Todd Stroger's Lowest Moments As County Board President (PHOTOS)

On Monday, newly elected Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was sworn in. Her first day on the job, Preckwinkle fired patronage workers tied to her predecessor and vowed to cut an unpopular county sales tax hike by 2013.

All in a days work.

For years, Cook County has been dogged by scandal under former county board president Todd Stroger. Though his colleagues played nice for the most part at their final meeting together, they will likely never forget the waste and mismanagement that occurred under Stroger's rule.

We rounded up the ten most egregious moments of Stroger's tenure. And with that, we will move on and hope that Preckwinkle will truly be the reformer she campaigned as.

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The Sales Tax Hike

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Raising the Cook County sales tax by a penny on the dollar was Stroger's most unpopular decision, and the one that was probably most influential in his election loss to Preckwinkle. He defended it to the last, though, saying just last week, “That penny literally kept the government running. Without that money, we would have had to shut some doors, cut days off, not provide some services as we actually are dictated to (provide) by the state.”

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Raising the Cook County sales tax by a penny on the dollar was Stroger's most unpopular decision, and the one that was probably most influential in his election loss to Preckwinkle. He defended it to the last, though, saying just last week, “That penny literally kept the government running. Without that money, we would have had to shut some doors, cut days off, not provide some services as we actually are dictated to (provide) by the state.”

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This Doozy

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Petty Beyond the pale

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Comments

[TPaine1776]

09:23 AM on 12/08/2010

I live in Illinois. This is what happens after years of the Democratic machine. Beyond corrupt. These people should be tried as common criminals.

[LeaderofMen]

08:58 AM on 12/08/2010

Only 10?

[ChangeAgent007]

07:15 PM on 12/07/2010

No wonder our voter base is stricken with apathy. The choices presented for public office in this state are apalling with a few exceptions.

[Cheryl44]

06:12 PM on 12/07/2010

The worst part of the whole Stroger administration was how he was selected to be County Board President.

[Iamafrustrateddemocrat]

05:52 PM on 12/07/2010

I ask, and this is a serious inquiry, who has been more of an embarrasment, Blago as Illinois governor, or the Toddler as Cook Co. Board president. Just wondering!

[Jebus Chris]

04:01 PM on 12/07/2010

I can't wait until Toni starts cutting county services and cutting staff.

[TPaine1776]

09:26 AM on 12/08/2010

We can only hope. There are only a few services that Cook County needs like police, hospital and road maintained. All the other bloated crap can go away.

[albyrd]

02:35 PM on 12/07/2010

DING DONG THE TODDLER'S GONE!

[ebroadcast]

02:35 PM on 12/07/2010

Man, I can not wait to see you walking out that door Todd. You are a waste of space

[edisnuts]

02:12 PM on 12/07/2010

while everything he did in office was despicable,,,,even compared to George Lyin Ryan, Mel Reynolds , Madigan , Schakowsky, Durbin and the Daleys

What he did before is even more heinous,,,, His father was stricken by a stroke, the Chicago FD and Paramedics took him,,, The next day , on threat of termination all documents were removed from the firehouse and John Stroger was left in a vegetative state while Todd arranged his ascension

[FoodGeekBear]

12:59 PM on 12/07/2010

By saying "Ten Lowest Moments", you are implying there were high moments. There was absolutely nothing useful about this man. It was a corrupt political sham that he even got into the office and an abuse of his father's name and life (literally, for those who remember the circumstances). I want my money back!!!!!! There had better be lawsuits over his actions. Were you paying attention, Lisa Madigan!

[newplasticmachine]

12:24 PM on 12/07/2010

Never hire a child to do his father's job.

[1911abc]

12:19 PM on 12/07/2010

This is sickening. This corruption is all over cook county and no one cares, it is almost comical.

And to think this is where Obama learned his political moves, makes one wonder. Although it would be unfair to link Obama to Todd Stroger, he is as bad as they come.

[bidalah]

03:40 PM on 12/07/2010

I wish it was unfair to link the two. But I still remember Obama, after his U.S. Senate victory, but before his announcement or a run for the presidency, getting up on a stage with Todd and proclaiming himself a proud member of the "Todd Squad". He obviously had realpolitickal motives for doing it; attacking the Democratic Cook County Machine at the time would have put him in a precarious position politically. But it was still depressing to see.

It is one of the few black marks on Obama's character that Republican didn't simply make up.

[mjb5406]

12:11 PM on 12/07/2010

It's a relief that he's finally gone, and will be more of a relief if the Feds indict Toddler. There is a lot of corruption in Illinois politics (I guess that goes without saying), but I don't remember anyone who was as blatant about it as Stroger was.

And, there were times I thought he and Eugene Mullins were far closer than just "friends". Most people have friends, but these two were joined at the hip.

[bluecollaramerican]

06:56 AM on 12/08/2010

They would look good joined at the hip in the same jail cell

[Waiting for Something]

12:00 PM on 12/07/2010

Why is HE not in jail?

[Anarchy4hire]

11:59 AM on 12/07/2010

he is a pig, a true Illinois politician through and through...and will he go to jail? probably not

[oldlady2000]

12:16 PM on 12/07/2010

He deserves it more than Blagojevich and Ryan.