We in Chicago have priorities straight

The nation may have been obsessing politically Tuesday over Donald J. Trump and his first nationally-televised address to Congress and the nation, what with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., going so far as to make a fundraising pitch where she says his rhetoric will be filled with "whatever lies he spreads in his speech."

CLAYPOOL: Cutting the school year short?

But I suspect we here in the Second City had our priorities straight, being more concerned with the potential for political shenanigans that may wind up impacting the Chicago Public Schools and those young people who have little choice but to try to get themselves an education in that system.

THE FEAR IS that with the ongoing inability of Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic Party-led General Assembly to put together a budget that ensures state government can function as its supposed to, the funding that the state already unreliably provides to public education programs will be tampered with.

Which led to the letter Mayor Rahm Emanuel had drafted to send to parents of public school kids, telling them that the 2016-17 school year may have to come to an abrupt end June 1. As things stand officially, the school year is supposed to run through June 20, although it could go longer if we get sudden bursts of harsh wintry weather that could force snow days to be used.

Perhaps that means we ought to be grateful that we have had a mild winter this season. I'm not aware of schools having to be closed at all this year due to snow or excess cold.

The letter was signed by schools CEO Forrest Claypool, but people are pretty sure he wouldn't have the nerve to concoct an idea like this without having the approval of Hizzoner himself.

PERSONALLY, I WONDER how this would harm the students themselves, since they're supposed to have a certain minimum amount of actual days in the classroom for a school year to "count" for something. Basically, to ensure that all students are getting certain amounts of class work, regardless of what district they're actually attending school in.

EMANUEL: The 'man' behind the 'plan?'

Could we be putting our system's students into a status where their school year would not officially count? Would we be doing the equivalent of holding them back a year because of the financial mess?

Would we be giving the crackpots of our society all the more fuel to mock anyone who comes out of the Chicago Public Schools system to think the city somehow lags behind the rest of Illinois?

The Chicago Teachers Union, which is always quick to denounce anything where there's even a tinge of being able to "Blame Emanuel!" in the works, may actually have a point this time with their criticisms.

THE CHICAGO PUBLIC Schools, they say, "is broke on purpose. Hundreds of millions of dollrs remain in TIF surplus funds -- revenuethat could plug the holes in school budgets throughout the district today."

I don't know about the merits of using tax increment district funds (which are supposed to be used to encourage businesses in specific districts to make investments in their long-term viability) for schools operations. But I'm sure we're now facing a drastic enough situation that previously-unconsidered measures need to be contemplated.

Because right now, the teachers union isn't really wrong when they say, "It is criminal that we have a mayor that would rather wait out Rauner's hostage situation (the lack of a state budget) instead of doing the right thing and providing the revenue to fully resource schools."

I'm almost surprised that Trump hasn't used this situation to make more of his Tweets from a Twit to rant about the Chicago schools being in sorry shape, just as the GOPers of the Reagan era used to like to use the "worst in America" label to lambast the Chicago Public Schools. Or maybe that would require Trump to keep more than one train of thought going at a time -- and for now, Chicago is about murder!

OF COURSE, THERE also are the confirmations of all the appointments that Trump wants to make to the federal government, and it seems there are complications with the attempt to put Todd Ricketts in as deputy Commerce secretary. CBS News reported that Ricketts, a member of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, may have to withdraw his nomination later this week, in order to avoid the humiliation of being formally rejected by the Senate.

RICKETTS: Too many conflicts?

It seems that Ricketts' connections to AmeriTrade, which is the family's primary business interest, puts him into so many financial conflicts of interest with government that it would be impossible for him to comply with Office of Government Ethics rules.

The benefit of Ricketts not getting the appointment may well be the Cubs, since it will reduce the potential for people to take pot shots at the ball club by labelling them the preferred ball club of the Trump Administration -- a status that Chicago White Sox fans (who enjoyed the status of their team labelling former President Barack Obama their "first fan") would be more than willing to exploit.

But it also makes me wonder about all the stink we've been hearing with regards to the potential for Trump himself to have conflicts of interest because of his business ties -- do we have a system of government in which Trump is fit for 46 percent of the electorate to say he can be president, but he'd be unfit if somebody else tried to appoint him to a cabinet post?

