Black ministers back Stroger for re-election as Cook Co. president

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger picked up the endorsement of the Concerned Clergy for a Better Chicagoland today, and the group, largely made up of black Chicago religious leaders, pressured other black candidates to drop out of the race.

In accepting the endorsement at a chapel on Chicago's Near South Side, Stroger made formal his announcement that he'll seek re-election in the February Democratic primary.

"My prayer is that we can stand together under the umbrella of unity," Stroger said. "We have to stand together, and that's why I'm running."

In putting forth what they called a plea for "unity," the CCBC suggested all black candidates - including West Side Chicago U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Hyde Park Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown - remain where they are.

"Unity was decided to be best represented by maintaining all currently held seats," said Bishop Ocie Booker. "Support was pledged to all candidates in their current offices."

Stroger echoed that, asking Davis to continue his work in Washington, D.C., on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and extending the same hand of support to the other candidates. Yet those pleas appeared to fall on deaf ears.

"I have great respect for the clergy, but I don't think this is a race Todd Stroger can win," Preckwinkle said. "While I think he's a really nice guy, and I like him personally, I just don't think it's the job for him."

Brown's campaign manager, Julienne Uhlich, issued a statement saying, "We will continue to tell voters about Dorothy Brown's proven track record of reform, fiscal responsibility and bringing innovative solutions to the problems of Cook County."

Davis said a recently conducted poll showed him leading and Stroger last with 9 percent in a five-person race. While Davis allowed that he is circulating petitions for both county board president and U.S. representative - and doesn't figure to make a final decision on which to seek until he's forced to Nov. 9 - he certainly sounded like someone running local.

"I've always been taught you try to put your best foot forward," Davis said. "There's a difference between being in the executive branch and being chief executive and being in the legislative branch in the membership. I think I can have more impact on the operations of county government as president of the county board than I can have on the functioning of the United States government as one of the 435 members of the House of Representatives."

The CCBC made it clear it was out to avert a scenario in which the four black candidates split the vote so that the only white candidate, Cook County Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien, might win with a plurality.

"We understand what is at stake," said Pastor Walter Turner, making reference to how Mayor Richard M. Daley prevailed against a split black vote in 1989. "When we look at what we stand to lose, we cannot allow history to repeat itself."

Stroger, meanwhile, insisted it was about his record.

"People know the good job I've done," he said.

He pointed to how he's kept the county government solvent - albeit on an unpopular hike in the county sales tax that more than doubled it to 1.75 percent - and drew a contrast with how the city of Chicago projected a $500 million deficit and the state a $7 billion deficit.

"The county of Cook will be in the black," Stroger said.

That seemed to be what the religious leaders were asserting as well, although with an entirely different meaning.