Some 'flabbergasted' by Brown's mayoral bid

In 2007, Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown explained her landslide loss to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley by saying Chicago voters did not "understand the magnitude of the crime and corruption" that had occurred on Daley's watch.

With Brown poised to enter her second race for mayor, black elected officials and political pundits are making similar claims about her.

They can't understand why she's running for mayor instead of running for cover four years into a federal grand jury investigation into alleged job- and promotion-selling in her office that has already bagged two targets.

"I'm flabbergasted. It doesn't compute for me why anybody would do that unless it's to raise money. People have been known to do that before. Run for office as a way of raising money for a legal defense," said Jacky Grimshaw, who served as a top aide to former Mayor Harold Washington.

Brown's political committee, Friends of Dorothy Brown, reported a balance of $4,093 as of March 31. Money donated to that fund could be used for legal expenses.

Asked whether Brown has a chance in a race against two-term incumbent Rahm Emanuel that's getting more crowded by the day, Grimshaw said: "Of course not. All Rahm has to do is put out the FBI stuff and she's dead in the water."

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