CBS 2 Chicago Reports on our Flood Assistance Meeting
CBS 2 Chicago reported on Commissioner Peraica’s town hall meeting on local flood assistance efforts. You can view the video here.
CBS 2 Chicago’s Vince Gerasole reports:
Where is the federal aid? Thousands of rain-soaked and flood-ravaged families in our area are asking that question. Torrential downpours last weekend dumped 60 billion gallons of water on the Chicago area. Today those folks are still trying to clean up and dry out.
“The process is fraught with bureaucracy and it is taking too long,” said Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
Peraica sponsored a disaster information seminar Saturday morning. He says a team from the County is in Washington today lobbying the state’s Congressional delegation and the White House to push the declaration along, a process that could take up to six more weeks.
NY Times: Cook County Health System Staff Reductions ‘Not Enough’
The New York Times reported on staff reductions at the Cook County Health and Hospital System — quoting Commissioner Peraica in their story:
Despite facing a $42 million shortfall in patient revenue, the Cook County Health and Hospitals System has laid off only 100 workers out of the 1,350 positions that administrators promised to eliminate this fiscal year.
A six-month status report shows 665 vacant positions and 335 filled positions that have been eliminated. But of the filled positions, only about 100 workers were actually laid off.
“I don’t understand how you’re going to make this up by the end of the fiscal year,” said Tony Peraica, a member of the Cook County Board.
Oops, They Did it Again: Stroger Crony Gets County Contract
by Tony Peraica
Well, more of your hard-earned tax dollars are going to foot the bill for yet another Stroger crony.
This time, it’s a former Stroger campaign staffer, Ray Harris, who was hired to help the county with collective bargaining agreements (by the way, he’s a former official with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union — just whose side will be he be representing in future county labor negotiations?)
He was supposed to be hired to a one-year, $60,000 contract — but the uproar raised by me and some other reformers forced Stroger to only ask for a one-time $15,000 contract.
Unfortunately, the Cook County Board today voted to approve this crony contract. Commissioner Tim Schneider and I were the only county commissioners to vote “NO” on this contract.
The Sun-Times quoted me following today’s vote:
“This is yet another appointment of a former political worker to the county payroll,” Peraica said. “I think it’s inappropriate. I think it’s something that shouldn’t be allowed or condoned.”
Please click here to watch the video we posted previously in which I discusses this crony contract in more detail.
After November, we’ll be watching closely to see if the newly-elected County Board President decides to continue Harris’ contract — or rightfully cut him from the county payroll.
VIDEO: County Board Update
Recovering from the Floods
The Fox Chicago News story below details some of the efforts to help local residents recover the flood, and highlights the press conference in which Commissioner Peraica participated yesterday.
Please also click here to visit Commissioner Peraica’s county Web site to learn more about flood relief assistance.
In Case You Missed It: Tribune Whacks Endorsers of Stroger, Berrios
Filed under: Blagojevich, Budget, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Reform, Taxes, Todd Stroger
We meant to post this earlier today, because it’s just a wonderful editorial by the Chicago Tribune.
Not only does the Tribune take a nice whack at all those Democrat politicians who endorsed Todd Stroger for County Board President in 2006 — they whack many of those same politicians for endorsing Cook County Board of Review Commissioner/Cook Democratic Party Chair Joe Berrios in 2010:
The list of pols who endorsed Stroger survives online, and for that we’re supremely grateful. His endorsers remain stakeholders in his broken promises, his patronage-larded budgets, and his notorious Friends and Family Hiring Plan.
Much as they might wish voters would forget their Stroger legacy, he’s all theirs:
Mayor Richard M. Daley is on the list, as are Durbin and now-President Obama. So are U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr., Dan Lipinski, Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Five statewide officeholders — Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan, Dan Hynes and Jesse White — also urged the rest of us to elect Todd Stroger.
And here’s the piece about Berrios:
What’s especially galling is that many of those who endorsed Stroger now have endorsed his crony Joe Berrios, a lobbyist, member of the county tax appeal board and candidate for the influential office of county assessor. When not in Springfield lobbying Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (a Stroger endorser) and Senate President John Cullerton (a Berrios endorser), Berrios passes judgment on … tax appeals for clients of Madigan’s and Cullerton’s law firms. That conflict is grotesque.
Good for the Chicago Tribune.
We’re somewhat surprised they didn’t mention the fact that their competitor, the Sun-Times, also endorsed Todd in 2006.
VIDEO: Duck-and-Dodge with Joe Berrios
This weekend’s Fox Chicago Sunday appearance by Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Joe Berrios was very telling.
Watch as Berrios — also the Cook County Democratic Party Chair — pooh-pooh’s questions about him being too cozy with insiders such as State Democratic Chair Mike Madigan who, by the way, is a tax appeals attorney whose law firm brings cases before Berrios.
Is Berrios employing the old “Rostenkowski Defense” (everybody’s doing it, so I should, too)?
The Red Light District, Extortion Edition
Thanks to Publius Forum for shining a spotlight on this latest slap in the face of taxpayers by the Stroger Administration.
This one deals with the Stroger Administrations’ response to suburban Cook County municipalities who have chosen to opt-out of the wrongheaded, troubling Red Light Traffic Camera program:
To mollify the suburban cities the board included an opt out clause in its red-light camera rules. If the cities didn’t want them, they could opt out and keep them out of their areas. Stroger and his extortionist buddies were shocked, though, when “nearly every Northwest Cook County town proceeded to opt out” of his grab for suburban driver’s wallets.
What to do, what to do? Stroger was losing his new revenue stream. How could they stop it?
Eureka! Toddie had an idea…
He could illicitly hold back all maintenance fees for the roads in the offending opting out suburbs until they decide to let him put his red-light leeches in their cities.
So, according to Cook County’s criminal boss, if the suburbs don’t let him have his red-light cameras to bleed the citizens for one more drop of tax blood, why he’ll refuse to fix the country roads in their area.
Please click here to read our previous post about the profiteers and lobbyists behind the Red Light Camera scam.
Let’s Keep That Spotlight Shining
by Tony Peraica
It shouldn’t take a media spotlight to force the county’s patronage czars to stop breaking the law.
A week ago, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration was poised to hire three politically connected job candidates, including the finance chair of Stroger’s election campaign and the wife of a Chicago alderman.
But when county hiring watchdog Mary Robinson started asking questions about the job candidates, the Stroger administration nixed hiring all three, including Ebonie Taylor-Brookins, wife of Ald. Howard Brookins (21st). The alderman backed Stroger in his losing bid for re-election this year, even as many other African-American politicians stood with the eventual winner of the Democratic primary, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th).
Some people criticize me for my vigilance in publicly calling out instances of corruption and pushing for the media to cover the breaches of trust and tax dollars within county government.
This particular instance shows why — spotlight is the best disinfectant.
That’s why I’m running for re-election to the county board … to continue our efforts to bring about reform by keeping that light on the corrupt and the inept who abuse your tax dollars.
Former County Correctional Officer Convicted for Aiding Jail Break
This is what happens when the county’s hiring system is based on illegal patronage instead of actual qualifications:
A former correctional officer at Cook County Jail was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Thursday for helping six inmates escape in 2006.
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