Stroger and Son

By Alicia Dorr in News on May 10, 2006 8:09PM

After weeks of everyone uncomfortably tiptoeing around the fact that since John Stroger won the primary for his position running Cook County no one has any idea who is running Cook County, someone has finally spoken up.

Yes, just days after putting himself forward as a possible replacement for his father's place on the ballot for Cook County Board president position, Todd Stroger said that his mom said that she wants Stroger Sr. to retire. It’s hard to blame her, when her 76-year-old husband suffered a serious stroke and is now in the recovery and physical therapy stage.

However, it is a little odd that Todd, an alderman and former state rep, picked now to bring all these things up. It kind of makes us wonder if he’s playing up the sympathy card to slip in a position that plenty of other people not only officially vied for, but who also have just as much or more experience. Wait, are we supposed to take that back? Maybe we’re supposed to pretend that we didn’t notice, like when the voters chose not to notice that the man they were voting for needed rest more than he needed another term.

Either way, our sympathies really do go out to Yonnie Stroger, whose husband apparently went against her better matriarchal judgment when competing in the primary to begin with. Now we just want her or Stroger Senior to say it’s time for retirement, instead of their otherwise invested son.