Two of the five Cook County commissioners who refused to accept furlough days are realizing the public fallout from their actions and are reconsidering their position. more ›

The Cook County Forest Preserve District did some long-overdue spring cleaning, striking down ordinances that prevented juggling, fortune telling and "known" thieves from visiting the preserves. more ›

The Sun-Times reports that U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis is forming an exploratory committee to consider a run for Cook County Board president early next year. The field is already crowded with at least six other officials showing interest. The Chicago Reader has a roundup of the potentials, which includes, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and of course Todd Stroger. Currently there is no clear candidate for the Republican primary. more ›

Late Friday, Todd Stroger and nine other county commissioners worked to close the Cook County budget for 2008. The compromise deal doubled the county parking taxes and raised the sales tax to 1.75 percent - making Chicago one of the highest taxed cities in the nation. Those tax hikes, coupled with an agreement to cede control of the county Health Services Bureau to an independent oversight panel yielded the elusive ninth vote that Stroger had been seeking to pass his budget. Larry Suffredin, who brokered the health services deal, was the swing vote. more ›

According to a new Sun-Times analysis of last Tuesday's county-wide primary races, those candidates that attempted character assassination of their rivals by associating them with unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger lost, almost across the board. Stroger's approval ratings are basically in the same territory as President Bush's—somewhere between rock bottom and Herbert Hoover—so the prevailing logic was that if you could associate a candidate with Stroger, it would be like transferring his unpopularity onto them. Makes sense, right? more ›

21st Ward Alderman Howard Brookins accepted Jesse Jackson's endorsement for Cook County State's attorney Sunday at Jackson's South Side Rainbow/PUSH headquarters. more ›

.] Now Jesse Jackson's candidate Larry Suffredin is under renewed scrutiny for his work as a corporate lobbyist. more ›

Congressman and mayoral wannabe Jesse Jackson Jr made some strange bedfellows this weekend when he announced that he's endorsing Larry Suffredin for Cook County state's attorney. more ›

In other news, Blagojevich says that he will cut $500 million from the budget and spend more on a health plan he favors. Yesterday, Cook County Commissioner and once and future candidate for Board President Tony Peraica announced that he would run for Cook County State's Attorney in 2008, which current three-term State's Attorney Dick Devine will be vacating at the end of his term. "It's time for Cook County to have a State's Attorney... more ›

High noon came and went in the Cook County Board yesterday, and it seems that the bullets hit their mark. It was all about passing the 2005 budget. Three months late, and with a $73 million deficit, Board President John Stroger (at right) refused to make cuts, and instead insisted on increasing hotel and restaurant sales taxes two percent, lifting Chicago taxes to the nation's highest, 19.25%. Cutting the budget would lead to significant service... more ›

It's true: Chicagoist was a one-time bureaucrat. And for that reason, we tend to sympathize with civil servants. Many of them are good, hard-working people who really want to make their town/county/state/country a better place. And then there's Cook County government. Bloated, big and stuffed with people who double as election workers. more ›

"Dead on arrival." -- County Commissioner Larry Suffredin commenting on budget And perhaps for the second time in ten years, Cook County Board President John ("I have a hospital named after me") Stroger may not have the votes to pass his proposed county budget (download exciting copies here). The sticking point for the $3.05 billion budget is over $78 million in new taxes, primarily a two percent increase in restaurant and hotel sales tax, putting... more ›

In case you haven't heard, it's budget time in Illinois, so that means good times for everyone! And since we're no longer in the Go-Go Nineties (much like the "Swingin' Sixties" but different from the "Naughty Naughts"), local governments have a lot of shortfalls and are scratching for every last revenue dollar. more ›

We'll say this upfront: The Big News is that it takes Phoenix $2 million a year and 36 employees to handle all their documents, while it takes Cook County $19 million a year and 279 employees to do the same job. Ever earnest and diligent Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool produced a report this past week suggesting that if we upgraded our computer systems, we could cut the number of employees and save on the County Budget. more ›