Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Morning Shorts
Next Post: Quinn the popular - for now
Posted in:
* Several members of the Cook County Board signed a letter yesterday asking Cook County Clerk David Orr to call a special meeting Thursday at 10 o’clock so they could look into circumstances surrounding the mysterious firing of President Todd Stroger’s chief of staff.
And at least one county board member is calling for a federal investigation…
Fearing that the county’s funds may have been abused, Cook County Commissioner Lawrence Suffredin (D-13th District) called on the U.S. Attorney to investigate the circumstances surrounding the firing of Cook County Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings.
Dunnings was forced to resign late Thursday night last week from her position as Cook County’s CFO by her cousin, County Board President Todd Stroger. It came in the wake of questionable dealings Dunnings had with another fired county employee, Tony Cole. A busboy working at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in River North, Cole was hired by Stroger when Stroger met him while having dinner there. Cole had been arrested on domestic violence charges involving an ex-girl friend and was bailed out several times by Dunnings who used undisclosed credit cards to pay the court bails.
“I am concerned about how much money might be missing. I don’t know that there is any. I have discovered over the weekend that one of these PR people Stroger hired was with Ms. Dunnings when she bailed out this individual Cole from the County Jail. She used a credit card,” said Suffredin during an interview Monday on WJJG 1530 AM’s “Radio Chicagoland.”
* Stroger’s explanation for the firing has been widely ridiculed…
Cook County President Todd Stroger explained why he fired his cousin, Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings, from her $175,000 job last week: for her own good and the good of the county.
When Stroger fired her, he knew the Chicago Sun-Times was poised to reveal Dunnings twice bailed her secretary Tony Cole out of jail after being arrested for violating an order of protection, and some county commissioners were planning to take her to task for it.
“All I can tell you is that I know certain commissioners were determined to drag Miss Dunnings through the mud, and I thought it was undeserved and it would not serve her or the county for that to happen,” Stroger told the Sun-Times Monday night.
The Sun-Times blasted Stroger today…
Last night, Stroger acknowledged for the first time in an interview with Carol Marin on WTTW-Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight” program a few troubling facts.
Stroger said he knew about one of Cole’s two arrests as a county employee, although Stroger wasn’t clear on which one.
He knew that Dunnings bailed out Cole in one instance, but said he did not know about the other.
And he knew that, despite all that, Cole got promoted.
Stroger acknowledged that another of his top lieutenants, Eugene Mullins, accompanied Dunnings to bail Cole out of jail — confirming a fact first reported by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mark Konkol on the newspaper’s Web site Monday night.
The paper went on to demand answers to seven questions. Go read them all.
Here’s more on that Chicago Tonight appearance…
“President Stroger, I do want to talk about a few other things, but not until we’re done with this,” Marin said.
“We’re done now,” Stroger shot back.
Later, Marin asked, “It’s not true that the 8th Ward, which is your home ward, has a disproportionately high number of people who have been hired by the county?”
“I don’t know where you get your information, but I [bet] you couldn’t even tell me where the boundaries of the 8th Ward are!” Stroger replied.
WTTW hasn’t yet posted last night’s show online, but check back later.
*** UPDATE *** The Chicago Tonight episode is now online, and Progress Illinois has a snippit…
In the above clip, Stroger blames the Illinois State Police backlog of background checks for not knowing about Cole’s recent arrest problems.
Stroger says the background check process takes “2-3 months.” Cole appeared on the county payroll on October 14, 2008 — about six months ago. But Stroger didn’t receive the report on Cole until two weeks ago? Huh?
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 9:58 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Morning Shorts
Next Post: Quinn the popular - for now
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/105378,CST-EDT-edits22.article
I see, you can go from a Busboy to making $60k per year…I wasted time and money in college.
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:03 am
Stroger’s arrogance is unbelievable!
Comment by Stones Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:08 am
Don’t be surprised, because this is typical Chicago Politics.
Comment by Boscobud Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:12 am
Wumpus, thanks for reminding everyone that the Chicago Sun-Times also needs to blast itself for that 2006 endorsement of Toddler (which gave Stroger just enough credibility to squeak by to victory that year).
