He said he was intending to run for William Beavers' 4th District seat. That seat is currently being held by Stanley Moore. The deadline to file petitions for office was Monday at 5 p.m. and Stroger did not file.
Below are the names of people running for the 4th district.
Stanley S. Moore
Alfred 'Al' Sanchez
Nicholas 'Nick' Smith
Robert R. McKay
L. Elizabeth (Jacquie) Lewis
It was difficult to gauge Stroger's seriousness because he made the announcement almost as an afterthought. And he did not answer several phone and text messages from ABC7 the next day. Now an insurance agent, Stroger announced his plan as he guest-lectured a 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 Beavers was convicted for misusing campaign funds. Instead, the Democrats selected Stanley Moore, a former Illinois Department of Transportation deputy who said he would not have taken Stroger for granted in next spring's primary.
"Former President Todd Stroger has a hundred percent 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.