  -30-

Claypool for chief of staff – how circumstances change with time!!!

Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned to an experienced political hand in choosing a new chief of staff; shifting Forrest Claypool away from his CTA post and putting him in charge of running the staff that does the actual work that the mayor gets to take credit for.

         

Not that I think Claypool is incompetent. He did hold the very same position twice under Mayor Richard M. Daley. He’s been around a number of local government positions. He knows how things operate.

IT’S JUST THAT the circumstances under which Claypool was picked by Emanuel actually amuse me.

Let’s not forget that Emanuel is now the guy whom all the good-government types demonize. He’s the ultimate political hack, as far as they’re concerned. They desperately wanted to dump him in this month’s municipal elections.

Except that Emanuel was the candidate with the big bucks that allowed him to spend the living daylights out of opponent Jesus Garcia – who had become a darling of those people who like to think they’re the good-government types.

Now Emanuel turns to Claypool to make sure things get done the way he wants them to.

YET I CAN remember back in 2010 when Claypool ran for Cook County assessor, ultimately losing to Joe Berrios.

Berrios managed to win that election cycle despite being demonized for being a political hack – a walking ball of conflicts of interest. The guy who conducted himself in ruling on tax appeal cases in ways that made it clear he was getting some sort of benefit (if not quite criminal in nature) that enriched himself.

Claypool’s election as assessor was supposed to be the move that would save us from the political hack days of old – the days when now-corrupt behavior was commonly accepted as standard practice.

The fact that a majority of voters picked Berrios in that election was supposed to be some sort of sign of our political stupidity – just as some, I’m sure, think the fact that Rahm Emanuel took 56 percent of the vote (not far off from those pre-season polls that said he’d take 58 percent) is a sign that we STILL haven’t learned any better.

DOES THIS MEAN that Claypool, who also ran the park district once and also served on the board of appeals that handled tax cases, has gone from being the goo-goo to being the guy who’s going to keep “politics as usual” operating in local government?

It’s probably more a piece of evidence that the people who were ready to anoint Claypool to political sainthood some five years ago were seriously over-exaggerating his good government sensibilities.

If he’s able to work with Emanuel – who actually was the guy who got him into the CTA position that he’s held in recent years after he lost that assessor election – then he’s probably got a practical politics streak. Although it could also mean that some of those practical political people also have a touch of government altruism flowing in their veins.

Although I do find one bit of irony. Berrios managed to get re-elected despite all the goo-goo griping because his Puerto Rican ethnic origins made him attractive to the Latino segment of the electorate.

THE SAME SEGMENT that this time around was the hard-core base of the Anybody But Rahm voters. Which amounted to all of 44 percent of the vote this month!

And which is what can make the Latino electorate unpredictable – because it often splits between those who want to be practical and back the winner and those who have an ideological streak for what they perceive to be the right thing.

Let us hope that Claypool, in trying to run Emanuel’s city government operation in a professional manner, can strike some sort of balance. That ultimately is what would benefit Chicago as a whole.

  -30-

Adding to his political resume – Claypool “friend” picks him for CTA post

It's good for Forrest to be the buddy ...

He has been a Cook County commissioner, a Park District boss, a member of the county Board of (Tax) Appeals and was once a chief-of-staff to Richard M. Daley as mayor.

There may well be a few more titles that Forrest Claypool has held during his professional life in Chicago-area politics. But the man whom many people were willing to view as the ultimate goo-goo who would reform Chicago-style politics when he ran against Joseph Berrios for Cook County assessor got himself another position to add to his resume.

UNDER MAYOR-ELECT RAHM Emanuel, Claypool will serve as the president of the Chicago Transit Authority. A real goo-goo wouldn’t be getting this many chances to be a part of the government establishment.

Not that I’m knocking Claypool. It’s just that learning Tuesday of Emanuel’s decision to grant a position to his buddy of some three decades confirms in my mind all the thoughts I had about the Claypool “phenomenon” of recent years.

Too many people viewing Forrest as the great goo-goo hope in his bids for county board President against John Stroger (which turned into the Todd Stroger years) and for assessor against Berrios.

