Todd Stroger, Still in the News
A sassy Todd Stroger ponders the future of paychecks. Todd Stroger, the soon-to-be-unemployed Cook County Board President, is being called upon to fight Carla Oglesby's unemployment claims. Oglesby was arrested last month on charges of fraud and official misconduct after allegedly steering no-bid county contracts to her private public relations firm. Under Illinois law, employees that are terminated for misconduct in connection with their work, or are terminated for theft or a felony on the job may be disqualified from an unemployment claim. County commissioner Larry Suffredin of Evanston intimated that he approached Stroger shortly after Oglesby's arrest. "I said, 'You know we need to fight this claim,' and he said he didn't know what he was going to do," Suffredin told the Sun-Times. Because of that perceived indecision, both Suffredin and South side commissioner John Daley have drafted a written resolution calling on Stroger to fight the claim. Between the arrest and the claims of ethics violations alleged by the county inspector general, "I think that's sufficient grounds to reject unemployment compensation," said West suburban commissioner Tony Peraica. "We're instructing the CEO of this county to take a position, to tell him the board wants an objection filed," Suffredin told the Sun-Times.
Meanwhile, Stroger has sent a proposed ordinance to the county board of commissioners that would change the way the county's medical examiner is appointed. The proposed ordinance would eliminate the position of county coroner and and create the position of medical examiner, as well as require that the office's "top official is selected by the board president with the consent of the county commissioners." Unfortunately for Stroger, the medical examiner is already selected in this manner, and has been since the 1970's. "There may be a technical reason for doing this that we're not aware of," Suffredin told the Sun-Times. Nevertheless, "this whole administration becomes more of an enigma as it winds down," Suffredin added, saying that he doesn't think the board will "move on" the proposed ordinance.