The Tainted Task Force

The Tainted Task Force

How Lobbyists, Campaign Donations, and Special Interests Dominate Toni Preckwinkle's Appointments

An Examination of Appointments by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to the Cook County Unincorporated Task Force Announced November 4th, 2011

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The Lobbyist Back Door ISSUE: By placing lobbyists on this task force, it creates a dangerous precedent that opens up back doors and allows those lobbyists additional undocumented channels to push their agendas. If this were a State of Illinois task force, this kind of activity would be prohibited under 25 ILCS 170/3.1: ... a person required to be registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act ... may not serve on a board, commission, authority, task force or other body authorized by state law or by executive order of the Governor. [emphasis added]

Lobbyists Appointed to the Task Force on Nov. 4th, 2011 Laurence MSALL, an attorney, is President of the Civic Federation8 and an active lobbyist for the Civic Federation. He is registered as such with the Cook County Clerk 9 and the State of Illinois, Secretary Of State10. The Civic Federation itself is registered as a lobbying organization. Laurence MSALL is its chief lobbyist for Cook County.

Adrienne ARCHIA is on the board of directors of The Civic Federation11 as well as being a lobbyist registered with the Cook County Clerk for Rice Financial Products, 12 which recently restructured Cook Counties bonds to the tune of $357,950,000 13. Archia's compensation for her part in that piece of Cook County business is unknown.

CONCLUSION: It is a dishonor to those members of the task force who are open minded and fair to be associated with the rest of the task force. Sadly, Cook County trails behind the State of Illinois in the ethics arena of explicitly prohibiting conditions that permit the very possibility of unethical and undocumented back door lobbying.

8 9 10 11 12 13

http://www.civicfed.org/civic-federation/staff/laurence-msall http://lobbyist.cookcountyclerk.com/Public/LobbyistDetail.aspx?id=247 (Laurence Msall) http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/index/lobbyist/lobbyist_search.html Civic Federation > Laurence Msall http://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/FY2013%20State%20Roadmap%20Press%20Release.pdf (Left Column) http://lobbyist.cookcountyclerk.com/Public/LobbyistDetail.aspx?id=305 Adrienne Archia http://www.ricefinancialproducts.com/News/pdf/2010Q2RiceNews.pdf see Page 4

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The Civic Federation Connection A position summary of the Civic Federation's Cook County Modernization Report take on unincorporated Cook County can be summed up in two words: Eliminate it. Pages 136-141 of the Modernization Report acknowledge only three possibilities to deal with unincorporated areas: 1) Push for annexation by surrounding suburbs. Result: Cook County no longer has any responsibility for providing services there (although no mention is made of reducing any property tax levy on the residents once this change takes place.) 2) Pay surrounding suburbs to perform all the services Cook County is currently responsible for providing, at a subsidy if necessary. Result: Cook County no longer has any responsibilities to the unincorporated residents, but a new bureaucracy is born to manage the resulting myriad intergovernmental contracts, and any so-called savings disappear. 3) Impose SSA (Special Service Area) taxes on unincorporated residents to generate more revenue for Cook County. Result: Cook County no longer has any responsibility for properly funding and budgeting services for unincorporated residents. Unnatural Annexation A common stated goal of all these Civic Federation schemes is to encourage, drive, force, or directly subsidize annexation of unincorporated areas into surrounding suburbs. No consideration is given to the idea that as these areas have all been unincorporated for 181 years (since Cook County was founded in 1831) it may be better to allow natural annexation to occur as it always has. Natural annexation has occurred (and will continue to occur) as population densities, potential tax revenues, and infrastructure issues make annexation both attractive and financially viable for a suburban municipality. What if it is cheaper and more effective to leave areas unincorporated during these times of extraordinary financial problems? This question is not asked; you are instead expected to swallow the Civic Federation's premise that unincorporated areas somehow need to be eliminated. Making suburbs take areas they do not want is an easy fix for abandoning responsibilities (and expenses) the County has. The biggest cost among those responsibilities: Police services to unincorporated residents provided by the Cook county Sheriff's Police Department. It is no extraordinary coincidence that the amount the Civic Federation purports to save by wholesale elimination of all services to unincorporated Cook County is almost exactly the same as the annual budget of the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department. What they don't tell you is the Sheriff's Office generates $25,587,000 in revenue 14 and $6,000,000 in cigarette tax enforcement, while the Cook County Building and Zoning Department adds $2,100,000 from unincorporated areas. Wheel tax stickers (the unincorporated Cook County version of city vehicle stickers) pile another $3,540,000 on. That's a total of $35,337,000. Compare that to the 2012 total operating cost of the Sheriff's Police (just like that of a large suburban city with 100,000+ residents): $36,886,944.15
14 http://blog.cookcountyil.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/12-Revenue-Estimates-Pres-Rec-R1.pdf FY 2012 15 http://blog.cookcountyil.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/V-SHERIFF.pdf Sheriff's Police Line Item