As I noted, the two men have known each other for years. It is totally predictable that Emanuel would include Claypool somewhere within his mayoral administration.

CLAYPOOL DID COME out publicly for Emanuel fairly early in the mayoral campaign season (back in the days when anybody who would have predicted a 55 percent “victory” for Rahm in the first round of this year’s election season would have been considered insane).

Of course, that came after Emanuel offered up tepid support (not a proper endorsement) for Claypool’s bid for county assessor.

... of the mayor-elect



Could this be the latest political favor – giving the former county board member who has been politically unemployed since losing that bid last year for assess a position with the CTA?

It’s not exactly the highest-ranking position within city government. But it is a post that will make Claypool a prominent political person. After all, he’ll be in charge of the buses and trains that comprise the bulk of Chicago’s public transportation.

OF COURSE, IT also will mean that Claypool will be the man who gets the blame for every single mishap that takes place on board a subway car, or every single gaffe by a CTA official of any rank.

Then again, dealing with public abuse is part of the role of being a public official – the reason why political people snicker to themselves when they joke about their work being “the people’s business.”

Not that Claypool was the only friendly political person given an appointment by Emanuel – who loses the “-elect” in his Mayor title in mid-May.

Former Alderman Terry Peterson, who had been named chairman of the Chicago Transit Board, learned he will get to keep that title, which means he will be working with Claypool to keep the trains running on time.

THAT IS PETERSON’S reward for backing Emanuel early in his mayoral bid.

So has Claypool “sold out” his goo-goo credentials by being willing to accept such an appointment? I’d reiterate that such credentials were an exaggeration to begin with.

So his reward for being willing to go along with the new administration (which in many ways is the one that will continue the ways of the old administration) is to get a plum political post.

Anybody who thinks that the CTA isn’t important doesn’t understand the mentality of Chicago – where many people do rely on mass transit to get around – mainly because parking a car on city streets often involves paying ridiculously high fees to do it legally, or a willingness to run up tickets and risk having one’s car “booted” if they do it illegally.

CLAYPOOL IS JUST the latest of appointments that have been announced by Emanuel in his desire to show that he’s capable of running city government from his first day in office.

He made the big deal of bringing in Jean-Claude Brizard to be head of the Chicago Public Schools. He formerly was head of the public schools in Rochester, N.Y., which means Emanuel will be able to claim he’s bringing in an outside expert who will shake things up within the schools system.

It is a system in desperate need of a shakeup.

But it also means that the pressure will be on Emanuel to stay within the department when picking a new Chicago Police superintendant.

THE CHICAGO NEWS Cooperative is reporting how former Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske (who most recently was director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy) is in line for the position – having met with Emanuel last week to talk about the position.

Yet this is the same department that rejected the idea of Jody Weis as police superintendant because he was former FBI. I doubt that the same police bureaucrats who had a hang-up about being run by a “junior G-man” would want a “drug czar” in charge.

Which may be all the more reason for Emanuel to have a friend like Claypool in such a prominent position. When Rahm gets whacked about by other city officials for everything that goes wrong, it will help him ever so much to have at least one official who likes him personally, as well as professionally.

  -30-

Is it over?

EMANUEL: Mayor Daley 2 1/2?

We have 11 more days until we’ll know the answer to that question, with regards to the mayoral elections for Chicago.

Nobody is disputing that Rahm Emanuel is going to get significantly more votes on Feb. 22 than any other individual mayoral candidate. The only real question is whether he will get more votes than all of them put together – which would result in a majority that would negate the need for a run-off election.

CONSIDERING THE CAMPAIGN strategies of all the other candidates for mayor has been to finish in second place so they could then go head-to-head against Emanuel in an April 5 run-off, the election to be held a week from Tuesday could well turn out to be a swift kick in the pants for Gery Chico, Carol Moseley-Braun, Miguel del Valle and Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins.

As for William “Dock” Walls, he has run so many token campaigns for so many different political posts that I can’t help but think the “swift kick” in the pants is completely expected on his part.

Some observers were getting all worked up over a recent poll commissioned by WLS-TV. The good people at “Eyewitness News” told us earlier this week that Emanuel already has 54 percent, while the newest Chicago Tribune poll puts him at 49 percent with upward momentum. He’s kicking butt, even if this were a two-way race.

