more Qs about Davis' commitment in President race

I just got off the phone with Tumia Romero. Romero is the point of contact for U.S. Representative Danny K. Davis' campaign for President of the Cook County Board.

I was calling about the picture below which shows Davis' office in Rogers Park.

I started by asking if Davis had transferred the money from his federal account to a state/local account.

Davis is circulating nominating petitions for both re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives and President of the Cook County Board. He cannot run for both. Many people, including myself, think he is bluffing about running for President and will run for re-election.

When Davis campaigns, he claims he's running for President. He is asking for people to volunteer (and presumably contribute) to his race for President.

I started by asking about transferring the money from the federal campaign account because I had both emailed and called Romero before. After telling me she would call me back, she did not respond to either my voice mail or my text.

Romero's tone was about two parts hostile and one part defensive. She repeatedly asked rhetorical questions like, "Why don't people worry about health care? Poor people? Criminal justice?"

She went on to say, "Tell La Shawn Ford if he had enough balls he should ask himself. He's a punk."

In the interest of disclosure, I have been talking to Ford about running for Congress. I have indicated a willingness to help. Ford has never asked me to contact Davis' campaign. And I haven't offered to contact Davis' campaign to push the issue. I happen to think the race for President of the Cook County Board is important. Whether Davis is in the race or not is important.

I started blogging again to cover races like President of the Cook County Board, the IL-07 race (if it's seriously contested), Cook County Board First District, Proviso Democratic Committeeman (if it's seriously contested) and some local stuff in Proviso.

Back to what I originally called about. The photograph below was forwarded to me.



The picture was forwarded to me by someone skeptical of Davis' claim that he had opened five campaign offices as he has claimed. See Davis' campaign web site.

Davis said, “There are erroneous reports in the press that I am not a candidate for President of the Cook County Board. Nothing can be more erroneous or further from the truth. The truth is I have opened 5 campaign offices in different parts of the county, hired campaign staff, traveled from South Suburban Cook County to Northern Suburbs and the Western Suburban Cook County."

Romero said that the campaign offices were being paid for with money, not in-kind contributions. These contributions will be reported in the campaign disclosure statements although she didn't know the identity of the landlords or the rent amounts.

The picture clearly shows the office is labeled a constituent service office. When I asked about this, Romero asked me to define a "constituent service office". I explained that "constituent service offices" are funded by the taxpayers. Romero indicated this office was rented by the campaign.

Since I started writing this blog entry, Romero called me and had a contrite tone. She said she'd discussed things with the Davis and he offered to grant me an interview. She also that some of the things she said, "That was Tumia speaking for Tumia, not Congressman Davis."

I will interview Davis sometime about 3 PM tomorrow afternoon. Any suggestions what I should ask?