Cook Co. moves closer to having an independent inspector general
It took a few years, but Cook County Board President Todd Stroger Thursday took a major step toward making good on his central campaign platform: installing an independent inspector general in county government.
When Stroger ran for office in 2006, he promised not only to appoint someone independent of county politics but to beef up the office's budget and have independent bar groups pick the nominees for the post.
Earlier in his term, Stroger and the board passed an ordinance setting up the selection mechanism, and earlier this year, Stroger's budget increased the size of the office from five employees to 17, and from $300,000 to $1.1 million.
Thursday, Stroger and the bar groups announced the three finalists: Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ferguson, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice in Chicago Terrance Hake, and Los Angeles Unified School District Deputy Inspector General Robert (Bob) Williams.
The announcement was complicated a bit by the last-minute revelation that Hake was withdrawing from consideration because he is taking the inspector general's post at the Cook County sheriff's office. The bar associations will now name a third finalist to replace Hake, said outgoing Chicago Bar Association President Victor Henderson.
From those three finalists, two Republican county board members, two Democratic county board members, the Cook County state's attorney and the director of the Cook County Board of Ethics will select a winner who will then have to be approved by the county board.
The City of Chicago made similar moves when it hired David Hoffman, a former U.S. attorney, and he has proved to be somewhat problematic for Mayor Richard M. Daley, publicly butting heads with the mayor on several policy and corruption matters.
Asked about the possibility of the same happening at county, Stroger said he'd let the chips fall where they may.
"The truth shall set you free, so that's what the inspector general's job is," he shrugged.