In a six-way fight for political supremacy, this election has become a sick joke.

OF COURSE, THE observers also were getting their giggles from the showing of Moseley-Braun, who had all of 6 percent support to show for herself.

Six percent?!??!?

That was even worse than del Valle’s 8 percent, putting her in fourth place (although I’m sure the most hard-core Moseley-Braun partisans will argue that 6 percent and 8 percent are close enough that they fall within a statistical tie. All of that “margin of error” funny business.

Which could very well mean that the whole idea of an African-American backlash to the idea of a run-off between Emanuel and Chico (with no African-American candidate) may not pan out.

VARIOUS POLLS INDICATE Emanuel is taking significant portions of the African-American vote, which could very well mean that many black people don’t want to be left out in the cold should it occur that Rahm is the one who winds up taking the oath of office to be Chicago mayor come early May.

Which may also be another reason to ask, “Is it over?”

Are we at the point where enough people have accepted the concept of “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel” (even if, deep down, the thought makes them want to wretch) that they may well cast their ballots like good little political sheep?



CLAYPOOL: Returning the favor?

Because the words of wisdom of one-time alderman Paddy Bauler (Chicago ain’t ready for reform) may well still be true today.



I WRITE THAT after learning (from the website of the Capitol Fax newsletter out of Springfield) that Forrest Claypool is now supporting Emanuel, which shouldn't be a shock because Emanuel offered up vague support for Claypool's bid last year for Cook County assessor.

Claypool, the guy who was supposedly the darling of the “goo goo” (as in good government) set whose independent campaign for was to give us a noble alternative to the political “hack” campaign of Joe Berrios, is winding up backing the guy who is preferred by the city’s business establishment to be the new mayor.

Now one can argue that the very fact that Claypool can support Emanuel is probably the ultimate bit of evidence that Forrest is really an establishment political person, and not some wild-eyed idealist who would have done much good for us. There probably wouldn’t have been significant differences in daily operation had Claypool won last year, compared to Berrios – who actually won.

But I’d also argue the fact that Claypool is feeling the need to let people know he’s an Emanuel-backer is evidence that Rahm’s mayorality is becoming something that can no longer be resisted. Few people want to be left out of the picture should he assume control of city government.

EVEN THE NEWSPAPER editorial boards that are more than willing to preach for causes they know the powers-that-be will do nothing about are feeling the need to endorse Emanuel – who got both of the major metro newspapers, along with several smaller ones (I don’t know of any publication that has endorsed anybody but Rahm).

So as much as I would have liked this campaign cycle to be a feisty spectacle that would give the people a chance to decide what their vision of the city’s future should be, it seems more like a coronation for the man who will, more or less, keep things going with the status quo. Daley 2 ½ -- just waiting for the day when a legitimate blood relative member of the Daley clan runs for office to give us Daley 3.

Aside from that, this election cycle may be memorable for only one other thing – Moseley-Braun’s attempt to become the new version of Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor.



WASHINGTON: Will Moseley-Braun match him?

I’d argue she succeeded, only in a way she never would have desired.

INSTEAD OF BECOMING the Harold Washington of 1983, who combined a dominant African-American vote with enough of the Latino and “lakefront liberal” voter blocs to win a three-way Democratic primary, she has become the Harold Washington of 1977.

Then-state Sen. Washington of the Hyde Park neighborhood ran in the special election to pick Richard J. Daley’s successor, and got his political butt whupped by the Machine's preferred pick, Michael Bilandic.

  -30-

Would Rahm be so brash as to endorse Claypool over Berrios for assessor?

Did he endorse?

A part of me wonders if what we’re talking about is some sort of nuance being ignored – potential mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel says he hasn’t endorsed anybody for Cook County assessor, despite the claims of some that they heard him come out and back the bid of Forrest Claypool, a long-time Democrat who is challenging the Democratic nominee, Joe Berrios, in this year’s election.

I’m sure that in Emanuel’s mind, any comments he made at a fundraising event held last week at the Excalibur nightclub were so innocuous as to mean little. They may have been so inoccuous that even one reporter-type who was present didn't bother to acknowledge them.

