Whodda Guessed? Board of Political Appointees Whiffs On Graft, Mismanagement
By JoshMogerman in News on Jul 28, 2013 9:00PM
When the City of Chicago announced that it would be signing a lucrative contract to privatize management of its now sleepy port, you knew that another shoe would drop… And, this week, it did, in the form of a brutal Illinois Auditor General report excoriating the seeming graft and mismanagement of the Illinois International Port District.
Gee, a shadowy unit of regional government run by appointed board members behaving badly? Whodda guessed?
Except that the report details such galling lapses, it is hard for even the most jaded Chicagoan not to be irked. Sure, some of it is run-of-the-mill scumbaggery, such as no bid contracts and abuse of company cars (including two for the golf pros at the course managed by the port).
But tenants without written leases? A board that didn’t even bother to meet for two years? A $100,000 vacation buy-out for the previous executive director (it sounds like every day has been a vacation at the port for a while…)? No updates to dock fees or payments made to a $15 million loan from the State of Illinois in more than 30 years?
Come on, folks.
The review was requested by the Port District’s new executive director, who completed his first full year in the position in 2012 by bringing the district’s budget out of the red for the first time in decades.
Crain’s political blogger Greg Hinz notes a telling back and forth between the auditor and Authority:
In a letter responding to the audit, district board Chairman Michael Forde said almost all of these irregularities occurred before he took over in December 2011 with orders from Mr. Emanuel to take strong corrective actions. Recent steps to retain private managers to run the golf course and the Port of Chicago cargo operation, combined with other recent changes, "will make many of your recommendations moot," Mr. Forde wrote, adding that the audit was conducted at his request.But Mr. Holland seems not completely convinced that enough change has occurred.
"Simply changing the operating structure without changing operational practices and policies will not make the recommendations contained in this report 'moot,'" he responded. "Rather, the board needs to be vigilant and perform oversight to ensure that deficiencies in district policies and management practices are corrected."
In some ways, the 155-page audit could be viewed as both a ratification of Mr. Forde's move to turn management of the district's core cargo operation over to a private company, Broe Group, for sixty-two years and a caution that the district is in such bad shape it perhaps cannot be trusted to pull off a fair privatization.
With changes to the parking meter privatization deal fresh in the minds of most city dwellers, that is not a comforting final point.
And while the Trib’s ticked off list of financial malfeasance outlined in the audit is irritating, it seems to miss the bigger point.
A lot of that stuff is small ball when you consider the history here.
The interconnection of Lake Michigan and the area waterways are part of what turned Chicago into the fastest growing city on the planet for a chunk of the 19th Century.
While waterborne commerce has been a slowly sinking barge since the decline of the region’s steel industry, the idea that people managing Chicago’s port couldn’t even be bothered to put together strategic plans is utterly deflating.
And it stands as yet another troubling example of how the region’s infrastructure is continually viewed as a marginal chit to be tapped for the good of a few political parasites, as opposed to resource that should be managed progressively to continually improve the economy and quality of life for the broader community.
It's no way to run a city, but this shouldn’t really be a surprise coming from a group whose official website Board Member Biographies page features a photo of people turned away from the camera and facing an empty seat.
Welcome to Chicago.