Progress Illinois

Cook County politicians have been talking a lot about reform this week. First, a handful of officials unveiled a proposal that would finally force lobbyists to be upfront about their contracting connections. Then, suburban Commissioner Liz Gorman (R-Orland Park) made the common-sense suggestion that county employees shouldn't be handing out contracts to their relatives. The capstone, however, was the report (PDF) released by Mary Robinson — the court-ordered monitor keeping tabs on Cook County’s expensive patronage habit — as part of her ongoing hiring investigation. Not surprisingly, Robinson found that taxpayers are still forking over loads of cash to keep the county’s payroll padded with under-qualified, yet politically-connected, workers.

This is nothing new.  Reform-minded commissioners have, for years now, occasionally launched incremental efforts to clean up county government. Meanwhile, local reporters have regularly exposed the waste so common in this bureaucracy. But what's clear is that real change won't come until the board president's office makes a commitment to reform.  After all, even with her watching every hiring decision his administration makes, Robinson found that Todd Stroger's staffers continue to feed insiders answers on employment tests, allow favored applicants to skip job interviews entirely, and ignore criminal backgrounds. Stroger's brazen response? "[W]e don’t use clout in our system."

"Sunshine may be the great disinfectant," NBC 5's Steve Rhodes aptly pointed out yesterday, "but cockroaches are immune."  On that note, it was nice to see Democratic board president challenger and Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) voice support for the lobbyist sunshine ordinance noted above.  From a press release:

"Transparency is essential for efficient and effective government," stated Alderman Preckwinkle. "Though lobbyists are an important part of the system, they need to be held accountable by the citizens. This initiative guarantees the transparency that ensures citizens are able to hold their government accountable." [...]

"This initiative is a significant advance towards instituting the real and responsible change that Cook County needs," said Alderman Preckwinkle.

Beyond Stroger, however, there's plenty more blame to go around for the ongoing violations of the historic Shakman decrees, which prohibit politically motivated firings, demotions, transfers, etc. Remember those commissioners who made it clear last year they have no remorse about using taxpayer dollars to bankroll their luxury car leases and pad their incomes? Robinson calls them out for their hiring practices as well. More from her report:

County services are not going to be efficient or capable if politicians press for hiring of candidates who do not have the experience, skill and judgment needed to perform those positions capably. When officials press to have unskilled, inexperienced, and untested persons hired into County positions, those who are expected to place the candidates in jobs have two choices: give them exempt positions for which they are not qualified or manipulate hiring practices to get the sponsored candidate into a nonexempt job.

Robinson's solution? Send them all to Shakman school. That's one idea.  But some voter outrage at the ballot box in 2010 would surely go a lot farther.