There’s no Lincoln Bedroom to offer supporters. Nor can he arrange flights on Air Force One.
But Cook County Board President John Stroger has other things to attract campaign contributions: jobs and contracts.
As he begins his run for a second term as board president, Stroger enjoys the support of some of the county’s business and professional elite–many of whom do business with the county.
His war chest shows it. Stroger’s campaign fund reported $821,327 in the latest filings, a big jump from the $107,641 he had four years ago when he was only a commissioner.
It’s no wonder that Stroger feels optimistic about 1998. “I think my chances are better now than when I decided to run in 1994,” he said recently.
Stroger hopes to raise more money for the campaign at a Thursday night fundraiser at the Excalibur nightclub.
He has assembled some high-powered help. There are the usual political heavyweights, including former Assessor Thomas Hynes, former Senate President Philip Rock and County Board Commissioner John Daley.
Also among the seven co-chairmen and 79 members of the host committee are a half-dozen of the county’s biggest contractors and developers and more than a dozen lawyers and lobbyists.
These business luminaries include Robert Wislow, whose U.S. Equities Realty Inc. has part of an $8.5 million contract as project manager for the new County Hospital, and Michael Segal, chief executive of Near North Insurance Group Inc., which has a million-dollar deal with the county.
To critics, Stroger’s fundraiser underscores a truism of Chicago and Cook County politics: Those who win government contracts often are generous contributors to those with power over those contracts.
The fundraiser also serves as a reminder of how formidable a candidate Stroger could be.
A party loyalist with close ties to Mayor Richard Daley and his family, Stroger spent 24 years on the County Board, biding his time to be president.
Stroger’s keen political instincts have allowed him to survive for decades in the baroque world of Chicago politics, but during his first two years as president, some wondered whether those instincts had been dulled.
Stroger seriously misjudged public sentiment in December when he announced a tax hike on real estate transfers. And although he has made speech after speech about the high cost of county government, it was only this week that the County Board finally hired a consultant to look at hospital staffing.
The political damage to Stroger’s run for a second term is unclear. During the height of the transfer-tax furor, rumors of his impending political demise filtered through the County Building.
But his growing war chest could crush those rumors, and his close relationship with contractors has created only small brushfires of controversy.
Stroger is quick to dismiss the notion that a big contribution means a big contract. Many of his supporters backed him or had county business before he became board president, he said.
Besides, Stroger said, the majority of county work is competitively bid, eliminating much of the opportunity for favoritism.
Although his biggest financial backers might not benefit from their support, Stroger acknowledged that others do end up with jobs or county business. That worries some observers.
Jim Howard, executive director of Illinois Common Cause, said: “It certainly gives any reasonable person the feeling that this is a pay-to-play state. These people know how to pay, and they certainly know how to play.”
The lines between political supporter, friend and county contractor often blur. Stroger admits to handing jobs to friends he feels merit the posts.
He said he appointed Al Johnson, a retired auto dealer who headed Stroger’s finance committee during the 1994 campaign, to the county’s civil service board. Johnson also is on the host committee for Thursday’s fundraiser.
“You put people on that you know or people recommended to you,” Stroger said. “I think that’s true of the president of the United States, Gov. (Jim) Edgar and Mayor Daley.”
Stroger’s administration attracted criticism when the company owned by Dr. Robert Johnson, who headed Stroger’s campaign for board president, was in line to receive a $6.8 million contract to provide eye care for county employees. Johnson ultimately withdrew from the bidding.
“I had to reject a situation with him because I didn’t want a cloud.” said Stroger, who describes Johnson, a co-chairman of the fundraiser, as one of his best friends. “It was our closeness and the role he was playing in the campaign–I had to look at that.”
Another friend, Elzie Higgenbottom, also listed as a co-chairman for Thursday’s fundraiser, was hired by Stroger to negotiate the purchase of the Brunswick Building. Higgenbottom’s firm received $159,000 in that deal.
Neither Robert Johnson nor Higgenbottom could be reached for comment.
Then there’s Segal. The head of Near North, a company founded by Stroger’s mentor and former County Board President George Dunne, Segal has been a friend of Stroger’s for years, the president said recently.
Segal and his company also have been generous contributors to Stroger, giving $1,000 to his campaign fund as recently as July.
In a deal that has attracted charges of favoritism from some County Board members, Near North got to handle the insurance for the new hospital project, receiving more than $1 million in fees over five years.
Segal did not return phone calls.
Stroger, who said he buys his insurance from Near North, scoffed at any suggestion that Segal or his corporation benefited from special consideration.
“If it wasn’t Near North, it would be some other company. We don’t have the expertise to deal with every small and large detail when insuring for a project of that magnitude.”
Stroger said that competence counts more than contributions. If a company is a supporter, that’s fine, but it has to perform.
Stroger said Wislow’s U.S. Equities is such a firm.
“If Bob had never contributed to my campaign at all, I would want a Bob Wislow helping with that hospital project,” Stroger said.
