Chicago Sun-Times

With notorious gang leader, two officials showed miserable judgment

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 12:30:50 -0500

They called Larry Hoover “Chairman,” but he wasn’t your traditional business executive. For decades, though he was behind bars on a murder rap, Hoover ran the Gangster Disciples street gang, directing its drug trafficking and other illicit activities, according to law enforcement authorities. And Hoover was no two-bit hustler. Back in the 1990s, his Chicago-based operation was making an estimated $100 million a year. Around the same time, Hoover was trying to reshape his and the gang’s public image. “GD” no longer stands for “Gangster Disciples,” Hoover’s people preached. It’s now “Growth” and “Development,” meaning jobs, pride and political empowerment …

Register to vote, to clean up politics

Sat, 21 Sep 2013 23:46:00 -0500

In 2008, the year of Barack Obama’s historic election, 6 million Americans wanted to vote but couldn’t because they weren’t registered, according to the U.S. Census. Some missed a registration deadline; others didn’t know they had to register, or how to do it. Now, five years later, 50 million people across the country still aren’t registered, and a disproportionate number are Latino or African American — minority groups that historically suffer the most when elected officials ignore the problems in their neighborhoods, including high crime and unemployment, failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and a toxic environment. In Springfield, state lawmakers don’t …

Let’s take a vote on dumping Gov. Lite

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 22:40:00 -0500

It’s Gov Lite time. But we’re not talking about beer, diet soda, or lo-cal meals. This is the quadrennial ritual that features candidates for Illinois governor announcing their running mates for lieutenant governor — aka Gov Lite or Lite Gov — an elective office that’s the political equivalent of an ice salesman at the North Pole. Or, as the late Chicago weatherman P.J. Hoff put it: “Vice president in charge of looking out the window.” But superfluous or not, some candidates have already picked their partners, others are still going over their dance cards, and all are playing the same …

Some legislators deserve credit for giving reforms a boost

Sun, 08 Sep 2013 02:42:10 -0500

BY ANDY SHAW. Thankfully, our reform allies on city, county, suburban and state governing bodies stay the course, put the objections aside, and try to get the good government initiatives passed.

West suburban fire board pumped up chiefs’ pensions, promoted trustee’s partner

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 02:11:30 -0500

THE WATCHDOGS: A west suburban fire department that serves parts of Darien, Burr Ridge, Willowbrook and unincorporated DuPage County gave raises to two chiefs and an assistant chief in deals that accompanied their departures, pumping up their pensions and clearing a path for the rise of a battalion chief who is now in a civil union with a member of the board that approved the deals, records and interviews show.

How a $200 million township school treasurer’s office stuck it to taxpayers

Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:20:00 -0500

BY ANDY SHAW. One of the more shocking revelations about the treasurer: He didn’t keep a budget. More than 200 million tax dollars coming in and going out for expenses, consultants and salaries, but no annual spending plan?

IDOT twists law on political hires

Sat, 24 Aug 2013 15:58:01 -0500

Every so often we hear about crazy old laws that are still on the books but rarely enforced. Like: It’s illegal to drive with an un-caged bear, play cards on Sunday, or spit on a sidewalk — stuff like that. Sadly, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision aimed at limiting patronage hiring in state government has gone the way of those goofy old laws: Still in effect, but ignored and treated with disdain, though it’s hardly goofy or crazy. The Better Government Association found the Illinois Department of Transportation — a large agency under the governor’s control — has been …

Smaller Council could improve accountability

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 09:56:36 -0500

In the early 1900s, when Chicago was burnishing its reputation as “hog butcher for the world,” a bloated City Council seated 70 aldermen — two from each of its 35 wards. City officials increased the number of wards to 50 in 1923, but in a rare show of efficiency, they cut the number of aldermen to 50, or one per ward. And that’s how it’s been ever since. Except when there’s a temporary vacancy after a corruption conviction, which is often. So here’s today’s question: After 90 years, should the Council go on another diet? The numbers suggest a “yea” …

Doctors stiffing Cook County

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 06:25:21 -0500

Over the past year the BGA tracked the comings and goings of several county doctors — all with outside practices in addition to their public-sector jobs — and found one of them was at his side job or at home on various occasions when he was scheduled to be working at county-run Stroger Hospital on Chicago’s West Side.

