Wallace "Gator" Bradley, seated, in suit, is part of a controversy involving racially-tinged fliers disparaging county candidates. He is seen here at a press conference Tuesday where Rep. Bobby Rush endorsed President Todd Stroger. Credit: Alex Parker
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. Read more...
In her bid for the Democrat's nomination to run for Cook County board president, Alderman Toni Preckwinkle has consistently backed the idea of rolling back the county’s sales tax to eliminate the entire penny-on-the-dollar increase.
When the campaign started heating up in the fall, she said she would support a phased reduction of the sales tax, which she calls regressive and harmful to underprivileged residents.
But in recent days - at a debate hosted by ABC7 and Saturday at a candidate forum - she has started to sound a little like two of her opponents, Clerk of Court Dorothy Brown and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O’Brien, proposing an immediate rollback of the remaining half of the sales tax hike and finding alternative revenue sources to make up for the more than $200 million generated by the tax. Read more...
Candidates for Cook County Board President made their cases last night during a debate hosted by ABC7 at the television station’s downtown studio.
In the first televised debate, President Todd Stroger defended the controversial sales tax hike, saying again it helped sustain the Cook County Health and Hospitals System. But his opponents, Clerk of Courts Dorothy Brown, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O’Brien and Alderman Toni Preckwinkle all vowed to repeal it. O’Brien says he’d move to cut the tax on his first day of office.
News reports of the debate make mention of a few new campaign points, including the possibility of giving more Cook County Jail prisoners diversion sentences. Read more...