YET CRAIN’S CHICAGO Business is reporting that people who were at the event construed Emanuel’s comments (he supposedly said, “I want you to support Forrest Claypool”) as an endorsement in next week’s elections for (among other posts) Cook County government offices.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of the people who were there (I wasn’t). But I am skeptical that Emanuel – an old political pro – would come out and make an endorsement.

The last thing he’s going to want to do is make enemies. And putting himself in the middle of what amounts to an internal struggle within the local Democratic Party at a time when he’s trying to build up city-wide support for his own mayoral aspirations in the elections to be held next February makes absolutely no sense.

So assuming that Emanuel actually said that people should “support” Claypool when they cast their ballots next Tuesday, we now have to play the political games of, “What did he mean?”

IT IS THE frustrating aspect of observing and writing about the activities of government officials and their electoral campaigns – everything gets so nuanced so that a candidate can later try to deny having meant what you think he said.



Long-time friends?

I have been through this game many times. Someone says they support someone else, but then later aides will insist that does not count as support – let alone an endorsement. I remember one time being told by an aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, that the speaker’s support for a particular campaign wasn’t an endorsement because, “if we really cared, we could do so much more.”

Is that what this amounts to? We get a few kind words that ultimately prove the truth of the old adage, “Talk is cheap.”

But back to Emanuel, who while he may not have meant to give a formal endorsement (I couldn’t help but notice reports that quoted Claypool as saying that he was not aware of having received Emanuel’s formal backing), it shouldn’t be a surprise that Rahm would have feelings of support for Claypool.

BECAUSE LARGELY IT was the kind of people who are now backing Claypool’s independent bid over what they want to perceive as the embarrassment of having a “political hack” like Joe Berrios holding office who were the local white people who enabled Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to rise from being merely that of the “black” candidate.

I also couldn’t help but notice that Claypool now has a radio advertisement being aired on “black”-oriented stations reminding us that Forrest was picked to “lead” Obama’s transition team back when Barack moved up from the Illinois state Senate to the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

To me, it would only make sense that someone that close to Obama would also have his ties to Emanuel, who until a couple of weeks ago was the White House chief of staff.

When one also considers that Emanuel and Claypool also have their own relationship that goes back nearly three decades, it just doesn’t seem like a stretch for me to believe that when Rahm went to an Early Voting Center to cast his own ballot for the Nov. 2 elections, his vote for Cook County assessor may well have gone to Claypool.

BUT A FORMAL endorsement at this point seems like such a counter-productive stance to take, because it would lock him in so rigidly with those people who aren’t falling for the Claypool rhetoric that he represents good government and change.

It would ensure that every single person who is backing Berrios (who could very well win next week’s elections) will wind up ganging up on any mayoral aspirations Emanuel has. It would feel fuel to the fire that is those people who want to think of Emanuel as an out-of-towner trying to portray himself as a native Chicagoan.

I could even see where, when combined with the fact that Emanuel next month will be the beneficiary of a fundraiser being organized by assorted entertainment executives (the Hollywood scene), it would be spun as a double-whammy to show how out-of-touch Rahm is with regular Chicagoans.

Personally, I don’t think that, mainly because one of the “Hollywood Big Shots” involved with this event is Rahm’s brother, Ari, a co-CEO of WME Entertainment. One brother helping another. That sentiment ought to be very Chicago-oriented.

THE BOTTOM LINE in this political affair?

I expect Emanuel probably is supportive of Claypool, similar to how the favor likely will be returned in February when Rahm runs against the masses who want to be mayor.

Which means this really is yet another example (mayoral hopeful Rickey Hendon taking pot shots at GOP governor hopeful William Brady) of the state and city election cycles blending unhealthily into each other.

  -30-

Joe Berrios to turn to Latino vote to beat back goo-goo backing for Claypool

I have been wondering how long it would be before Democratic county assessor nominee Joe Berrios would turn himself into Josè.

Not that he literally has gone through the process of changing his name. But the candidate who seems to be the focus this election cycle of all the hostility by good-government types toward establishment politicians seems to be evolving himself into the Latino candidate – in hopes that the significant Latino population of Chicago will provide him with a solid base that will result in his election come Nov. 2.

