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.
Does Todd Stroger admit an illegal act?
Filed under: Blagojevich, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Spending, Todd Stroger
Please watch the video below of a Fox Chicago Sunday segment set to air tomorrow: at about the 2:55 mark, does Todd Stroger admit an illegal act related to the expenditure of federal funds? The U.S. Attorney needs to investigate.
We’ve limited Todd Stroger’s spending powers
Filed under: Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
by Tony Peraica
Yesterday, the County Board took action to limit Todd Stroger’s power to fire, hire and authorize contracts.
This was in response to the numerous reports of questionable spending by his office (that we’ve detailed on this blog in recent days.)
Please click here to read today’s Chicago Tribune story about the ordinance we passed in the County Board meeting yesterday.
Thank you for your continued support.
Another bad week for Todd…
His February Primary Election loss hasn’t saved Todd Stroger from continued scrutiny of questionable deals at the county.
- Last week, we learned about his taxpayer-funded furniture shopping spree.
- Then we learned of a Stroger aide at Cook County who allegedly steered a $24,995 contract to her company.
- Over the weekend, the Sun-Times reported that Todd’s government-issued credit card was used personal expenses.
Tonight, Fox Chicago has this story about another questionable county check going to an out-of-state Stroger political ally:
Watch Tony on Fox Chicago Sunday
Tony was the featured guest on yesterday’s Fox Chicago Sunday program, discussing ongoing efforts to fight corruption and push for tax relief in Cook County. Tony has been ahead of the curve on these issues for years — and we’re happy that the media and voters are starting to shine a much-needed spotlight on these problems.
Please watch Tony’s interview here:
Crime doesn’t pay, except…
The Sun-Times’ Steve Warmbir today reports that former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo is still collecting more than $7,000 a month from the taxpayers — even after being sentenced to prison on fraud and racketeering charges.
Writes Warmbir:
Vito Scavo — the crooked former Melrose Park police chief — muscled a Catholic church, a movie theater, a children’s amusement park and other businesses in the west suburb to hire his private security firm, which he staffed with on-duty cops.
He also ordered his employees — while on the clock — to drive his car from Illinois to his Florida vacation home.
Scavo, who retired in 2006, was convicted of racketeering and extortion and sentenced in February to six years in prison.
But he’s still getting his Melrose Park government pension — $7,737.88 a month.
Michael Manzo, who ran for Melrose Park village president in 2001 on a platform of replacing Scavo and is now Commissioner Peraica’s Chief of Staff, put it best:
“It’s a disgrace to all the honest cops who are putting into the pension that Vito Scavo is still getting paid.”
Follow the Money: Arce Political Cash, Part II
Remember our earlier post about the politically-connected optical business that received millions in lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts?
Well, it appears that the business owner, Daniel Arce, has utilized his business and the Mexican-American PAC (which he heads) to fill the coffers of some of our “favorite” local politicians:
- Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno: $67,550
- Cicero Town President Larry Dominick: $8,900
We highlight Moreno and Dominick because they are both contributors and strong supporters of McCook Mayor Jeffrey Tobolski — who is running, of course, against Commissioner Peraica in the November election.
Dominick’s “Cicero Voter Alliance” has already contributed $5,000 to Tobolski’s campaign, and Cicero’s municipal attorney, the DelGado Law Firm, has ponied up $2,300. Dominick and his allied political groups and contributors are strongly expected to contribute and/or raise significantly more campaign cash as Election Daw draws closer.
For his part, Moreno has contributed $3,250 to Tobolski.
We also note that Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Joe Berrios has also received significant cash ($12,075) from Arce’s business and the PAC. Berrios, who is running for Cook County Assessor, is at the heart of the controversy over the alleged plot to delay Cook County property tax bills until after the November election (as we detail here).
It seems that whenever you follow the money … it never seems to lead to reform.
Illinois schools out of money? We know where $13 million went …
Filed under: Blagojevich, Corruption, Spending, Taxes
The next time Governor Quinn or Mayor Daley tell you there’s simply no money left for Illinois schools (as part of their sales pitch for higher taxes), please remember this story from today’s Sun-Times.
If you don’t have time to read the story, we’ll sum it up: politicians pass new law to require vision testing in schools; optical business gives big money to Illinois politicians; optical business wins contract; taxpayers lose.
This story focuses on Chicago-based eyeglass business, Tropical Optical, which is run by Daniel Arce, who also runs the Mexican American Political Action Committee. As the Sun-Times reports, Arce’s business and the PAC have “given more than $590,000 in political contributions” to a number of local politicians, including Rod Blagojevich.
And, not surprisingly:
Since 2000, Arce’s company has gotten more than $13 million in taxpayer money to provide eye exams and glasses for more than 60,000 uninsured students from Chicago’s public schools, as well as providing vision tests for his rapidly growing Medicaid business, which has become one of the biggest in the state.
Please click here to read the full story.
And the next time a local politician cries poor, claims the government coffers are dry, and asks you to pay more in taxes — remember this one, small story of how your taxpayer money is really being spent to benefit not students, but a politically-connected businessman.
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