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President-select of the Crook County Board Todd Stroger is backing off a campaign promise to fire the county's controversial patronage chief, Gerald Nichols, who was suspended from his $114,000-a-year job in the wake of a federal probe. Stroger had vowed during the campaign to fire Nichols, and many expected him to do it immediately as a sign of commitment to reform. Instead, Stroger said Tuesday that he would lift the suspension on Nichols and bring him back on board to serve as an advisor.
Adding fuel to the growing flames of fraud and deception in Cook County is yesterday's news that County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno has been keeping lists of people who should and shouldn't be given jobs and promotions, based on their political work for his organization. Considering the level of corruption and general bad shit that Stroger (and his puppet master William Beavers) will be presiding over, we think these are bad signs, although they don't surprise us.
Chicagoist isn't sure how much sense it makes to bring on someone as a "trusted advisor" when you have publicly insisted that he will be fired in January. Both Tony Peraica and Mike Quigley have publicly denounced the move, to which Stroger arrogantly responded: "Maybe they ought to be president". Somewhere deep inside of us, there was a little idealistic voice that said we should give the Toddler a chance. That maybe he couldn't publicly renounce the policies of his father, but that once he was in charge he would change the course of Cook County and try to make things right. Obviously Stroger is the bald-faced liar that we suspected all along he would turn out to be, and can't be believed.
During the campaign, he released a promise to clean up the Juvenile Detention Center. You can read it here. We suggest that you print up a copy of it and keep it in a safe place, because this link probably won't be good much longer. And we are certain that this is one of the (many) promises that will be broken in short order.
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It sure didn't take him long to start breaking campaign promises did it ... then again, I suppose when you are "campaigning" for your place in a hereditary monarchy, you can say anything you damn well please. Princess Todd, heh.
"Maybe they ought to be president." Indeed.
I am sooo annoyed that everyone fell for all of the "Peraica is a radical conservative" stuff. With this, we all need to ask our esteemed representatives who endorsed this corrupt moron "Why?".
Todd should watch out how close he associates with people under Federal investigation, should he find himself in similar hot water.
Alica: You better watch what you say or William Beavers will call you a "Poot Butt"!
ugh: God forbid a Republican run County government. Grover Norquist might start calling the shots in Harvey. Or something.
Dave!: Don't you get the feeling that the Toddler is a little out of his league? I am certain that Beavers won't get caught up in anything Federal. But I doubt Stroger will be able to avoid it. Only time will tell ....
And this is surprising? Get used to it. Stoger will be in there as long as he likes. Cook County voters blew it.
Well, at least a lot of Chicago "progessives" can pat themselves on the back because, well, they didn't help elect a guy who has conservative social views (about which he would be able to do virtually nothing, but who cares about that, right?).
Feeling good, so-called progressives? Hope you feel even better when the county portion of your property taxes keep rising; when the county's bond rating suffers (again, likely to raise taxes); when boys and girls in the juvenile center continue to live in bad conditions; when taxpayer-funded prosecutions/investigations target the county government; and with Beavers and the Daley's pulling Toddler's puppet strings.
And least you so-called progressives took the noble, if wholly symbolic, stand against social conservatism. Yeah, that means a lot. God, these urban ultra-liberals are a pathetic bunch, about as bad as the right-wing uber-patriot Christian types. (No, the urban ultra-libs are not the only ones to blame for Toddler; city residents who apparently base their votes on the color of one's skin also are to blame, as are the barely employable losers who fear losing their useless public jobs should someone actually cut fat at government agencies.)
Best sentence so far from the fledgling Chicagoist political observer: "Obviously Stroger is the bald-faced liar that we suspected all along he would turn out to be, and can't be believed." May as well carve that into stone, because it's going to be a long and bad time with Toddler in charge.
hey vise, your contempt for progressives is charming, but your presumptions about how they/we voted is entirely wrong. EVERY progressive/liberal/half-way intelligent person i know voted for Peraica. So don't blame the progressives...Todd had his daddy's and beavers' machine working in overdrive. they are the ones who passionately care not about the people of coook county, but about their own jobs, and they will do whatever they deem necessary to protect those jobs.
I'm glad I didn't vote for Pereica (who WAS a homophobic nutjob) OR Stroger. Write-ins may (often) end up having a nil effect, but at least I can say I didn't help either of those idiots get into office ...
Well said James,
This 'progressive' voted/settled for Peraica as well. Even though he's an ass too and just a lesser of two evils. I do hate that smug little Toddler though.