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The difference between that revenue coming in and what the Sheriff's Police costs is $1,549,944, and that's without counting a single penny in Cook County property taxes yet. What it would cost per mooching household to make up that $1.5 million between revenue and expenditures? (Toni Preckwinkle said unincorporated households are mooching off the rest of Cook County in a Sun Times article of November 28th, 2011.)16 Spread across a conservative estimate of 30,000 mooching households in unincorporated Cook County, the amount of property tax each would have to pay to make up the difference is $53.17. Not yet counted are revenues solely from businesses and industries in unincorporated areas. So where does Toni Preckwinkle divert the property tax that is actually received from each unincorporated Cook County property? No amount of research has turned up a single property tax bill that was $53 or less . ... so where does it go? Aggregate Unincorporated Areas: A Large Suburban City Despite its geographical distribution, unincorporated areas together total over 100,000 residents and over 67 square miles including schools, cemeteries, factories, churches, hospitals, restaurants, homes, and everything else one expects to find in a large suburban city. This may not be a big number compared to the City of Chicago, and not impressive to Preckwinkle, but the aggregate size alone is a third of the size of Chicago. In contrast to other large suburban cities, unincorporated Cook County as a whole seems right at home.

Civic Federation Board Members In addition to Laurence MSALL and Adrienne ARCHIA, task force appointee Scott SAEF is a board member of the Civic Federation. Scott SAEF is an attorney and partner in Sidley Austin LLP17. He is on the Board of the Civic Federation18 and is also past chairman.

That's a total of 3 Civic Federation board members on the task force, hardly an impartial start to examining the issue at hand. But Preckwinkle wasn't finished stacking the deck there; she even added a direct contributor to the Modernization Report (next section.)
16 http://franklinpark.suntimes.com/news/8395578-418/county-would-lay-off-more-than-1000-under-preckwinklebudget.html 17 http://www.sidley.com/saef_scott/ 18 http://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/FY2013%20State%20Roadmap%20Press%20Release.pdf (Left Column)

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Modernization Report Contributors H. Woods BOWMAN is an appointed task force member and Associate Professor at DePaul University's School of Public Service19. He is the former Chief Financial Officer of Cook County (1990-1994.) Bowman was directly credited with contributing to the Civic Federation's Cook County Modernization Report20. He has also contributed to Preckwinkle's political campaign 21. That's at least two conflicts of interest for Bowman his campaign contributions alone document a predisposition of tacit political support for Toni Preckwinkle. Other direct contributors to the Modernization Report (who are not members of the task force) are: M. Hill Hammock (a Preckwinkle campaign contributor and member of the Metropolitan Planning Council, both features he shares with task force appointee King HARRIS); and Susan McKeever (vice-chairman of the Civic Federation, a Preckwinkle campaign contributor, and wife to Lester McKeever. Susan and Lester are principals in the accounting firm of Washington, McKeever, and Pittman22, a significant receiver of County funds.)

M. Hill Hammock and Susan McKeever: Between them and their spouses they contributed a total of $12,500 into the campaign fund of Toni Preckwinkle. (Washington McKeever & Pittman is a $255,000 audit subcontractor under the contract 11-88-031 from Dec. 2011, signed by Toni Preckwinkle. See pages 30, 36, and especially 63 for more details of their involvement. Page 40 of contract 11-88-031 certifies no lobbying was done to get the County's business. Preckwinkle's signature is on page 47.) 23