Comment by fedup dem Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:15 am
Rich sorry off topic,
I recieved a Robo call over the weekend asking for my opinion press 1 if favorable, 2 unfavorable,3 no opinion on the following persons. L. madigan,Daley, Kevin Joyce, Ald. Ginger Rugai, Pat Quinn, Ward Boss Matt Oshea, Lipinski and state Rep Brosnohan not sure about who the last one is. Then the last question was who would I favor between Lipinski and K. Joyce for congress. Have the Ward Bosses turned on little lipper. The call was from a 202 area code
Comment by fed up Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:18 am
I think he almost did a freudian slip at Carol Marin. I have to see that moment because it was priceless. Almost as priceless as him saying that he had no idea how much money he had for his campaign.
Comment by Levois Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:22 am
Stroger was Alderman of the 8th Ward from 2001 to 2006. His father was committeeman for the 8th Ward from 1968 until 2006. Todd’s statement that he doesn’t know the boundaries of the ward indicates that he is either very stupid, very lazy, or a big liar. I’m actually thinking a combination of the three.
Comment by Objective Dem Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:30 am
He was on FoxChicago this morning and they asked why there are such explosive allegations out there about Dunnings and he said that the media is at fault. HE WAS ONE WHO SAID THEY WERE EXPLOSIVE ALLEGATIONS.
moron. Rich that should be the question of the day, who is dumber, Stroger or Blagojevich. Actually I will answer my own question. Stroger is purely dumb. Blagojevich had to have some smarts to pull off all the crap he did.
Comment by Jake L. Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:33 am
Cousin of County President Who Is Son of Previous County President Investigated
Fearing that the county’s funds may have been abused, Crooked Creek County Commissioner Lawrence Suffering, second cousin to a former wife of Mayor Rich Hourly’s sister, called on the U.S. Attorney, appointed by Mayor Hourly, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the firing of Crooked Creek Chief Financial Officer, cousin, and step-daughter to Mayor Hourly’s father the previous Mayor Hourly, Donna Dummings.
Dummings was forced to resign late Thursday night last week from her position as Crooked Creek County’s CFO by her cousin, and half-brother twice-removed, County Board President Todd Stooges. It came in the wake of questionable dealings Dummings had with another Stooges cousin and Mayor Hourly’s chiropractor, and county employee, Justin Mapes. Mapes was working as the guy who made curley fries at Ruth’s Tastey Treat Drive-In Crooked Creek, when he was hired by Stooges when Stooges met him while having the Big Catch Fish Sandwich With Slaw Dinner there. Mapes had been arrested on domestic violence charges involving an ex-girl friend, who was also cousin to Dummings ex-brother in law, Dennis Dummings, and was bailed out several times by Dummings who used undisclosed credit cards and Red Lobster coupons to pay the court bails. Mapes lives in the Crooked Creek County Trailer Village with an old prison buddy, Kenny Stooges, who is Todd Stooges’ half-brother through Dummings’ second marriage.
“I am concerned about how much money might be missing. I don’t know that there is any. I have discovered over the weekend that one of these PR people Stooges hired was with Ms. Dummings when she bailed out this individual Mapes from the County Jail, ran by Mayor Hourly’s sister’s aunt. She used a credit card,” said Suffering during an interview Monday on WDUH 1550 AM’s “Ag Land Today.”
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:34 am
He said that he bets Carol didn’t know the boundaries, not that he didn’t. Rich left out a word.
He also implied that she is racist, saying that just because people look like him doesn’t mean that they are from the 8th Ward.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:52 am
Criminal background checks are not required for county employees?
How did we Cook County voters, the ones who voted Stroger into office I would note, manage to let that happen. It’s my understanding that state and federal employees have to have pre-employment background checks including criminal checks.
Isn’t the County covered by Shakman? Is there still a Shakman monitor, or did she quit, In any case, there must be a Shakman judge somewhere.
If Stroger Jr. is continuing the massive patronage hiring of the past, why haven’t these two individuals spoken out. We pay them to monitor and take action where appropriate.
