Barred from putting name on forest preserves, Stroger claims road signs

Back in 2006 when the Cook County Board president's seat was vacant from John H. Stroger's stroke and before his son Todd Stroger took over, county commissioners saw a golden opportunity.

With no one around to defend the practice, they prohibited the time-honored tradition of the president placing his name on forest preserve signs - a costly practice to keep up when officeholders changed.

At the time, President Pro-Tem Joseph Mario Moreno predicted the move would bleed over to all aspects of presidential name-touting privileges, including stationary.

Moreno was wrong.

Current President Todd H. Stroger has embraced with gusto the presidential perk of slapping his name on public places by making sure highway project signs bear his name. The latest example of the practice can be seen on Arlington Heights Road between University Drive and Rand Road.

"A Cook County Department of Highways road improvement project coming soon," boasts the sign. "Putting your tax dollars to work - Todd H. Stroger President Board of County Commissioners."

Critics, such as Better Government Association, say the move is taxpayer-sponsored campaigning at worst, and pointless hubris at best.

"The question is, what purpose does it serve? Does the road get fixed better?" asked Jay Stewart, president of the BGA. "It's nothing but advertising for the county board president - at some point there'll be a new president and all the signs will have to be switched over. It's just goofy."

But Stroger spokesman Eugene Mullins says the name does serve a purpose. People need to know who's in charge of the project should they have questions or concerns.

"The president has the (ultimate) responsibility for maintaining county roads," said Mullins.

Although the signs also say Department of Highways, many people don't realize that office is a branch of Stroger's office, Mullins said.

"There's basically a fundamental misunderstanding about where the taxpayer's funds are going," and the signs help correct that, he said.

Mullins said he didn't know the cost of changing the printing on the signs, but claimed it was paid for by state fuel funds. He could not say if that money would be used for other roadwork project components if they weren't paying for customized signs.

Stroger critic Forrest Claypool said he's not in favor of taxpayers subsidizing political name recognition, but he noted it is a common practice, with Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley also posting their names on road and project signs.

"If we criticize him, we have to criticize the other guys too," said Claypool, a Democratic county commissioner.

Blagojevich has indeed been roundly criticized for posting his name above tollways after he signed a law banning state politicians from putting their names on public service announcement ads - such as Jesse White's organ donation campaign.

Mullins pointed out that other county officials do similar things, like county Treasurer Maria Pappas putting her name on tax bills and Assessor Jim Houlihan putting his name on assessments.

"It's not for promotion, it's letting you know whose office it is," said Mullins.

Commissioner Mike Quigley doesn't approve of the practice of personalized signage, but he said this instance is not a huge priority for him.

Both he and Stewart noted that the name, coupled with the phrase "your tax dollars at work," might not have the intended effect Stroger was going for, given his wildly unpopular recent boost of the sales tax by $426 million a year on top of the county's existing $3.2 billion budget.

"Clearly the irony alert wasn't on when they were drawing these things up," said Stewart.

Daily Herald Staff Writers Sheila Ahern and Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.