Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) has created a website that includes salary, job title and department of all Cook County employees, CookEmployees.com.
Cook County taxpayers fund 25,000+ employees... lots good, some bad, to be sure.
Cook County has long had problems with illegal hiring and patronage. In fact, the county is currently spending millions to fund three federal compliance officers to monitor county hiring practices ... and yet the county has still failed to come into compliance with the law.
The website provides transparency, which will act as a counterveiling force to corruption in some cases. However, without knowing how people are connected, the data doesn't tell the full story.
At approximately 8 AM today a person or persons not yet identified or apprehended fired seven shots into a home in Riverside. The police have told the media they believe the shooter intended to target the house next door where Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica lives. See Riverside/Brookfield Landmark (Bob Uphues).
Two days ago, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted 12-3 to repeal the 1% sales tax increase implemented at the request of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. See Chicago Public Radio (Tony Arnold). While Stroger does have the option of vetoing the repeal of the sales tax increase, he has publicly considered cutting Cook County health services by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Peraica has harped on the sales tax increase aggressively since it was passed. He contends it is unnecessary and that it's purpose was to expand the number of political workers loyal to Stroger and the Democratic Party on county payroll.
This morning at 8:00 AM I attended a debate between Anita Alvarez (D-River Forest) and Anthony Peraica (R-Riverside), the two major party candidates for Cook County State's Attorney. I did an initial write-up on Proviso Probe.
Peraica seems to have been inspired by John Edwards rhetoric of two Americas, because Peraica has taken to describing the Cook County State's Attorney as administering two systems of justice: one for the connected and another for everybody else.
progressives and machine democrats in chicago/cook have the same goal in campaigns and elections: to put together the right coalition of blacks, browns and whites to win. time and again when talking with volunteers with the claypool campaign, i got the impression that some of his (white) volunteers thought that all they had to do to win was to turn out the (white) northside. but that's not where the votes are.
as a (chaotic) physicist, one of the most fascinating principles that i've worked with is self-similarity. what interested me when working with the unique part of the world that is fractal in nature was not the intuitive beauty that people found there, but the rather persuasive assumption that self-similarity was common, not unique. other people think like us, right? self-similarity (that other people think like us) is intuitive, we do not realize the aberrational character of self-similarity.
post-election analysis is one of the most important elements of the campaign season that republicans undertake. the genesis of the voter vault actually began after three cycles of intensive electoral analysis, where the incisive questions emerged that led to this comprehensive database.
during the course of these open threads (i will do one on each race that had followers here), i will try to expose readers to another way of looking at electoral outcomes. basically, these are the "fundamentals" of campaigns & elections, and have been found to have been determinative to outcomes. the point is not to frame the discussion for each particular race to be analyzed -- i've found that people tend prefer one over the others, the one that makes the most sense (is most intuitive) to them.
i'm not expecting people to post within that framework. i expect people to think, bored, that's interesting, but here's what i think! this is as much about data collection (anecdotes, etc) as analysis. analysis is only made better by specific examples that are probably unknown to others.
And not just any memorial service. Seymour Simon's service! If you don't know who Seymour Simon is, follow the wiki link and read up. Use the Google and do some research. He's a bit of a legend in Chicago. The service was several weeks ago, but this little revelation was just dropped on me by a very close source.
there is no one who has more contempt for the chicago machine and illinois' combine. but i am too smart to think that the way to break up these monstrosities is to invigorate the republican party or to look outside the two party system. my experience in campaigns and politics tells me that while these theoretical solutions appeal to some, voters won't buy it (with regards to a third party solution) or will turn away from progressive to right-wing policies. iow, the costs of opening peraica's box are simply too high for serious, intelligent advocates of reform to consider.
the biggest reason, afaict, that some progressives find peraica appealing is that they don't know better. sure, republicans have dominated the electoral landscape for 25 years, and what have we got? emphasis on making marriage exclusively between traditional couples. minor increases in wages that don't keep up with the cost of living. the rich getting richer. the poor being left behind. incredible pressure on government spending so that even critical programs are cut in order to put more money in rich people's pockets.
that's a record that progressives want to support?
"The Deed Is Done" Democratic leaders all but hand over the Cook County reins from father to son, unless voters have another idea. These words appeared on the Chicago Tribune's front page today, July 19, 2006.
As I see it, the people of Cook County have two options: (1) To draft Forrest Claypool as a write-in candidate. Everyone knows how Claypool narrowly lost in the primary elections to John Stroger. There are some who suspect foul-play on the part of the Stroger Camp. Without a doubt, Claypool is the most qualified man for this important slot.Claypool is a respected lawyer and a fine family man. Before being elected a Cook County commissioner, Claypoor successfully served as President of the Chicago Parks System. He is the only one with the intelligence, integrity and experience to become Cook County President.
(2) If you are an unintrenchable Republican, by all means make sure you get out the heaviest vote you can for Tony Peraica who is on the ballot. Peraica doesn't have any of Claypool's qualifications but is far and away my choice over Tod Stroger.
Cook County voters now have an unbelievable opportunity to make some crucial changes in Cook County politics. Changes that will benefit them and their families. Most decent people felt a real sense of loss by Forrest Claypool's defeat in the primaries. Cook County voters are being given a rare second chance to make-up for Claypool's loss, and finally break-away from John Stroger's brand of politics. For the record, Cook County is one of the largest counties and amongst the wealthiest and most influential counties in the Nation. Cook County people are hard working, well-educated and civic-minded citizens. Family earnings in Cook County rank among the highest in the Nation. Cook County people take great pride in their communities and in their homes. It's no secret that Cook County residents pay a great deal in taxes. They quietly go about their business, usually never complaining. If they ever gripe, and rightfully so, it's only if they see their hard-earned dollars wasted by indulgent politicians and their inept, poor management. These hardworking people and their families deserve better than another self-styled power broker of the Stroger line!