Wiggins’ donation to Preckwinkle yet another sign of how Metra leadership works

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 06:46:29 -0500

Which moves faster — a Metra train filled with commuters, or a Metra scandal filled with resignations, revelations and investigations? Let’s call it a tie. And then move on down the line to shed more light on another Metra story you may have seen in the Sun-Times last Sunday. This one features Alex Wiggins — one of the two people who are temporarily running Metra — and how he quickly learned the “Chicago Way” after coming here from far away, the West Coast, where he held several administrative jobs. Wiggins was hired in 2012 as one of Metra’s deputy executive …

THE WATCHDOGS: RTA weighs hiring firm linked to House Speaker Michael Madigan

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 06:05:23 -0500

THE WATCHDOGS: The Regional Transportation Authority’s board chairman put off plans to award a consulting contract for as much as $120,000 to a Chicago firm with ties to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan even as former Metra CEO Alex Clifford detailed allegations that Madigan tried to use his clout to get a raise for one Metra employee and a promotion for another.

Time for a tiff over TIFS

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:15:52 -0500

It’s time for another serious look at the pros and cons of Tax Increment Financing in Chicago — a tiff over TIF — the controversial economic development program that’s supposed to revitalize struggling neighborhoods by offering financial incentives to potential investors. The “sweeteners” come from property taxes that, to a large extent, might otherwise be spent on education, housing, parks, libraries, and public safety. That’s defensible when there’s enough tax revenue to go around, but it’s problematic in lean times, like now, when Chicago is closing schools, firing teachers, reducing library hours and trying to fight violent crime with fewer …

Ill. integrity laws better than most

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 06:28:37 -0500

‘Integrity” is not a word we generally associate with state government in Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Louisiana. “Corruption” is a more likely answer on a multiple-choice test, based on the sheer volume of high-visibility scandals involving their top public officials. But counterintuitive as it may seem, those states occupy four of the top six spots on the Better Government Association’s new 50-state “Integrity Index,” which measures the strength of basic government integrity laws in four key areas: Open Meetings, Freedom of Information, Whistleblower Protection and Conflict of Interest. Those laws are supposed to make government accessible, transparent and …

Some begging for inspector general

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 06:37:57 -0500

Here’s a basic tenet from Watchdog 101: The office of inspector general is one of government’s best anti-corruption tools, but only if it has authority, resources, independence and integrity. And those are big ifs. For instance, Chicago’s IG, Joe Ferguson, is considered the gold standard, unless you work in the mayor’s office at City Hall. Ferguson aggressively pursues traditional misconduct by city workers — knucklehead stuff like employees living outside the city, stealing supplies or doing political work on city time. But he also vets the Emanuel administration’s programs, policies and contracts — often to the mayor’s chagrin — which …

Big Brother aims at free press

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 06:35:56 -0500

Government officials from the White House to the field house, and every public building in between, often react to probing questions from investigative journalists and civic watchdogs with exaggerated levels of irritation normally reserved for invasions of swarming gnats at picnics. The give-and-take is inherently laced with tension and animosity as crafty, cagey and sometimes corrupt public officials duck and dodge dogged reporters digging up details. But this edgy relationship, which is essential in a healthy democracy, has turned ugly lately as hostile government forces aggressively try to intimidate those who question their motives, methods and manipulations. That’s not so …

Taxpayers deserve ‘golden parachute’

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 06:36:01 -0500

‘Golden parachutes” may ensure soft, comfortable landings for high-level officials as they float down from lofty government jobs, but those excessive severance packages drop like lead balloons on the backs of taxpayers who get crushed by the cost. Big bye-bye bonuses are especially offensive when the beneficiaries already have been generously compensated and sufficiently coddled in their executive positions. The latest extravaganza, replete with a “gag order” so the participants can’t discuss it publicly, is the Metra board’s departure deal with CEO Alex Clifford, which could end up costing taxpayers and riders more than $750,000. That puts Clifford in the …

Legal fights waste your tax money

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 06:30:51 -0500

‘You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” An adage that’s certainly true in some cases but not, unfortunately, in the watchdog business in Illinois. Sometimes saying “pretty please” to government officials gets you zip. So organizations like the Better Government Association have to brandish a swatter to get the accountability we’re entitled to from the officials who spend our tax dollars. And that’s where the courts come in. The BGA has been directly or indirectly involved in a dozen lawsuits and other legal actions in recent years in the fight for open, honest government. Our court actions, handled by …

Pension deal must address abuses

Tue, 16 Jul 2013 06:28:02 -0500

Illinois lawmakers are returning to Springfield on Wednesday for a special session on the pension crisis. They’re searching for a plan that’s fiscally sound, constitutional, politically palatable and capable of winning passage in the Legislature. So far they haven’t found it, which is no surprise because it’s a daunting challenge. But they have to, and soon, because state and local pension systems are heading toward insolvency, and current pension obligations are gobbling up too many scarce budget dollars. So reform is imperative, and that means — in addition to a comprehensive fiscal solution — a targeted ethical cleansing that outlaws …