Chicago Republicans

During the Peraica v. Stroger race for County Board President, one of the key goals was to gain "earned" media. This refers to press releases or press conferences designed to be covered in the main stream media because the content was qualified as newsworthy by the press. The main stream media can carry a message a great distance and be very impactful with no expense to the candidate.

Timing is critical. If it is a slow news day, the press will eat it up. If a major event occurs, the media event will either be buried at the back of the newspaper or not even be covered.

Steve Boulton and I were asked to run the northside of Chicago operations for the Peraica Campaign. Dan Proft was Peraica's campaign manager.

I decided to drive by Stroger HQ one day to see if I could gather any useful information. I wasn't looking for anything particular, but thought I would keep my eyes open and report back any activity.

In front of the Stroger HQ, was a white van with a big Stroger campaign signed taped to the side. Stroger only had a couple guys putting up signs for him. His guys put up signs all over the public property on the southside. This is standard practice for Chicago Democrats.



I wanted to know how the Chicago Democrats put up all the signs on the southside, so I parked and intended to peak in the back windows. One of Stroger's guys came out with a hand dolly and needed to get in the back of the truck. He motioned to let me pass, but I declined hoping to catch a glimpse of what was in the back of the truck.



I stood behind him and hoped he would open the doors so I wouldn't have to pull a peak through the window routine. Without thinking, the Stroger guy opened the back doors. They had just finished placing signs, it was mostly empty, except for a bunch of stolen Peraica signs.



I immediately took out my camera and started taking pictures, much to the frustration of the Stroger guy. He started to tell me to stop taking pictures, I replied "fine," turned and walked back to my car. One picture was enough.

About 5 minutes later, I drove past the Stroger van and there were 4-5 people huddled around the outside discussing what happened.

Within a couple hours, the Stroger Campaign pre-emptively launched a press release claiming "Peraica Thugs" were stealing Stroger signs.
I called Proft and told him what had happened with the pictures. He was pleased and stated a simple truth I have never forgot, "pictures beat words."

All the media covered the tit-for-tat exchange, but used my pictures. Ultimately, it became hearsay versus evidence.
Evidence will always beat words.