Another Day, Another Federal Patronage ‘Monitor’
Filed under: Corruption, Mayor Daley, Reform, Todd Stroger
Todd Stroger and his allies keep declaring that “patronage” is dead in Cook County … but the feds don’t seem to agree.
Just like the Cook County government, the City of Chicago and the county sheriff’s department - the county Forest Preserve District will now have it’s very own illegal patronage monitor.
Hal Dardick reports in the Chicago Tribune:
The Cook County Forest Preserve District agreed in federal court Wednesday to the appointment of a monitor who will weigh claims of illegal patronage and craft new district hiring procedures.
The district did so to try to “get released” from its 31-year status as a defendant in a high-profile anti-patronage case filed by attorney Michael Shakman, said Dennis White, chief attorney for the district, which has more than 500 employees.
…The Forest Preserve deal in the Shakman hiring case is similar to those agreed to by Mayor Richard Daley, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who also is president of the Forest Preserve Commission, and the county sheriff’s department.
We fully support the efforts of Shakman and the feds to put the clamps on patronage in Cook County … but we think the voters should also start playing a more aggressive “monitor” role by ceasing to elect political hacks who make federal intervention necessary.
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