Tony Peraica: Public Nuisance

By Prescott Carlson in News on Oct 30, 2008 8:38PM

Wow, Tony Peraica's campaign for Cook County State's Attorney is making John McCain's bid for office look like a well-oiled machine. First Peraica sent out a questionable flyer that implied an endorsement from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Then he co-opted Top Chef images for his Republican themed cooking show (yeah, we don't get it either), "What's COOKin' With the Republicans!" And now, Peraica has taken to having a van drive around and bug the shit out of everybody.

With Peraica's opponent Anita Alvarez raking in way more cash than him, he's had to go a bit more low budget in promoting himself. Last night, while Peraica and Green Party candidate Thomas O'Brien participated in a candidate's forum at the Chicago Urban League's headquarters at 4510 S. Michigan Ave., a van drove around the block for two hours blasting "Vote for Peraica" from loudspeakers. Needless to say, neighborhood residents were not amused:

"It's ridiculous; especially in this building, there's a lot of kids," said neighborhood resident Leigha Hooper about the van using a loud speaker to broadcast its message. "You're getting into people's bedtime."

"He's not getting my support."

The driver of the van, Mark Stevenson, defended the unwanted noise, telling the Sun-Times that "it's my right to do that, and we need the votes." While both decidedly true statements, that doesn't mean it was necessarily the brightest thing to do.