'This will be a hard one to explain';
Taxpayers paying for county trip to Hawaii -- will it be 'torture'?
Chicago Sun-Times
June 9, 2005
By Steve Patterson
Cook County taxpayers will be paying for County Board President
John Stroger, as many as seven commissioners and more than a dozen of
their staff members to spend a week in Hawaii.
Some say next month's National Association of County Officials (NACO)
meeting will provide them with valuable insights on how other county
governments are operating.
Others say it's little more than a vacation at taxpayers' expense, coming
just months after residents dodged a tax increase to cover county spending.
And one commissioner who will likely participate insists that the trip
will be "torture."
Commissioner Forrest Claypool, who isn't attending, said, "This
will be a hard one to explain to taxpayers. It's hard to justify."
While some county commissioners are taking staff members, others are
taking their families along.
'A lot more pleasure than pain'
Most county representatives to the event will see their airfares, hotel
rooms, conference registration fees and daily meal allowances paid for
by taxpayers -- at a cost of about $2,000 each.
Stroger will take his wife and five staffers, while about seven commissioners
and some of their relatives and staff will join them.
"I don't attend [NACO meetings] regularly, but it's a rare occurrence
to have a meeting in Honolulu," said Commissioner Jerry Butler,
who will attend with two staffers.
"I'll probably get a lot of information I may never use, but a
lot of us will be having a good time that we'd probably never have if
we weren't elected to a county office.
"I mean, let's be honest and frank about this," Butler said. "This
is going to be a lot more pleasure than pain."
Stroger's staff will have a booth at the Hawaii Convention Center, hoping
to attract visitors to the 2006 NACO conference in Chicago. When commissioners
approved a resolution setting Chicago as the 2006 site, the county was
also obligated to send some staff to Hawaii to promote Chicago.
'Taunting taxpayers'
Stroger spokeswoman Caryn Stancik said that because of the high cost
of traveling to Hawaii, Stroger decided to limit attendance to five of
his staffers, each of whom chairs a planning committee for next year's
convention.
"Even if someone can show me the value of these conferences," Commissioner
Mike Quigley asked, "isn't it almost like taunting the taxpayers
to say, during this budget crunch, that this conference in Hawaii is
so important?"
Commissioners Roberto Maldonado, Joan Murphy, Bobbie Steele, Deborah
Sims and some of their staff will attend, as each sits on NACO committees.
Cook County Clerk David Orr, who is being sworn in as president of a
committee, will also attend with a staffer.
Commissioners Carl Hansen, Earlean Collins and Cook County Circuit Court
Clerk Dorothy Brown each said they're considering going to Hawaii.
"I'm in the planning stages, but it won't be all fun on the beach,
counting coconuts," according to Hansen.
"Flying eight or nine hours for someone 6-foot-6 like me is not
too desirable -- it's actually torture."
Copyright 2005, Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
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