Crook County Chicago Illinois?

By Charles S. Mombo

Seal of Cook County Illinois

One of Cook County's most not-too-famous son, Al Capone, was onces quoted as saying, "A crook is a crook, and there's something healthy about his frankness in the matter. But any guy who pretends he is enforcing the law and steals on his authority is a swell snake. The worst type of these punks is the big politician. You can only get a little of his time because he spends so much time covering up that no one will know that he is a thief. A hard-working crook will-and can-get those birds by the dozen, but right down in his heart he won't depend on them-hates the sight of them."

The transmission of Al Capone's “not-too-flattering” characteristics appeared to have been inherited by his Chicagoan offspring.

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) political science department and the Better Government Association (BGA) recently released a report that states Cook County government has been a dark pool of political corruption for more than 140 years. The first public corruption scandal according to the report occurred in 1869 when a number of Cook County Commissioners accepted bribes to approve a fraudulent contract to paint city hall. Geographically, Cook County is the fifth largest of Illinois' 102 counties by land area. It is the largest of Illinois' counties by population, with 5,376,741 residents. According to the 2008 US Census Bureau estimates, the county has 5,294,664 residents, which is larger than the populations of 29 individual U.S. states, and the combined populations of the seven smallest US states. There are over 130 incorporated municipalities in Cook County, the largest of which is the county seat, Chicago, which makes up approximately 54% of the population of the county.

The UIC and BGA report chronicled and detailed outright the and bribery, as well as endemic patronage, nepotism, cronyism and corruption cases they hope to call attention – to the need for meaning reform. The report also noted that, during the last several decades, Cook County has been a center of rampant corruption with scandals emerging in many different units of county government.

The report further added, “The pattern of political corruption in county government is widespread and not confined to a single unit of government. This report documents graft and corruption in the Cook County Board President's office, his Office of Employment and Training, the Highway Department and in the offices of the sheriff, assessor and treasurer as well as the Clerk of the Circuit Court.”

Better Government Association had in the past called on the Cook County politicians to limit the lobbyists, limit the campaign cash, audit the books, stop the double-dipping, stop the nepotism, the cronyism, and the patronage.

In all fairness to the Cook County Board President, we contacted his office on Friday, February 19, around 10:00 A.M. and requested information on measures that he had instituted to prevent corruption in the County government. After three phone transfers, I was asked for my name, website, telephone number and email address and was told that someone will get back to me. Still waiting………..

This blog will be updated whenever we hear from the County Board President's office.