Another Week, Another Round of Questionable Stroger Contracts

July 6, 2010 by CookReformer
Filed under: Budget, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger

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.