Ultimately, public must clean up mess

Once again we hear about our friend Todd Stroger, Cook County Board president, who just gave his cousin a 12 percent raise.

His cousin's battle cry before the election was that she would save taxpayers money by taking a lower (really?) salary. If a corporation was run the way Stroger runs this $3 billion inept operation, it would go bankrupt.

In the case of Todd Stroger, we simply raise taxes to pay for his irresponsible and ignorant financial and political management.

A recent 54-page report by federal hiring monitor Julia Nowicki revealed there was still rampant patronage employment in Cook County. Stroger denied this even before he admitted that he had not read the full report.

There were other reports in the last couple years finding so many problems that they recommended a division of responsibility, internal audits and an overhaul of the entire system. That report was ignored just as this monitor report will probably be.

It is hard to dislodge a politically entrenched politician from office. There are too many voters who vote blindly or those who are too lazy to vote. There are employees and merchants who benefit in a smaller way from such corruption.

Perhaps the rising resentment in Palatine where sales taxes will be 3 percent higher than across the street in Lake County will attract some of their attention.

For better government, we need all three of the following:

1. Incentives for efficiency (suggestion box and rewards maybe).

2. Accountability: (Daley. Stroger, our inept governor, anyone else in authority).

3. Public knowledge and awareness (intelligent voters).

Next November, there will be an important election. It will be interesting to see how many turn out and hopefully the voters will think with the right end of their torso. Heads we win, tails we lose.

William McNutt | Des Plaines