It's been difficult to gauge Stroger's seriousness because he made the announcement Thursday night almost as an afterthought. And he did not answer several phone and text messages Friday.
Now an insurance agent, the former Cook County Board President announced his plan as he guest-lectured a Roosevelt University political science class.
"I'm actually running for County Commissioner, I didn't tell you that, Beavers old seat," he said.
Stroger asked Democratic committee members to appoint him to the 4th District seat last spring after Commissioner William Beavers was convicted for misusing campaign funds. Instead, the Democrats selected Stanley Moore, a former Illinois Department of Transportation deputy who will not take Stroger for granted in next spring's primary.
"Former President Todd Stroger has a hundred per cent name recognition. I'm the new guy, the new guy on the block," Moore said.
Stroger's loss to Toni Preckwinkle in the 2010 primary followed his first and only term during which he supported a controversial one-cent increase in the county sales tax.
"It was four years of just hell," Stroger said. "I was fighting all the time. The newspapers were just crucifying me."
Carla Oglesby and Eugene Mullins, two of Stroger's top aides while in county office, have been convicted of corruption charges.
Moore, meanwhile, already has been endorsed by key Democratic ward and township organizations.
"The 7th Ward, the 8th Ward, the 10th Ward, the 21st Ward, the 6th Ward and Thornton Township," Moore said.
Those are the most powerful Democratic Party organizations on the south side and in the south suburbs, an indication that if Stroger is serious about running for the county board, it will be an uphill fight all the way.
