Audit time. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle calls for an audit of county jobs following this week’s BGA/CBS 2 investigation, which revealed Treasurer Maria Pappas has a $94,000 a year, taxpayer-funded driver and a $57,000 “administrative analyst” who cleans the office—even though there are already county-hired custodians.
Two for one. New Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar-Topinka told WLS‘s Roe and Roeper that the offices of comptroller and treasurer should be combined—even if that eliminates her job—and she says Dan Rutherford, the newly elected treasurer, agrees. Topinka says it’ll save taxpayers $12 million a year.
Rapid fire. A City Council proposal calls for the immediate firing of Chicago city employees who are convicted of corruption, following this week’s Sun-Times “Watchdogs” column, which found nine city employees collected $383,205 after their convictions.
Prickly pensions.A Trib editorial calls the tax hike “unconscionable,” targeting the governor’s and the legislature’s inaction on dealing with pension benefits while raising already struggling households’ income tax.
