We’re Number One! (Oh, wait…)
Here in Cook County, we’re used to being first.
Most recently, we made headlines as having the highest sales tax in America.
This morning comes the news that we’re at the top of the list for … (drum roll, please) … felony murders.
In Cook County, drug crimes represented a bigger share of felony cases than any other major county in the United States, according to a federal study released Thursday.
The Justice Department study — a snapshot of 39 counties in May 2006 — found that drug crimes were the most serious charge filed against 57 percent of felony defendants in Cook County.
This isn’t good.
Rising unemployment. Rising taxes. Rising debt. Rising felony murders.
Might it finally be time to realize that the policies being pushed by the policies in Cook County and Springfield simply aren’t working?
It’s time for a change.
Say it ain’t so, Joe (although we all know it is)
Joe Berris is Cook County Democratic Party chairman. He is also a commissioner on the Board of Review.
And a lobbyist for the expansion of video gambling.
And he’s running for Cook County Assessor.
Is there anything that Joe can’t do? Better question — is there any conflict of interest in which Joe won’t engage?
Today’s Chicago Tribune editorial page puts a spotlight squarely on Berrios who, as they note, is not representing the best interests of the constituents he purports to represent (and from whom he draws a taxpayer-funded salary):
Where but Illinois can you find a candidate for public office crowing about his success as a lobbyist, working hard to bring gambling to your neighborhood?
That’s Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios, who’s running for county assessor. He also represents the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, which scored big last year when the General Assembly passed a law to legalize video gambling in any establishment with a liquor license. This week, Berrios pushed through another bill that allows truck stops and fraternal lodges to host the machines too.
We’re not surprised by Berrios’ actions, even if we are supremely disappointed. The truth is, he’s not the only county elected official who draws a taxpayer-funded salary while also serving as a lobbyist who profits from lobbying his or her colleagues on bills that may be in direct conflict with existing county policy, or the best interest of the county taxpayers.
That’s exactly why Commissioner Peraica has introduced new additions to the county ethics ordinance that would bring an end to these conflicts and protect the taxpayers from the profiteers sometimes are elected to serve in county government.
Welcome, Jeff Tobolski, to the reform battle
Welcome, Jeff Tobolski, to the fight to reform Cook County!
That’s right — Commissioner Peraica’s challenger in the November election posted a press release on his Web site earlier this week that highlights a Sun-Times editorial regarding inefficiencies and waste at Oak Forest Hospital. Our challenger asks: “Where was Tony Peraica?”
Well, Tony was where he’s been for the past eight years: waging a public battle to reform all levels of Cook County government.
Not only was Tony quoted in the Sun-Times editorial as calling for a desk audit of hospital workers — he has hosted a Web site (since 2006) that allows the public to view the salaries and contracts for county employees and vendors.
Last year, Tony sponsored the resolution that resulted in Cook County putting its check register online for all to see. But Jeff Tobolski already knows this — since his campaign Web site features an ABC 7 Chicago story that praises the online check register and uses it to find waste and inefficiency in county government. Perhaps Jeff could follow Tony’s example and start putting the Village of McCook’s (where he is mayor) check register online?
This past week, the Sun-Times also praised Tony’s newly-proposed ethics reforms, that will help curb ethical abuses and corruption by politicians in county government.
Oh, and did we mention that Tony first sponsored the ordinance to fully repeal the Stroger sales tax?
So, if Jeff Tobolski wishes to join the reform battle, we welcome him. We assume, however, that he was merely trying to score political points by stretching to paint himself as a reformer.
He will have to try harder if he wants to hide the fact that a) he is running against the leading reformer in Cook County and b) his support is coming from the politicians in Cicero and Melrose Park, where investigations are many and reform is a dirty word. Click here to learn more about where Tony’s opponent is garnering his support.
Sun-Times Endorses Tony’s Proposed Ethics Reforms
Read more about this endorsement at CommissionerPeraica.com.
Preckwinkle’s Broken Tax Promise … Is Anyone Surprised?
Toni Preckwinkle has tried her hardest to make the electorate believe she is a reformer.
She won, in large part, by running as the anti-Stroger.
But today, she showed her true colors by backtracking on her no-new-taxes campaign promise. Usually politicians wait until after their elected to “forget” their campaign promises — but it appears Toni is launching a pre-emptive announcement that she will be sticking it to the taxpayers if she’s elected in November:
Toni Preckwinkle, the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board president, says she’s been told by insiders that the county budget deficit has ballooned to at least $250 milion, perhaps as high as $500 million.
As a result, Preckwinkle said she won’t be able to deliver on her campaign promise to repeal the remaining half-penny sales-tax increase until 2012 at the earliest.
Your call to action is simple: make sure Tony Peraica wins re-election to provide a counter to the tax hikers, and make sure Roger Keats defeats Toni Preckwinkle in the November Election.
The Stroger Six, Our Newly-Proposed Ethics Reforms, and Another Stroger Investigation
Filed under: Blagojevich, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Reform, Spending, Todd Stroger
by Tony Peraica
It was quite a day here in Cook County.
First, the Cook County Board failed to protect the taxpayers by coming up short in a vote to override Todd Stroger’s veto of our hiring freeze.
