COOK COUNTY DEMOCRATS CREATE 1983 HAROLD WASHINGTON-LIKE VICTORY SCENARIO FOR BROOKINS FOR STATES ATTORNEY

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2007
Contact 773-373-7000 or 773-392-0165

Whether party leaders or the candidates themselves want to admit it, the Cook County Democratic Party’s open primary for the Democratic nomination for Cook County States Attorney does indeed look like the 1983 scenario that led to the election of Chicago’s 1st Black Mayor Harold Washington. The upcoming February election will have two qualified and popular White candidates, 38th Ward Alderman Tom Allen, and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, and the Black candidate, 21st Alderman Howard Brookins.

All three candidates, Brookins, Allen, and Suffredin have said that racial attitudes have changed since 1983 and this election would not be a repeat of the 1983 Chicago democratic primary where Harold Washington got a historic Black voter turnout while Jane Byrne and Richard Daley split the White vote. The reality is that while all three candidates have mixed racial support, Brookins can surely benefit from the heavy Black voter turnout that the Presidential campaigns of Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama is surely going to generate.

The Black empowerment movement has surely been ignited the campaign of Barack Obama, and it’s only going to increase as we get closer to the primary. And the Black vote is also going to be heavily targeted by Senator Clinton, so there will indeed a historic Black voter turnout and there will then be the historic local scenario of Alderman Howard Brookins being able to also make history as Cook County’s first Black elected Cook County States Attorney. Like Harold Washington, the Brookins campaign will soon become a crusade from many from the local Black community grassroots level. And like Washington, Brookins is not just a Black candidate, but one with excellent legal credentials.

Harold Washington wasn’t just a Black candidate, but had the experience of being an Attorney, State Representative, State Senator, and U.S. Congressman. Brookins is not just a Black candidate, for he comes uniquely qualified as an Attorney, assistant public defender, assistant states attorney, and special assistant attorney general. Brookins is in a good position to be the Democratic nominee, and if he faces Republican Tony Peraica in the general election, Peraica will once again know that a majority Democratic Cook County will once again retain the office of States Attorney for a Democrat. The historic candidacies of Obama and now Brookins will be the foundation of the voter registration campaigns that are now being planned by the grassroots voter registration coalitions and the campaigns.

Again, while the candidates do not want to compare their upcoming election scenario to the 1983 Chicago Mayoral campaign, it sure looks a lot like it to me.

(Mark S. Allen is the Associate Editor of The South Street Journal newspaper. He is a veteran community/political activist with over 30 years in public service on local, state, and national levels, including 7 years as a national staff member to the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.)

Obviously, I did get that wrong. I read an article about this same subject earlier today, and when I wrote the post several hours later in the late afternoon/early evening, my mind tricked me into thinking it had been yesterday.

Did you arrive late for the party because of this post? If so, I apologize.

Thanks for the input.