Progress Illinois

Last week, FOX News Chicago exposed how some Cook County commissioners are converting a $1,200-per-month expense account into personal income or using it to lease a car or pay off their own education expenses.  Like many stories of government waste in Chicago, the FOX investigation surfaced, caused some brief consernation, then quietly slipped away.  When confronted by FOX's Dane Placko about his pocketing of the monthly checks, Comm. William Beavers' brazen response said it all.  Watch:

No one should be "all right" about Beavers turning taxpayer dollars into a de facto $14,000 pay raise. We decided to follow-up on the story to learn what -- if anything -- is being done to address the issue.  What we found is that Commissioners Mike Quigley and Tony Peraica are angling behind the scenes to eliminate the $245,000 contingency fund from next year's budget. Until Board President Todd Stroger rolls out the much-anticipated 2009 spending plan, however, nothing's likely to happen on this front.  In the meantime, Quigley and Comm. Larry Suffredin are drafting a proposal for stricter oversight on how the money's being spent.

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Last month, the Tribune reported that pollution in Northeastern Illinois was among the worst in the nation. New research released this week again shows why people living in the region ought to hold their breath.

The new report found that residents of two heavily-populated regions of California are more likely to die from a pollution-induced respiratory illness than a car wreck. The study -- conducted by California State University -- further detailed how this spike in health problems has impacted on the local economies. According to the research, reducing particulate levels 50 percent to meet high federal standards would prevent:

- 2,760 hospital admissions
- 2,800 trips to the ER
- 18,060 cases of bronchitis
- 141,370 asthma attacks
- 3,860 pre-mature deaths

The savings to local governments in the two regions: $28 billion per year.

There's reason to believe that Chicagoland residents are at greater risk than their California counterparts and similar efforts to cut down on pollutants would have an even larger impact here. 

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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.

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It's not uncommon for an unpopular politician to take a "shoot the messenger" stance against the media. Last spring when Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was embroiled in controversy over his hiring of friends and family he dismissed the accusations against him, saying that he was the victim of an overzealous local press. Stroger said he would respond to complaints about nepotism (and the county tax hike) not by re-evaluating county administration or sitting down with his political opponents, but through a massive public relations push. Here's how he laid it out in an interview with CBS2's Mike Flannery:

"I don't think that most people understand the county and what we do. We will try to let them know in the future. We are working on a cable station. We'll be working on passing out little newsletters about what is happening in the county, and that has also been one of the political issues."

In our coverage of Stroger's comments, we pointed to his cable access show -- "A Look Inside Cook County" -- as a sign of things to come.

But now it appears that one of the board president's efforts to re-shape the media landscape has ended badly. Very badly. Last November, the Stroger administration gave $24,999 to a publishing company to produce Cook County magazine, which would provide "regular, positive press -- to counter-balance negative press often found in the mainstream media." As the Sun-Times notes, $24,999 is "one dollar under the amount that would have required the approval of the full Cook County Board."

Unfortunately for Stroger, the magazine's first issue -- which features a profile of his father and predecessor John Stroger -- will never see the light of day.

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Cook County President Todd Stroger spent a good part of his recent interview with CBS2's Mike Flannery identifying all who had wronged him. It was a long list. Not surprisingly, political opponents from both parties were singled out by the beleaguered board president. But Stroger reserved his most pointed criticism for the media.

Referring to bad press as the administration's "hardest thing right now," Stroger took aim at the Chicago Tribune:

"Commissioner [Mike] Quigley can say anything and it will get into the Tribune editorial board, so he’s been able to have them write what he thinks. We won’t get them to write what we think because we are on different pages really."

Here he is on the Sun-Times:

"At least half of the stories are wrong but it’s just done because she [Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin] is asking someone who would not like to see me here, and I generally assume that it’s probably [...] Forrest Claypool because most of her columns sounded exactly as he speaks. And she writes as if what she's saying is true when in reality it isn’t."

Stroger clearly thinks the local papers are nothing more than mouthpieces for his political opponents. That's what made some of his final comments a little disconcerting. When asked if there was anything he wanted to add, Stroger announced that he plans to ramp up county PR efforts, including TV programming and "little newsletters":

"I don't think that most people understand the county and what we do. We will try to let them know in the future. We are working on a cable station. We'll be working on passing out little newsletters about what is happening in the county, and that has also been one of the political issues."

A cable station?

(More after the jump ...)

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