It’s amazing that so many elected officials have sided with Reed over the incumbent, when Shrewsbury is known for more than the average instinct for payback against those who oppose him – and he does, after all, control one of the three purse strings on the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
Consider Shrewsbury’s comments at the Mound City Bar candidates’ debate this past weekend, when asked what county office he thinks should be eliminated. He immediately snapped, “The license collector’s office.” Some in the crowd booed, knowing he didn’t say that when he was working with Gregg F.X. Daly to save all of those county jobs – and knowing that License Collector Mike McMillan has his neck all the way out working to elect Reed.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce – who certainly has not always been happy with Shrewsbury on the subject of appropriations to her office – is one official who may have withheld public support for Reed because she did not want to risk payback. However, at a recent fundraiser for incoming Alderwoman Marlene Davis, Joyce and Reed exchanged warm smiles of well wishes towards one another, and one of the chief prosecutor’s allies believes Joyce may have given the go-ahead to many of her supporters to rally around Reed, who has used Shrewsbury’s cuts to Joyce’s budget as a “we’re tougher on crime” talking point.