Cook County Board President Todd Stroger took a lot of hits at yesterday’s Democratic candidate forum, which he did not attend, though he was expected to.
His absence was initially unexplained, as the Sun-Times reported:
Stroger's campaign manager, Vincent Williams, reached by phone after Sunday's political forum, didn't know why he missed the event: "I haven't spoken to the president today, so I don't have an answer."
Turns out it was a little political retaliation.
Williams issued a statement saying Stroger declined to attend the Lincoln Park forum because of allegations in a Sun-Times story that opponents Dorothy Brown and Terrence O’Brien may be conspiring to oust him from the race.
“Due to the strong nature of the allegations now detailed on today’s front page of the Chicago Sun Times (sic), it was then decided that the President not attend the 43rd Ward forum held on yesterday,” it said.
Stroger did attend a candidate’s forum Saturday in Oak Park.
Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association, the event’s moderator, says Stroger missed an opportunity to tell voters why they should vote for him.
“He is the incumbent and he’s done a number of things he claims to be proud of,” Shaw says. “Tell the voters your story. Try to change their minds and change their perspectives, and you can’t do that in absentia.”
“The only way you change people minds is by asking them to take a second look,” he says.
Shaw said Stroger should have at least let organizers know he would not attend.
Windy Citizen 