Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Politics / Clout City Your latest Cook County scandal
Posted by Alex Parker on 02.08.11 at 02:19 PM
With Todd Stroger gone, where to look for the latest eyebrow-raising fiscal gamesmanship in Cook County? Look no further than Maria Pappas, the county treasurer who was once mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate.
CBS2 and the Better Government Association have taken Pappas to task for a series of creative employment arrangements that include having her former housekeeper and a $95,883-a-year driver-cum-project leader on staff.
The latest salvo includes disclosure of a $50,000 office makeover, which is reminiscent of Stroger’s much-criticized purchase of more than $13,000 of new furniture as he finished his term. The CBS/BGA report also said some of Pappas’s staff was forced to work at parties celebrating “various ethnic [holidays] and events,” which some former staffers said were campaign events designed to raise her profile in Chicago’s ethnic communities.
The report found Hazel Barr, a well-known social butterfly who has been planning events in the area for at least 35 years, is a designated Pappas party planner, earning more than $95,000 with the title of an assistant treasurer.
Perhaps Pappas, who denies any wrongdoing, was taking notes from Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, whose bid for County Board president was sunk after widespread reports that she urged staffers to donate to her campaign funds, and evidence of spotty bookkeeping for the now-defunct Jeans Day fundraisers came to light.
In all, the CBS/BGA report identified more than $343,181 in what they call “questionable salaries” in the treasurer’s office. Cook County commissioners are pondering the 2011 budget, in which County Board President Toni Preckwinkle demanded 21 percent cuts across the board this month. The county is facing a $487 million budget deficit.
Pappas’s budget faces a 5 percent reduction. Most of those cuts are coming from salary; the budget calls for five job cuts, and continues the downward trajectory of the treasurer’s budget, which was nearly $10 million in 2007, about $6 million in 2009 and is recommended to be $5.2 million this year.
Pappas has agreed to conduct a desk audit, which would consider each employee’s qualifications and job title. Many county jobs are given out-of-date job titles, which do not match their current duties. The sheriff’s office, for instance, employs a number of elevator operators, whose jobs do not include pushing buttons, but rather staffing information kiosks at county buildings.
Comments (6)
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Mr. Parker:
I thought that journalistic integrity meant checking your facts. Unfortunately you choose to perpetuate false and inaccurate statements about employees of the Clerk’s Office and Clerk Brown’s campaign fund, and the ultimate dead story, Jeans Day, which has truly seen its day.
Here are the facts for your information and future reference:
In both instances Clerk Brown a true believer in transparency in government, requested that the Office of the Independent Inspector General of Cook County conduct investigations on both issues.
Here is what the Inspector General found and I quote from the Report: “Neither statements provided nor statistical information supports the allegation that Brown pressured her employees to make contributions to her campaign fund. In fact, the evidence is quite the contrary. All statements provided, …………., support Brown’s claim that she has not coerced her employees to make contributions to her campaign, and has made it clear to them that such contributions are strictly voluntary. This is primarily evidenced by the fact that at least 50 employees in key management positions made no itemized contributions at all during the relevant time period, while at least four employees who did make contributions were terminated nonetheless.”
The Independent Inspector General in another Report found that there was no wrong doing concerning the accounting or distribution of Jeans Day funds, although it said that if the program continued, there could be improvement in the initial collection process. I quote from the Report, “The investigation did not result in the identification of specific witnesses or documentation to support an allegation of misconduct or wrongdoing related to Jeans Day collection and disbursements.”
You may have forgotten the conversation you and I had when you came to our office concerning Jeans Day. I told you how the money was spent and for what purpose especially the story about an employee who prematurely passed away after giving birth. We raised money to help feed and clothe her baby.
If you need further clarification, give me a call. 312-603-5690.
Enza Raineri
Chief Public Information Officer
Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County
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Good for you Ms. Raineri, it's time for people to stand up to the media and their incessant use of false information and lazy fact-checking. The question is whether there is any journalistic integrity left and whether Mr. Parker would dare call himself a journalist in the first place.
"it's time for people to stand up to the media and their incessant use of false information and lazy fact-checking"
Especially when one is a PR flack collecting a public salary. Would it be unfair of me to assume that you are not in the private sector yourself?
Dear Enza Raineri,
As Chief Public Information Officer, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, you state Clerk Dorothy Brown is "a true believer in transparency in government."
To eliminate any misunderstanding, and to understand the facts regarding "Jeans Day", please post the URL link to the Cook County webpage which details the complete bookkeeping and accounting of "Jeans Day" funds.
I looked, but could not find it. Unfortunately, I was not present during your private conversation with Mr. Parker, in which you claim to have told him how the money was spent.
Cook County taxpayer