There is no way that we citizens can be there when Stroger and his pals hire their relatives, campaign contributors, even charming felons.
That’s what we pay oversight monitors to do.
Apparently, the monitors need to step up their efforts and even file some violations. If nothing else comes of the Cole/Dunnings/Stroger debacle,
increase surveillance of Democratic hiring practices at the county would be an improvement.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:53 am
— Rich left out a word.—
I didn’t leave anything out. Just pasted the story into the blog.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 10:54 am
the Stroger video is up at WTTW - highly recommended - an unusually aggressive interview of a as-usually defensive local pol
Comment by BannedForLife Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:08 am
My bad. Channel 2 left out a word.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:14 am
Anon,
The fact that the word “bet” was left out does make sense of his statement. But this corrected statement is incredibly arrogant. Criticizing a reporter’s question by implying they don’t know what they are talking about is a PR blunder.
My suggested response would be “I don’t track workers by what ward they live in. It wouldn’t be a surprise if there were a number of county employees that live in the ward because it is a solid middle class community with affordable housing and a short commute to downtown.”
Comment by Objective Dem Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:18 am
I saw the whole interview last night and can say that I have never seen a more arrogant, ignorant, and unapologetic politician in my life…shame on the Democratic establishment for the way his fathers state of health was concealed, their hubris for endorsing him and the patronage employees that worked for him during the election…his resorting to poor me racism was infuriating, as well as comparing his sales tax increase to Quinn’s proposal on raising the sate income tax…he suggests that the press is giving Quinn a pass only because he is white and he is not…I give Carol credit for not losing it on camera after his impolite remarks and bullying…
he is the worst of the ilk…I don’t think Preckwinle or Claypool will have a difficult time
sending him packing next year…
Comment by Anonymous45 Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:20 am
I particularly enjoyed Marin’s painstaking efforts to get him to admit that he a) knew Cole had been arrested, and b) that he promoted him anyway, and then Stroger’s complete lack of grace in ducking the inevitable question of, “Why?” Even our ex-governor did a better job of ducking the tough questions…
Comment by Former Traffic Prosecutor Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:23 am
Well, at least it appears from Stroger’s remarks that the county does do criminal background checks on potential employees. That’s the good news. The bad news is that apparently you can get hired on before they are completed. At least, it seems that Mr. Cole was.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:51 am
I’ve slammed Todd above, but I have to add a bit of defense. Many people seem to be under the impression that if someone has a criminal past they should not be hired for a job and if they are arrested they should be fired. The reality is hiring/firing depends on the crime and the nature of the job. You don’t let someone with a history of sexual assault work with children but you may let them work in a bank; but the opposite is true for an embezzler. I don’t have any details about Cole’s job or his crimes, but it doesn’t strike me as a clear cut case. And I haven’t heard any indication that his arrests related to the workplace.
Likewise,I don’t think anyone is advocating we fire people for bailing out a co-worker.
There is a lot more going on here or Todd would have ridden out the storm. Clearly there are indications that Dunnings used a county credit card to bail him out. And I would not be surprised if there weren’t other “explosive charges”
Comment by Objective Dem Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:52 am
When asked about Tony Cole’s troubled past, Stroger mentioned the County does background checks on employees but said something along the lines that it is a lengthy process. So they hire people before the background check is completed?
This story hopefully will bring Todd down. I would really like to know how many other convicted felons are employed by the County.
Comment by Hair today, gone.... Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 11:54 am
Stroger is wrong about the lead time for ISP background checks. My office has experienced a 2 to 3 week (not a 2 to 3 month)turnaround on these reports the last several times I have requested them. Another lie.
Comment by Jake from Bellwood Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 12:02 pm
My impression is few entities (government or private sector) every do criminal background checks outside their state. It is too expensive and time consuming to do criminal background checks for 50 states. I’m not saying this is the way it should be, simply that is the way it works.