Glad to hear that, James. But it's likely I know as many "progressives" who voted for Toddler because they couldn't stomach Peraica's social conservatism. And I know almost as many who just sat out the race as well. Or, wrote in Claypool, which was truly a wasted vote, as it wasn't even recorded.
If you notice, I didn't just blame the urban "progressives," for whom I have great contempt, as they struggle mightinly for dumb causes (talking about people who backed the local min wage hike and foie gras ban, among other causes, instead of attacking the deeper roots of our civic problems). I blamed people who depend on govt (in this case, the county) for jobs and people who vote according to skin color (in this case, the blacks of Chicago).
I don't think urban progressives care about the foie gras ban. Let's not turn 'progressive' into the new 'liberal'--a catch all term that means nothing. People started using the term progressive to distinguish themselves from liberals, intentionally. And unless you are black, it's hard to imagine why you would feel better having a black man in a position of power, regardless of how much of a jackass he comes off as. I'm not defending the black vote for Stroger, I'm just pointing out something that has been pointed out to me on many occasions.
I think that most progressives that are concerned about the Big Box/ Living Wage issue find it alarming that The Powers That Be have presented the working poor in this city the choice of No Job or Shitty Job. Forcing those businesses that make more to pay more, in this case through a Big Box Ordinance, might not be the most well thought-out plan. But it does bring the debate into the public eye.
Ultimately, I think that the Labor Movement needs to decide what it is going to do: organize working people and fight for juctice on the job, or agitate as an interest group so that it can legislate good workplace policies.
All the blacks of Chicago didn't rally around Stroger, the west side was Peraica's, only the south side/south burbs rallied for Stroger.
I voted for Peraica. Must we have the foie gras debate again?
My logic, or at least hope, in having voted for Peraica, who I did and still do consider a nut, and who I definitely don't agree with on various social issues, was that he wouldn't last more than a term.
I further hoped that enough of the Stroger stain would wash away over that term, that come next election, somebody, like Claypool, would get a fair shot at the position. Now we may have an imbecile in office for life, or at least as long as he wants it. Great.
Good point about labels, Kevin, and I agree, though your explanation of the roots of "progressive" are rather simplistic.
What bothers me are people more willing to fight for symbolism--vote for Stroger because he's not a social conservative; local min wage laws targeted against a few corporations, at least one them hated by many; ban on a certain kind of animal liver--rather than do the long-term dirty work needed to do such things as improve public schools (so poor city residents have better shots at higher paying blue-collar and white-collar jobs); or creating a better enviroment for higher-paying jobs in Chicago, including high-tech ones; or a host of other things that are less about feel-good PR battles than about lasting change within our society. What bothers me is that people are willing to support dolts such as Ald Moore, who gives every indication that he cares more about his street cred among a limited number of (ahem) "progressives" than working hard to improve his ward.
Toddler Haters buck up! After the election is when the fun starts (as well as the true job of the citizen/voter) because now you can actually direct your enraged calls and emails directly to his office instead of (or at least in addition to) just ranting on blogs.
Shocked/disappointed/enraged by his latest campaign promise backtracking? Call his freaking office and go off on somebody. He's (theoretically) your employee now, so now it's time to be his boss. Don't totally go off and be abusive, because that will give them an excuse to blow you off, but you can definitely let them feel your anger.
This is especially important for those people who held their noses and voted for the goof. Be sure to mention that fact when you call/email them, "I voted for you because of your promise to _______ and you had better come through or you're not getting my vote again"-type stuff.
The duty of the citizen doesn't end in the voting booth. Granted, it's not some magic wand that will change him into a wonderful public servant, but genuine constituent complaints are something politicians have to respond to. And at least you'll be able to blow off some steam.
Please help me out here with address/email/phone #'s dear cyber folks, I don't have any more time right now.
Four years from now the Greens can run a candidate for Crook County Pres. without needing 25,000 signatures. I'm just saying.
Don't forget, this is the puppet that your wonderful New and Different and Brilliant and Handsome Barack "I Stand for Something" Obama heartily ENDORSED. Barack is different how?
Well the Stroger administration is at it again. I have been unemployed since last January, hence I had to find some type of healthcare insurance. I did manage to get into Access to Care. It helps with doctors visits, and some medications (I have Lupus).
I just received a notice that the Stroger administration has cut off all funds to ATC.
He needs to get a good managerial economists in there who know how to --not only balance a budget, but to run the numbers so the Cook County can run efficiently.
If he does this to us, we may as well lay down and die in front of him so he can step over us a second time.
Disappointed again.