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Odelson swears Stroger is a reformer * Updated x1 *

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Election law attorney Burt Odelson played a major role in Todd Stroger’s campaign and now swears to Phil Kadner that Stroger will be a reformer.

“(H)e wasn’t going to denounce his father or the way he ran the county. Who would do that to his father? […]

“What Todd will do, I guarantee, is hire professional people and listen to their advice. I call him a Reagan Democrat. He will build a consensus across party lines.

“If (Republican) Tony Peraica had won, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything. The Democrats would have controlled a majority on the board. There would have been constant bickering. It would have been (Chicago) City Council Wars all over again.” […]

“All these big downtown law firms are making millions of dollars off the county, and that’s going to stop,” Odelson said.

“They drag out negotiations on lawsuits for months and months, collecting maybe $200,000 in fees, and then settle a case for $50,000.

“I’m going to look at all these excessive legal bills.”

I’m not exactly holding my breath, but it has been pretty funny watching the white liberal media’s shock at their candidate Tony Peraica’s thuggish election night antics. Maybe they’ll also have to admit one day that they were wrong about Todd Stroger.

*** UPDATE *** Peraica did win some Chicago wards. Glenn Hodas has provided us with a chart:

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 3:45 am

Comments

Burton Odelsen–now there’s a paragon of credibility.

Comment by Ignatius J. Reily Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 6:23 am
I was amazed to see white media liberal on here. LOL

Oh yeah and some county board wars that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. That’ll just mean if the people actually pay attention to the county they’ll actually start to pay attention and shake things up. Like the city council of the 1980s, except people paid attention to the Chicago city council more.

Comment by Levois Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 6:41 am
The election night behavior didn’t tell us anything new. The Cicero connections told many of us all we needed to know.

Comment by Way Northsider Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 7:36 am
Yes, Burt, you (a lawyer) will stop those “big downtown law firms” from overcharging the county. Maybe. But are YOU going to be getting county law business now?

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 7:51 am
You people are too funny.

Burt Odelson speaks in support of Todd? Well, he isn’t one of us, isn’t saying what we’re saying, so he isn’t credible.

Give it a rest. You sound bitter.

Comment by The Picolo Player is a... Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 8:15 am
It remains to be seen whether Todd will be any kind of a reformer or if he’ll even disprove the “lightweight” tag.

But we saw one thing. Todd was a class act on election night, while his opponent Peraica was self-destructing. Everyone sees now that Peraica lacks the temperament for public office. The press really dropped the ball on that one. The voters saved most of the media from an even bigger embarrassment.

Others knew there was always a problem. One has to have some serious issues to have been discarded by Maltese’s mobbed-up Cicero organization. Remember, Peraica didn’t jump-off willingly. He was THROWN out. But the Chicago media adopts him. Incredible.

Something else, Republicans especially who jumped to get behind George W. for President in 2000 should probably give the whining about nepotism a rest. Would W have had such an easy time clearing the field if his name was Smith, Jones - or Stroger?

Comment by Peachy Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 8:40 am
If Todd proves to be a competent leader I’ll be the first to acknowledge it. He will be under enormous pressure from Beavers, the Daleys, et. al. to maintain the status quo and keep the patronage wagon rolling. He must demonstrate his independence of this crowd to gain credibility.

Comment by Tom Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 8:49 am
Come from Cicero or there abouts with a hard to spell name and everyone dumps on you.

Peraica sounded so good during the campaign and so gracious talking about J. Stroger when he stepped down, that the march on election night just seemed doubly awful reflection on him.

Sure T. Stroger can be a reformer. Sometimes the best reformers are Pols you least expected it from because they had no other choice.

First step is talk to the Feds for some deal to help bail out Cook County Hospital because it’s got to be the debt from building and operating that place that’s killing the County; and probably not doing a whole lot for health care that couldn’t have been done better by giving the indigent a debit card and sending them to one of the half occupied hospitals in the Medical District.

Comment by Bill Baar Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 8:58 am
Peachy, Bush, Madigan, et al won primaries, they didn’t lie about their father’s health, then conveniently announce after the filing deadline had passed.

Peracia led a march for the people! These goofs are more outraged about a march over questionable ballot security in a county that has a history of questionable ballot security than the federal probes at the county, the nepotism, the whole coronation process, the fiscal mismanagement, etc.

Comment by Wumpus Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 9:17 am
The first thing to watch with Toddler is how he reacts to the report that was released this morning by the interim president’s office. It was an internal review of the county and it recommended major personnel cuts. The report showed that the majority of CCH employees thought that the majority of their co-workers weren’t even performing up to 80% of their potential. The report didn’t call for attrition and hiring-freeze cutbacks, but actual lay-offs.

