The Capitol Fax Blog » Strange happenings in Cook County

Monday, Nov 16, 2009

* Strange days, indeed…

The e-mails came about an hour apart Saturday.

The first, at 12:22 p.m., from the Dan Proft for Governor campaign said, “News Release; Proft wins New Trier Township GOP endorsement.”

The second one, at 1:28 p.m., from the Andy McKenna for Governor campaign said, “Press release: “McKenna wins New Trier GOP endorsement.”

As it turns out, they were both right. The two men — among seven Republicans running for Illinois governor — got a joint endorsement from the New Trier GOP.

That’s three big suburban township endorsements for Proft in the past week. He also got Schaumburg’s nod and Niles’ as well.

* Speaking of strange political items…

Political double agents — that seems the right phrase to describe some volunteers working on the Cook County Board president’s race.

Their true allegiance might not be clear. But their mission is: to topple incumbent County Board President Todd Stroger.

They’ve been working for two of Stroger’s three opponents in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary at the same time: Terrence J. O’Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, the lone white candidate in the race, and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, one of the two black women challenging Stroger. […]

The proof is in the nearly two-foot-high stacks of nominating petitions each filed with the Cook County clerk’s office three weeks ago to get on the Democratic primary ballot along with Stroger and Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th). Over the last three months, three volunteers simultaneously circulated two sets of petitions — one for O’Brien, the other for Brown

Both Stroger’s and Preckwinkle’s people have been muttering for months that Brown is a put-up candidate by the white powers that be to split the black vote.

* Another one to make you go hmmm….

For years, Thomas Simmons was a high-ranking bureaucrat at City Hall. He also ran a successful “patronage army” of African Americans on the West Side.

Simmons helped many of his supporters get city jobs, according to testimony at the 2006 trial of Mayor Daley’s former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, who’s now in prison for illegally helping political workers get city jobs.

Today, Simmons and some of his group — Citizens for a Better West Side — are trying to get Terrence J. O’Brien elected the next Cook County Board president.

Don’tcha just love Cook County politics?

* Related…

* Opponents rip absent Stroger at Dem forum

* Cook County Commissioner Joan Murphy on the Hot Seat?

* More Illinois campaigns turning to online videos

* 14th District Republican hopefuls face off

* Jewish Republicans hold 10th congressional forum

* Another GOP hopeful emerges in 37th District

* Health care ads target suburban lawmakers

* Health care reform supports hit TV, target Kirk, Foster, Halvorson

* Cook County Jail reality show premiere

- posted by Rich Miller

25 Comments

- Anon - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:25 am:
You have to remember who these organizations are and what their endorsemeents mean. The townships Proft won are not powerhouse organizations that deliver their township to endorsed candidates. Part of the Republican Party’s big problem is that these organizations are usually good for about one literature drop the last weekend before an election. That’s not a lot - especially for a candidate like Proft, whose campaign consists of little more about five paid staff and lots of press releases and emails. No foot soldiers.

It’s good for him that he won, but I wouldn’t read as much into it as the fact that Dillard didn’t win Wheeling this weekend. It went three ballots, and came down to Dillard and Brady, ending in no endorsement. Wheeling actually DOES do a lot for candidates, so winning that endorsement goes a long way toward winning that township.

Like all of the suburbs right now, it’s wide open - even for downstater Brady. If he’s competitive in these endorsement sessions in the suburbs, with his organization and downstate strength, the other guys should probably start worrying a bit - especially Dillard. Interesting weekend.

- PFK - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:32 am:
The Democratic Machine wants Stroger to win. He’s ideal…he does what he’s told and he’s a lightening rod for blame. The whole point of the Danny Davis ruse was to keep a big name out of the race, and these other contenders are there to make sure Preckwinkle doesn’t emerge as a viable anti-Stroger. Thankfully, even though Stroger will win the primary, voters can still take Stroger out in the general by voting for Green Party candidate Tom Tresser.

- Moving to Oklahoma - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:34 am:
Rich, talk about some early Monday morning content on the blog. Good stuff. No sleep last night?

- ZC - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:00 am:
Though if Dorothy Brown is challenging Stroger’s signatures, and manages to win that challenge, it sounds like she’s not playing to the script.