19 20 21 22 23

http://las.depaul.edu/sps/About/OurFacultyStaff/FullTimeFaculty/bowman.asp http://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/CookCountyModernizationReport.pdf see page 2 http://elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/ContributionsSearchByCandidates.aspx Woods Bowman > Toni Preckwinkle http://www.wpmck.com/contact.html Susan and Lester McKeever http://www.cookcountygov.com/taxonomy2/Purchasing%20Agent,%20Office%20of%20the/Contracts/11-88-031.pdf

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Questions Not Asked by the Modernization Report Q: What are the criteria for determining when reform needs to take place? Comment: The report implies that reform is needed when agencies, government methods, and practices are not modern and/or inefficient. This just leads to more questions. Q: So when is a practice not modern enough? Comment: There is no set criteria defined for what is modern. Most of us see many young civil servants, new computers, updated equipment, and web sites everywhere, but we are expected to accept it when the Civic Federation tells us we are not modern. Q: When is a practice inefficient? Comment: An argument can be made that seeking maximum efficiency is a constant ongoing effort. An academic example is when anyone drives a four-seat automobile with only one person in it, they are only using one-fourth the capacity of the car inefficient, right? Only until you realize that the physical maximum efficiency is only met by owning four cars, each of which holds 1, 2, 3, or 4 passengers and you just drive the one you need depending on how many people are traveling! Efficiency is an ongoing compromise between resources available and their effective allocation, not the need to buy four cars for different numbers of passengers but the Civic Federation wants you to fall for their definition without asking the follow-up question: When is a practice efficient enough? Q: Once a practice is reformed, when is it reformed enough? Comment: Again, the Civic Federation does not address this issue. Like all the previous unanswered questions, they simply ask you to take their word for it. Q: What are the hidden costs of all this annexing, special taxing, and paying suburbs to do the County's work? Comment: The Civic Federation does not want you to look behind the scenes here. Encouraging suburbs to annex will require paying them to take unprofitable areas. Result: Higher tax costs now to come up with millions in incentives.

Paying suburbs to do the County's work in policing, housing, or other services still costs money. Result: A new bureaucracy administering scores of labyrinthine County service contracts that require near-constant attention to renegotiate terms and costs as they expire. Wasn't Preckwinkle's campaign based on consolidation, not complication? Adding Special Service Areas (SSAs) to impose additional taxes on unincorporated County property owners. Result: Residents and property owners can veto any proposed SSA by a 51% majority on a simple petition.24 While they are rejecting this new tax, they will be asking Where does Preckwinkle divert the property taxes I pay now?!

24 http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=003502000HArt. +27&ActID=596&ChapterID=8&SeqStart=82000000&SeqEnd=84300000 Illinois SSA Law

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The CMAP Connection The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) was formed by passage of Illinois State legislation25 in 2005. Randy BLANKENHORN is the current CMAP Executive Director26. By an amazing coincidence, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is a member of CMAP's Council of County Board Chairs27. Two more connections exist to task force appointees: The spouses of task force members Barry NEKRITZ (Elaine Nekritz) and Hon. Henerson YARBROUGH (Karen Yarbrough) both legislatively sponsored the creation of CMAP28. Again, Preckwinkle finds people to populate her task force that have direct conflicts of interest.

Other Members of the Task Force Barry Nekritz Nekritz is campaign contributor and husband of Elaine Nekritz, a member of the Illinois State House of Representatives. The campaign fund Citizens for Elaine Nekritz has also donated to the current Cook County Board Presidents campaign fund. Michael Kreloff, who is the chairman of Citizens for Elaine Nekritz, has deemed it necessary to donate to the current Cook County Board Presidents campaign fund as well. He also received a check from Cook County on December 29, 2011 in the amount of $30,000. Nekritz clearly is a tacit political supporter of the current Cook County Board President and has many shared interests. Carol Teschky Teschky is currently the Maine Township supervisor and has worked for Maine Township since 1989. According to records obtained from the task force, she attended two separate task force meetings, one with Des Plaines and another with Glenview. Based on notes from those meetings, those meetings had the most instances of guesswork of population figures and lack of knowledge of Cook County building code regulation. She should have been in perfect position to answer those questions or provide a resource that could reply. There are two possible reasons, either her voice is not recognized by the chairman of the task force, or she is ineffectual and unable to provide any insight into Cook County government, even though her job is to provide that bridge.

