Free Republic

Cook County's 'country club' hospital Oak Forest Hospital is virtually empty -- and far overstaffed May 17, 2010 BY LISA DONOVAN AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters Cook County-owned Oak Forest Hospital is known by doctors and nurses in the public health system as the "country club." They aren't referring just to the 340 rolling acres the hospital sits on, or the pond that beckons geese, ducks and brown-bagging staffers. » Click to enlarge image On a given day, more than two-thirds of Oak Forest Hospital's beds are empty, and about a fifth of its buildings are vacant. An entrance by...

<p>The 1890s Chicago City Council was notorious for corrupt political practices orchestrated by a faction of its aldermen known as the Gray Wolves. So named because they were viewed as preying upon the defenseless public, the Gray Wolves were led by First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and Johnny Powers of the Nineteenth Ward. These elected officials were not only skilled at trading votes for favors, but once in office they excelled in making municipal decisions to profit themselves financially.</p>

A long-brewing political war over Cook County property taxes has gone nuclear with charges that tax bills are being delayed intentionally until after the November elections to disguise big tax breaks to politically connected businesses and higher levies on homeowners.snipAt his [Houlihan's] press conference, he said that the County Board of Review — which doublechecks and revises proposed property assessments made by Mr. Houlihan's office — "is engaged in a deliberate effort to delay second-installment property tax bills until after the Nov. 2 election."

Chicago Breaking News reported late last night that former Chicago schools chief and current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan manipulated a system to favor powerful political allies by placing their children in the schools of their choice. The discovery of a list, the existence of which had been long denied by the city, and its composition of mainly high-powered political figures calls into question the appeals system used to reconsider applications that had been denied by the top Chicago-area schools: While many Chicago parents took formal routes to land their children in the best schools, the well-connected also sought help...

A naked, wet and angry Rahm Emanuel? That's the last image Americans need in our minds right now. But it's been seared onto our brains — just like that weird wrestling scene from the movie "Borat" — thanks to former U.S. Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., who resigned the other day amid allegations he sexually harassed male staffers. "Let me tell you a story about Rahm Emanuel," Massa said on a recent radio program, talking about taking a shower in the Congressional Gym. "I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel...

the times Some see Preckwinkle nomination as sign voters want to move past seedy Stroger era New era for Crook County? By Sophia Tareen Posted: Monday, February 22, 2010 12:05 am CHICAGO | Corruption in the nation's second-largest county is so commonplace that even a government phone system expects complaints: "For current patronage issues, press 2." For decades, Cook County -- where dozens and dozens of employees, contractors and politicians have been convicted of wrongdoing -- has been synonymous with politically connected hiring and nepotism. Although the county since 1983 has been under a court order banning political hiring and...

A new study has been released by the University of Illinois in conjunction with the Better Government Association that details Cook County’s disgusting history of political neer-do-wells calling it a true “culture of corruption.” (Download .pdf of report) “More than 140 people have been convicted of corruption in county-related cases since 1970,” the study finds. Featured are tales of bribes, ghost payrolls, sweetheart deals, rip-offs, and the “wholesale subversion of the judicial system.” “This rogue’s gallery of corrupt individuals is just the tip of the iceberg,” said the BGA’s Andy Shaw, “because, for every one of those convicted, there may...

New study provides insight into 141+ years of political hijinks Cook County has been a "dark pool of political corruption" for more than a century, a new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago says. Nearly 150 employees, politicians and contractors in the nation's second-largest county have been convicted on corruption charges since 1957, according to a report released Thursday by the university and the Better Government Association (.pdf) The 33-page study gives a history of corruption, starting from 1869 when county commissioners were jailed for rigging a bid to paint City Hall. It also details hiring scandals, including...

Chicago Tribune reporter John Kass is an old school journalist. He’s one among a cadre of Windy City reporters, most from the Sun Times and the Tribune, who routinely expose the hooligans and shenanigans of the Chicago Political Machine. Kass says the national MSM ignored the political environment that gave birth to Barack Obama. While Kass calls Obama “a Chicago political guy,” he knows the Machine is multi-layered. While the hub is Chicago, spokes extend throughout Cook County, and reach deep inside the state capital at Springfield. Because the MSM ignored the Machine from which Obama emerged, the electorate didn’t...

Terrence O’Brien got his start in Chicago Democratic politics like so many of his peers and the generations that came before him, dutifully ringing doorbells to solicit votes for his state senator on the far North Side. He rose to coordinating other precinct captains for such candidates as a young Cook County state’s attorney and mayoral hopeful named Richard M. Daley. After serving some 20 years as an elected leader of the obscure-but-jobs-rich Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Mr. O’Brien decided last year that the time was ripe to seek higher office, to run for county board president. So he lined...

