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.
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?
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.
ONLINE POLL: Is the problem Stroger, the commissioners or both?
As we posted previously, SouthtownStar columnist Kristen McQueary this week called for the ouster of Todd Stroger. But would Cook County problems end if Stroger left office tomorrow? Vote in our online poll below:
We gotcher waste and fraud right here, Todd…
Michael Tams at RedCounty writes about the Cook County Highway Department employees who apparently got paid overtime … for their time off.
Defending the Indefensible Stroger Budget/Tax Increase
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
So, Todd Stroger went before the Chicago Tribune editorial board to defend his massive back-door tax increase proposal.
Yes, the same proposal that was assailed by the Civic Federation.
Yes, the same proposal that Tony Peraica and Forrest Claypool have shown to be unnecessary and irresponsible.
Reports the Tribune’s Hal Dardick in the “Clout Street” blog:
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger stood firm Monday on his effort to issue $740 million in bonds, saying every penny was needed to pay for big projects while maintaining services at the county’s massive public safety and health care systems.
Stroger was defending his proposed 2009 budget before the Tribune editorial board, a harsh critic of his financial policies. The budget calls for nearly flat spending and no new taxes—a year after Stroger pushed through a much maligned percentage-point increase in the county sales tax.
The problem here is that Hal reports the Stroger proposal includes “no new taxes.” The fact is, Stroger’s entire proposal is one big tax increase. It’s putting almost a billion dollars on the credit card in a time of economic uncertainty when the core economic problem was caused by …. a credit crunch.
As Peraica told attendees at a recent Westchester Town Hall meeting:
“The wrong thing in my opinion is to go out and borrow more money and take on more debt … There is no free lunch … Sooner or later someone has to pay for what one consumes.”
You don’t make our county’s employers and workers more competitive by sacking them with increased debt. As Tony has written before, you make them competitive by allowing them to keep more of their heard-earned money.
And you work to streamline and better manage the 25,000-plus county workforce - and reduce the waste, fraud and abuse that is regularly uncovered by Tony and the local media.
Enabling Corruption Through Endorsements
Filed under: Blagojevich, Corruption, Reform, Todd Stroger
Dick Simpson, former Chicago alderman and head of the UIC political science department, pens a commentary in the Chicago Sun-Times that laments the corrupt “Chicago Way” of local politics. His solution to the problem?
First, elect reform candidates to top government positions like mayor, county board president, and governor.
Well, obviously. But it seems like that’s easier said than done here in Cook County.
Perhaps he should go a bit further and place some of the blame with the editorial board of the newspaper in which Simpson’s columns are published.
After all, it was the Sun-Times who endorsed the “dynamic duo” - Blagojevich and Stroger - in 2006. And it wasn’t as if nobody knew about Blago’s scandals back then.
Battleground: Chicago
Filed under: Mayor Daley, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
As many of you may have read, the 500th homicide of 2008 was committed in Chicago during Christmas week.
That’s more than the amount of American soldiers killed in Iraq this year.
So, why don’t we see liberal protestors picketing outside City Hall, or Todd Stroger’s office, or the offices of the members of Congress who represent the city?
Simple: because these politicians still are effective at passing the blame for our city and county’s woes on to others. They’re favorite complaint is that they simply need more of our tax dollars to battle the challenges that face our region.
For example, they say they need more money to fight crime in our city and county. But then they refuse to answer simple questions when tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds are reported misused or missing.
Should we really expect anything more from these politicians? Of course not. After all, these are the same people who have been throwing an increasing amount of tax dollars at our broken educational system only to see it continue to spin its wheels and remain stuck in the mud (and now, we’ll see this failure at the national level as the Chicago Public Schools chief will now head the federal Dept. of Education.)
When Cook County politicians face challenges, they choose simplistic demagoguery to deflect criticism and fool the voters. And we all continue to pay the price.
One final thought as we ponder the 2008 murder rate: how’s that gun ban working, Mayor Daley?
Giving Cook County Employers a Fighting Chance
Filed under: Budget, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger
The Sun-Times’ David Roeder brings us this cheery Christmas Eve story about the impending doom of your favorite Chicago shopping spots.
Analysts believe that the pullback in consumer spending will lead to an unprecedented number of store closings and retailer bankruptcies in 2009. Weak returns from the Christmas season just won’t be enough to sustain some debt-laden chains.
Obviously, the economy is hurting. Consumer spending is down. That would hurt businesses in even the best of tax climates.
But the fact that Cook County has some of the highest sales taxes in the country certainly can’t be helping.
It’s time to do what Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica has tried to do already in 2008: repeal the county’s sales tax increase.
Sales tax relief would provide an immediate stimulus to county retailers and give them a fighting chance against the weak economy. And, it would help struggling consumers who are paying an extra $10 every time they purchase $100 of groceries to feed their families.
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