Wanna get rich? Work at Metra
Budget crunch? What budget crunch?
Economic crisis? What economic downturn?
It might be easy to see how many state and local government employees might be blind to the challenges facing most taxpayers in this down economy.
Earlier this week, we learned that Governor Quinn has been handing out hefty raises to members of his staff.
Todd Stroger has been on a hiring (and contract-giving) spree to his friends.
And, now the Sun-Times uncovers an apparent taxpayer-funded cash cow at Metra (and here we thought transportation was underfunded)….
Metra paid 151 employees more than $100,000 each last year, excluding health-care costs and Metra-funded retirement contributions. Of the commuter rail agency’s 40 top-paid workers, 15 belonged to labor unions. Philip Pagano, who was Metra’s executive director until taking his own life in the face of an internal Metra investigation, allowed several nonunion employees to trade sick days and vacation time for cash payments. Those buyout payments no longer are allowed.
Click here to see the full list of these employees.
Hmmmm…..
We thought the RTA was in nearing a “crisis point” on state funding (according to this February 2010 story).
And, didn’t the General Assembly just pass a sales tax hike specifically to bail out the RTA?
Apparently your money just went to pad the salaries of the nouveau rich who work at the government agency.
No Pension for Former Melrose Police Chief Convicted of Corruption
No pension for the former Melrose Park police chief convicted of corruption.
That’s the news that the Sun-Times and Fox Chicago are reporting today. Former police chief Vito Scavo — a strong ally and close friend of Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico — had fought to keep his pension. But no dice.
Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico has long been an opponent of reform — and, as such, an opponent of Commissioner Peraica. The Melrose Park machine is strongly backing Tony’s election opponent, McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski.
Please click here, here, here, here, here and here to read our prior posts on Serpico and Scavo.
Fox News Chicago reports:
Peraica: Stroger Appointment of Crony ‘Highly Objectionable’
Commissioner Peraica is quoted in this morning’s Sun-Times about Todd Stroger’s intended appointment of his former campaign manager to the Zoning Board of Appeals:
“I think it would be highly inappropriate . . . now that there’s some evidence that Mr. Stroger has been rewarding campaign workers with contracts, jobs and other taxpayer paid-for gifts which I find highly objectionable,” said Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, a west suburban Republican.
Stroger wants to appoint Vincent Williams, his former campaign manager and a current government lobbyist, to the $38k-per-year position.
Apparently, Williams is no stranger to profiting at the hands of county taxpayers:
Last month, the Sun-Times reported Williams was among the top clout-heavy lobbyists locally, earning $182,000 in fees from City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education, and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority to lobby other governmental agencies.
Nice work if you can get it. Unfortunately, we’re all paying for it.
Another Week, Another Round of Questionable Stroger Contracts
It was only a matter of time.
Todd Stroger’s rein is up in November, but he’s spending his final months making sure friends and allies have their turn at the county tax till.
Today’s Chicago Sun-Times reports on more questionable Stroger contracts — including one to a firm owned by his Deputy Chief of Staff Carla Oglesby, who was at the center of a previously-reported questionable contract:
The Stroger administration now confirms the two contracts, totaling about $50,000, are among a dozen under investigation by the county’s ethics board and inspector general. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office also is investigating, law enforcement sources told the Sun-Times.
They include a public relations contract given to a company by the name of Urban Rapport for $24,975 “to build awareness of the department’s (Department of Environmental Control) energy and conservation program,” according to a letter written by Stroger’s Deputy Chief of Staff Carla Oglesby to green light the contract.
But a check of state and county records shows that Urban Rapport, run by convicted felon and hip-hop promoter Terrell “Shorty Capone” Harris, isn’t a registered businesses in Illinois — a requirement of businesses doing contract work for Cook County.
A similar contract to spread the word about the county’s green initiative was given to Arrei Management Inc., once owned by Stroger’s beleaguered chief of staff Oglesby and dissolved in 2008, state records show. Stroger already suspended Oglesby for signing off on a $24,975 contract for her private public relations firm — CGC Communications — in recent months.
It’s raining money for Todd’s friends in 2010.
Too bad that, while the rest of Cook County is suffering from rampant unemployment, Todd’s friends and allies are having no problems finding Cook County jobs in 2010.
Happy Independence Day!
by Tony Peraica
I hope you, your friends and loved ones have a safe and happy Independence Day weekend. It’s a wonderful time of year to give thanks and celebrate our opportunity to live in the greatest nation on earth. Thank you for being part of our continued fight to declare independence from the corruption that has gripped our county for far too long. Please take a few moments to view this very brief Independence Day video message:
This weekend, I’ll be out walking in a number of parades — please call us at 773-735-1700 if you’d like to walk in any of these parades with us:
- July 3: Riverside (8:45 am)
- July 3: Brookfield (10 a.m.)
