Cook County Democratic Party re-opens slating for primary

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In a very unusual move, the Cook County Democratic Party will re-open the slating process for the March primary.

When it closed slating in August, no candidate was endorsed in the States Attorney race.

But the outrage over the police shooting of Laquan McDonald has changed the political landscape.

Critics are crying foul, as some charge that some Democratic leaders - one in particular - are using the McDonald case to muscle an endorsement for their preferred candidate.

"It looks like the power brokers want the same-old, same old. They want to control the Office of State's Attorney, which is disgraceful," said Donna More, candidate for State's Attorney.

Candidate More thought the party had done the right thing last year when it did not endorse two-term State's Attorney Anita Alvarez or anyone in the upcoming democratic primary.

"That was a good decision. That meant they'd let this controversial race be decided by the voters," More said.

But county democratic bosses - who last year voted to un-endorse incumbent Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown - will re-convene next Thursday to re-consider their neutrality in the State's Attorney primary.

Among the members who wanted a re-do is County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who supports her former Chief of Staff Kim Foxx in the campaign.

"Toni Preckwinkle would not call for a meeting of the Democratic Committee unless she thought she had the votes," More said.

"This is a decision by the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of which she is one member and this is a decision that they made," Foxx said.

Foxx said the party will reconsider because of the McDonald police shooting video and the crisis it caused in the county's criminal justice system.

"Incidents of the last few months have caused grave concerns to the people here in Cook County and beyond," Foxx said.

Alvarez, under fire for waiting over a year to prosecute the McDonald case, said she will not participate in next week's slating session. She called it "a rigged political game. It's been clear for some time that the machine has picked its candidate in this race. Voters do not want the State's Attorney's office controlled by the Cook County machine."

The Cook County Democratic Central Committee is scheduled to meet in a public session next Thursday at 9 a.m.

The 80 members will vote after hearing presentations from More and Foxx.