The somewhat unexpected victory of Mike Quigley in the Democratic primary in Illinois' 5th District seems to be a bad omen for Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. At least that’s how a nervous Stroger apparently sees it. The two men engaged in a tense and testy exchange at last week’s County Board meeting, where Stroger hinted that Quigley’s victory came at his expense.
Quigley, a County Commissioner, made the embattled County Board President his central campaign issue to the delight of the conservative, muckraking Chicago Tribune. The Tribune editorial page quickly endorsed Quigley, enhancing the division in the Democratic Party establishment. The Sun-Times shortly followed suit.
With both major paper endorsements in the bag, Quigley went on to beat a crowded field in an election with outrageously low voter turnout.
"If you're a Democrat and you want a candidate who fights every day against the corruption and ineptitude that plagues state and local government, you have one candidate: Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley," gushed the Tribune [apparently unaware that as a Congressman, Quigley would be a member of the federal government and therefore limited in his abilities to fight ineptitude at state and local levels by the principles of federalism in the Constitution of the United States].
According to the Tribune, "[Quigley] led the fight against [Stroger’s] 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase. He blocked Stroger's attempt this year to borrow money to pay for even more of Cook County's bloated operation.”
As far as the mainstream candidates went, Quigley was better than most, though we think reform-minded voters should have taken a harder look at genuine Party-outsiders Charlie Wheelan and Tom Geoghegan.
While Quigley has been a consistent thorn in Stroger’s side, the Tribune’s description glosses over some complications in Quigley’s record. Quigley voted for Stroger’s first county budget, which projected spending levels that made it clear to everyone at the time that some form of tax increase or deficit borrowing was inevitable. When he found it politically expedient to do so, Quigley fought Stroger on the tax increase without credibly demanding a more disciplined hold on the County’s runaway checkbook.
That’s not to lend credence to unfounded suggestions by Sara Feigenholtz, one of Quigley’s vanquished 5th District opponents, that Quigley was complicit in Stroger’s shady hiring of political friends and family members, even while County health and safety workers were given the pink slip. Stroger, for whom bilking the County is a longtime family tradition, didn’t need Quigley’s acquiescence. Still, Quigley doesn’t quite live up to the crusading reformer status bestowed on him by the newspapers’ syrupy praise.
The reformer more deserving of recognition – and, in our estimation, the real reason why voters bought into Quigley’s rhetoric – is Quigley’s friend and patron, Commissioner Forrest Claypool. Claypool’s political skill and popularity dwarf that of Quigley, who has always been a second fiddle in the battle against Stroger’s malfeasance. Claypool passed on the 5th District race because his eyes are on a bigger prize: a rematch with Stroger in 2010. With his lieutenant Quigley ensconced in Congress and disaffection with Stroger on the rise, Claypool’s chances look good (especially if Stroger is weak enough that Claypool’s former boss, Mayor Richard Daley, feels safe to actively support his old protégé).
Though voter turnout was so low as to be a poor indicator of the mood of the populace, the special election clearly demonstrated that the Chicago media establishment has turned on Stroger. If nothing else, Stroger has become an effective boogey-man; an emblem of corrupt ineffectiveness at a time when Illinois voters are looking for a fresh start. With a well-liked challenger like Claypool, who actually deserves the mantle of 'reformer,' Stroger's days of handing out the County largesse to friends and family members my soon be coming to an end.
