Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Stroger won budget battle -- now wage war on patronage
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Stroger won budget battle -- now wage war on patronage
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
February 26, 2007
The 2007 budget that was approved by the Cook County Board in the wee hours last Friday was a clear political victory for President Todd Stroger. In his first big test as county leader, he won a showdown with a bloc of commissioners who pushed a rival spending plan. But a political win for Stroger is not necessarily a victory for Cook County residents. There are still troubling questions about whether fat and patronage were preserved while essential services got chopped.
On the bright side, the board passed a budget that covered a $500 million gap not by raising taxes but by refinancing bonds and by slashing programs and 1,700 jobs. Such an achievement would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago, and taxpayers should be pleased. This year also saw commissioners far more engaged in vetting the president's budget -- that is, doing their jobs -- than in years past.
But while we understand that it would have been impossible to craft a perfect budget given the county's poor fiscal health, we think commissioners could have come closer. Stroger's final budget preserved the jobs of most of the 400 managers that Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) and other commissioners in the rival bloc wanted to ax in favor of retaining more nurses, police, prosecutors and other frontline workers. Claypool argued those managers are political hacks, but where he saw patronage, Stroger saw indispensible workers. Who is right? It's going to take some time to sort that out, but the person with the credibility problem is Stroger, who has been thumbing his nose at county taxpayers since he took office by giving jobs and raises to friends and relatives.
The final budget makes hefty cuts in nurses, sheriff's police, court deputies and prosecutors, and it cuts 13 health care clinics. But Stroger's original budget proposed deeper cuts; all were scaled back following furious negotiations Thursday between the president and individual commissioners. Those changes resulted in some management cuts and helped Stroger persuade several commissioners to switch their support to his plan from the rival proposal.
After the smoke cleared, Stroger declared that the budget was leading the county in the right direction. We hope that's true. The 2007 spending plan was hastily crafted in the midst of a huge fiscal crisis by a rookie leader, and it still produced some significant, albeit incomplete, results -- but also troubling cuts in law enforcement and health care. The county now has a year in which to get ready for 2008. It should build on the momentum and continue to streamline operations. It should audit every position and take a serious whack at patronage jobs. If Stroger is serious about reform -- and the jury is still out on that -- the hard part is just beginning.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
February 26, 2007
The 2007 budget that was approved by the Cook County Board in the wee hours last Friday was a clear political victory for President Todd Stroger. In his first big test as county leader, he won a showdown with a bloc of commissioners who pushed a rival spending plan. But a political win for Stroger is not necessarily a victory for Cook County residents. There are still troubling questions about whether fat and patronage were preserved while essential services got chopped.
On the bright side, the board passed a budget that covered a $500 million gap not by raising taxes but by refinancing bonds and by slashing programs and 1,700 jobs. Such an achievement would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago, and taxpayers should be pleased. This year also saw commissioners far more engaged in vetting the president's budget -- that is, doing their jobs -- than in years past.
But while we understand that it would have been impossible to craft a perfect budget given the county's poor fiscal health, we think commissioners could have come closer. Stroger's final budget preserved the jobs of most of the 400 managers that Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) and other commissioners in the rival bloc wanted to ax in favor of retaining more nurses, police, prosecutors and other frontline workers. Claypool argued those managers are political hacks, but where he saw patronage, Stroger saw indispensible workers. Who is right? It's going to take some time to sort that out, but the person with the credibility problem is Stroger, who has been thumbing his nose at county taxpayers since he took office by giving jobs and raises to friends and relatives.
The final budget makes hefty cuts in nurses, sheriff's police, court deputies and prosecutors, and it cuts 13 health care clinics. But Stroger's original budget proposed deeper cuts; all were scaled back following furious negotiations Thursday between the president and individual commissioners. Those changes resulted in some management cuts and helped Stroger persuade several commissioners to switch their support to his plan from the rival proposal.
After the smoke cleared, Stroger declared that the budget was leading the county in the right direction. We hope that's true. The 2007 spending plan was hastily crafted in the midst of a huge fiscal crisis by a rookie leader, and it still produced some significant, albeit incomplete, results -- but also troubling cuts in law enforcement and health care. The county now has a year in which to get ready for 2008. It should build on the momentum and continue to streamline operations. It should audit every position and take a serious whack at patronage jobs. If Stroger is serious about reform -- and the jury is still out on that -- the hard part is just beginning.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 10:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home