Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown vows to stay in race after Cook County Democrats yank backing due to a "pending federal indictment"

Longtime Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown has survived taking cash birthday gifts from employees and a watchdog's criticism about how money was handled in a "jeans day" program where workers paid to wear denim on the job.

But an FBI agent showing up outside her house, handing her a subpoena and taking her cellphone early this month proved to be too much to bear for the county Democratic Party, which has backed more than its share of scandal-plagued politicians over the decades.

On Friday, Democratic leaders took away Brown's endorsement for an office that controls nearly 1,800 jobs and supported Ald. Michelle Harris, a loyal Democratic soldier who came up through the ranks of the vaunted 8th Ward organization once headed by the late John Stroger.

And so if Brown is to escape the March 15 primary election and go on to win a fifth term, she'll have to do it on her strength as a campaigner and not by having her name on precinct captain palm cards. She first won the Democratic primary in 2000 without the party's endorsement.

CLICK FOR MORE