Emil Jones, His Stepson, and Todd Stroger -- A Great Deal for Them

Some mornings when the Chicago Sun-Times has a dumb celebrity story on the front page, as if there were no news locally, nationally, or internationally, I wonder why I still pay to have the tabloid delivered to my doorstep.

I got my answer again today when the paper broke an important local story.

First, gossip columnist Michael Sneed reported that retired Senate President Emil Jones -- Obama's mentor -- "is mounting a formidable effort to re-elect embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger" by gathering "business powerhouses from the black community to generate a business-based final push for the candidacy of Stroger, who needs a concerted turnout in the black community."

There was no link in her story, unfortunately, to Carol Marin and Don Moseley's excellent investigative piece, also in today's Sun-Times:

A consulting firm headed by former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr.'s stepson John Sterling has been paid more than $787,000 under a Cook County contract funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, despite failing to provide required weekly reports -- for 21 months.

Read the story, done in conjunction with NBC5 News -- no link between it and Sneed's column -- and weep for the nauseating waste of taxpayers' money.

Under the contract, Emil Jones' stepson, John Sterling, CEO of Synch-Solutions, was to deliver to the county's chief information officer weekly written reports. (The work was for Project Shield, a federal program to place video cameras throughout the county transmitted to a central command in case of a large-scale emergency.) The county received not a single such report, but kept paying Sterling's company anyway. Ten invoices submitted; 10 paid. The total cost to the taypayers: $787,470.

By the terms of the contract with the county, Synch-Solutions was to deliver its "detail[ed]" reports "in electronic format." Instead, Marin and Mosely report, the reports were delivered by "word of mouth."

Commissioner Forrest Claypool, who is leaving county government, commented:

I don't see how you can orally report on something this complex. To pay someone almost a million dollars and only get oral reports is really scandalous. ... Even by Cook County standards, this is an outrageous abuse.

Last May, I wrote about Todd Stroger, who succeeded his father John as Cook County president, and how discouraged it makes me to remember Barack Obama's role in the election of the inexperienced, inept, Todd:

I still can't get it out of my head that President Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois, while not actually endorsing John Stroger over Forrest Claypool in the primary for county board president, sent a message to vote for John by withholding an endorsement for the reformer Claypool. After it became clear that John was incapacitated by a serious stroke, Todd was slipped in to replace his father in the general election in November 2006. Obama, along with his senate colleague Dick Durbin, then enthusiastically endorsed Todd.

 

Comments

[USAFVET76]

Was he one of several that demanded 2 Commissioner candidates step aside so the black vote wouldn't be splitand the white guy would win? It was ministers, just not sure if he tagged up with them or not.

[USAFVET76]

Who did he mentor for political office?

[Tinsdale]

Standard Operating procedure for this gang. Peter Fitzgerald could spend a year of Sundays and never run out of targets. Hopefully, the Honorable Emil Jones is being given a look-see by the Feds.

[jimme]

A waste of ink. Nothing will happen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,guaranteed.

[USAFVET76]

When Pelosi and Obama speak of the billions and trillions in stimulus money this is the result of their foolish actions. Big government is ineffective government. 1trillion dollars in stimulus I and I think about 786 Billion in Stimulus II.

This is the tip of the iceberg of what happens to our tax dollars.

Now imagine what will happen in a 3rd world country that receives part of our 100 BILLION A YEAR taxpayer dollars for "climate change"? They are even morecorrupt. But, Obama agreed to give a way 100 billion of our dollars a year.

[TMc73]

And what does this rant have to do with the article above?

[coolaid8]

Government squanders our money. They give away large amounts with no controls. What part of that did you miss?

[USAFVET76]

A million tax dollars syphoned off to known, very well known political hacks.
A racists like Emil Jones involved with the "black" community to re-elect Stroger.
Zero oversight by the govt. Or looking the other way. Either way its wrong.

So typical. And some want the govt to have more control of health insurance. Yikes.

[Thomas Tresser - Huffpost Blogger]

Folks, have you HAD ENOUGH?

Support Tom Tresser, Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President.

I was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago and we took on the Daley-Stroger Machine and won.

If you want someone to restore honesty and sanity to Cook County government, please help me throw the bums out.

Tom Tresser
http://www.tom2010.us
tom2010.us0.us

[mjb5406]

Mr. Tresser,

Unfortunately, cleaning up the corrupt Cook County system of government will take far more than simply replacing the board President, although by doing so the average IQ of the board membership will increase significantly. Now that the state has reduced the number of votes needed to override a veto, there remains the chance that some less-than-desirable laws could be passed by the board, vetoed by a well-intentioned President, and still becoming law. The "Stroger Contingent" of people like Deborah Sims, will make it their mission to make anyone replacing Todd look bad simply because they can. They will be vociferous in their claims of racism. You have a steep mountain to climb.

[RapidRay]

This is unconscionable. Corruption on a major scale. Attention must be paid. Beyond human ken.
Hold on, I've got a tweet on my cell about a tenth Tiger girl, gotta go.

[wizened]

on the basis of racial politics, ethnic politics, simple name recognition or whatever, Illinois voters seem repeatedly to return mediocrities to public office while rejecting blue ribbon cantidates. It can only leave you very discouraged about the liklihood of reform. Only the United States attorney can do much to clean up our politics, I'm afraid- and we have nobody but ourselves toblame for that.

[Anti-State]

Chicago, where corruption and identity politics meet.

[Lakesideboy]

Why are Stroger, Jones and other politicians given such power in Chicago? Stroger has insured that Chicago now has the highest tax rate in the country and could care less that Chicago residents can barely afford to live in this city anymore.
I say shop in the suburbs if you can and don't buy into the unaffordable circumstances that Chicago politicians are dishing out - including our illustrious mayor Daley who doesn't seem to claim responsibility for anything controversial that happens on an almost daily basis in this city.
When will residents pull together and vote these people OUT of office. We need candidates to step up to the plate who can help this city instead of continuing to destroy it.

[TMc73]

Chicago...the next Detroit.

[pmc617]

Let me get this straight. Three quarters of a million bucks to 'report on' the installation of cameras, Does that include the cameras and installation? Here's a question I'd like answered, "Have the cameras been installed?
There's nothing like Federal money to make local politicians go into feeding frenzy. Out with them all!

[trainunderwater]

The government wastes more of the taxpayers' money than it spends on substantial improvements. Discounting idiotic actions like paying the consulting firm without getting written reports, so many officials waste money on personal affects and superficial improvements. Remember a few years back when the Illinois government tried to build windows in the State Senate building that automatically adjust based on how strong the sun is on a given day?