Professionalism, Leadership, and Patronage

Sitting through the Cook County Board meeting of September 15, 2009, I would have thought I was back in one of my former high school classrooms.

Often when I was teaching high school government and history, I would put students up in the front of the room to lead a presentation or discussion. Sometimes they were excellent -- even inspirational. But sometimes, as you might expect from teens, they would cut up, make cracks, and generally completely demean the dignity of the process.

And it was always clear to everyone in the classroom who was taking the process seriously and who was not.

The Heir Apparent of the Stroger dynasty that is currently running our beloved Cook County is not taking this at all seriously.

Todd Stroger's conduct, almost throughout the entire board meeting, was flippant, sarcastic, and lightweight. He demonstrated a complete disregard for how he appears to others.

His "jokes" were inappropriate, and I was beyond uncomfortable, especially knowing how much is at stake in the lives of the 5 1/2 million residents of Cook County.

One cynical exchange between President Stroger and a Commissioner had Mr. Stroger laughing sarcastically and saying, "Oh, we don't use clout in the Human Resources system [of Cook County]." Ha ha.

He chided another Commissioner for not coming to him personally to tell him he needed to talk to the independent county department working to implement court-ordered reforms in patronage hiring -- something that the President's office had been ordered to eliminate decades ago and is still working on.

"But we notified you through your attorney, in writing, Mr. President," Stroger was told. Todd said words to this effect: "You know it's best to always tell me personally if I have to do this kind of thing."

My children take more personal responsibility for their obligations than that.

The consensus in that room was clear: Todd Stroger would not know on his own to do this, and he would blame someone else if it was not done. This means that there is a child in charge of our county.

Another crack from President Stroger: "Oh, I'm right at least 95% of the time!" His tone of voice -- this was one big joke for him -- said it all.

I asked a seat mate if it was just me, or was this the most unprofessional display from a high elected leader he had ever seen. That man had been to more meetings than the dozen or so I had been to, and he affirmed that it was almost always like this.

For three years, our County Board President has been bereft of professionalism and incapable of leadership.

And he is painful to watch.

One good idea emerged out of that Board meeting that I promise to build on: Eliminating all patronage hiring in all departments.

We really can do this. More on that later.

But there is a lesson here on how professionals behave when in positions of importance and leadership: Professionals do not make jokes about patronage and clout. They behave with dignity, and they work night and day to ease the burden on those they are responsible for.