A Drive-By Political Hit

by Tyler Jones

A few recent stories in the Sun-Times have served as the political equivalent of a drive-by shooting ordered by Cook County Republican Chairwoman Liz Gorman against Cook County State's Attorney candidate Tony Peraica.

The allegation?  That Tony ordered a "campaign staffer" to make disparaging calls to Liz Gorman's office.

The truth?  The individual who made the calls to Gorman was a former volunteer for Peraica, was not a campaign staffer, and made the calls in February 2007 - four months after the Peraica campaign ended.  At the time, he was a volunteer for Palos Township Republican Committeeman Lee Roupas.

Bottom line - the individual made the calls without the knowledge of Peraica or Roupas.

Were the calls inappropriate?  Absolutely.  Did Peraica or Roupas have anything to do with the calls?  Absolutely not.

But Liz Gorman wouldn't let facts get in the way of a good smear campaign.

The Cook County Democrats are worried that Tony will win in 2008.  So they've gone to one of their (not-so) secret weapons - Liz Gorman - to try to attack Tony within his own Party.

It won't work.

Don't believe the Gorman attacks. 

Support the only Cook County Republican who has proven his committment to honest reform - Tony Peraica.

Comments

[Rawlings]

Support Peraica, are you joking? I question anyone who thinks Tony Peraica is good for any political office. Even more, I question anyone defending those calls...says a lot about the mental might of his "supporters."

[Carl Spackler]

You've got to be kidding, right? Peraica's campaign finance records show that Ichniowski was paid a staff salary. Peraica also worked with Ichniowski after representing him in a case where Ichniowski was slashing the tires of NUNS! Not to mention his earlier phone harassment incident.

I don't think any Cook County Dems are worried Peraica might win. Between his mob action on election night, Ichniowski harassing Gorman, and the repeated thuggery of his troops, Peraica has killed his campaign.

And Peraica has done little to show he really believes in reform. His son is still on the county payroll, and his campaign tactics are causing massive fighting within his own party.

I know Tony and his crew are contributors, but the actions are indefensible.

[Bob Schmidt]

re: "causing massive fighting within his own party." It all depends on which party we are talking about.

Peraica wants a win for the Republican Party.
Others want a win for the Combine Party.

Peraica wants to win. Gorman attacks Peraica for wanting to win. Which is divisive?

Let's be honest. What really bugs Gorman is that with Peraica being active, Gorman might have to also become active and actually do something in her position in order to keep it. That isn't what she signed up for. She signed up for a comfy do-nothing position, or so it would seem from the evidence so far.

[Fran]

Readers, please note:
Illinois Review has offered to Ms. Gorman a standing opportunity to respond to comments. She chooses not to enter the discussion, but rather goes to other outlets for these accusations.
We encourage dialogue here. If you have any hearing with Ms. Gorman or her office, encourage her to engage on Illinois Review.

[Jimini Cricket]

But Bob, Ms. Gorman has been VERY active this past year, albeit not for the Republicans. She has been extremely active for the Democrats. Just take a look at her record:

• Voted for Todd Stroger’s budget in return for personal favors

• Supported Todd Stroger for County Board President

• Had democrats like Joe Berrios lobby on her behalf for Cook County GOP chair

• Immediately added Democrat Sean Howard as her PR team for the Cook GOP.

• Voted with the democrats to unseat Republican Carl Hansen and replace him with herself as Chair of the Metra appt committee.

• Voted with the democrats to appoint democrats like Alonzo Hill , Brian McPartlin, Kyle Hastings to the Metra board.

• Removed hard working Republican committeeman like Eloise Gerson, but protects Democratic shills like Anthony Castrogiavani, Michael Corrigan, Jim Parilli and Francisco Perez.

• Ordered Anthony Castovanni to call Republican Committeeman to tell them not to circulate petitions for Tony Peraica because they were running candidate against him.

[Carl Spackler]

Bob, it doesn't matter how bad Peraica wants to win, he cannot allow his campaign staff to act in this manner. It doesn't matter if it's his Chief of Staff or a low level staff member. Peraica should know better than to staff his campaign with a gentleman he met by representing him in a case where he slashed the tires of nuns. Between that and his previous phone harassment incident, Peraica should know better than to ask him to make calls voicing his opposition to Gorman's actions. Gorman and Peraica can disagree all they want, but Peraica's barbarous tactics should be shunned by the GOP. He has proven himself unfit for the office of State's Attorney.

[Jimini Cricket]

So, Carl, Peraica is to be held responsible for the actions of volunteers (a few hundred bucks a month for mileage reimbursement hardly makes someone a staffer) four months after the campaign ends?