- WOW - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:12 am:
ZC … here is my two cents. Brown takes votes from both Preckwinkle and Todd (what little he has). If she takes Todd out then you have 1 male and 2 females on the ballot and still 1 white and 2 African-Americans. The white candidate wins — is the idea. I think O’Brien is the choice of Madigan, Daley and dart. Brown goes with the game and allows the old gaurd to runs things and she becomes the senior AA office holder. The Sheriff’s office folks have been out in force for O’Brien.

- VanillaMan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:14 am:
With these endorsements, these organizations are demonstrating that they are so out of touch with a majority of Illinois voters, they can’t figure out how to win in 2010.

- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:21 am:
ZC,

Pawns sometimes don’t know they’re being used.

- lake county democrat - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:21 am:
That’s all the national Dems need: a statewide/countywide 2010 ticket without a single African-American or woman on it.

- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:23 am:
So is Proft the Sarah Palin of our state? A Republican with pzazz but absolutely no substance and a closet full of smell? I mean, has someone looked into those big fat PR contracts Proft had for Cicero and special projects in Cicero? We’re talking CICERO here people! Hellloooo. Is that really the guy Republicans want to fight on the corruption argument next year? It would certainly be entertaining.

- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:46 am:
What’s the point of a joint endorsement among contesting candidates? It’s not an endorsement at all.

- Will County Woman - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:50 am:
toni p. is finally starting to go negative on todd. from this point forward, she’d better continue and go even harder.

how long before the results of petition challenges are given? dorothy brown’s camp indicated that it has STRONG evidence against stroger’s petitions.

- SangamoGOP - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:08 am:
Of note about the NTRO endorsement session that Anon 8:25 left out is that New Trier is McKenna’s stomping grounds and he couldn’t secure an outright nomination in his backyard. This should’ve been his in a walk and yet the candidate everyone is afraid of was able to put up a fight and come out with a tie. While NTRO is essentially impotent when it comes to delivering votes or providing anything of substance, this was a big win for Proft and a humiliation for McKenna.

- Carl Nyberg - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:28 am:
Now that Dan Proft is getting some momentum, maybe someone should ask Mark “the Reformer” Kirk what he thinks about the possibility of running on the same ticket as Dan “the Cicero double-dipper” Proft?

Or is reform a phony issue for Kirk?

Kirk didn’t do anything to reform politics in the House and once he’s done using the issue to beat up Giannoulias in the election he has no plans to do anything about political reform in the future.

- fedup dem - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:32 am:
CN, when you check out the term “political hypocrite” in the dictionary, you will likely see a photo of Mark Kirk with a big smirk on his face!

- Hmmm - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:03 am:
lake county democrat-

I guess you forgot about Lisa Madigan, Jesse White and Maria Pappas. Or maybe you’re saying they don’t count.

There’s also the somewhat likely candidacies of Robin Kelly, David Miller, and Art Turner and/or Rickey Hendon.

- Quinn T. Sential - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:09 am:
[As it turns out, they were both right. The two men — among seven Republicans running for Illinois governor — got a joint endorsement from the New Trier GOP.]

A house divided cannot stand. From what I was told, there is no provision in their By-Laws for a “joint endorsement”, but the powers that be (there is really only one power that be-in New Trier) decided it is better to keep everyone happy, than have half of them walk out PO’ed, and never come back. Better to have them working for someone, and thus helping the other endorsed candidates (Kirk, Goslin, 12th sub-circuit judicials, etc.), than sitting at home working for no one.

Proft people will be carrying a sample ballot to the doors which includes Kirk for Senate (and perhaps McKenna) and the other endorsed candidates, and McKenna people will be carrying a sample ballot to the door that includes Kirk for Senate (and perhaps Proft)and the other endorsed candidates.

Either way the sample ballots get to the door they will all include Kirk, and the other endorsed candidates at little cost in money or resources to their campaigns.

Politics is a matter of addition; rather than subtraction, and Republicans under the “big tent” in New Trier will contnue to have whatever impact they always have by virtue of their efforts for their “endorsed” candidates in the field, and Tolbert Chisum will continue to drive the train down the tracks in New Trier without leaving anyone behind at the station.

Given the dynamics in New Trier, this will mean little damage to McKenna, provide little benefit to Proft, and afford the greatest benefit to Kirk and the other endorsed candidates, especially in the judicial sub-circuit.

