Last week we listed which North Side committeemen will get to pick Cook County Comm. Mike Quigley’s successor when he presumably moves on to Congress and urged our readers to make their opinions known. During an interview with WLS’ Bill Cameron yesterday, Quigley gave his two cents on what the process should look like, noting that how his 10th District replacement is chosen will be as important as who is ultimately selected.  Take a listen (and find the full audio here):

Internal mp3

CAMERON: Now who do you like for your successor? You know ward committeemen will be picking your successor on the county board and the make-up of the board could, therefore, change.

QUIGLEY: No, it was on our mind during the whole race that it was important to replace me with someone with someone who has at least the same mindset and the same heart … What I told the committeemen was that the process is almost as important as the outcome. It has to be and it has to be perceived to be a very open process where they don’t meet behind closed doors and pick one of their pals. It has to be a process where anyone who’s interested can present their credentials in a public forum and then publicly this is discussed, debated and the committeemen make their choice.

Quigley is absolutely right that the committeemen in charge should make this process as transparent as possible. It would be a shame to see back-room deals lead to the replacement of a commissioner who made open government one of his central causes.