BERRIOS ON MONDAY is planning an event by which he will claim the endorsements of just about every significant Latino politico – including Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., state Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago (the first Latina to serve in the Illinois Senate) and 31^st Ward Alderman Ray Suarez.

They will be gathering at the politically old-school Hotel Allegro (which I still think of as the Bismarck Hotel) to try to create the impression that Latinos in Chicago (who comprise just over one-quarter of the city’s population) want “one of our own” running the office that handles tax collection for Cook County.

I don’t know if this tactic will work.

It could well be that a significant share of Latinos also have problems with the notion of yet another political hack being elected assessor. And it’s not like any of the Berrios opponents – not even the independent candidacy of Forrest Claypool – has any significant appeal to Latinos.

BUT WHAT I have noticed about the Berrios campaign in this election cycle is that it has barely touched on his ethnic background. At least not until now, when it looks like Claypool may make some dents in the voter turnout.

That shouldn’t be a surprise. Berrios, after all, is the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. As in the whole party. Theoretically, people should be coming to him seeking help getting themselves elected to various political posts.

Instead, it is Berrios himself who needs help, and he is turning to his ethnic roots (he’s of Puerto Rican background) to try to get it. Perhaps he figures that Latinos won’t get caught up in “goo-goo” talk. Which is what the Berrios opposition is about.

These activists realize they’re not about to take down all of government in Chicago and Cook County (that Tea Party-type tripe doesn’t play here, where people have a little more sense than those rural communities where such talk might get taken seriously).

SO, THEY’RE FOCUSING on one candidate – which seems to be Berrios. Dump the party chairman for the political post that he wants, and it will be a significant symbolic victory for the cause of good government.

Now if this reads like I’m trying to defend Berrios, I’m not. I will be the first to concede that the county Board of Review, which oversees tax appeals, is as closed a panel as can exist within our local government.

Berrios’ presence within local government is perfect proof that not every ethnic or racial minority who holds office is some sort of radical. Berrios during his 22 years on the board has been as establishment as they come.

That is evidenced by the fact that he also works as a lobbyist to the Illinois Legislature in Springfield, and he has his close ties with the Democratic legislative leaders – both of whom also work as attorneys who specialize in tax law and whose clients often have cases that must appear before the Board of Review.

IF IT SOUNDS like an incestuous relationship, it probably is. Although I doubt that Berrios is the worst practitioner of “Chicago-style” politics.

What inspires the people who want to dump Berrios largely is his challenger. Officially, he has a Republican and a Green to run against – neither of which is worth mentioning by name. If they were the only factors, then Berrios would be a shoo-in for re-election.

Yet we’re talking about Claypool, who caught the imagination of good-government types as a so-called “reformer” when he tried running in 2006 against John Stroger for county board President. Stroger won, only to turn the nomination over to son Todd when it became apparent that father Stroger’s health was declining.

Which is why for four years, all those people who never got over their distaste for Todd Stroger have been thinking of Claypool as the guy who “should have been” county board president. Which means those people are eager to vote him into some political post. If they can take down a political veteran like Berrios in the process, I’m sure they will be very happy on Nov. 3.

I’M NOT ATTACKING Claypool. I understand that as a county board member he has supported some good-government measures. Yet I have a hard time thinking of Claypool as a real live goo-goo, mainly because he has been so allied throughout the years with Richard M. Daley (a mayoral chief of staff and Daley’s pick to run the Chicago Park District, among other ties).

Which is why when Berrios has started making claims that he thinks his ethnicity factors into peoples’ distaste for him, I’m not going to totally dismiss it. Although I figure it is merely one of many factors, and not the sole reason people will vote against him.

I’m not sure how this election will turn out, because I have noticed that many of the establishment candidates in Cook County are making a point of endorsing Berrios (including county board President nominee Toni Preckwinkle, who said that as county Dem chairman, the party has been supportive of the political aspirations of all people – not just white guys).

But I’m presuming that since Berrios himself plans to reach out to the Latino voter bloc, he sees something of a gap in support – one that he intends to plug.

  -30-

Are we Cook Co. voters in for the ‘Battle of the Independents’ this election cycle?

I can think of one person who will be absolutely disgusted at the notion of Scott Lee Cohen trying to revamp his political reputation by running a candidacy for electoral office independent of the political parties.

