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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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.
WGN TV: Stroger’s Furniture Shopping Spree
WGN TV features Tony in this story about Todd Stroger’s “lame duck” shopping spree (financed by the taxpayers) for new furniture…
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