Chicago Tribune After weeks of whispering about who is actually running Cook County government since Board President John Stroger suffered a stroke, a prominent Democrat raised the question in a public setting Wednesday. "We don't know, essentially, who's running this government," County Commissioner Forrest Claypool said during a board meeting. Claypool, who lost to Stroger in the Democratic primary in March, asked for, but did not receive, information from the administration about who is making policy decisions. "I think it's an important issue to raise. I think it's the elephant in the room," said Claypool. "Right now it might appear, and may in fact be, that unelected bureaucrats are making critical, important decisions that should be made by elected officials as a matter of public policy." County officials responded by insisting that Stroger is still in charge, although last week Stroger's son said his father was not running the county. Claypool said he felt compelled to ask the question now because a number of major issues are looming, including the potential for a strike by county nurses and new budget figures showing the government's finances are on shaky ground. Stroger, 76, has not been seen publicly since he suffered the stroke March 14, one week before the election. He is currently at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, although his family has said he might be moved home within the next two weeks. Stroger's son, Chicago Ald. Todd Stroger (8th), said in an interview with the Tribune last week that he expects his father to make a decision sometime in July as to whether he will remain on the ballot in the fall election. In the interview, Todd Stroger said flatly that his father was not running the county government. Todd Stroger could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Doctors have not provided a medical update on Stroger's condition since the week of the stroke. At that time, they said it was too soon to say whether Stroger would suffer permanent brain damage. On Wednesday, Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, who has chaired board meetings in Stroger's absence, did not ask the administration to respond to Claypool, saying Stroger "has not been declared incapable of running this government." James Whigham, Stroger's chief of staff, told reporters afterward that Stroger was in charge. Whigham said Stroger was a "strategic thinker" whose policies were well mapped out, including contingency plans in the event of a labor strike. Whigham, a former high-ranking Chicago police official and U.S. marshal, said he met with Stroger for three hours a few days ago. But Whigham refused to disclose what they talked about or even if it pertained to county business. Asked if he could name one county-related decision Stroger has made in the last seven weeks, Whigham said he could, but he refused to say what that decision was. "I'm giving you a very fair answer, I'm not going to disclose the confidentiality," Whigham said. Whigham said there is a "transfer of information that occurs" when he meets with Stroger, adding, "There is nothing that has occurred with any of the governmental operations that have not been anticipated or planned for at this juncture where he has to be daily advised or brought into the loop." Claypool, informed of Whigham's comments, called the statements "vague and not very reassuring." Todd Stroger said in the interview last week that since the stroke he has not discussed government or politics with his father, who has been on the County Board since 1970 and is the city's longest-serving Democratic ward committeeman. When a reporter asked Todd Stroger if the reporter could visit his father, Todd Stroger said no, that his mother wouldn't allow it. "Now you've got to think of it this way: You got any children?" Todd Stroger said. "If I tell you I need to see your child because I want to talk to her and grill her ... what are you going to say? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead ask her any questions?" County Commissioner John Daley, who chairs the board's Finance Committee and is seen as its most influential member next to Stroger, said in an interview Tuesday that the day-to-day operation of the county is in good hands with its experienced department heads. "I haven't seen any slowdown or loss of momentum," said Daley, a brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. "I don't think the government is hurting." In terms of policy decisions that the board might need to make, Daley said he speaks regularly with some board members. As an example, Daley and Commissioner Bobbie Steele requested that the board meet in closed session Wednesday to hear from the administration on what contingencies are in place in the event of a strike by county nurses. Last week, the Finance Committee approved a resolution calling on election authorities to send monthly reports on their plans to improve the voting process for November after the March primary came under such criticism. Typically, such a report would go to Stroger's administration. But in Stroger's absence the committee took the unusual step of adding language to ensure that the reports are sent directly to the committee so that the commissioners will see the reports first. Steele said that, so far, the board without Stroger hasn't been faced with a major policy decision. "I'm not really that worried about the day-to-day operations.
I think people are doing what they should do," Steele said. |
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