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Stroger's magazine not the best idea for problem-plagued
county
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Southtown Star Editorial
July
30, 2008
Let's imagine you're an elected official. Public image is
important. You want constituents to think well of the job you're
doing. You want to get the word out about the good things your
office is doing.
Here are a few ways to guarantee just the opposite occurs:
• After a bitter election, during which nepotism becomes
a major issue, load up the payroll with a dozen of your best
friends, in-laws and other assorted relatives and pals.
• Promote your cousin to your office's top financial job.
• Propose a budget that does nothing to pare years of
bloat and deficit. Announce that a big sales tax increase is
the only way to close the gap.
• Immediately after pushing through said tax hike, give
your cousin a $17,000 raise. Conveniently forget that only months
earlier you bragged about how she was being paid less than her
predecessor.
• Spend $1 million on your office's public relations department.
• Make your employees sign confidentiality agreements
- for life.
• Despite all of this, proclaim you're doing a "damn
good job." And to prove it, launch your own magazine to
spread the word. Set aside $24,999 for it, conveniently just
$1 under the amount requiring board approval. Promote it as
an "independent" publication, even though you get
the final say on what goes into it.
Ah, Todd Stroger, when will you ever learn?
The Cook County Board president is like a walking, talking textbook
of all the things not to do if you want a positive public image.
We can't imagine who is advising him on all of this, but might
we suggest it's time to seek out other opinions?
No magazine, news release or media conference can ever replace
the benefits of hard work and honesty. We can only lament that
Stroger seems more preoccupied with casting himself in a good
light than undertaking what he must know needs to be done. If
he doesn't, heaven knows every newspaper in Cook County has
tried to point him in the right direction.
Talk about your missed opportunities. Had he rolled up his sleeves
and really looked for waste in the budget rather than taking
the easy tax hike route, had he actually created the "transparent"
government he promised rather than using gag orders and "spin"
professionals, we might be the ones declaring a job well done,
rather than Stroger having to do it himself.
Heck, had he just worked with the federal official appointed
to root out patronage abuses, we'd be ready to cheer. Cook County
is plagued with so many daunting problems, even baby steps toward
change would be welcome.
It's not too late. But doing things like wasting county money
on an unnecessary magazine is not the way to go.