More to the point — six county commissioners failed the taxpayers by voting against the veto override. The Chicago Tribune editorial board calls out these “Stroger Six”:
The tally, 9-6 to override, fell short of the necessary 11 “yes” votes. The Stroger Six: William Beavers, Jerry Butler, Earlean Collins, Joan Patricia Murphy, Deborah Sims and Robert Steele. Steele and a seventh commissioner who gutlessly voted present, Edwin Reyes, had been co-sponsors of the original measure to tighten controls on Stroger.
Also during today’s county board meeting, I introduced new amendments to the county ethics ordinance to help curb ethical abuses by some county politicians.
Please watch my brief video explaining this ordinance.
ABC 7 Chicago, The Prairie Stater, Illinois Review and Publius Forum have also reported on our new ethics measures.
Finally — yet another investigation into questionable spending by the Stroger Administration. This one involves dubious spending on U.S. Census contracts. The Chicago Tribune’s Hal Dardick reports:
Two top aides to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger sidestepped the need for commissioners’ approval in doling out nearly $150,000 in census outreach work to people they knew. The eight contracts are among those being investigated by the county inspector general’s office…
Another day, another investigation.
As the politicians continue to abuse your tax dollars — we will continue our battle to rein them in and protect the taxpayers.
Inefficiencies at County Hospital? Really?
Why is taxpayer-funded Oak Forest Hospital known as the “country club?”
Today’s Sun-Times reports on that very question, pointing to the fact that the hospital is “staffed at a ratio nearly three times the national average, even though it’s virtually empty.”
And here we thought the county was in the midst of an economic downturn …
Not surprisingly, Commissioner Peraica is quoted in the story as having a simple solution:
“What are these people doing with their time?” says Peraica, a Republican from Riverside, adding that he doesn’t think there’s enough work for Oak Forest staffers to do as things now stand. “I’d like to see a desk audit of how each person on the staffs spends each minute of their eight-hour day.”
A key factor affecting the staffing ratio has been the precipitous drop in patient numbers at Oak Forest since 2007. That’s when the long-term-care facility at Oak Forest was all but shuttered as a result of a budget crunch. More than 300 long-term-care patients were moved elsewhere, leaving just five today.
“But it looks like they haven’t reduced the staff in a way that’s commensurate with the number of people now using this hospital,” says Peraica.
Perhaps a desk audit of all county employees (not just hospital staffers) is in order?
Nah, that would be crazy. Why would the politicians want to protect the taxpayers money? After all, this is Cook County.
Isn’t it time for a change?
Highest Bidder? No Problem, this is Cook County.
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Todd Stroger
by Tony Peraica
The process of competitive bidding is supposed to result in the county providing contracts to bidders who come in with the best quality at the lowest cost.
That is, unless we’re talking about Cook County.
The Daily Herald today features a story about one proposed county contract that would go to the highest bidder for a project … a bidder that (surprise, surprise) is also a major contributor to the campaign funds of Todd Stroger and other county officials.
The board will consider awarding $284,000 to Infrastructure Engineering for “parking and entrance control” at the county’s Hawthorne Warehouse on Chicago’s West Side, even though two competitors came in with significantly lower bids on the original parking-lot paving project - a detail that twice led the plan to be scrapped.
The proposal originally came up two years ago, but when the Daily Herald reported that Infrastructure Engineering had donated almost $5,000 to President Todd Stroger and more than $40,000 to other county officials, and Schneider came out against it, it was abruptly dropped at the next county board meeting.
This will be one of the many important issues discussed at Tuesday’s county board meeting related directly to questionable spending of your tax dollars. Also on tap is another push for the hiring freeze we voted to place on the Stroger Administration — but which Todd Stroger vetoed last week.
The ridiculous spending must stop. I will do everything in my power to make sure it does.
Tribune: Stroger “Sullying” His Own Name
In our previous post, we wrote that Todd Stroger was acting in defiance of the county board and the taxpayers.
But the Chicago Tribune editorial board has gone even further, writing that Todd “seems intent on sullying” his own name “and that of his Democratic cronies.”
We wholeheartedly agree. That same Trib editorial continues:
How else to explain that Stroger has hired six top-level employees at high salaries since his defeat in the February primary? How else to explain Stroger’s awarding of pay raises without board approval — including a $54,000 bump, to $230,000, for Chief Financial Officer Jaye Williams? How else to explain Stroger’s reinstatement of Carla Oglesby, his deputy chief of staff — after telling reporters just last week that she would be suspended without pay pending an investigation of how she was hired and why her communications firm then received a county contract? (No, that county inspector general’s probe isn’t yet concluded.) How else to explain Stroger’s veto Monday of a proposed ordinance to place a freeze on most hirings and raises — an ordinance the board passed 16-1 because of Stroger’s reckless stunts at taxpayer expense?
Again, we agree, and will work to override Todd’s veto of the hiring freeze to end his rampant disregard for your hard-earned tax dollars.
Continued defiance from the Stroger Administration
The defiance continues. The Sun-Times reports:
The embattled top aide to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger returned to work Tuesday despite an ongoing probe into whether she steered a county contract to her privately owned public relations firm, officials said.
Todd Stroger continues to thumb his nose at the county board and the county taxpayers.
If he’s not going to do his job…if he’s not going to play by the rules…he should resign.
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