Cantrell comes out as Democrat
Former GOP boss says he'll bring energy, friends
NWI Times
Nov 25, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-comes-out-as-democrat/article_e6f251f1-1cc4-5531-976b-e9c5e8e92c34.html
EAST CHICAGO -- Longtime city Republican Party boss Robert Cantrell said Monday he will officially become what many say he has been all along -- a Democrat.
"All my life I've been a registered Republican, and in May I'll declare myself a Democrat," said Cantrell, 62, who headed the party in East Chicago on and off since 1972 until he resigned under pressure in January after a meeting with then county GOP Chairman Roger Chiabai.
In his resignation letter, Cantrell pledged to continue to vote Republican and said he would work in 2004 to elect a Republican governor.
Chiabai himself was removed from his position in March by state Republicans who said in 13 years as chairman, he had failed to unite the party.
Current Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley said he was not fazed by Cantrell's announcement.
"He's always been (a Democrat) in reality, so he might as well be one in name," he said.
County Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Stiglich, the county auditor, did not respond to several telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday, but Cantrell said he has not informed Stiglich of his decision.
Cantrell said he does not plan to be a sideline Democrat.
"I will be active. I became active when my daughter ran as a Democrat, because I had to protect her, although I was the only one in my family to vote Republican that year," he said of his daughter Julie's successful campaign for county court judge in 1996.
Julie Cantrell won her second term without opposition in 2000.
"I guess I did a pretty good job of protecting her," her father said with a laugh.
Robert Cantrell said he "can bring a lot of friends, a lot of knowledge and a lot of energy" to the Democratic Party, and said he has already proven his worth by assisting Clerk-elect Thomas Philpot, a Democrat, in his primary fight against former County Councilwoman Bernadette "Bobbi" Costa.
Cantrell also brings some baggage -- sources say he is one of numerous targets of a Lake County grand jury investigation into absentee ballot fraud in East Chicago and for recruiting two convicted felons to run in the May Democratic primary against City Clerk Mary Morris Leonard.
"I was Philpot's main man, and we also helped (Sheriff Rogelio) Dominguez," said Cantrell, whose daughter employs Dominguez' wife, Betty, as her chief probation officer.
At his victory party as clerk, Philpot publicly thanked Cantrell for all his support, saying the GOP chief had been with him "every step of the way." The public acclaim by a Democratic candidate was too much for even Cantrell's supporters inside the GOP to bear.
Curley said he doesn't see the defection as hurting or helping either party.
"He's not going to act any differently than he already does," Curley said. "I don't think it's going to do anything. Bobby Cantrell will be Bobby Cantrell."
The straw that broke the Republican camel's back was Cantrell's involvement with the Hammond mayoral campaign of Thomas McDermott Jr., who is a partner in a Hammond law firm with John Cantrell, Robert's son.
McDermott, another Republican-turned-Democrat, beat incumbent Republican Duane Dedelow Jr. in the November election.
Robert Cantrell was a contributor to McDermott's campaign. And some of Dedelow's campaign literature played on fears that McDermott was going to turn Hammond into an "East Chicago-style political machine."
Already under pressure to oust Cantrell because of Philpot's comments, Chiabai reluctantly confronted Cantrell at a breakfast meeting and accepted his resignation.
"I told him I wasn't gonna fire him, and he decided it's time," Chiabai said in February. "And while a lot of people might not agree, he's done a lot of good for the Republican Party over there. He's always been a friend of mine. We've been in some wars with each other, and against each other, and through it all, I've always appreciated his knowledge of politics in Lake County."
Cantrell said being the GOP chairman in a Democratic stronghold like East Chicago was a thankless job that some people in his party failed to understand.
"It's hard to get inner city people to vote Republican," he said. "In the last election, we got out 1,000 (Republican) votes for governor, and I take a lot of pride in that."
Whether or not there is a place for Robert Cantrell in the McDermott administration, Cantrell said he has no regrets about backing McDermott.
"A lot of East Chicago people have migrated to Hammond, and I don't think that (Dedelow ads) hurt us," he said. "The proof of the pudding is that McDermott won and he's only going to get stronger. I'm not knocking Dedelow, but McDermott's going to do the job and be as good a mayor as Hammond's ever had."
The elder Cantrell is employed as an "office liaison" in the East Chicago office of the North Township trustee, Democrat Gregory Cvitkovich, and was criticized by fellow Republicans in February for contributing 2 percent of his salary to Cvitkovich's re-election campaign.
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