25 26 27 28

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2731&ChapterID=15 http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/staff-directory/biosketch-rsb http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/council-of-county-board-chairs http://www.metroplanning.org/news-events/article/5657 Elaine NEKRITZ and Karen YARBROUGH

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King Harris In addition to being named the chairman of this task force, he is also the single biggest campaign contributor to the current Cook County Board President. A self described public policy wonk29 he also sits on the board of directors of Metropolis 202030 (now Metropolis Strategies), along with the chief of staff to the current Cook County Board President. He also is on the the board of the Chicago Community Trust31 (CCT) which benefited greatly from money received by Cook County in 2011, receiving $125,000.00 on April 29, 2011, $27,500 on November 3, 2011 (the day before the formation of the task force was announced) and $192,500.00 on November 29, 2011.32 It not is not clear why the non profit Chicago Community Trust, with well over a billion dollars in assets, needs County business. He has apparently close ties to the administration, as he contributed $10,000 to it 33, and after receiving $345,000 for the CCT, is its biggest benefactor named to the task force. He has attended every meeting cited in this report, and is just as freely as he receives Cook County money; he suggests it to be spent. He has no knowledge of law enforcement, has a vague understanding of how government works, and is a questionable addition to this task force. His donation of $5,000 to Preckwinkle's campaign exactly a month to the day after the announcement of the task force could be interpreted as a Thank You.

David BENNETT is the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus, which has close ties and regularly collaborates with CMAP and King Harris' MPC. He is the apparent author an defined coordinator of the Mayor's Caucus survey that exclusively targets the Sheriff's Police on Preckwinkle's behalf.

Task Force Work to Date Des Plaines Meeting The task force meeting held with officials from The Village of Des Plaines February 13 2012. These are actual quotes from that meeting. [The task force deliberately arranged their meeting without including representatives from the Sheriff's Office or any other County office.] -We have no idea how active housing code enforcement is in this area, but we suspect the current inspection programs do not meet actual needs The Cook County Board President announced the formation of this task force on November 4th, 2011, and they could not answer this simple question in 101 days.34 This meeting was attended by Maine Township Supervisor (and task force appointee) Carol TESCHKY, who spearheaded an active code enforcement program in unincorporated Maine Township. This program services (among others) unincorporated Maine Township and unincorporated Glenview.
29 30 31 32 http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/Blogs/HarrisView/?p=760 public policy wonk http://www.chicagometropolis2020.org/5_5.htm King Harris (note his assistant, Nancy Firfer and her MMC connection) http://www.cct.org/about/our-board King Harris https://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Finance-Administration/Comptroller-Cook-County-Check-Register-FY2011/gck3p6tw Chicago Community Trust 33 http://www.elections.il.gov/campaigndisclosure/ContributionsSearchByCandidates.aspx King Harris > Toni Preckwinkle 34 http://www.mainetownship.com/services/code/ Maine Township Code Enforcement since 1997

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In addition to TESCHKY's program, housing code is also enforced by the Bureau of Economic Development. The task force and the head of the Bureau of Economic Development are all appointed by the current Cook County Board President, and might have used these connections to answer questions. -We guessed the Des Plaines police would have to add 30 additional people to handle the load, given the population density of the region and the higher than normal crime rate. In addition to members of the task force, this meeting was attended by the Deputy Chief of Police for Des Plaines. No member of the task force in attendance thought about asking him how many police officers he needs. -We guessed that entire unincorporated area of Maine Township west of Milwaukee might 15,000 to 20,000 residents. This meeting was attended by the Maine Township Supervisor, who is a member of the task force, and has the duty of providing services to unincorporated Maine Township. In the 101 days since being placed on this task force she could not find out how many constituents she serves. -A bigger issue: Where to put them? The current Police department lacks spaces. One possible idea: build a new sub station right in the Dee Park area with Cook County dollars. With the task force already conceding Cook County money for additional cars and equipment those in attendance seem very eager to suggest that Cook County spend more money and then not even attach a dollar amount to it. This is a task force sponsored by the current Cook County Board President, and the best they can do is guess how many people a cut in service will affect. Even when they have the ability to ask the Deputy Chief of Des Plaines how many officers he will need to cover newly annexed areas, or at least wait for an answer on a future date, they will guess how many police officers another police agency needs. This exhibition of complete lack of law enforcement experience and unwillingness to obtain answers from sources right in front of them, shows they have a predetermined agenda that they will not deviate from. Glenview Meeting The task force meeting held with Officials from the Village of Glenview on 9 January 2012. These are actual quotes from that meeting. [The task force deliberately arranged their meeting without including representatives from the Sheriff's Office or any other County office.] -The one service that Glenview benefited from, Saturday court processing of those arrested, was recently eliminated to cut County costs. Glenview has a jail that can hold 12 inmates. Glenviews goal is to process people quickly and send them to the county jail. Why? Concern about workers comp and liability issues related to prisoners. This statement perfectly demonstrates how the task force is out of touch concerning law March, 2012 Page 10 of 16

