Watch this brief video in which Tony explains these proposed measures:

“Cook County has long had problems with illegal hiring and patronage and we must set a new standard of behavior for all, starting with elected officials and all the way down to the front line workers,”  said Peraica.

These amendments are meant to bring needed to reform to county employment practices and set stronger limitations on contributions to candidates and elected officials.

“A new culture of service, responsibility and respect must be established. That is why I am introducing these amendments to the county ethics ordinance,” added Peraica.

Under Commissioner Peraica’s draft amendments:

• No Cook County employee or elected official may serve as a lobbyist for any entity other than Cook County. (Sec. 2-573)

• No current or former Cook County elected official, nor any business or firm in which they have a financial interest may receive business from the county for a period of two years after employment is severed with the county. (Sec. 2-580)

• No current or former Cook County elected official or employee may have a financial interest in any entity doing business with the county for a period of two years after termination of employment with the county. (Sec. 2-581)

• No Cook County elected official or employee may sell property to the county under the guise of eminent domain. (Sec. 2-581)

• The limitations on campign contributions which apply to entities doing business or seeking to do business with Cook County will also apply to individuals holding a financial interest in any such entity. The entity doing (or seeking to do) business with the county, and anyone holding a financial interest in such entity shall be combined and counted as an aggregate towards a single maximum. (Sec. 2-585 (b))

• The threshold for being consdered a county vendor will be lowered from $10,000 over 12 months to $5,000. (Sec. 2-585 (d))

• The term “seeking to do business” with the county will mean taking action within the past 12 months to obtain a contract or business with the county, instead of the current 6 months. (Sec. 2-585 (f))

• Campaign contributions to a county elected official or candidate for county office shall include non-county political funds under the candidate or elected official’s name, meaning that contributions to all funds under an officials name will be combined and counted as an aggregate towards a single maximum. (Sec. 2-585 (g))

The full draft of the amendments can be viewed online at:  http://bit.ly/PeraicaEthicsAmendment

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Score a victory for transparency.

And here’s to hoping that this transparency spurs more stories like the one below, in which ABC 7 Chicago’s Chuck Goudie uses this online check register to identify questionable expenditures of your tax dollars:

From WeAreIllinois.org

That’s an average of three bad apples a year sent to the pokey, according to the study released today by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s political science department and a watchdog group, the Better Government Association.

Read the complete article at the Chicago Sun-Times.

But amid the cries from the public and the call from President Barack Obama, a Chicago native, for governments to be more open, local leaders have launched initiatives for citizens to see where exactly government money goes.

The latest effort comes from Cook County, Ill., which put its check register online at the county’s Web site, www.cookcounty.gov, a move that will not only allow the public to track local tax dollars, but could create a wave of similar transparency measures across the state.

Read the entire article at govtech.com.

The Chicago media this week is a-flutter about news that now-Congressman Mike Quigley has called for an investigation of the misuse of funds for the troubled “Project Shield” homeland security program.

It’s about time.

I have been calling for such an investigation for years.

Mark Suppelsa (who was then at Fox Chicago News) had this great story from August 2007 (also embedded at the end of this post) about the massive problems with the Project Shield program.  After that story, I called for a federal investigation with formal request letters to every member of the Cook County congressional delegation.

Not a single member of Congress (or fellow commissioner) acted.

Then we had this May 2008 Crain’s Chicago Business story in which I am quoted about the many problems with the program.

Then there’s this CBS 2 Chicago story from November 2008 in which I’m quoted as saying:

“It’s very much a program that’s fraught with individuals who have taken advantage of the unregulated pot of cash.”

I proposed a measure to cut off funding to this troubled project.  My fellow commissioners did not support it.

Our efforts to get numerous Freedom of Information Act requests on the project were rebuffed.

Better late than never.  I hope now that this misuse of tax dollars — dollars that are meant to protect our citizens from a terrorist attack — is fully investigated.

The taxpayers deserved a full investigation years ago when we first brought this issue to light.  How much of their money has been wasted since that time?

Please watch the August 2007 Fox Chicago News report below: