Peraica’s Push for Transparency Reveals Waste

-By Warner Todd Huston

Commissioner Peraica sponsored a transparency measure that formed the basis for a recent ABC 7 report on waste in county government. Cook County government has started to put its check register online for all to see thanks to Peracia’s efforts.

Of course, we need more stories like the one seen here, ABC 7’s Chuck Goudie who usesd the online check register to identify questionable expenditures of your tax dollars.

One of the worst examples of waste by the County was its expenditures to C.R.O.E., the Coalition for the Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Mahammad. Mahammad was the former leader of the militant Nation of Islam, a religion now run by Louis Farrakhan. The County is supposedly paying C.R.O.E. for “consulting” services. But no one really knows what sort of “consulting” they really do for the County.

In any case, with the County check register on line for everyone to see, the possibility of more easily finding the waste and graft by Cook County government is a good thing for eventually holding County officials accountable. We should see such efforts at every level of government.


Copyright Publius Forum 2001