultants, field workers and, of course, a god-awful array of dumb political commercials that polluted our television airwaves.
So imagine what we could accomplish by going back to good old-fashioned politics. We could halve the cost of elections, encourage more citizen participation and free our airwaves for what they were intended – more viagra commercials.
To give Beavers another $100,000 at this time just perpetuates an inefficient system – and creates even more clutter on our TV screens. One campaign committee passes money to another that distributes it to yet another, and in the end, the only ones who benefit are the money handlers.
But what if you could go to the polls on November 7 and walk away with five bucks – enough for a Big Mac Value Meal Super-Sized? Now there’s an incentive to vote.
Ah, for the good old days.
