Rightofillinois Politics

The Cook County State’s Attorney Campaign February 15, 2008

Tony PeraicaIt’s Riverside versus River Forest in state’s attorney race

River Forest’s Anita Alvarez woke up on the morning of Feb. 5 as a dark horse in the crowded Democratic primary for Cook County State’s Attorney. She went to bed as arguably the front runner in next November’s general election.

She now squares off with Riverside attorney and Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.

Alvarez ran garnered strong vote totals in both the city and suburbs, racking up roughly 27 percent of the total or 233,554 votes–10,899 more than her nearest competitor, Chicago alderman Tom Allen.

Alvarez spent a busy Feb. 6 doing interviews with a long list of Chicago print and broadcast media, in between fielding what campaign manager Sally Daly termed “hundreds” of calls from elected officials throughout Cook County and beyond.

Peraica, though, wasted no time attacking Alvarez’s record and questioning her motives. The Peraica campaign, which has made it clear he will make investigating and prosecuting local government corruption a top priority, lambasted Alvarez for being an insider player in an office that’s done little to attack such corruption.

“The state’s attorney office has long built a reputation of turning a blind eye to public corruption,” Peraica campaign manager Curt Mercadante said last week. “Anita Alvarez, especially since she boasts of heading the Public Integrity Unit, was a big part of this well deserved reputation.

“The Public Integrity Unit was out to lunch.”

Mercadante accused Alvarez of being an agent of the status quo who sought, but didn’t receive, the endorsement of outgoing State’s Attorney Richard Devine in the primary. Devine has since endorsed her in the general election.

Mercadante also hinted that Alvarez has begun to cut political deals, citing her dominant showing in such politically controlled wards as John Daley’s 11th, Edward Burke’s 14th and the 13th, controlled by Michael Madigan.

Peraica is our man and is running a fantastic campaign right now, we need to rally any conservatives we can find in Cook county and spend our time reaching across the middle to those independents who could wind up making the difference in this race.

-ROI