Should every employer also be held responsible for actions of former employees?

This guy wasn't a staffer. He was a volunteer who got reimbursed for mileage.

Why did Liz Gorman wait seven months to bring this story to light?

Why didn't she implicate Lee Roupas (who had nothing to do with the calls, but for whom this individual was volunteering at the time of the calls) instead of Tony?

The answer: because Tony is running for State's Attorney and is a real threat to Liz's friends in the Democrat Party.

This whole episode is suspicious and shows why we need reform in Cook County.

[Just a Thought]

Now I know why we as Republicans are so successful in Cook County the behavior that many on this thread are protraying is a classic "Blame the Victim" mentality

Of course she was attacked, did you see the clothes she was wearing on the street..

Well, unfortunately, that dog wont' hunt, and with this behavior, you are only stretching out the story..

My only question is where is Proft and Mercantde when we need them

Now dont' get me wrong, word around the campfire is that Proft broke with Periaca when he broke with Larry Dominick, but dont' quote me on that one

[Carl Spackler]

10 payments of $150 every two weeks was for mileage? Peraica's campaign finance documents filed with the state show that it was for staff salary. So did Peraica falsify his campaign finance documents or is this a way to make a quick spin? I haven't seen Peraica or anyone show that these payments were for mileage but if you have some documentation you'd like to share I think everyone would appreciate the clarification.

I also haven't seen anything associating him with Roupas' campaign/organization. Ichniowski was the one who brought up Peraica to the police; I haven't seen anything suggesting he brought up Roupas.

Peraica has consistenly shown a penchant for thuggish tactics and that's not what we need to rebuild the Cook GOP and it's definitely not what we need in the State's Attorney office.

[Rawlings]

Peraica is as much a republican as Blago is...if you actually think he cares about winning for the party then you're as crazy as he is. TP is only about TP.

BTW, just a thought....TP has been a disaster since Proft was with him, bringing him back won't fix this disaster of a man.

I question the moral compass of any man who supports TP, I'm saying that right now.

[Michelle]

How does Dick Devine and Mayor Daley get off scot free is this discussion? Why in the world are persons of their caliber not the enemy here? This doesn't make sense. Tony has no federal investigations swirling around him. Why is he the bad guy? So he plays hard politics. So what? Do you not think Gorman's running to the media isn't hard, tough politics? She's not lily white. Give me a break.

[Super Mega]

Peraica has/had the ability to be a very strong Republican candidate. His campaign for Cook County Board President hadn’t created that kind of buzz amongst Republicans and Independents since Jack O’Malley was State’s Attorney in the ’90s.

That said, Tony needs to surround himself with a better class of people. He’s using a method that is common in the city as a Democrat, but doesn’t work when you’re trying to run strong in the suburbs as a Republican.

He needs to cut back on the rhetoric and really focus on what he needs to do to get elected. He needs to find a new campaign manager to begin with. A professional would not let this story go on for as long as it has, or let their candidate go out and say the person in question was a volunteer, when anyone can go look at the D-2s and see that he was on the payroll. Combine this with the “Election Night Putsch of 2006″ and Commissioner Peraica’s actions come into serious doubt with Cook County voters.

Peraica needs to right the ship and do it now.

[Gary Karlin]

This split in the GOP is huring us in IL. The Democrats have a huge split also, but appear to be more campaign and fundraising organised than Republicans.

One thing is clear about Peraica, no matter what anyone says about him, no county elected official has ever posted the salaries of every county employee on a website, making information so available to the public.

I've never seen reform like this before.

I don't agree with 100% with Tony on all the issues, being as conservative as I am, however, we are better off with Tony than some Democrat machine candidate.

Things are so screwed up in Chicago (and Cook County) that we conservatives (and Republicans) have to realistically look at the big picture. Tony has led a block on several tax hikes over the past 4 years. Tony, out of all the other commissioners has voted least with the Democrats on the issues. Many times he's been the lone voice not caving in.

Try the same thing (machine candidate) get the same result (corruption), try something different (Tony) get a different result (someone working with Patrick Fitzgerald to clean up city and county corruption).

Jesus made something clear in the Bible, "You are either for me, or against me", so I make a similar analagy, those who are for reform support Tony, sometimes a lone voice on the county board and not machine bought, or you are against Tony and support corruption as it stands with his machine Democrat, and machine bought republican enemies. The choice is clear.

Ichniowski didn't sign up to volunteer for stuff with the Palos Twp Republican Organization/Roupas until after Feb. 07, which was also after the phone calls.

[Chicago Voter]

Many think Tony Peraica is their Messiah, HOW PATHETIC!!!.