next week may be my first trip to springfield to knock on some doors and attend a coalition press conference. but what's the burning question on my mind (as i avoid creating my trip agenda)?
what does the well-dressed advocate wear while chasing after legislators and their staff all day? sensible shoes, yes, but how about a pointy-toed flat? (and what about snow?) and, clearly, a pantsuit is necessary, but can i find one that won't bankrupt me but still accommodate the flat sensible shoes? and what about a bag? i can't see myself tooling around with my Tumi messenger.
i'm sure all the guy advocates worry about the same thing.
...
yesterday was also a lesson in city/county politics. did you know that city hall is literally split in two? yes; if you go to the 5th floor you'll notice a big ugly iron door cutting the floor in half. on one side is the county and the other the city. i think there's some story behind this but i can't recall it right now.
i had plenty of time to contemplate the symbolism of a divided city hall while i and a coworker waited in the hot hallway to enter the public budget hearings for the county. (you know, the budget that's basically going to suck ass and kill basic services for the whole county.) above us, the speakers tried to transmit the droning tones of the meeting happening inside, but the anger in the hallway sometimes got in the way.
in line with us were crowds of city and cook county employees, rallying for the survival of their departments. it was an interesting crowd: doctors elbowing with criminal justice folks, nudging against nurses, doctors, clerks, public defenders, administrators, priests, plus all the big beefy guys you see in various parts of the city.
with 110 speakers signed up, we calculated that the meeting would last 5.5 hours. so we left without being able to participate in our city's democratic process. and outside, in the flurrying snow and wind, hundreds of city and county workers marched on Daly Plaza yelling "They say cutback! We say fight back! They say cutback! We say fight back!" we saw at least 4 different unions represented. and that's what makes a good rally - organization and anger. it was awesome.
depressing, but awesome.
12 comments:
My mom works for Oak Forest Hospital, a County facility, in a union job. She's waiting to see if cuts eliminate (a) her job, (b) her whole department, (c) the entire hospital, or (d) none of the above, but plenty of other needed services.
What on earth is Stroger gaining by insisting on across-the-board cuts rather than emphasizing higher cuts in administration and smaller cuts in health care, human services, and law enforcement? Lifelong loyalty from administrative types?
he gets to look 'tough'.
he gets to say 'hey, i'm doing something my father didn't even do.'
he gets to attempt to not look like a puppet.
it's clear that the cuts he's proposing, as he's proposing them right now, won't go through the board. it won't be rubber stamped. but the 17% cut across the board will probably happen. so that means that dept heads will have to make some hard decisions - headcount vs. administrative costs.
(and if you read the budget proposal closely enough, you'll see that he's also asking county employees to work without pay for 20 days during the year. um, yeah. try doing that with a unionized workforce. whatever, dude.)
critics, like carol marin in the sun-times, say that stroger can help this process along if he chopped off a lot of fat from his own administrative staff. there are tons of people earning whopping salaries who are clearly political appointments.
i have a feeling that if the board and dept heads want to dig in their heels, they'll use that as a sticking point: we'll cut once you cut.
i hope your mom survives this budget process!
Oh, Forrest Claypool, why did people vote for your hospitalized opponent in the primary? Why?!?
Work 20 days without pay? Er, not likely.
My mom's theory is that the cuts will provoke such a strong backlash that Stroger will then say, "Well, it's either this or higher property taxes," and then he'll get the tax revenues without having to come out and push for them up front.
well, he's already 'found' $15 million in the park district's bucket to offset some cuts and keep a couple clinics open and restore some of the budget for the Dept. Women's Justice Services in the Sherrif's Dept.
but the board is digging in their heels about that and the budget wrangling is just beginning. all i know for sure is that the budget he proposed off the bat isn't going to happen.
My mom reports that Stroger just moved the county's CFO to the COO position, and hired HIS COUSIN to be the new CFO. I'm sure she just happened to be more qualified than any other candidates for the job. What a coincidence that she's family! (Some other position has been filled my the nephew of someone loyal to Stroger, apparently.)
no way.
did he, really??
have you read the columns from carol marin about stroger's habit of nepotism? they're awesome.
i felt sorry for the guy, thinking that maybe he was just 'caught up' in the whole political appointment thing, but no more. he's crooked.
I gotta go read Carol's columns.
You know, I e-mailed her once after her column on women and Catholicism, and she wrote me back. I sort of swooned.
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