Progress Illinois

Forget the grandstanding about a moratorium on foreclosures. And the debate about how the shortcomings of the Cook County state's attorney's office are at the root of the county's malfeasance. That was just chatter.

According to Commissioner Mike Quigley, the insiders' talk at this week's Cook County board meeting was about which friends and family members officials would add to the county payroll once they get the final nod to stick the taxpayers with $740 million worth of new debt.

"The story that isn't being told is what are they going to do with that money," Quigley said. "This is just that they want more money to play with."

County Board members who supported taking on the debt -- along with refinancing $3 billion more -- say they approved a stop-gap measure to fill pension, liability, and other funds. Those accounts are low, they say, because officials are still awaiting the payoff on the $426 million sales tax hike approved earlier this year.

With interest rates holding steady, the rush to refinance does raise questions. But county business has long been a head-scratcher, dominated by so many insider deals that even commissioners (particularly the reform-minded ones) have a tough time keeping tabs on the back story.

That, coupled with Quigley's prediction, lends merit to attorney Michael Shakman's concern over a board decision this week to tap an insider, Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Blanchard, as the county's new inspector general.

Shakman recently went up against Blanchard, who represented the county in a pricey patronage lawsuit involving 100 people who argued they were passed up for jobs or promotions because they lacked clout. Commissioners, earlier this month, agreed to a $3.2 million settlement in the case. Board President Todd Stroger said the ruling marked the end of patronage. A federal hiring monitor has begged to differ, however.

"You cannot be a lawyer for a party accused of illegal misconduct in federal lawsuits and then take off your lawyer's hat and begin to enforce against your former clients the very rules your former clients were accused of violating," Shakman told the county board this week. He then pledged to commissioners that he'll see them in court where he'll legally challenge their decision to hire Blanchard.

The usual suspects -- Commissioners Larry Suffredin, Forrest Claypool, Tony Peraica, and Quigley -- voted against taking on the latest round of new debt, which will increase the county's annual debt payments to $220 million from $184 million. But Suffredin left himself open to criticism by voting to make Blanchard inspector general. And, it's not the first time this year. The Evanston commissioner also faced criticism following his decisive vote on this year's historic sales tax rate increase.

Just how the spending will actually play out, and who will take up the task of scrutinizing it, remains to be seen when the budget is rolled out sometime later this fall.

Stroger maintains that patronage is dead. Period. And political hiring won't be an issue.

But the Sun-Times saw it this way in a Sept. 8 editorial:

You've seen monster movies. You know the drill: Near the end of the flick, you think the monster is dead. The good guys have shot it, stabbed it, smashed it, hurled it into a fiery pit.

The village fool comes out and merrily announces, "The monster is dead."

But darn if that monster doesn't get up one more time, for another lunge at the jugular.

Or in this case, another lunge at taxpayers' wallets.

By the way, if you live in Cook County, check your mail box. A new tax bill is on the way.