A controversial supporter of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger says voters can expect more tactics similar to a leaflet containing racist language disparaging Stroger’s opponents.
Wallace “Gator” Bradley, a reformed gang member-turned-community activist, is a vocal member of Soldiers for Stroger, an organization that has supported the Stroger family for years.
He says black candidates who say they won’t split the African-American vote are on the same footing as Holocaust deniers.
“What they’re doing in our community is tantamount to a rabbi saying the Holocaust never existed,” he says.
The Stroger campaign released a statement last night saying Stroger does not agree with all of Bradley’s statements, but appreciates his support. Bradley was photographed in front of a podium yesterday at a press conference, where Rep. Bobby Rush endorsed Stroger.
Stroger has not barred Bradley from working on his behalf, nor publicly asked him to tone down the racial rhetoric.
Bradley is part of a group distributing the fliers, which are reportedly being passed out on the city’s South and West sides. They outline an alleged Irish conspiracy, led by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Mike Madigan, to keep Stroger out of office.
The fliers, he says, represent the views of frustrated black voters, and have nothing to do with Stroger’s campaign. They’re also just the first rounds of a touchy political battle that could result in Stroger vacating his office, Bradley says.
“That ain’t the last thing you’re going to see,” he said, without elaborating.
The motivation for the leaflets, Bradley says, is an infamous leaflet itself: the Willie Lynch Letter, a screed written by a slave owner on how best to keep slaves at bay.
He says having so many black candidates fighting for a spot against a white candidate is creating a political black hole for blacks.
“We know that there is no way an African-American man can go into the Irish community and get them to split the vote to help get an Irishman defeated and an African-American to take his seat,” Bradley said, referencing O’Brien, the lone white male in the race. “And we’re saying it has to stop now.”
The leaflets call Daley, Quinn and Madigan “massa,” and use offensive language to disparage Stroger’s opponents, Clerk of Court Dorothy Brown, Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O’Brien, as well as others.
Stroger denied knowing of the fliers when asked by reporters yesterday morning.
His campaign issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, acknowledging Bradley is a supporter.
“While Wallace Bradley is not on the campaign payroll in any official capacity, he has been vocal in his support of the President’s policies concerning healthcare and diversionary programs for non-violent offenders,” it says. “While the President may not agree with all of his supporter’s ideas and comments, he does appreciate all the support he has received from the community in his re-election efforts.”
Another statement issued late Monday night said the campaign did not condone such activity.
Brown called on Stroger to condemn the flier, which calls her “Kissy Azz,” and positions her photo next to the phrase “White Man’s N.G.G..”
“This type of negative and sickening campaigning is the reason why I am running for County Board President to bring professionalism, innovation, reform and taxpayer savings to Cook County. It is time out for politics as usual and attempts to trick the voters. I call for President Stroger to renounce this flier,” she said in a statement.
Preckwinkle, which the leaflet labels “Aunt Je’Mamie,” said her campaign was moving on.
“Often in campaigns you see this kind of despicable literature, and discouraging as it may be, we’re focused on issues and substance, and we’re going to continue that,” she said.
But, she said, “I would be perturbed if a piece like this emanated from my campaign.”
Dick Simpson, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, called the tactic “worse than politics as usual” and compared it to the controversy surrounding President Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
He predicts the leaflets will hit Stroger at the polls.
“It will cost him. It will cause people to reevaluate if they were going to vote” for Stroger, he says.
Bradley, who gave his own endorsement of Stroger Monday in a letter that referenced slavery, said Preckwinkle and Brown, who are black, are hurting Stroger’s chances of reelection by splitting the black vote.
When asked if he thought using such language might damage the Stroger campaign, Bradley replied, “Of course not. The truth never damages a campaign.”