Another Round Of County Board Follies
By Kevin Robinson in News on May 13, 2010 3:20PM
Amid the hoopla over Carla Oglesby's alleged steering of a county contract to her PR firm, one voice has been absent in the local news: Carla Oglesby's. But no more! In an interview with ABC7 Chicago, Oglesby defended her work before the county. "I think working for President Stroger period is a political liability, how about that?" said Oglesby in defense of her work with the county. She says she sees nothing unethical about her business, CGC Communications, getting a contract worth $24,975 - $25 below the threshold of county board oversight. "You certainly can be working on a campaign or for any other client and be working for the county on a project. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and certainly nothing illegal about that," she told Ben Bradley.
And a newly released list of top-level employees in the president's office shows that Stroger has hired six new people since losing re-election in the February primary. And while salaries range from $95,000 to $150,000, three of those hires are being paid more than the County Board set in its original budget. Among the new hires is Frank Gardner, a River Forest lawyer that made contributions to Stroger's 8th Ward organization. Gardner was hired by Stroger last month as an ethics counselor for the county's Human Rights Commission at a salary of $95,000. That job is budgeted for $64,000.
While Todd Stroger has entered the "Screw It" zone, figuring he might as well soak the county while he's got some days left in his tenure, a newly released report produced at the request of county commissioners shows that he's not the only one doling out raises and jobs. Staff in the county's health and hospital system were given raises, as were staff in County Clerk David Orr's office. Chief Judge Tim Evans and commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy, both South suburban Democrats, gave raises to their staff. And county commissioner Forrest Claypool, who is running as an independent for county assessor made the list, promoting Sarah Cochran to his vacant chief of staff job, with a salary bump from $54,436 to $74,665. Claypool pointed out that it's less than the $90,000-plus her predecessor earned, and that her old job will remain vacant. Louise Pollok, another Claypool staffer took up some of Cochran’s duties, and her salary went from $49,947 to $53,000. While Claypool argues that the moves saved the county money, “it may be a technical violation’’ of the hiring freeze. “We will correct the one error if we’re told that money-saving maneuver is out of sync with the ordinance," he told the Sun-Times.