Progress Illinois

For those who haven't been following it closely, here's the latest news on the Democratic primary candidates for Cook County board president. As you'll soon learn, it's a messy, messy affair at the moment. 

Danny Davis
For months now, the 7th District congressman has insisted that he is "in" for county board president, despite simultaneously circulating petitions for reelection to Congress.  During the third quarter, Davis transferred $130,000 from his federal campaign account to his state coffers -- indicating a certain degree of seriousness.  Last Monday, he officially filed for the board president race.  But doubts about his candidacy persist, and for good reason.  As the Tribune's John Byrne reported, he also filed petitions for Congress yesterday. 

So what's the next move?  As Cook County Clerk David Orr told WTTW last week, Davis has until November 9 to drop out of one of the two races.  For the slew of candidates preparing to run for his House seat -- State Rep. Annazette Collins, Chicago Alds. Robert Fioretti and Sharon Dixon, Jim Ascot, Clarence Clemons, and Joyce Washington -- that decision couldn't come soon enough.

Todd Stroger
The incumbent board president created some suspense yesterday afternoon, waiting until an hour before the filing deadline to present his 22,000 petitions to the county clerk.  Not surprisingly, he had a tough time finding folks to circulate on his behalf.  From the Sun-Times:

"Normally, you have people who collect signatures," Stroger said. "It's hard getting people out there to collect signatures."

Capitol Fax predicts that "there will be a lot of interest in the validity of those Stroger signatures and possibly a challenge."  Rival campaigns have until November 9 to file petition objections.

Terrence O'Brien
With all the media attention on the other candidates in the race, Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien has mostly stayed under the radar in recent months.  That changed this past week.

On Friday, Greg Hinz reported -- with the help of the Better Government Association -- that O'Brien's side job is less than sanitary:

O'Brien's job is to maintain the safety of the region's drinking water by reining in big polluters and making sure their waste is properly treated.

As 50% owner of an environmental consulting firm, the same Mr. O'Brien's job is to make life as easy as possible for his dozens of corporate clients, some of them heavy polluters. [...]

BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw termed the situation "the political equivalent of the fox guarding the chicken house."  

The Sun-Times followed up yesterday with research showing how O'Brien's numerous companies have cashed in from government contracts.  In response, he downplayed his involvement:

"I'm just a shareholder," O'Brien says, "with the exception of [K-Plus] Environmental. I deal with chemical-waste disposal for clients. I'm a salesman, project-manager type of deal, helping people fill out their paperwork to get their waste transported."

O'Brien says he hasn't thought about whether he'll stay with the companies if he's elected president of the Cook County Board next year.

You can be sure there is going to be a lot more digging in this area as the race winds on.

Dorothy Brown
In case you missed it, Fox Chicago's Dane Placko reported last week that a field director for Brown was using a state-funded job training program (Earnfare) to pass petitions for her county board president candidacy.  Specifically, Earnfare enrollees at the South Side social service agency Mother's House told Placko that they had been instructed by Hassan Muhammad to circulate the petitions as part of their training.  Watch the full video to see Muhammad's outrageous reaction when confronted by Fox Chicago:

Several days later, Placko got a reaction from Brown herself, who told him that "she had to terminate Muhammad and she didn’t condone what was going on nor did she had any knowledge of it."  The state is currently investigating the allegations. 

Chicagoist adds: 

This isn't the first time Placko has gone after Dorothy Brown for questionable practices. Earlier this month he pointed out that Brown held a campaign press conference on the fifth floor of the Cook County Building on a workday, and also spotted Brown's aides with campaign signs -- pretty clear ethics violations. Last year he went after her about Brown hiring a driver on our dime.

Toni Preckwinkle
Amid the circus being generated by her fellow Democratic candidates, Ald. Preckwinkle's campaign has so far remained drama-free -- at least as far as we can tell. 

The only headlines she has been generating lately have to do with her work on the Chicago City Council, which is currently enmeshed in budget hearings.  Preckwinkle told the AP late last month that Mayor Daley's plan to balance the budget by tapping into the parking meter lease reserve fund "means there has to be a concrete plan to pay it back."  Furthermore, as we noted in our previous item today, she is among the aldermen pushing for accountability on behalf of the Chicago Police Board following a damning report from the Chicago Justice Project.