County 'watchdogs' vote to incur costs with Inspector General vote
Two Republican suburban commissioners and a self-styled reform Democrat on the Cook County Board voted Tuesday to incur guaranteed legal expenses by approving a controversial candidate for county Inspector General.
Democrat Forrest Claypool of Chicago and Republicans Gregg Goslin of Glenview and Peter Silvestri of Elmwood Park, along with seven other commissioners, voted to approve Patrick Blanchard as the new inspector general. They did so moments after attorney Michael Shakman promised them, should Blanchard be approved, he would take legal action to get Blanchard removed from one of his new duties - investigating patronage hiring.
Shakman stressed he had nothing personal against Blanchard, but felt that Blanchard's current job as the assistant Cook County State's Attorney who defended the county against patronage hiring claims left Blanchard irreparably compromised.
"You cannot be a lawyer for a party accused of illegal misconduct in several lawsuits and then take off your lawyer's hat and begin to enforce against your ... clients the very rules your former clients were accused of violating," said Shakman.
It also presented a potential client/attorney privilege conflict, he said.
"This is legal ethics 101," said Shakman, who asked the board to bypass Blanchard and instead pick either of two other finalists.
Blanchard disagreed he would face an inherent conflict. He found Shakman's privilege scenario unlikely, given that he seldom represented individual county employees, but rather served the county as an entity, and so could not be said to have an individual attorney/client relationship. Where one existed, Blanchard said, he would simply recuse himself from an investigation.
"If that situation were to arise, I of course would do the right thing and recuse myself," said Blanchard, who vowed to pursue investigations "with the utmost integrity and loyalty to the rule of law."
Blanchard supporters said the issue was less about alleged conflicts of interest and more about come commissioners simply being unhappy with the outcome of a process they approved months ago.
Silvestri said he was voting for Blanchard because "just because you work here doesn't make you part of the problem."
"Somebody who's had a ringside seat, albeit from a little bit of a distance, to the corruption and chicanery of politicians in Cook County is probably in a better position to understand where to go and help root that out," said Claypool in outlining the reasons for his vote.
Goslin said he voted for Blanchard because he was the best qualified.
The county now must brace for Shakman's attempt to have Blanchard removed from handling patronage complaints. He is empowered to contest Blanchard's handling of patronage cases because the county board agreed to a settlement in the Shakman case that gave Shakman that explicit authority. The federal judge in the case, Wayne Anderson, does not have to install a special monitor to handle future patronage complaints, but has shown himself imminently willing to do so, installing three monitors already at the city of Chicago, Cook County Board and the Cook County Sheriff's office. The county monitor has cost taxpayers $6 million already.
Commissioners who voted yes were Jerry Butler, Claypool, John Daley, Goslin, Roberto Maldonado, Joseph Mario Moreno, Joan Murphy, Silvestri, Deborah Sims, and Larry Suffredin. Voting no were Commissioners Tim Schneider, Liz Gorman and Mike Quigley. Earlean Collins voted present after voicing opposition to Blanchard. Absent were Bill Beavers, Robert Steele and Anthony Peraica. Peraica walked out of the room and missed the vote after railing against Blanchard for several minutes.