Todd and George
Todd Stroger has many disturbing similarties to George W. Bush. Here are just 3.
1) They both had their jobs handed to them by their daddies, in Todd’s case the Board President of Cook County. Todd’s father is John Stroger, the previous Board President, who is a long-time member of “The Machine” in Chicago. “The Machine” basically consists of politicians and their underlings who follow Mayor Richard Daley’s orders and are guaranteed a job for life. John Stroger suffered a severe stroke just before the Democratic primary and supposedly wrote a letter from his hospital bed resigning his position and endorsing Todd. The signature on the letter is illegible and many people think it was scribbled by Todd.
2) They both have a disturbing smirk and a bizarre, childlike laugh. Todd looks like Urkel. His speeches never seem to address any issue, he basically just campaigns through empty photo-ops and pre-written talking points. Much like George W. Bush, it is difficult to fathom how someone could look at this guy and say “that’s who I want making decisions with my money.”
3) They both take cronyism to a whole new level. Todd promoted his cousin, Donna Dunnings, to be Chief Financial Officer of Cook County. He created a new position for the old CFO, Thomas Glasser, called Chief Operaing Office for the County Bureau of Health, which comes with a $75,000 pay raise. He also hired Joseph Fratto as the county’s Comptroller. Fratto is a bond salesman who is Stroger’s old boss and has strong financial ties to Mayor Daley. This was all done while the board is making drastic cuts to the county’s ailing health care system, which has deteriorated after years of waste, patronage, and mismanagement under John Stroger.