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.
Sunlight Disinfects: Stroger Axes Appointment of Crony
Last week, we put a spotlight on Todd Stroger’s plans to appoint a crony to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
It appears our efforts have worked, as Todd has decided to succumb to the pressure and “pull” his planned appointment.
A small, yet important, victory for the Cook County taxpayers.
Keep the Roaches Scurrying
If you’ve ever had a roach problem, you know that turning the light on causes the roaches to scurry and seemingly disappear.
Turn off the lights, however, and the roaches reappear.
So it is with the corrupt and inept in Cook County. Shining a spotlight on them sometimes has a short, temporary effect (either through firings or jail time), but as soon as the spotlight is turned off, the roaches reappear….
This morning’s Sun-Times provides a great example of why we need to keep the spotlight on Cook County corruption. And it’s a prime example of why we need to keep Tony Peraica serving on the Cook County board:
The Cook County Highway Department was poised to hire six new truck drivers in recent months — without giving applicants a behind-the-wheel driving test.
When county hiring monitors raised a red flag and began to investigate, one official said, they found three of the six finalists for the snow plow jobs hadn’t provided a driving record as required.
That’s despite letters of support for each candidate — authored by highway department bosses — noting that each applicant had a “good driving record,” said Mary Robinson, the Shakman compliance administrator charged with ensuring the county adheres to a federal court-ordered ban on political hiring.
After Robinson met with county officials, the hirings were nixed.
“It appeared some of the [job] candidates had political sponsors,” Robinson told the Sun-Times.
That’s one of several examples Robinson will provide in a report this week to a federal judge overseeing the Shakman consent decree. Robinson said some progress has been made, including ongoing work on an automated job application system.
But some county employees see the Shakman decree as a hurdle, not a court order.
“There are many people in the county who still feel all they have to do is get it past us, as opposed to changing how they do the hiring.”
Imagine that: the county insiders view the law as a hurdle to be crossed, rather than a rule to be followed.
We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll keep on fighting and making a difference.
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:
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.
Todd Just Keeps On Keepin’ On
Filed under: Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
The county board has repeatedly failed to override Todd Stroger’s veto of the hiring freeze passed by the commissioners — and so it looks like Todd has just kept on doing what he does best: abusing your tax dollars.
As this latest Fox News Chicago report shows, more questionable sweetheart contracts have come to light:
Update from today’s County Board meeting
Filed under: Blagojevich, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Reform, Spending, Todd Stroger
Hypocritical.
That’s what we call the county board’s vote today to boycott Arizona businesses that do business with Cook County — while jumping through hoops to exempt an Arizona-based company that handles red light traffic cameras.
As you can read in this story, Commissioner Peraica voted against the “boycott Arizona” measure, and provided this response to Commissioner Edwin Reyes, who criticized Tony for his vote:
“I take offense at a personal attack like that because to me, as an attorney and an officer of the court, as one who has received the benefits of everything that’s the best the United States has to offer, I feel I have an obligation not to stomp on the Constitution, but to support this Constitution, even when it’s not convenient. Even when it doesn’t please my personal agenda.”
In other news — the county board once again failed to override Todd Stroger’s veto of our hiring freeze. Tony supported this hiring freeze to rein in the abuse of the Stroger administration. Unfortunately, Stroger’s allies on the board were able to block the majority vote.
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.
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.
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