If the Toddler follows through on the report’s recommendations, that will give him some credibility as a reformer.

Comment by jerry Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 9:34 am
The march did highlight the pathetic manner in which David Orr’s office tabulates ballots. It took a protest march and something that sounds like could have developed into a riot to highlight these repeated failures? But wait! Orr will be “investigating” the matter!

Why isn’t everyone focusing in on his repeated failures to count votes at this point in time?

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 10:02 am
An open letter to President-elect Todd Stroger:

Dear Todd,

I would offer you congratulations on your victory in the race for Cook County Board President, but at this point, I am not certain whether the office you won is really going to be that much of a prize to you in the long run. I hope you do well, and prove all of your critics (myself included) wrong. Believe me when I say I would be the first to admit that should it come to pass.

You claim that you will be a reformer, that you will run county government differently than your father did. You may truly believe that. The problem though, will be to get reforms through when the cadre of people who helped steer you through this short-cut to your dadâ€™s office (such as Alderman/Commissioner-elect William Beavers) want the good old days to continue.

I fear that if you try to carry out the suggestions made in Interim President Bobbie Steeleâ€™s report, the people who engineered your rise to this office will do what they can to stop you. Can you really expect dozens, if not hundreds, of your fellow 8th Ward Regular Democratic Organization members to sit back while you eliminate their unneeded county jobs? If you tried to do that, they would turn on you and fight any attempt you might make to run for ward committeeman in 2008. The vaunted 8th Ward organization would soon destroy itself (I have seen it happen elsewhere).

You could be certain that throughout your term of office, they would seize upon any opportunity to fight you on issues before the County board, and embarrass you and your administration at every opportunity. Then they would lie in wait for the 2010 Democratic Primary for the chance you topple you with some quasi-reformer (such as Commissioner Larry Suffredin, whose history as a lobbyist for the tobacco and gaming industries shows how shallow his reformer credentials truly are).

Do you have the political courage to stand up to these people, even at the possible cost of your political career, in order to do what is right for the people of Cook County? That is the question that only you can answer. If you can demonstrate that the answer is â€œYESâ€ than I will gladly say that I was wrong about you and be a strong supporter of your reform efforts. The people of Cook County await a signal as to which way you and your administration will be going.

Sincerely,

Randall Sherman
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
5136 N. Monitor Ave.
Chicago, IL 60630

Comment by Randall Sherman Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 10:28 am
Peraica’s election-night antics embarrassed everyone who backed him in this election–from the Tribune on down. God forbid that he had won! He simply doesn’t have the judgement or temperment to lead.

Comment by Election Observer Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 11:07 am
Stroger may want to cut the grossly overstaffed Cook County bureaucracy, and his Daley handlers might give him some leeway to do so. But that may not be enough.

Union rules and civil service regulations have developed over the years to make layoffs and discharges extremely difficult and disruptive for bureaucracies. There are all kinds of job protections and seniority rules. Thus, for example, when layoffs are considered, the bureaucracy is forced by regulation and contract to lay off the youngest, most productive employees before the elderly hacks hanging on for their lucartive pensions. In addition, layoffs can, by their nature, be very disruptive, requiring not only the layoffs themselves but also disruptive reshuffling of remaining employees. This state of affairs can give even reform managers pause, and rightly so.

There are solutions, such as various sunset rules, but the union and civil service groups, who are very powerful, will fight them tooth and nail. As in state government, few of their members are capable enough to earn similar salaries in the private sector. So they fight each and every layoff as if the whole work force were being laid off. It takes a toll.

I suspect there will be a lot of hoopla about Toddler laying off a few high-level at will County employees (pray Gerald Nichols is one)
many of whom will be back when things die down.
Perhaps a light slowdown in new hires. And in a year or so, everything goes back to normal.

Comment by Cassandra Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 11:40 am
Which is more improbable? #1. Todd Stroger will reform Cook County government or #2. With the assistance of Attorney Odelson, Cook County will spend less in legal fees.
Hmmm.