Illinois Democrats nominated Alex Giannoulias to run for the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. As Richard Baehr noted Monday on AT, Giannoulias has substantial weaknesses that could enable Congressman Mark Kirk, the Republican nominee, to take the seat in November. The GOP Senatorial Campaign Committee is wasting no time in focusing on Guannoulias's shady past, something that may resonate with Illinois voters, sick of Democrat machine corruption that has left the state arguably in worse fiscal shape than California.

So, with a headline like that above perhaps you might imagine that I, a conservative, will launch into another attack on a Republican that just isn't Republicany enough for me, right? You might think that this will be just another hard-line blogger attacking another "moderate" Republican, right? Well, by "fake Republican" I mean just that: fake. Putting fake candidates on the ballot is a game that Chicago Democrats play in every election. Every election they put fake Republicans up against real Republicans in primary elections. What the Democrat Party does is put several shill candidates on ballots to drain votes...

Everyone is always talking about how corrupt Illinois politics is. Well, it's been that way since day one. Since I live here (I'll take your condolences) I thought I'd give a brief history of Cook County, the home of the City of Chicago. There is a saying about Chicago’s weather: if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes it’ll change. This, of course, is an allusion to the fact that the weather in Chicago is often unpredictable with every season but winter seeming all too short. The rains come, the winds blow, the snow falls and the chill descends...

The Cook County Democrat Party sent out a direct mail piece early this week that listed all the Democrat presidents that brought "prosperity" to this country. Oh they are all there, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, LBJ, Bill Clinton... uh, wait. Isn't one of 'em missing? You guessed it, Jimmah Carter, the worst president in American history, was left off the list of illustrious "prosperity" bringers. Oopsie. The nitwit that commissioned the flyer, Democrat Party Chairman Joe Berrios, claims that it was the printer that goofed it up and that he had Carter on the original piece before the printer sent it...

A new report on "Judicial Hellholes" arrives just in time, albeit indirectly, to remind Congress that no health-system changes can qualify as real "reform" if they don't include serious lawsuit reforms as well. The annual report by the American Tort Reform Foundation, released Dec. 15, shows that President Obama's own Cook County, Ill., is the nation's third-worst place for lawsuit abuse. Maybe that helps explain why Obamacare, especially as translated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, discourages lawsuit reforms rather than promoting them. For instance, the Pelosi bill punishes states if they implement the most effective tort reform of all, namely...

I think we need to meet as conservatives to get ideas on how to save our beautiful state. It was going well until Blago took over in 2002. I'm thinking January 9th. Downtown Chicago.

Here is a really fascinating series of tweets from Commissioner Tony Peraica as he participated in the latest Cook County Board meeting. Today (Dec. 1) Board President Todd Stroger tried to cajole the board into upholding his veto of the roll back of his implementation of the highest tax rate in the country. Peraica is against the tax and since the State Legislature ended the four-fifths rule, lowering it to three-fifths to overturn the president's veto, the fight was on. Anyway, here are the tweets that Peraica posted during the debate and they are a fascinating peak inside a board...

OK, say you are running for the Cook County Board. And say your daddy is the village clerk in the very district where you are hoping to get a whole slew of by-mail and early votes. Also say your cousin is running for Governor and he's already the State Comptroller now. Do you think your opponent might casually wonder if the fix is in? ... well, it is Crook County, after all. Naturally, the above isn't just some bad TV script, but a real situation in southern Cook County. In Orland Park where Democrat Patrick Maher is running to unseat...

Chicago prosecutors have subpoenaed the grades and other material regarding the classroom performance of Northwestern University journalism students, according to The New York Times. Seems the prosecutors are tired of being second-guessed by the J-students, who are participants in The Innocence Project. The Innocence Project is an effort by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism to provide students with real-life experience in scrutinizing the actions of police and prosecutors in old cases. Their work has led to the release of at least 11 inmates who were shown to have been wrongly convicted. It's that success rate that has the local DAs...

The Democratic primary will be bloody. It will take no great political prognostication to figure that out. Todd Stroger, the encumbent, is vulnerable and the Democrats know it. That's why there are no fewer than four challengers ready to take him on. Stroger is best known for sticking the County with the highest sales tax in the country. Local news stations have featured stories of cushy jobs going to friends and family. Then, there's the story of Tony Cole. Cole was his basketball playing buddy when Stroger offered him a job in the County. Not three months into his tenure,...