- July 3: Lyons (1 p.m.)
- July 5: Westchester (9:30 a.m.)
I hope to see you out this weekend.
Thank you — and God Bless America!
Join us this Sunday for our Annual Picnic!
You are invited to join us this Sunday, June 27 from Noon to 4 p.m. for our annual 16th District/Republican Organization of Lyons Township 4th of July Picnic!
This picnic will take place at the Cermak Park, 7600 W. Ogden Avenue, Lyons, IL (just south of the Cermak Pool.)
This is a free event! Please bring out your friends and family for a day of fun.
Soft drinks and food are provided.
The Curious Case of the Composting Rapper
Todd Stroger and his allies claim they’ve cut the budget “to the bone.”
They’ve justified their tax hikes by saying the county is in dire budget straights and they need more of your hard-earned tax dollars to keep government providing frontline services.
So then why did they provide a $24,795 contract to a rap music promoter as part of a “composting awareness” effort?
That’s right, as you can see from the Fox Chicago News segment below, a rap promoter named Terrell “Shorty Capone” Harris received his contract as part of a $10 million federal grant to promote environmental awareness. So, not only is Cook County wasting local tax dollars — taxpayers across the country can rest assured that Cook County is wasting theirs, as well.
Todd Serves Up Another Tasty Double-Dip
Filed under: Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
The Cook County Board failed to override Todd Stroger’s veto of the board’s hiring freeze. So it appears Todd is going to continue to thumb his nose at the taxpayers by hiring cronies to sweetheart, taxpayer-funded county jobs.
The latest is Todd’s friend, State Rep. Art Turner. You see, he makes more than $87,000 per year as a state legislator.
But now, thanks to Todd Stroger, Turner will also make a $110,575 salary as the director of the county’s President’s Office of Employment and Training (POET) .
Two salaries. Both paid for by the taxpayers. A tasty double-dip.
And Turner will be overseeing a department that has already been the source of much controversy. As the Sun-Times reports:
(POET) has been besieged by by criticism of mismanagement of grant funds, most recently by the presidents of several south and southwest suburban colleges.
“POET’s inability to properly administer … grant funds has cost our Dislocated Worker, Adult and Youth Programs significantly in the past five years,” George Dammer, President of South Suburban College wrote in a letter to Cook County Commissioners.
In a Monday e-mail, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity confirms that POET had to return $8.4 million in grant money between 2003 and 2008 — dollars that could have helped a County whose unemployment rate has hovered between 10 and 11 percent
The job-training program, serving 16- to 24-year-olds in the south and west suburbs, has also been the target of criminal investigations.
Its former financial manager was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $100,000 from the program.
And in 2008, three former POET employees were charged with conspiring with two ministers to siphon more than $2 million from banks and taxpayers for sham training, prosecutors said.
Turner will be on the job for six months, until Stroger’s term expires and a new County Board President takes office. Can he turn around this beleagured program before then?
Perhaps. But we know for certain he’ll cash in at your expense during that time period.
And Todd Stroger can dutifully claim he created good-paying jobs …. among his friends and relatives, that is.
Ethics Lapse in Cook County Government? We’re shocked!
Fox News Chicago reports:
A new Cook County public service campaign surprised some county commissioners and led to an ethics investigation.
Page 36 of Wednesday’s Chicago Sun-Times had a full-page ad promoting the county’s flood relief grant program.
It showed photos of four Cook County commissioners, including Peter Silvestri, who said he had no idea the ad was made.
The problem was the ad violated an ethics law Silvestri helped write, which prohibited the use of names and photos of elected officials in county-sponsored public service campaigns when the politicians have filed for re-election.
You can watch the full video of the news report below:
Local Governments Lobbying Other Governments … At Your Expense
Filed under: Blagojevich, Budget, Reform, Spending, Taxes
The Sun-Times brings us this disturbing look at the lobbyists who are making money at taxpayers expense.
Your local and state governmental bodies are claiming their out of cash (usually as justification for raising your taxes) — yet they are hiring high-paid lobbyists to lobby other governmental organizations.
Yes, you heard that right. Governmental bodies are lobbying other governmental bodies. And they’re hiring private lobbyists at your expense to do it.
According to the Sun-Times, here are five of the “clout heavy” lobbyists and the amount of taxpayer funds used to pay them to lobby other government agencies:
| Langdon Neal chairman of the Chicago Board of Elections |
$508,000 |
| William O. Lipinski former Democratic congressman from Chicago |
$339,459 |
| William Luking longtime lobbyist for City Hall, Chicago schools |
$183,443 |
| Vince Williams former campaign manager for Cook County Board Pres. Todd Stroger |
$182,000 |
-
Get Mobile Updates
