Thursday, May 04, 2006
Daily Southtown
by Jonathan Lipman

With a nurses strike looming and government revenue falling, Cook County commissioners Wednesday openly discussed the leadership of the county for the first time since President John Stroger suffered a serious stroke in March.
"This is a situation where important strategic decisions would normally be made by the chief executive officer," said Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago), who recently lost his bid to unseat Stroger.

"The truth is we haven't heard from him for months. We don't know, essentially, who is running this government."

The question brought stern rebukes from Commissioner Mario Moreno (D-Chicago), who as president pro tem has led the board meetings in Stroger's absence, and from James Whigham, Stroger's chief of staff, who has been the de facto head of county operations since Stroger fell ill.

"No one has declared him incompetent; he has not vacated his office," Moreno said. "The president is still our president."

Nurses at the county's three hospitals and dozens of clinics say they'll likely call a strike this weekend unless the county makes a radical reversal at the bargaining table this week. They've been working without a contract since November 2004.

Commissioners met behind closed doors during the county board meeting Wednesday to discuss the strike. Sources said county officials are anticipating a one-day strike and are already moving patients to non-county hospitals and preparing to shut down Stroger Hospital's emergency room, one of the city's busiest.

Finance committee chairman John Daley (D-Chicago) also said he would call a meeting next week for commissioners to discuss a first-quarter revenue report that shows the county health bureau $23 million behind in fee collections.

Claypool said these two subjects require leadership, and commissioners deserve to know who is making key decisions with Stroger home recovering.

Stroger suffered a serious stroke March 13 and has not been seen publicly since. His son, Chicago Ald. Todd Stroger (8th), has said no one in the family is talking politics or government with the president, who now is relearning how to speak.

Claypool tried several times to get Whigham to come to the microphone and discuss the issue publicly during the meeting, but Moreno said it was inappropriate.

"We weren't even allowed in executive session to discuss the nurses strike, it's an executive (responsibility)," Claypool said. "All I would like is to hear is from someone in the administration in authority on who is making the decisions."

Whigham said Stroger is only one vote on the board, but agreed union negotiations are exclusively Stroger's responsibility.

Whigham played cagey with reporters about just how informed Stroger is. He insisted Stroger remains in charge, has made at least one decision about county government and spent three hours talking with Whigham in the past few days.

But Whigham refused to say what that government decision was or what he has discussed with Stroger. Whigham said he would consult Stroger if there was something that needed his decision, but said there was "nothing ... that has not been anticipated or planned for at this juncture, where (Stroger) has to be daily advised or brought into the loop."

The nurses strike was planned for months ago, Whigham said.

"The president is a very strategic thinker," Whigham said. "The plan regarding union negotiations was started many months ago."