That person would be Forrest Claypool – who himself is running an independent campaign for electoral office come the Nov. 2 elections.

I’M SURE THERE is a part of Claypool who wanted to claim that his independence of any political party in his bid to become Cook County assessor made him high-minded and worthy of our respect. The ultimate goo-goo who would lead a “revolution” of sorts against the Democratic Party hacks and the conservative ideologues who have taken over the Republican Party.

The problem is that Cohen is now also talking about taking the “independent” route – deciding he wants to use it to challenge Gov. Pat Quinn and GOP nominee William Brady.

If he couldn’t have the Democratic Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, he’s willing to muck up the chances of the two major party nominees who are seeking the office of governor.

Which means we have someone who seems to be more interested in messing with the political people who didn’t back him when he legitimately won the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination.. He may even get a chance to rehabilitate somewhat his reputation – which causes many Illinois residents these days to think of him as nothing more than a pawnbroker or a deadbeat who owes his ex-wife alimony.

WHAT I THINK will happen is that Cohen will add a third label to himself – the highest-profile candidate who made absolutely NO impact on a campaign season.

It also will mess with Claypool in that people will think of the two as an informal pairing of sorts – which will make it harder for the outgoing Cook County Board member to take the high road. Too many people will view them as a pair of political people who didn’t have what it takes to run in the regular elections, so they’re trying to slip into office through the back door – so to speak.

Perhaps I am just a bit cynical, but I would think that if Claypool were serious about wanting to be the county assessor (the office that collects all those property taxes that homeowners pay every year and that local governments and schools rely upon to fund their existence), he would have sought a Democratic nomination during the primary season.

Instead, we got Board of Review Commissioner Joe Berrios managing to win the nomination to replace retiring Assessor James Houlihan – despite the views of many political observers that he is exactly the kind of political party establishment type whom voters are inclined to reject in what some see as a “non-incumbent” trend.

COULD IT BE that Claypool, who tried four years ago to become county board President, became wearied of the electoral process that he’s looking for a short-cut of sorts to get into office? If that is the case, then his “independent” bid ought to be enough reason to vote against him – no matter what one thinks of Berrios.

My guess is that he thinks he has better name recognition than Berrios among Cook County voters, and could thus have a chance of actually winning that campaign.

I have always viewed the wear and tear of going through a political campaign (even enduring the more stupid and trivial moments) as a test of sorts to see how qualified someone is for electoral office. It seems to me that Claypool is trying to short-circuit that process.

I’m only glad that he is not trying to use a short-cut to run against county board President nominees Toni Preckwinkle or Roger Keats. That kind of election would result in his downfall, and rightfully so.

SO WHEN CLAYPOOL – who once was one of the many chiefs of staff who have worked for Mayor Richard M. Daley – tries to portray himself as the ultimate good-government type, I am going to be a bit cynical. As far as I’m concerned, his campaign will be closer in character to that of Cohen than it will be anything even remotely Obama-esque.

As for Cohen, I see his campaign as being little more than creating an alternate “final act” than the one he gave us – that of him bursting into tears while announcing he was withdrawing from the lieutenant governor campaign. That resignation took on a taint of tawdriness as many were offended that he would make the announcement in a tavern (on Super Bowl Sunday) with his young son at his side.

Instead, he wants to take “high-minded” stances on issues, and perhaps give us more of the “job creation” rhetoric that (along with the $2 million of his own money that he spent on campaign advertising) led to his Democratic primary victory.

Some might think he will hurt Democrat Quinn. I doubt it. I think the people who are inclined to not vote for Quinn have already made up their mind to find someone else to cast a ballot for.

NOT THAT I’M saying he’s going to take down the Brady campaign. I think many of the ideologues who are inclined to want to back that campaign are going to take one look at Cohen and be incredibly repulsed.

In short, I don’t think Cohen will have much of an effect on this election cycle. He could wind up being the most prominent candidate ever in Illinois politics who barely gets 1 percent of the vote.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: This is the way Forrest Claypool views himself, while this is how many potential voters view him.

Republicans want to fantasize about Scott Lee Cohen becoming a serious campaign issue, even though he’s more likely to remain an afterthought in this year's gubernatorial campaign.

