The Successful Reign of Todd Stroger

August 14, 2009 by Tony Peraica
Filed under: Blagojevich, Budget, Corruption, Crime, Elections, Reform, Spending, Taxes, Todd Stroger

At first, we though this story was a satire — ripped out of the pages of The Onion newspaper.

But we then remembered that this is Cook County, where suspension of disbelief is the norm and failure is rewarded on a regular basis.

We’re not sure exactly how Micah Maidenberg defines success, but apparently Todd Stroger fits into that definition, as evidenced by this quote attributed to Stroger himself:

“There’s plenty of people who feel I’m doing a good job, and then there’s plenty of people who read the newspapers and don’t know what’s going on in the county, because they don’t report what the county does,” Stroger said during a recent interview at his downtown office with Austin Weekly News staff. “When we have a story about what is happening with the county dollar today, we can’t get that in the paper so people don’t know what’s going on.”

If success is defined as a bloated budget, a worsening jobs climate, and rampant corruption — then this story is right on track.

Maidenberg throws in this little jab at those who have dared hold Todd accountable:

His critics on the board have decried Stroger’s successful push for a 1-percent increase in the county share of local sales taxes. They’ve also condemned his hiring decisions and questioned his leadership.

Actually, it’s not just the critics on the board who have raised those issues. It’s the major newspapers. It’s the taxpayers. It’s the voters in border towns who have supported (successfully) ballot measures to secede from the county. It’s the employers, who continue to flee Cook County.

And, in terms of hiring decisions, perhaps it’s not fair to criticize his hiring of a busboy with a troubled record to a highly-paid position in the highway department. Even when that busboy-turned-county employee ended up in jail and the circumstances led to the firing of Stroger’s cousin from the position of county Chief Financial Officer.

Just as Todd did when he tried to tie me to George Bush in 2006 — he attempts to avoid accountability and criticism by personally attacking those on the board who oppose him (a bipartisan contingent, we might add, that now even includes John Daley.)

By any reasonable measure of effective government, Todd Stroger has failed.

And, if newspapers like the Austin Weekly News can sell more papers by celebrating this failure — then more power to them.

But shame on them.