Quigley Democrats vs. Stroger Democrats, and where the two might meet
03/04/09
Mike Quigley is probably useless to me now.
During his time as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board, he has been one of the stalwarts of the small bloc of reformers once dubbed "the four horsemen". They regularly sought to reduce the onerous level of taxation on Cook County residents, or at least hold it steady at it's already outrageous level. And, they fought to pare down the bloated and patronage-laden monolith that is Cook County government as much as was humanly possible. Put simply, Quigley wasn't the typical "tax and spend" Democrat that we see, well, pretty much everywhere.
Yet, Mike Quigley could still be slippery snake in the grass. In the 2006 campaign for Cook County Board President, he lent his chief of staff to aid Todd Stroger's campaign. While Quigley's constant reformer companion Forrest Claypool would make no endorsement in the race between Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica, Mike Quigley unashamedly endorsed Stroger. While surely no one would have fathomed a Cook County Democrat endorsing a Republican, it's certainly questionable why the man who postured for so long as a reformer would choose to get in bed with a nefarious, milquetoast, punch-line of a candidate like Todd Stroger.
But now, Mike Quigley is heading to Congress. With all apologies to Rosanna Pulido, the erstwhile foe of illegal immigration and the GOP nominee for the 5th District slot, Quigley is most certainly a shoe-in in this heavily Democrat district. In all honest expectation, he'll become a member of the House Democrat voting bloc driving us ever faster down the road towards socialism. My hope of hopes is that he'll at least apply some of those reformist principles he exhibited on the Cook County Board to the US Congress and not become the typical "tax and spend" Democrat that my cynicism and/or intuition suggest he will.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger certainly believes that he will, though. After offering Quigley a cold reception at today's board meeting, Stroger had this to say about Quigley:
Stroger predicted that Quigley’s tone and voting style will have to change, should be become a member of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. House.
“His whole manner will change now,” he said. “‘We can’t tax people’ will stop.”
Not that we needed that clear of a statement to believe that Todd Stroger is fully committed to the idea that we can always tax people more and more, but now, at least, we have it. There ya go. Clear as day.
Todd Stroger went on to further elucidate us on the mind of the Democrat:
“I hope the person to replace him will be more of a Democrat,” he said. “He really turned his back on the system and was trying to use a ‘if we just hide and close our eyes mentality, everything will be alright.’ That’s not going to work when you’re trying to get services out.”
Stroger's statement if baffling, as most of his public utterances tend to be. To Quigley's credit, the last way to describe his mentality would be that of "if we just hide and close our eyes mentality, everything will be alright". Quigley, along with Commissioners Claypool, Peraica and Suffredin spend the last several years caterwauling about the vicious abuse of the taxpayer, the waste in county government, the dominance of the patronage system and the need to open our eyes to finally fix the problem. Not an annual Cook County budget debate could pass by without some journalist mentioning the vaunted volumes of Quigley's master plan to reform Cook County government that sat on the proverbial self, collecting the proverbial dust. What's also pleasant to have on clear record is Todd Stroger's clear concept of what makes a "Democrat": one who supports the wasteful, patronage-laden welfare state as manifested here in Cook County. He wants Quigley's replacement to be someone more in line with the Stroger family philosophy of doling out the goodies to the friends and the family members. That's a "Democrat" to Todd Stroger. My hope is that Quigley's replacement on the county board is someone who will vote as consistently as he did to defend the already beleaguered taxpayer of Cook County. My hope is that in Congress, Mike Quigley will vote as he did on the county board; that he will defend the abused taxpayer and seek to tear down the wasteful bureaucracy so firmly ensconced in Washington. And my hope for Cook County is that at some point, it'll have a Cook County Board President with the firing synapses upstairs who doesn't so shamefully defend the the unmitigated mess over which he so pathetically presides.