Mike Quigley, Cook County Commissioner, 10th District

Prosecutors get talk, not raises

Chicago Sun-Times

July 11, 2007

By Steve Patterson

Five months after Cook County Board President Todd Stroger promised raises to prosecutors, those attorneys showed up in force at Tuesday's County Board meeting, complaining he hasn't delivered.

They were told to come back later.

There's no money for raises to bring their salaries on par with their public defender counterparts, they were told, but maybe next month there will be.

Stroger, meanwhile, pushed through new contracts with other county employees that will deliver almost 15 percent in raises over the next four years for some, free parking for others and even free meals for county doctors and their friends.

"It seems outrageous that they would be holding the state's attorneys hostage while pampering the doctors and catering to them and their guests," said state's attorney's office spokesman John Gorman. "That's inconceivable."

Pledge helped pass budget

State's attorneys have gone without a cost-of-living increase realized by others, in part, because other employees have won those raises through union contracts. Prosecutors are non-union employees and the County Board hasn't granted them the same level of raises.

Still, the county budget was passed in February partly because of Stroger's vow to deliver raises to them.

Commissioner Mike Quigley said Stroger "has broken that promise." He and Commissioner Larry Suffredin said they are working on a plan that could fund those raises by August.

But Stroger offered no timetable for when he'll finally deliver on his promise.

"This was not something I thought was the best thing to do," he said, though adding that he'll eventually deliver.

And when Commissioner Liz Gorman complained about "talented attorneys leaving, while friends and family are padding the payroll" and Commissioner Tim Schneider asked "how many other picnic bench inspectors do we need," Stroger issued a challenge to critics to start naming names of patronage hires who don't deserve their jobs.

Still others complained about the lack of racial diversity among prosecutors, while others said if one group of county employees gets large raises, others should, too.

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