In his acceptance speech; for both the Republican nomination in February, and for the elective office in the U.S. Senate seat in November, look for Kirk to acknowledge his hometown organization of New Trier.

Also look for Tolbert Chisum glowing in the background, knowing that at the end of the day if it were not for him and his organization, there may well never have been a Congressman Kirk; and a platform from which to stand on and to use to run for the U.S. Senate from in the first place.

The cost of a “joint endorsement” for Governor is a small price to pay to have the sitting U.S. Senator hail from your Township organization. It’s unfortunate that he cannot teach a few things to some of the other Committeemen across the county about running a railroad. Far too many of them would prefer to have their train jump the tracks and derail, than capitulate and concede even a tiny slice of power and influence, even to their own precinct captains within their own organizations.

- Just Observing - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:15 am:
I don’t necessarily read too deep into the allegation that people were circulating for both Brown and O’Brien. Around election time, a lot of political hustlers make extra cash collecting signatures — the petition gatherers probably duped the candidates by circulating for both.

- shore - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:25 am:
I think it’s time to call into question how relevant Jim Edgar really is anymore for Dillard. 16 years since his name was on a ballot, it doesn’t seem to be doing dillard all that good. New trier, my neck of the woods on the north shore, is generally a place that likes mainstream boring establishment candidates and opposes rogues like proft. the fact that dillard went nowhere says a lot about his organization, the fact that voters are looking past edgar, and what happens when proft actually gets his message out.

The media might also start doing some original reporting and getting on the ground to talk to actual republicans rather than sitting in chicago listening to themselves talk. If you listen to the homerglen tea party debate, proft and the adam dude got a much better reception than any of the other candidates. Trevians apparently feel the same way.

- Dnstateanon - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:55 am:
Shore–I think your right about that, it is interesting that the establishment candidates in these endorsements aren’t doing that well. I would say Brady is looking even better as the Township endorsements are split up between the candidates upstate as expected by many people.

- shore - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 12:10 pm:
republicans from our area are now pretty much everywhere else considered democrats I’ve learned, but I can say the thing that is most driving me right now is outside of mark kirk, frustration with the party establishment and establishment in general.

I think that’s why proft is doing well in places like new trier where most republicans are pro-choice and I’m at least willing to overlook some of the other b.s.

- pjw1 - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 12:32 pm:
OMG - what made ME choke on my morning coffee was reading that the words “honesty and integrity” coming out of the mouth of Dorothy Brown. I don’t think she even knows what those 2 words MEAN! I’m surprised she didn’t get struck by lightning.
Stroger’s talking head is promoting his appearance on Cliff Kelley’s show later today, where he allegedly will explain being a no-show at the candidate forum.
The best birthday present I could possibly get this week would be for Stroger and Brown to knock each OTHER off the ballot. That would just be too delicious for words!

- KappaKid - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 1:10 pm:
Why didn’t Stroger show?
http://www.chicagocurrent.com/articles/30760-Stroger-s-absence-Retaliation-for-Sun-Times-story

- Avy Meyers - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:01 pm:
Just Observing - I think you nailed it. I know all the participants in this story and the Tim Novak story in the Sun-Times had lots of us laughing our heads off today.

- what? - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:15 pm:
There were two big losers this weekend.

Andy McKenna had the opportunity to buy as many ballots as he could in Northfield and New Trier, but couldn’t bring enough people to the events and actually vote for him.

A cornerstone of Bill Brady’s success was to be competitive in some of these township endorsements. Now that his Elk Grove and Barrington endorsements woke the other campaigns up, Bill Brady is being snubbed out. Maybe its because he carries nearly 1 million in campaign debt with him. Thats fiscal leadership I want in the governor’s office.

- downstate conservative - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:34 pm:
I think McKenna & Murphy were the big losers this past weekend. McKenna doesn’t get the NTRO endorsement (his own backyard), and his runningmate, Matt Murphy lost by a 2-1 margin in the NTRO vote, losing the endorsement to Jason Plummer. Then, at Wheeling (Murphy’s backyard), Plummer & Murphy tie, resulting in no endorsement.

So, McKenna is losing out to a radio talkshow host, and Murphy gets embarrassed by a 27 year old from downstate Illinois. Maybe things are finally changing here in IL.

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