Chicago Heights mayor skipping Democratic convention
By Casey Toner ctoner@southtownstar.com August 29, 2012 7:54PM
Updated: October 1, 2012 5:29PM
One local official won’t be making the trip to North Carolina next week to nominate President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez said he’s too busy with mayoral work and his accounting firm, Gonzalez and Associates, to fulfill his duties as a convention delegate.
Gonzalez was one of 84 people in Cook County elected as an Illinois delegate for Obama during the March primary election. Delegates will nominate Obama during the convention, which will be held from Tuesday through Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.
Steve Brown, the Illinois Democratic Party spokesman, said the state delegation will meet Monday in Charlotte to choose delegate replacements. He said party activists are picked as alternates.
“You can meet a lot of people from all over Illinois in a couple days, and you could never do it if you were flying around the state,” said Brown, who’s also the spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
The trip to the convention would have been a notable moment for Gonzalez. In the 2011 city election,
Gonzalez was elected mayor, and his political slate dominated elections for the Chicago Heights Park District, Bloom Township High School District 206, Chicago Heights School District 170 and the Prairie State College Board.
Madigan donated more than $15,000 in payroll and general expenses to Gonzalez’s political committee during that election cycle.
Later that year, Gov. Pat Quinn appointed Gonzalez to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority Board.