Comment by Jake from Elwood Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 11:47 am
Yea…I always thought of Toddler as a Reagan Democrat. Please

Comment by scoot Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 12:22 pm
Rich, what exactly were thuggish about Tony Peraica’s election night tactics?
You were not there and only saw things on TV.
There are a lot of problems the way they counted the votes and the system including:
1. Ballot security
2. Chain of custody
3. potential for fraud (tampering or even unintentional damage)

All day Peraica signs were being taken down,
some machines already had votes counted BEFORE voting began, the numbers of people who came to vote did not match the computer generated totals

Comment by Anon Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 12:47 pm
Good to see the reform at the County has started. Hiring a 8th ward hack with ties to the patronage chief Nichols to manage a new HR section of the Forest Preserve District drip of reform.

Comment by Garp Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 1:37 pm
Hey anon,
Do you want your signs back?

Comment by Bill Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 2:24 pm
Hey Bill, I’ve got two immaculate Umholtz signs (taken down after 7 pm) if you would like one for your collection.

I don’t think there were more than 10-15 in Springfield.

Tony needs his signs back for the next er, bonfire.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 2:44 pm
Take it from someone that was there. Todd Strogers people stormed the back room stopping the counting process and calling David Orr and Clem Belinoff all sort of dirty names while shouting and cussing.

Only after Strogers people arrived was a call made to Peraica. After hearing about Strogers people storming into the back room where the counting was taking place did Tony Peraica direct his troops to 69 W Washington.

After Tony arrived I went to the City Board of Elections on the 6th Floor. I was repeatly denied access to the counting room to observe the City Election Department. I finally was allowed in to observe.

There were many many voting issues such as voters touching the screen for Peraica and the vote showing up for Stroger. Not a single precinct bag (containing USB cards and Memory packs) in the City department of Elections had a tamper proof seal on it. USB cards were loose in the packing boxes. 12 USB memory cards were put in a tupperware bowl and removed from the counting room. These are things I saw with my own eyes.
Election Judges are reporting that transmissions occured successfully, where as the County Clerks office is reporting that those same precincts did not have successful trannsmissions.

There is something rotten here.

Given the history of vote fraud in Cook County how could one expect anything other than candidates storming the election departments.

Comment by Bobby Douglas Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 2:46 pm
Bobby Douglas (a.k.a. Matlock):

I am going to pitch a Hollywood sequel to Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places” with Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica in the starring roles. In this sequel, it’s a bankrupted Peraica in the Don Ameche role where he gets to plead: “Turn those electronic voting machines back on! Turn those electronic voting machines back ON!”.

Guaranteed blockbuster!

Or maybe a remake of the Richard Prior movie, “Brewster’s Millions”. In this remake, Brester, played by Peraica in a role reversal, gets to spend his millions on a losing county board race. Hilarity ensues. Great stuff!

Comment by John Lee Pettimore Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 3:14 pm
Good to see Tony win my old ward #43 and nearly win my new ward #47 despite that hack Alderman Gene Schulter endorsing Stroger after endorsing Claypool in the primary. Et tu, Gene?

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 3:17 pm
Bobby Douglas makes some great points. The outrage toward Peraica is misdirected. It should be directed toward David Orr. This is the second straight election Orr and his team have bungled. Orr tries to pass the buck by blaming the machines. I assume he had some input in selecting the vendor. Orr has not demonstrated he can run an efficient election with secure ballots and timely vote counting. He should do the honorable thing and resign.

Comment by Tom Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 3:27 pm
JOhn Lee:

I like a good joke, even if I,(or my opinion) are the butt of it, however I’m not a movie guy so your post is lost on me.

I’m stunned by the Peraica loss. If Claypool had any “Stones” he would have stormed 69 W Washington in the primary as well.

Oh well, Ya win some and ya loose some, I’m just glad we did not loose both..

Comment by Bobby Douglas Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 4:27 pm
David Orr is responsible for the performance of the voting machines and the integrity of the elction. He is not responsible for Tony Peraica’s behavior.

Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Nov 10, 06 @ 10:39 pm
Peraica has questionable friends? For those of us without powerful families to propel us, friends are required to operate in the political world. Can you get into Illinois politics at all without powerful friends? If you find them, aren’t 98% of them questionable?
It looks like Rezko helped a lot of people. I think Blagojevich has questionable friends..Obama too..Mayor Daley..Topinka..gee, I can’t think of anyone in politics who doesn’t have questionable friends.
I’m a democrat and voted for Peraica. Do I think he’s the best guy for the job? No. I believe in representative government and I am angry about the lies told about the health of the senior stroger. Anyone who knew anything about strokes knew he would not be back–his doctors knew, his family knew, and the democratic party operatives involved knew–and we voters KNEW we were being LIED to. Absolutely and shamelessly. That’s worse than having questionable connections.

Comment by NoGiftsPlease Saturday, Nov 11, 06 @ 1:37 pm