Hiring freeze? Cook County seems to be adding jobs
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Chicago Sun-Times
By Carol Marin, Sun-Times columnist
July 19, 2006
Has somebody been frantically padding the payroll of Cook
County government since President John Stroger's stroke in March?
You gotta wonder.
According to a couple of printouts I've seen for pay periods
June 11, 2006, to July 8, 2006, it looks to me like the cash-strapped
county has in just four weeks added 408 new employees. Everything
from janitors, clerks and student administrative aides to laundry
workers, law clerks and doctors.
Hmmm.
Is there still a hiring freeze? You know, because Cook County
is facing another giant deficit of about $140 million in the
coming year, forcing it recently to open an emergency $200 million
line of credit at 10 percent interest to pay its mounting bills.
"I'll have to check and get back to you," said county
press spokeswoman Chinta Strausberg.
That freeze may have melted away.
Meanwhile, this very morning, the 15 commissioners of the Cook
County Board will gather to pick one of their own to replace
John Stroger as president. It will be a mere four-month appointment,
a placeholder, until we voters go to the polls and pick a new
president for ourselves in November.
Let's pray today's County Board meeting won't be the sweaty,
pathetic spectacle we witnessed Tuesday as 80 ward and township
committeemen sat cheek by jowl for the coronation of 8th Ward
Ald. Todd Stroger. Surprise, surprise, an overwhelming majority
of these dinosaurs of democracy decided to give Todd his dad's
place on the ballot.
Though West Side Congressman Danny Davis stood before the bosses
and presented his credentials in an eloquent baritone, he needn't
have bothered. With the notable exception of 19 dissenters,
the bulk of Cook County's ward bosses might as well have phoned
in their votes and saved themselves the hot air that filled
the third floor of the Hotel Allegro on Randolph.
"I urge you, my party leaders: please listen and hear the
beat of the not-too-distant drum," warned Davis. "I
tell you the drums are rumbling and the people want to be heard."
Drums? What drums?
The Democratic Party of Cook County couldn't hear the drumbeat
back in 1983 when Harold Washington shocked them by beating
Jane Byrne and Richard Daley in the mayoral primary. Or in the
U.S. Senate primary of 2004 when voters chose Barack Obama over
the party's endorsed candidate, Dan Hynes. Or in 2006, when
at least two of the ward boss picks for judge were rejected
by voters in favor of judicial winners Joy Cunningham and Ramon
Ocasio.
And now, in this most tragic of all examples, they have been
utterly deaf. How else can you explain the debacle the party
has made of John Stroger's succession? We were lied to about
John Stroger's illness, about his ability to conduct business,
and about his mysteriously different signatures on three separate
documents. It was only when the deadline had slipped by for
independent candidates to file for the November election that
we finally learned a little of the truth, that John Stroger
was never coming back.
It's no wonder I can't get a good handle on all these ''new
hires.''
But let me throw a few more numbers your way just for the heck
of it.
According to county payroll reports, in early 2005, Cook County
government had 25,060 employees. Just one year later, in early
2006, even BEFORE John Stroger's stroke, that number had shot
up to 27,292. An increase of more than 2,000 workers.
Breathtaking, isn't it? In a time of severe financial crisis,
the bloated payroll of Cook County took on more water.
And now, if I read the payroll documents on my desk correctly,
in just this last month, another 408 people have landed on the
payroll.
In fairness, maybe these "new hires" replace people
who have retired, or quit, or were fired. Maybe some of them
are just seasonal summer hires. Maybe some provide absolutely
essential services. I'm trying to keep an open mind here but
boy, is that a challenge.
Whoever wins the temporary board presidency today has a daunting
task ahead of them. Possibly it will be Commissioner Bobbie
Steele, a veteran of the board. Or, least likely, Commissioner
Forrest Claypool, who nearly upset John Stroger in the primary.
Whoever it is, they've got just four months to figure out all
the rest of the lies and secrets locked up by John Stroger's
unelected staff. And just four months, to try and do whatever
he or she can do to bale out this sinking ship.
I had to laugh at Tuesday's committeemen circus when 3rd Ward
Ald. Dorothy Tillman, a Stroger supporter, complained,"The
press don't speak for the community ... the press are dividing
the community."
Is that a drumbeat I hear in the distance, alderman?
