Big Names Come to Stump at Northside DFA

Tonight was an exciting meeting at the Northside Democracy for America (DFA), the local arm of activists who endorse and work on behalf of progressive candidates  and issues.

First off, nobody was happier at the end of the meeting than Jeff Smith.  Smith is an Evanston attorney and longtime good government advocate who is running for state representative in the 18th District.  He was unanimously endorsed by DFA, making him the first candidate to receive the organization’s endorsement for 2010 races.

After having Toni Preckwinkle speak to the organization two months ago, two elected officials with big name recognition came to speak to the Northside DFA.  Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin and Congressman Danny Davis have both declined to officially announce their candidacy for Cook County Board President, as Toni Preckwinkle has, yet each man said they were definitely in the race at the DFA meeting.

Suffredin spoke first, bringing talking points up with him as he, from the outset, seemed extraordinarily careful about his message.  Oddly enough, he started with defending his vote for supporting the 1 percent Cook County sales tax hike last year that has been wildly unpopular.  Suffredin explained he gave Todd Stroger his vote for the tax hike primarily in a trade for establishing an independent board of health to oversee Cook County Hospital, and because Cook County’s finances were so badly mismanaged that the tax hike was necessary to get the County’s house back in order.  Suffredin deflected the impact of the sales hike on Cook County, arguing that the collar counties are hurting for revenue as well.  In other words, Suffredin suggested that the flight of Cook County consumer spending going to collar counties to save on higher taxes simply was not happening.

Suffredin commended the impact of the independent health board’s impact on the overall Cook County health system, claiming that the board has turned around its finances to benefit of $250 million.

I won’t speak for Northside DFA members, but I certainly was asking myself if Suffredin’s vote was really necessary to establish the independent health board.  After all, reformers Mike Quigley and Forrest Claypool rejected the tax increase.  It is hard to accept Suffredin’s argument that he is with the Quigleys and the Claypools when it comes to reform but also vote for the Stroger tax hike.

Clearly, Suffredin knows Cook County issues very well.  But, I felt as though he was grasping and defending himself because he knew the vote for increased taxes was a mistake.  He’s now voting for its repeal.

Danny Davis came and spoke next, using a much different tone.  He projected leadership, experience and confidence.  And while the local media is saying Davis will not run for Cook County Board President, Davis told Northside DFA that he is.

Davis presented the case that he’s worked his whole life representing progressive issues and wants to focus his Cook County Board President candidacy on healthcare, fixing the judicial/correctional system and reforming taxes.  He didn’t say how he would approach any of these issue in specifics but his argument about his experience as a Chicago alderman, Cook County commissioner and Congressman sure sounded convincing.  Interestingly, he did say that his strong suit was inspiring and motivating people and that he felt Cook County needed that type of leadership if it were to reform.

The last word here was something that Suffredin said in response to a question about waiting to declare if he was running.  Suffredin flat out said that his strategy for not declaring is rooted in getting media attention.  Simply, the longer he waited, the more the media would speculate and give him ink.  Seems like it’s working.

Preckwinkle’s Cook County Board Campaign Website

I was doing some online searches on Cook County Board presidential candidates the other day, prompted by this week’s County Board vote to overturn Todd Stroger’s tax increase.

I finally came upon  Toni Preckwinkle’s website.  I say finally because if you do a google search of the terms “toni preckwinkle cook county” you will not see her website come up until the second page.  I think that has to be addressed immediately by the campaign in order to position her better for online search.  After all, about 80 percent of new web traffic comes through online search.  Plus, high returns on her website helps to control the campaign’s message, so that online searchers are not finding articles related to Preckwinkle that the campaign would not want people to read.

Toni Preckwinkle's Homepage

More puzzling though is when you get to Preckwinkle’s homepage.  First of all, it says, “Help keep Cook County moving forward.”  Isn’t the whole reason she is running because Cook County isn’t moving forward?  Why would voters want to oust Todd Stroger if he had County government costs and management under control?  That message does not seem to make sense to me.

More troubling though is the way in which the website is currently set up.  The homepage is a landing page that asks for the person’s email and zipcode.  There is no way to “skip” over this step, because as I later learned, the rest of the campaign site has not been developed yet.  That is ok, although, I think down the road the campaign will have to allow for people to visit the site and not enter their information to get into the rest of the site.  That would be a collosal mistake if the campaign did not do this.

The problem I have though is that next to the boxes asking for email and zip code is the button “learn more.”  I expected that after I clicked on the box I would actually learn more.  Instead, I got a message saying “check back soon for updates.”  That’s really misleading that the website would prompt me to learn more and then not follow through on that promise.  The campaign should more accurately state “submit info” or something rather than learn more.

As a web user, I see this current set up as a strong ploy to get me to enter my information for campaign purposes.  Of course, voter outreach is a central part of any campaign.  But, there is an expectation that after I give my information to a campaign, that I will be given information that was promised to me.  In this case, “learn more” does not mean “learn more.”  The campaign should be careful not to turn off voters before the campaign for county president really gets under way.

Could Stroger Actually Win Re-election?

It seems the odds are stacked against Todd Stroger to win re-election.  The litany of antics and policy that has incensed Cook County voters, such as the sales tax increase and the nepotistic hiring practices, would all seem to suggest voters are fed up.

Stroger’s chances seem so dim that even the racially-motivated voting patterns of the city do not seem to line up in favor with Todd Stroger, considering that Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (an African American representing the Hyde Park neighborhood) has announced her intention to run for the County Board presidency.  Russ Stewart highlights the ins and outs of how voting will potentially break down in the 2010 election for board president.

How could Stroger be competitive given the popular misgivings about his taxation and governance policies and the regular media thrashing he receives?

Well, Stroger may be competitive if he plays his message correctly.  One thing we know for sure is that Stroger is not below playing to voters’ sympathy for poor Todd.  He regularly blames the media for unfairly attacking him and making him the scapegoat for all the County and City’s problems.  That carries some weight considering the regular lambastings he receives from the major dailies.

Plus, I doubt that Stroger is unaware that he was elected with sympathy running high for his father’s illness during the 2006 election that helped Todd’s victory.

I will predict that Stroger plays both the sympathy and the race card very hard.  Those are the two strengths of his message because his record certainly hardly appeals to anyone.  He will use his staffer who liases with churches to work the African American church-going community, he will rely on traditional Stroger African American strongholds and he will pit Toni Preckwinkle as not representing the concerns of the African American community.

Plus, he actually has a chance to gain sympathy from voters because the media is, and will continue to be, relentess in their criticism of Todd.  That will be plain to voters and Todd will try to play on those emotions.

In the end, he should fall short to Forrest Claypool as Russ Stewart predicts.  But, he will put up a stronger fight than most predict.