With Claypool out, will Preckwinkle follow Obama path to challenge Stroger?

On the one hand, it was a good day for Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.

One of the guys whom many political pundits would have figured to be a significant challenger to the son of John Stroger (which, in all honestly, is how most people will always perceive Todd) made it known publicly Thursday that he’s not even going to run in the Democratic primary next year.

IN FACT, THE Chicago Tribune reported that Forrest Claypool, a county commissioner who once was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s chiefs of staff, may not run for any office in 2010.

Claypool was the guy who back in 2006 challenged John Stroger, but wound up getting defeated by Todd when the elder Stroger became too ill to complete his term – let alone run for continued political office.

Many of the people who now make up Stroger’s political opposition are those who seriously wanted Claypool to win three years ago, and would have loved for a Stroger/Claypool rematch to try to rewrite political history of 2006.

Coming just a few days after one-time Chicago Schools chief Paul Vallas made it known that he’s not coming back to Cook County to seek the presidency as a Republican, it would appear on one level that Stroger’s potential challengers are refusing to want to get involved.

IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, since a fight against Stroger will be brutal.

Racial overtones will become entangled, and Stroger will drag out claims among African-American voters that this amounts to nothing more than a white guy trying to depose a black elected official (particularly since Stroger could wind up being the most prominent black pol on the Democratic ballot in next year’s elections).

Claypool may not have wanted to get involved in such a racial mish-mash. There’s also that past tie to Daley, which while it shouldn’t be reason for opposition will be used against him if he ever decides to run for political office.

Basically, Daley critics who don’t have the political strength to dump on Hizzoner himself will take it out on his former staffer.

IT IS BECAUSE of this that I think the real news Thursday of the Cook County Board presidency campaign thus far came in another statement – one that on the surface seems like self-righteous political propaganda.

Toni Preckwinkle put out a statement letting the world know that her campaign now has its own website.

Basically, it means that as of now, we have to include Preckwinkle among the list of political people who are named whenever anyone speculates about who will have the nerve to challenge Stroger.

For those not in the know, Preckwinkle is that lowest of political creatures. She’s an alderman on the Chicago City Council – that government body that has created so many future federal prison inmates.

NOT TO IMPLY that I have knowledge of Preckwinkle doing anything illegal. In fact, her reputation is fairly clean.

She is the alderman from the Hyde Park neighborhood – that overly academic area that produced our president.

Do we really want Barack Obama’s alderman being put in charge of the Cook County Board?

The reason I bring up Obama’s name in conjunction with Preckwinkle is that her statement on Thursday read so much like she’s trying to capture the same aura that Obama himself used to motivate the youth of America to give his presidential candidacy a base.

SHE GOES SO far to tell us that the lesson of the Obama campaign is that online organizing is key, and she plans to engage in plenty of it.

“Technology is not only an important organizing tool, but it also enables great transparency in government, a major component of my administration as Cook County Board president,” Preckwinkle said, in a prepared statement.

Preckwinkle is an African-American woman, but with the kind of resume that could also appeal to white voters (or those who want to claim they’d rather not get involved in racial identity politics).

She’s got that similar University of Chicago background that appealed to a portion of Chicagoans, while also being able to take away from Stroger what could become the most significant reason he tries to give to the African-American population on the South and West Sides to vote for him for another term.

NOW I’M NOT sure whether Preckwinkle has the strength to run for an elective office that takes her outside of her home neighborhood and the 4th Ward (just like there are those who are convinced that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, is lucky he has never had to appeal for votes to people who live outside his 13th Ward on the Southwest Side).

But with the Claypools and Vallases of the Chicago political world deciding they’d rather not take the time to run against Todd Stroger, it clears the path just a little bit more for someone like Preckwinkle.

So will this go down as the day that Claypool dropped out, or the day that Preckwinkle stepped it up? We’ll have to wait and see.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Toni Preckwinkle claims her website (at http://www.tonipreckwinkle.com/) will offer more of substance in coming months, while Forest Claypool (http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/06/claypool-wont-challenge-stroger-for-county-board-president.html) left his supporters strugging to find a new Stroger challenger to support.