Claypool refuses to give endorsement to Stroger - March primary loser will support no one
CAMPAIGN 2006
Claypool refuses to give endorsement to Stroger - March primary loser will support no one
By Mickey Ciokajlo
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published September 8, 2006
Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool said Thursday that he will neither endorse nor vote for Ald. Todd Stroger for County Board president in the November election.
Claypool, who lost the Democratic primary in March to Stroger's father, said he objected to the way Todd Stroger was selected to replace his stroke-stricken father on the ballot. Claypool said Todd Stroger also lacks the "executive ability" to pursue reform at the county.
"I have very real concerns about whether Todd Stroger is going to be the type of president that I think my supporters--and the type of people who want change and reform--want in Cook County," Claypool said.
Claypool got 46.5 percent of the vote in the March 21 primary. Stroger won, even though he had suffered a stroke a week before the election. He retired July 31.
Party leaders selected Todd Stroger to replace his father on the Nov. 7 ballot and run against Republican Tony Peraica, a commissioner from Riverside.
Claypool, who spent nearly $3 million on the primary, said he would not tell his supporters to follow his lead and sit out the race.
"I'm not urging anything. I am personally not taking a position in the race," Claypool said outside the boardroom where commissioners where holding their first meeting under the leadership of interim President Bobbie Steele.
Todd Stroger said Thursday that he hopes to meet with Claypool and persuade him to change his mind.
"I want to tell him what my plans are for the county, and I think when he hears them he'll say, `Makes sense to me,'" Todd Stroger said. "And like we do when it's time for the general election, Democrats will get together and we'll all back each other and run together," Stroger said.
If Claypool does not support him, Stroger said, "It tells me he decided not to be on the reservation, as we say."
Peraica called Claypool's announcement a victory.
"Forrest Claypool is probably my best friend on this board so I am disappointed that he will not acknowledge that I indeed am a better candidate," Peraica said. But he said he understood Claypool was a Democrat, and that it would be difficult for him to publicly support a Republican.
County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, a Republican from Elmwood Park, said Claypool's stand helps Peraica.
"I think it's significant because of the high number of voters in the Democratic primary that voted for him," Silvestri said. "And he's basically saying I don't have confidence in the candidate."
Silvestri said he hears from a lot of voters who are upset at what they believe was an attempt to hide information about John Stroger's condition following his stroke.
"A lot of the people that are most upset about what happened are Claypool supporters, and Commissioner Peraica's victory is dependent on swaying a lot of those people to his side of the ballot," Silvestri said.
Commissioner Mike Quigley, who chaired Claypool's primary campaign, was critical of Claypool for saying he won't vote in the race.
"This is democracy, you've got to vote," Quigley said.
Quigley said he hasn't yet decided to endorse Stroger but he has been meeting with him and sees "a glimmer of hope."
"I see a guy willing to evolve into the person he needs to be," Quigley said.
Also Thursday, Steele announced that she had placed Gerald Nichols, the former patronage chief to John Stroger, on paid suspension pending an investigation by the county's inspector general into allegations that Nichols pushed for the hiring of a politically connected ally in the Highway Department.
Steele said three other workers in the Highway Department were placed on paid suspension as part of the investigation, which was prompted by a story in the Chicago Sun-Times.
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mciokajlo@tribune.com
Claypool refuses to give endorsement to Stroger - March primary loser will support no one
By Mickey Ciokajlo
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published September 8, 2006
Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool said Thursday that he will neither endorse nor vote for Ald. Todd Stroger for County Board president in the November election.
Claypool, who lost the Democratic primary in March to Stroger's father, said he objected to the way Todd Stroger was selected to replace his stroke-stricken father on the ballot. Claypool said Todd Stroger also lacks the "executive ability" to pursue reform at the county.
"I have very real concerns about whether Todd Stroger is going to be the type of president that I think my supporters--and the type of people who want change and reform--want in Cook County," Claypool said.
Claypool got 46.5 percent of the vote in the March 21 primary. Stroger won, even though he had suffered a stroke a week before the election. He retired July 31.
Party leaders selected Todd Stroger to replace his father on the Nov. 7 ballot and run against Republican Tony Peraica, a commissioner from Riverside.
Claypool, who spent nearly $3 million on the primary, said he would not tell his supporters to follow his lead and sit out the race.
"I'm not urging anything. I am personally not taking a position in the race," Claypool said outside the boardroom where commissioners where holding their first meeting under the leadership of interim President Bobbie Steele.
Todd Stroger said Thursday that he hopes to meet with Claypool and persuade him to change his mind.
"I want to tell him what my plans are for the county, and I think when he hears them he'll say, `Makes sense to me,'" Todd Stroger said. "And like we do when it's time for the general election, Democrats will get together and we'll all back each other and run together," Stroger said.
If Claypool does not support him, Stroger said, "It tells me he decided not to be on the reservation, as we say."
Peraica called Claypool's announcement a victory.
"Forrest Claypool is probably my best friend on this board so I am disappointed that he will not acknowledge that I indeed am a better candidate," Peraica said. But he said he understood Claypool was a Democrat, and that it would be difficult for him to publicly support a Republican.
County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, a Republican from Elmwood Park, said Claypool's stand helps Peraica.
"I think it's significant because of the high number of voters in the Democratic primary that voted for him," Silvestri said. "And he's basically saying I don't have confidence in the candidate."
Silvestri said he hears from a lot of voters who are upset at what they believe was an attempt to hide information about John Stroger's condition following his stroke.
"A lot of the people that are most upset about what happened are Claypool supporters, and Commissioner Peraica's victory is dependent on swaying a lot of those people to his side of the ballot," Silvestri said.
Commissioner Mike Quigley, who chaired Claypool's primary campaign, was critical of Claypool for saying he won't vote in the race.
"This is democracy, you've got to vote," Quigley said.
Quigley said he hasn't yet decided to endorse Stroger but he has been meeting with him and sees "a glimmer of hope."
"I see a guy willing to evolve into the person he needs to be," Quigley said.
Also Thursday, Steele announced that she had placed Gerald Nichols, the former patronage chief to John Stroger, on paid suspension pending an investigation by the county's inspector general into allegations that Nichols pushed for the hiring of a politically connected ally in the Highway Department.
Steele said three other workers in the Highway Department were placed on paid suspension as part of the investigation, which was prompted by a story in the Chicago Sun-Times.
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mciokajlo@tribune.com
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:50 AM
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