2006

Busy Day and busier news

ArchPundit March 14, 2006 No Comments

Stroger Results, Stroger in Hospital. I wish him a full recovery.

For today, if not longer, I’d prefer not to discuss the health issue on the race since the entire situation is in a bit of limbo and that would be distasteful, so let’s keep comments more on the general race.

The Trib poll shows a 10 point lead for Stroger at 47 and Claypool at 37. Not great news for Claypool, but also not out of what I’d expect with a week out. Claypool isn’t going to win with a wide margin, but he needs to catch fire and cross the finish line by a strong media campaign and decent turnout in areas he does best.

Claypool has AKP doing his media as the article notes (that’s Axelrod) and Wilhelm and Emanuel backing him, but Stroger has the Speaker, SEIU and less important folks like the Governor (the Gov doesn’t have the ground troops the Speaker has–let’s face it. I don’t know the level of commitment Madigan has to this race, but it could be a key factor. Claypool really needs a good turnout in the suburbs and good media to make the final case for his candidacy.

The reason I’m strongly behind Claypool is that the County Government is responsible for several issues that are essential to progressive constituencies. First and foremost is that the County is stuck as the health care provider of last resort and given skyrocketing medical costs, providing that in the most efficient means possible under the system as it stands is the best way to ensure health care for the poor in Cook County. Stroger is not committed to basic cost savings that involve sharing administrative functions and rigorous screening of employees for qualifications. Like much of County Government, it’s a dumping ground for patronage, patronage the health care system cannot afford.

A second reason is Claypool’s committment to the environment and the Forest Preserves in Particular. While I only lived in Cook County for a short time, I always found those to be a wonderful resource. The Sierra Club goes into details specific proposals Claypool would initiate that Stroger has been absolutely resistant to for his entire time in office. Using the Forest Preserve as a dumping ground for patronage employees treats the local environment as a political tool and not a conservation tool and the shape of the preserves demonstrates that well.

When working with relatively small portions of land, maintaining the ecosystem is especially delicate work because a little damage goes a long way. The current moratorium is a long term money loser because by ignoring that maintenance the areas become more difficult to repair over the long run and the costs don’t just increase, but increase at an increasing rate.

Often times when people propose cost cutting, people take that as a conservative position–and often it is. In this case, just as Dean argued, spending on unsustainable items in a manner that cannot be maintained only makes the provision of the most vital services more at risk. The progressive thing to do is to prioritize spending and focus on what best serves the constituents.

Claypool and the Hospitals

ArchPundit March 13, 2006 3 Comments

I’ve been too busy to cover these, but the three most important races to progressives in the primary appear to me to be Debra Shore, John Sullivan, and Forrest Claypool.

One question in comments when I mentioned the Claypool campaign was whether he supported the county hospital system or not. As with both Sullivan and Shore, life has kept me busy, but I think this race is what can save the county hospitals.

The claim from Stroger is that Claypool wants to destroy the hospitals by reducing their staff. The reality is that Claypool wants to consolidate non-medical personnel into one staff that can serve all of the hospitials.

It’s heart breaking to hear that hospitals are going to have cuts in staffing. The image it evokes is fewer doctors and fewer nursers. Cook County’s hospitals are in tough shape so that may happen too, but the best way to avoid it isn’t to ignore the bureaucratic problems, it is to take them head on. One of the most basic problems is that the administrative positions are duplicated at each hospital. Claypool has been attacked for wanting to consolidate those positions. The reality is that Claypool’s ideas are likely to result in the county hospitals better able to keep medical personnel employed, while there will be reductions in adminstrative positions that don’t impact patient care.

I’m realistic enough to understand the tough position that the hospitals are in, may mean a reduction in personnel across the board, but any such reduction should start with administrative personnel that are not involved in patient care. Stroger’s basing his claim on reduced personnel on the loss of essentially patronage jobs. That sucks for him, but it’s damn good for the people seeking treatment.

Volunteer/Donate.

Another race I wished I’d spent more time on…

The Trib Gets One Right: Debra Shore

ArchPundit March 13, 2006 1 Comment

Point source water pollution is a passion of mine. Most of you wouldn’t know it largely because I understand that most folks fell asleep at the third word.

Another passion of mine is electing qualified, quality progressive candidates who watch out for the public interest. Dean, with all of his failures, also understood building from the ground up was essention and here in Misery, we are seeing some progress even.

Those two interests come together in a race that I’ve ignored far too much, especially given how strong one of the candidates is.

The Trib labels her:

Priority One this year is the nomination of Debra Shore, a founding director of Friends of the Forest Preserves and editor of Chicago Wilderness magazine.

Frankly that’s too weak of an endorsement. Another obsession of mine is how local and state government is ignored despite their greater impact on people’s lives (hence, Archpundit was one of the first state politics blogs).

Debra Shore has built a campaign that actually grabs people’s attention for a slot they never knew they voted for before. And she gives a damn about clean water to boot.

Most of the time, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District positions are filled by union backed candidates who will support new construction ignoring what might be best for our environment and the consumer. I normallly respect the Chicago Federation of Labor’s endorsements even when I disagree with them, but this and the Stroger endorsement ignore far larger issues that should be important to the area.

The only regret I have about this endorsement is that I meant to do it some months ago and got sidetracked. Debra even contacted me and I dropped the ball. That is unfortunate because between her, Claypool and Sullivan, there are not any races of clearer importance to Chicagoland voters. Debra is a hell of an activist and with your help, she’ll be a fantastic commissioner. Donate and volunteer as you can.

The Voucher Thingy

ArchPundit March 13, 2006 No Comments

Eric links to a takedown on John Tierney’s recent pro-voucher screed (somewhere behind the NYT firewall).

But an essential point for many of us who are at least theoretical voucher supporters, is that Catholic Schools are facing a dramatic decrease in subsidy and all of a sudden their tuition is increasing. This is one reason the tax credit deal was made between George Ryan and Cardinal Bernadin.