The Stroger Business
For those of you not living in Cook Co. you've missed one of most disturbing political dramas in American political history (ok ... at least in the last few years.) Cook County Board President John Stroger had a stroke just days before a hotly contested primary, which he won narrowly some even say suspiciously. Since then voters have been subject to mischaracterization and outright prevarications about Strogers condition, as the county political machine tries to ensure its hold on power. By all accounts, Cook County has gone months without democratically accountable leadership and no one seems to have noticed. The Tribune over the weekend did a great job of outlining the situation and Dennis Byrne's outstanding column in today's paper helps drive home the central point that we would not tolerate such behavior in Russia or in Venezuela or in Iraq. But we accept it in one of the most vital metropolitan areas of the United States. Its really quite the travesty and if I weren't so jaded I'd be really upset.