Vacant seat on Cook County board turns into controversy

When John Stroger retired from the county I decided to check up on the Cook County website to see what's up. At that time I saw Bobbie Steele's mug being that she's currently the county board president, but no one held Stroger's old 4th district commissioner's seat. And then I find this story from ABC7, I'm surprised it took this long.

BTW, there is Ald. Bill Beavers who is running for this seat but still Ald. Stroger's opponent has something to say about the fact that no one is in the seat right now...

Republican Tony Peraica says if his democratic opponent -- Todd Stroger -- really wants to learn about county government and give the South Side residents of his father's former county board district a voice in county affairs, then Todd should take over his dad's old district for the next few weeks -- instead of allowing the seat to remain vacant until December when Alderman Bill Beavers is expected to become the district's new commissioner.

"Todd Stroger has chosen to ignore the residents of the fourth district and has chosen not to educate himself about the county operation," said Peraica.

Now some one in the community disagrees especially Todd Stroger...

Stroger says he can't take over the county board district now because he is still an alderman. But he claims the employees of the district office are taking care of business so no one is losing out on services. One local community leader agrees.

"I feel like in his absence we haven't missed out on anything. I think that they have been on top of everything since he's been gone," said Michelle McCrimmon, Pill Hill Community Organization.

"People in the office have been there for a while. They know how to treat the residents, what the constituents need, and how to act on their desires," said Todd Stroger, (D) Nominee for Cook County President.

You know I hear little things about how Ald. Stroger isn't well liked in the surround community. That's not to say that the people who've worked for John Stroger all these years wouldn't know what to do. Do this necessarily reflect on Ald. Stroger? Hmmm.

Now check out what is said about him as far as knowing anything about Cook County...

"I do have knowledge of the county, and I will be working with presidents on the budget issues. She has told me she will help me," said Todd Stroger.

" Last night on a WLS radio program, Todd Stroger says he hasn't had the chance to look at the county budget. Last week, he couldn't name the county inspector general spite the fact he was calling for a new one," said Peraica.

I still don't know. I really don't think Ald. Stroger should have even tried this, but he's there and it seems to me that people will vote for him because of him name and his party. This is one tough election to even consider. Peraica is an unknown to plenty of people too and he's Republican.