‘No Games Chicago’ leader running for Cook County Board President
In an article at Independent Political report writer Ross Levin reports that Tom Tresser, founder of No Games Chicago, has announced plans to seek the presidency of the Cook County (IL) Board. Chicago is in Cook County. Tresser is seeking the Green Party nomination, and will be in a primary if anyone else seeks the nomination.
First word of his plans was apparently in Greg Hinz blog at ChicagoBusiness.com. Hinz writes that Tresser has already raised over $1000 for his campaign, and has been involved in successful campaigns to save city parks in the past.
Mr. Tresser insists he’s in it to win, not just to make a point. “We took on the president, the mayor and Oprah” over the Olympics, he purred. “We won.”
Tresser’s announcement says
After almost 30 years of active civic life in this great city I‘ve come to the conclusion that I’m tired of chasing bad policy and trying to stop projects that rip up parks, loot our treasury and reward the connected few. I don’t want to go through another Protect Our Parks fight to stop greedy unchecked grabs of public assets and I certainly don’t want toendure another No Games Chicago struggle to stop a mega-project from completely wrecking our finances while enriching the same crowd of insiders. I would like to help make good policy and be part of a smart and honest government – rather than rail against wrong-headed policy and the litany of public corruption that has become Chicago’s and Cook County’s unofficial theme song. So – today I announce my candidacy for the position of President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
Additional coverage is at The Chicago Tribune, as well as ABC Channel 7, Chicagoist, and at The Huffington Post.
I met Tom yesterday at a local meeting in Chicago. The man has some cred and does hold Green values.
We are going to be hard pressed to get him on the ballot with the Democratic Machine inevitably challenging Tom’s petitions.
We need to get ALOT of signature to withstand the Machine’s challenges.
If you live in Cook County, please email Tom Tresser at tom@tom2010.com to help us out!
Here are his petitions: http://www.tom2010.us/petitions
We have less than two weeks! Please help if you live nearby!
We here at Third Party Revolution endorse Tom Tresser in his campaign for Cook County Board President, along with many other third party and independent candidates seeking public offices nationwide, ranging from local to federal levels.
So what were Tresser’s ideas for not having the Olympic games in Chicago?
This is fantastic news for the Illinois Green Party! Let us land Tom on the ballot and defeat the machine in Crook County.
How many signatures does he need?
Good luck with petitioning! A visible campaign for county board president could establish the Greens as Chicago’s second party and get you the respect you deserve.
Anything we can do to help from afar? (ie would donations help the petitioning process at all?)
Ross,
As I understand it he will need 800 valid signatures, and they hope to get 2000 to beat back any possible challange.
Is a really a good idea for the Green party, or any part that wants to establish itself, to run a candidate who has already done something that has alienated himself from a large percentage of the voting population? A very large percentage, probably well past a majority, of the voting block in Chicago and Cook country supported Chicago getting the Olympics and it seems to me that running the founder of No Games Chicago just ensures that the Green party will finish a distance third, particular if Stroger lose in the Dem primary.
I can see your point to some degree Chicago Voter. That said, I think that there may be many, if a minority, of Cook County voters who did not want the city, county and state spending taxpayer money on the games. I’m not well enough informed to say which camp I would fall into, but Greens have done this sort of thing many times in the past.
For example, there have been at least a couple of cases where the local Green Party opposed construction of sports arenas, like baseball or football stadiums, even in the face of local support.
While I am sure that Mr. Tresser wants to win, I also would guess that he’s more concerned about holding fast to principles he believes in. I’m not saying he’s right or wrong, but many people respect and want to support people who do the right thing regardless of the consequences.
I am not a a green party member, just a student of Illinois politics. Undoubtedly there was fair number of people that did not want Chicago to get the games that live in Chicago, but that being said I don’t if there is a large cross over between them and the population that would be natural targets for Green party candidates as supporters, a fair number of people that I have come across that opposed the game where more on the Republican end of the scale.
I think that in terms of public opinion the effects there is a difference between opposing a stadium and opposing your city getting the Olympics. I think that in mind of your average person the Olympics carries with it a lot more civic pride, so to speak, and I think that is why his actions as a party of NO Games Chicago might have alienated a lot of voters in a way that opposing a stadium would not have.
Of course it is commendable that he stood by his principles, but I am wondering if the IL Greens would of not been better served to have a found a candidate that did not already what is likely to be a strike against him in the minds of many voters and one that I am sure will be brought up every time he is mentioned in the media.
I think this election is very critical to the future prospects of the Green party in Illinois. Right now they are one of the three established parties in Illinois but I think that in the minds of many voters Richard Whitely only did as well as he did in the last governors races because a large percentage of voters did not like Rod Blagojevich or Judy Baar Topkina. I think that a solid performance by the Green party in number of races could change that minds of a lot of voters help really establish the Green party in Illinois as a political factor. On the other hand if the Greens do poorly and lose ballot access it will reinforce the idea in many voters minds that 2006 was a fluke and will make things a lot harder for the Green Party in the future.
That part of the reason that I question if it is in the best interest of the Green party to run a candidate that has ready done something to alienate a large portion of the voting population.