Cook County commissioner candidates (from left) Jessica Vasquez, Colin Kramer, Enrique Morales and Juan Elias attend Saturday’s community forum. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)   

A group of Democratic Party committeepersons is putting a new twist on the process for filling Cook County Board of Commissioners vacancies. 

The 8th District includes much of Chicago’s Northwest Side, including several majority-Hispanic neighborhoods. The commissioner’s seat became vacant in early April when Anthony Joel Quezada was appointed to fill the vacancy created when 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa was appointed CEO of the Chicago Park District.  

County Board vacancies are filled by the committeepersons from the departing commissioner’s party, in this case, Democrats. Their votes are weighed based on how many votes Quezada got in the last election. 

What makes this decision different is that the five committeepersons who collectively hold the majority of the vote agreed to vote for whichever candidate their local political advocacy groups support. In the 26th Ward, that group is the United Neighbors for the 26th Ward. On Saturday, the group held an open house where four of the candidates shared their perspectives and answered questions. 

United Neighbors and other groups are expected to vote this coming Saturday on which candidate to support. The committeepersons will meet May 4 to make their final decision. The meeting will be open to the public, but the committeepersons hadn’t finalized the exact time and location by press time.

Ward committeepersons are unpaid elected officials who are responsible for supporting their party’s candidates, fill vacancies and vote on party policy decisions. Suburban committeepersons represent townships, while city committeepersons represent wards. In Chicago, aldermen often, but not always, serve as their wards’ Democratic Party committeepersons. Ramirez-Rosa still serves as 35th Ward Democratic committeeperson. 

The 8th County District includes portions of 12 wards, but some of those portions, such as the 27th Ward, is relatively small. Romirez-Rosa holds the largest share of the vote, 20.9 percent, so he chairs the selection committee. Ald. Ruth Cruz, 30th Ward, holds the second-highest share with 19 percent of the vote. Ald. Jess Fuentes, 26th Ward, holds 15.36 percent and Ald. Felix Cardona, 31st Ward, holds 13 percent. 

Independent Political Organizations are ward organizations that support politically left-leaning candidates, positioning themselves as alternatives to the traditional Democratic Machine. 

Fuentes told Chronicle Media that she, Ramirez-Rosa, Cruz, Ald. Rosanna Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd Ward, and 1st Ward committeeperson Laura Yepez agreed to vote with their local IPOs — in Fuentes’ case, United Neighbors.  

Jason Dones, the organization’s co-chair, told Chronicle Media that any member who attended at least three meetings can take part in the vote. The April 19 community forum, which was held at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in West Humboldt Park, was meant to give members and other 8th District residents a chance to find out more about the candidates.  

Candidate forum 

Four candidates agreed to participate — Enrique Morales, political scientist and artist; Stewart Colin Kramer, United States Environmental Protection Agency chemist and AFGE Local 704 union; Juan Elias, real estate broker and former Office of Cook County Assessor field inspector; and Jessica Vasquez, Ramirez-Rosa’s former chief of staff. 

Quesada, who attended the forum, told Chronicle Media that he endorsed Vasquez. He noted that he was elected in 2022 on a progressive platform that called for the reform of the county justice system, improvements to Cook County Health system, support for worker rights and reform of property taxes to shift the burden away the reform of the property tax assessment system to shift the property tax burden away from working-class and middle-class homeowners and towards commercial property owners in more well-off parts of the city. Quesada said he believed that Vasquez was best suited to carry on that legacy. 

“I would be really excited for her to become our next commissioner,” he said.  

Much of the forum centered on four areas that tend to account for the largest portions of the county budget — healthcare, law enforcement functions such as the Office of Cook County Sheriff and the Circuit Court of Cook County, and Office of Cook County Assessor, which determines the rate at which different properties are assessed. 

Vasquez said that, if appointed, her priorities would be to reform the property assessment system and improve access to the county health system by expanding eligibility for CountyCare Medicaid expansion program and Carelink, a financial aid program for low-income patients who don’t qualify for Medicaid for reasons as such as immigration status. She said she would consult her constituents about other priorities.  

Kramer said that his priorities would be to support residents and business owners in danger of being priced out of the district, making sure county funding doesn’t get spent on private healthcare and having the county provide more support for public transit — something that it historically had a limited role in.  

Morales said that he would create a youth advisory council, lobby to have the county support arts and culture, actively work with officials in other levels of government and listen to residents. 

Elias focused on his experience in public service and developing affordable housing. 

“[The district] needs to elect someone who is trained for the job,” he said. “I have 35-year history in public service; 30 [of those] years in public health. I worked every neighborhood in the city, from Roseland to Rogers Park, from the lakefront to Austin.” 

Criminal justice reform

When asked about their positions on criminal justice reform, Vasquez said she would support expanding support for youth, including expanding the Restorative Justice Courts program, which gives people who committed nonviolent crimes an opportunity to improve their lives and redress the wrongs they committed. 

“We need to be able to provide them venues to learn and grow,” she said. 

Morales said that he supports the end of cash bail, and said the county should tackle poverty and the lack of opportunities by investing in affordable housing, education and healthcare. 

When asked about property tax reform, Kramer said he would like more scrutiny at whether commercial buildings are assessed accurately, while Morales said he wants to change the system to incentivize commercial property owners to fill vacancies. He and Vasquez said they wanted to explore ways to reduce tax burdens for retirees.  

When asked what the county should do if the federal government cuts Medicaid and scales back the Affordable Care Act, Vasquez said that she would be open to shifting money from other functions, specifically mentioning the Department of Transportation and Highways.  

“Personally, I think healthcare is more important than highways,” she said. 

Vasquez also suggested reforming the Real Estate Transfer Tax, so that it would apply to nonprofits that sell buildings to for-profit entities, mentioning churches being sold to developers who convert them into housing as an example. 

“I would want to have the budget that reflects our morals,” she added.