Stroger roundup
Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
Cook County Board President John Stroger is out of intensive care.
Cook County Board President John Stroger moved into a new room one step below the intensive care unit Sunday as he continued to recover from last week’s serious stroke.
The 76-year-old veteran Democrat’s condition remains serious but stable, and he “was more alert, more communicative and was asking questions of the doctors,†according to a statement released Sunday afternoon by Rush University Medical Center.
The weakness in Stroger’s left side that came after he suffered a stroke early last Tuesday that left a blockage in his brain remains unchanged. But the statement said doctors “feel his condition has improved to a point that he can be moved to the step-down unit, which allows increased access by family members.â€
The medical update came less than 48 hours before Democratic voters head to the polls to either re-nominate Stroger or go with County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool.
And Kass has some kind words.
I like John Stroger. I always have, without making excuses for his deals. He came from nowhere, or Arkansas (whichever is farther) and arrived in Chicago a young man alone. He didn’t have a magical political name. He made his own way. He is what he is.
And now he’s incapacitated. So I don’t think it’s cruel or disrespectful to say that John Stroger is not up to the task of running the county government. But I’m not going to ask the man to step down.
Why?
Because I want to see how this one plays out.
And the Defender has a wrapup of late events and rallies and gives us this piece as well.
Approximately 18 ministers of various denominations said Sunday that they may press for the African American community in the city and county to boycott both the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune after the primary elections on Tuesday.
The clergy said they are upset and insulted that both daily newspapers requested the medical records of Stroger after he was admitted into Rush University Medical Center last week while suffering a severe stroke.
- Wumpus - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 8:15 am:
Were these good clergy memebers upset when people wanted Cheney’s medical records?
- Code Blue - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 8:18 am:
Here’s the key phrase from Kass:
“I don’t think he’ll be able to come back from this to return to a baseline, normal state,” said Dr. Michael Kelly, Stroger’s neurologist at Rush University Medical Center, who undercut the positive spin that had been coming out of the Stroger camp.
No matter what happens tomorrow, Stroger’s name probably will not be on the ballot in November. But nothing is a guarantee in politics, and Democratic ward bosses should consider what their future will be if Stroger refuses to step aside, something that is likely to happen if he isn’t allowed to handpick his successor.
Do Democrats stand a chance with an ailing Stroger on the ballot?
- Hmmmm - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 8:27 am:
With Stroger, everything is about race I’m afraid.
- ISU REP - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 8:32 am:
All I have to say is riddiculous, but i’m not surprised…Sadly, some of these people turn EVERYTHING into a race issue when it’s not..
- Levois - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 8:51 am:
I really like Kass’ column on Stroger. It was very nice.
- Bubo - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 9:02 am:
Kass did do a great job questining Claypool’s creds. Basically, to play the race game, it all comes to this. Do you want a corrupt black guy in charge or a corrupt white guy in charge. That is the issue in this race, prestroke of course. If I pulled a D ballot, my question is who would be in charge if Stroger is not upi to running cook county? It could be 10 times worse than Stroger. Or we have “Blind-Eye” Claypool who Kass so eloquently described has his own ethical lapses.
- Bluefish - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 9:28 am:
If you are a Cook County employee who got your position through the patronage machine…vote for the Cook County committeemen who’ll ultimately be making your decision for you (oops, I mean Stroger). If you are a Cook County taxpayer who is tired of being ripped off to support the patronage maching…vote for Claypool. If you’re like me and just sick and tired of the stench in Cook, move to DuPage.
- Randall Sherman - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 9:45 am:
With all due respect to those clergymen (and their willingness to devote themselves to the spiritual needs of others), their arguments would carry more weight if they they were not being made on behalf of a man (John Stroger) who has spent his political career putting the political needs of the Daleys ahead of political advancement of fellow African-Americans.
They should read the editorial in today’s edition of the Chicago Tribune (”It’s you - or the Chicago bosses”). These clergymen (and their congregations) need to take a moment and go over these points:
1. The excessive delays and waits for service at the hospital that bears Stroger’s name affects residents of their communities, the people who sit and listen to the sermons of these clergmen each week. Can you justify these lapses in health care services as justifiable to your congregations?
2. Under the best of circumstances, the type of stroke that Stroger’s doctors are now describing the County board President as having had is a serious matter, with potential long-term implications.
3. Given Stroger’s age (76) and prior health problems (such as cancer and diabetes), we unfortunately cannot call Stroger’s case the best of circumstances.
4. Should John Stroger receive more votes than Forrest Claypool in Tuesday’s race for the Democratic Party nomination, effective control of who will serve in that office shifts from the hundreds of thousands of voters to the 80 Democratic Party committeemen if, as is anticipated, Stroger is too ill to continue to run.
5. Let’s get real about who those 80 committeemen (in reality, the effective decision is likely to me made by less than a dozen of them) would select to replace Stroger on the November General Election ballot. An African-American candidate with any sort of progressive credentials need not apply. Should the ward bosses conclude that promoting Finance Committee Chairman John Daley is not worth the political risk, than the choice would almost certainly be an African-American who will follow the Daleys’ dictates as faithfully as Stroger has for the past four decades.
6. Should Stroger be kept on the General election ballot, there is the serious possiblity that most independents and many Democrats might opt to vote for Republican Tony Peraica. Under such circumstances, Peraica could win the post of County Board President.
7. Should Stroger somehow win re-election in November, he could then resign at some future date, with the control of his office shifting to the other members of the Cook County Board. Given the likelihood that Tuesday’s voting may insure that a coalition of progressive Democrats and Republicans may have a clear majority on the new County board, this is probably the least likely chance for change.
The fact is that the best chance for the voters to effect change in this office is at the polls Tuesday in the Democratic Primary Election.
- Bubo - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 10:44 am:
Mr. Snichintz or whatever. I don’t fully disagree, but it is easy to criticize when caucasians still run things and Stroger just wants a piece of the coruption pie. He is doing nothing different than the unions, and white pols. He is living the dream brought to us by Rev. Doc MLK. He is as corrupt as the white guys and he earned that opportunity to be as corrupt. Unlike Daley who merely was born into it.
Racism comes from all races. You can easily look past it because if you are white, have benefitted from it in this country.
- anonymous - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 11:12 am:
One tidbit you overlooked, Randall: 18 of those 80 committeeman currently work for Cook County. I’m sure they can be trusted to do the best for the voters, right?
Regardless of what happens in the Stroger/Claypool race, one or more of his loyal allies is likely to get knocked off, flipping the Board to a pro-reform majority and making business-as-usual that much harder to sustain. One can hope, anyway.
- thundermike - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 12:25 pm:
did someone really use eloquent to describe the biggest joke of a writer in Chicago John Kass? The same guy who talks of ethics but is this close with Ed Vrdolyak? Give me a break!
- Dem Voting R - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 12:58 pm:
I must admit to being torn. How can a common-sense Democrat choose between pulling a R or D ballot, when it’s obvious that both Claypool and Topinka are our best choices for office. If only I truly knew the chances of Forrest now that Stroger’s medical condition has changed. I wish this basically good man had, at 76, simply not run for re-election. I guess I’ll decide after tomorrow’s newspapers. Will I, in the end, vote ‘R.’
- frank - Monday, Mar 20, 06 @ 1:01 pm:
I am pulling a D ballot since Topinka is going to cruise to victory and the county race is much closer.