Chicago Tribune Letter to the Editor
May 25, 2006
The Tribune recently published an interview with Cook County
Commissioner Tony Peraica, the Republican nominee for Cook County
Board president ("Stroger, others in spotlight now; Peraica
wants it Nov. 8," Perspective, May 14). In his remarks,
Peraica made false statements about my positions in the recent
Democratic primary election.
At no point in my campaign for county board president did I
advocate "privatization and massive layoffs," as Peraica
asserts. Quite the contrary, I called for cutting a top-heavy
bureaucracy larded with high-paid political appointees and using
those dollars for more front-line service workers. Cook County
has for years diverted untold millions from front-line services
to fund an ever-increasing layer of "supervisors"
and "managers" fielded from the political ranks. As
a result, Cook County has insufficient nurses to provide appropriate
patient care, inadequate numbers of laborers to keep our Forest
Preserves clean and too few jail guards to keep dangerous criminals
from escaping Cook County Jail. County government is a mess
and predictions of hundreds of millions in budget deficits again
this year only underscore the need for dramatic reform.
Forrest Claypool
Cook County commissioner
Chicago
