Tony Peraica

Infobox_Politician
name =Tony Peraica


width =200
height =283
birth_date =Birth date and age|1957|4|14|mf=y
birth_place =Croatia
residence =Riverside, Illinois
office =Cook County Commissioner
term_start = 2003
term_end = present
predecessor = Allan C. Carr
successor = Incumbent
constituency = 16th District
party = Republican
religion = Roman Catholic
occupation = Attorney

Anthony J. "Tony" Peraica (born April 14 1957) is the Cook County Commissioner for the 16th district, and was the Republican nominee for Cook County Board President in 2006. Tony Peraica is currently the Lyons Township Republican Committeeman, a post he has held since 2002. [ [http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=1304&TM=50711.82 Denied:1up! Software ] ] Peraica (a Roman Catholic), his wife Nilofar Peraica (a Sunni Muslim), and their two children Marko and Anisa live in Riverside, Illinois.

Peraica was born in Croatia in 1957, and was orphaned at the age of 11. He came to the United States when he was 13. He lived in Bridgeport, a neighborhood in Chicago, with his aunt and uncle. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20060307/ai_n16177771] where he earned his B.A. in political science. He went on to earn his J.D. from the John Marshall Law School. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1984, and continues to work as a lawyer in private practice at Anthony J. Peraica & Associates.

As an underdog candidate, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2002, as a Republican, where he joined the coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans to oppose the patronage hiring, high taxation and runaway spending proposals of Chicago Democrat machine Cook County President, John Stroger Sr.

After the Democratic machine surrepticiously, appointed Stroger's son, John Stroger Jr. to succeed him, Democrat reform Commissioner, Forrest Claypool and Republican, Peraica, declared their candidacies to oppose him in the 2006 election.

After Claypool lost in the Democratic primary, Peraica carried on the anti-tax and anti-corruption effort in the general election and he narrowly lost (53 to 47 per cent) to Stroger in heavily Democratic Cook County, despite his Republican party affiliation.

Subsequent to this, Stroger Jr. pushed through, over Peraica's opposition, a Cook county sales tax increase, which gave Cook County, Illinois, the highest sales tax of any jurisdiction in the US at 11.5% per consumer purchase.

On August 14, 2007, Peraica [http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=1137755256 announced his candidacy ] for Cook County State's Attorney. Peraica will face Democratic Democrat Anita Alvarez, who was endorsed by the Chicago Daley-Stroger Democrat machine, in November 2008's general election.

References

External links

* [http://www.joinperaica.com Tony Peraica's Campaign Website]
* [http://www.co.cook.il.us/secretary/HomePage_Links/board_of_commissioners_of_cook_c.htm Cook County Board of Commissioners]
* [http://www.peraica.com/lawfirm.shtml Anthony J. Peraica and Associates, Ltd.]