Comment by Objective Dem Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 12:04 pm
Objective Dem-
I agree. However, it appears that in Stroger’s Cook County (and the Cook County of his Democratic predecessors, I would guess) if the president or some other high official wants to hire someone they don’t have to wait to see what’s on the background before they give them a
government job. The county personnel department just puts it though. (Sounds like the Blago hiring practices of yesteryear) An informed decision to hire somebody with a record to “give them a chance,” is different from blatant patronage…which this apparently was.
Anyway, it’s time for some good government group to earn their contributions here and examine the
state of patronage hiring, background checks, and other related matters yet again with respect to
hiring in the Stroger/Democratic county government. And it’s time for us citizens to demand a broader investigation than just this one
case.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 12:12 pm
Todd Stroger runs a pretty big organization.
People who head big organizations hire their immediate lieutenants. The hiring of rank-and-file employees is supposed to be handled by HR and the specific supervisors.
Stroger hiring Cole shows that Cook County gov’t is not a professional organization.
Stroger should blame himself for the mess. He made it.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 12:29 pm
He seemed very eager to move on to the next subject. I always thought he was in over his head. It almost seems “amateurish”.
Comment by Levois Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 1:07 pm
WOW! He even attacks WTTW!
Comment by Levois Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 1:20 pm
There needs to be more than a meeting with the Commissioners with David Orr, they need to have a good reputable outside audit team to come into the finance department, and do a full and complete audit. It’s long overdue.
Tony Cole in the finance department? Donna Dunnings? and a whole list of others.
Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 1:31 pm
Burris and Stroger have the state Dem party in a real pickle. By any objective measure, they are both terrible candidates for 2010.
But how do you dump the two top black elected officials in the state, and who do you replace them with? Trips isn’t an option.
If there were a Republican Party in this state, the Dems would be in real serious trouble.
A simple, innocent question: why isn’t there a Republican Party in this state?
By the way, Laura Washington’s column yesterday in the Sun-Times on the rise and fall of Trips was outstanding. Give it a read.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 2:03 pm
T.I.C. = This is Chicago.
More of the same, from the same. Any news?
Comment by Larry Mullholland Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 2:21 pm
{* Several members of the Cook County Board signed a letter yesterday asking Cook County Clerk David Orr to call a special meeting Thursday at 10 o’clock so they could look into circumstances surrounding the mysterious firing of President Todd Stroger’s chief of staff.}
Not sure whether this was a Chief Financial Officer’s departure, not the Chief of Staff.
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 2:23 pm
“I’m sure employees get arrested all the time” was the line that amused me the most from the Todd. It reminded me of the story of an acquaintance who worked for the Cook County jail and blew off so many DUI’s that the Cook County Sheriff came to his house to arrest him. His wife promptly informed the Sheriffs where to find him and he was locked up in the same lock up he was working on.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 5:27 pm
Now that I’ve listened to the clip, I have even less sympathy for Stroger.
He has the IG doing routine background checks? How many do-nothing people are working in the HR department?
Background checks are a routine function of employing people.
The IG is supposed to be for unusual and extraordinary allegations of fraud, waste and abuse.
There are a couple reasons to have the IG do routine background checks.
1. Stroger wants to overwhelm the IG staff with routine stuff to keep them too busy to investigate other stuff.
2. Stroger has already ordered them not to investigate anything serious and this is a way to make it look like they do something.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 5:38 pm
I can’t come up with a scenario in which Stroger survives his primary, except for maybe low turnout. But I don’t see that happening with the gubernatorial primary on the same date.
I’m curious as to how Rich Daley handles this hot potato, especially with his own re-election bid in 2011. Does he publicly ditch Stroger, or give him faint praise while supporting someone else behind the scenes?
Comment by Independent Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 5:49 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I think Stroger is incompetent. But his statements about ISP doing background checks is accurate. State government background checks come back months after an employee is hired……
Comment by Reformed Tuesday, Apr 21, 09 @ 9:44 pm
Is it true that Obama endorsed Todd Stroger during the election campaign when his father “withdrew” from the race and the committeemen named Todd as the replacement candidate?
Comment by Honest Abe Wednesday, Apr 22, 09 @ 12:22 am