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enforcement matters. No police officer or, citizen for that matter, would consider having a police officer go on a 45 minute road trip, process an inmate into the Cook County Jail, drive 45 minutes back to Glenview, on a weekend, to be a benefit. That would leave fellow officers short staffed, who are charged with protecting citizens back on the beat. The other issue at hand is that the workers comp and liability issues related to prisoners are just thrust on Cook County that much faster. That liability is greater and as the potential risk for serious harm from a prisoner is usually greater just after the arrest. -If we want to come up with a better estimate, then we need to get population statistics for the specific census tracks in unincorporated Glenview. This meeting was attended by Maine Township Supervisor, who is also a member of the task force and represents unincorporated Glenview. No police officer considers having his back up 25 miles away on a weekend a benefit, and while cost saving is commendable; it should not come at the risk of the safety of officers and citizens wellbeing. This is a complete disservice to all residents of Cook County. Lemont Meeting The task force meeting held with officials from the Village of Lemont on February 3, 2012. These are actual quotes from that meeting. [The task force deliberately arranged their meeting without including representatives from the Sheriff's Office or any other County office.] -It was noted that building and property codes do apply to unincorporated lands, they are just not enforced! This enforcement is done by inspectors assigned to the Bureau of Economic Development, whose director was appointed by the current Cook County Board President. This department is defined as a revenue generating agency by Cook County and is projected to bring in $2.1 million according to the 2012 Cook County Budget. After 3 months of existence, the giddiness the task forces parades about with in the sudden knowledge that Cook County is a real government with codes and laws, illustrates perfectly that this task force is overwhelmed and incapable of obtaining the most obvious of answers that simple preliminary research would provide. Northlake Meeting The task force meeting held with officials from the Village of Northlake on February 3, 2012. [The task force deliberately arranged their meeting without including representatives from the Sheriff's Office or any other County office.] -During that meeting a question was asked if the village uses Cook County Sheriff's Police Services for special investigations and special operations. The answers to both questions were a single word: No. The reason that was given is that they work with the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force (WESTAF.) Cook County Sheriffs Police Department has officers assigned to WESTAF, as well March, 2012 Page 11 of 16

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the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force utilized by Lemont, MCAT utilized by 3rd District police departments, and NORTAF which is used by Glenview and Des Plaines. COOK COUNTY SHERIFFS POLICE SERVICES There have been a series of questions crafted by members of the task force in various meetings with municipal leaders. These questions are leading at best and will not provide an accurate assessment of what the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department does. They ask if the various towns utilize Cook County Sheriffs Police such as Vice, Gang Crimes, and Bomb Squad, just to name a few of the numerous services they provide. The Cook County Sheriffs Police have a jurisdiction that covers the entirety of the county; many of the municipalities have little or no idea that the Cook County Sheriffs Police have provided a service in their town. Many investigations that start in unincorporated Cook County lead to arrests in towns that provide their own police services. - Recent Statistics from 2011 Activities on File GANG CRIMES Gangs do not have any jurisdictional limitations and operate countywide. Many gang crime investigations that start in unincorporated Cook County lead to arrests in towns that provide their own police services. -In the City of Chicago the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department Gang Crimes Unit arrested 151 offenders (38 felonies), seized 23 pounds of cocaine, and logged almost 5000 hours of manpower. -In the Village of Maywood the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department Gang Crimes Unit arrested 235 offenders as well as recovering 40 firearms. -The task force held a meeting where the task forces own report claims The Village of Glenview received very little benefit from the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department Gang Crimes Unit. This very little benefit is as follows; 43 total arrests (7 felonies) 1194.1 grams of cocaine seized (2 pounds), $547,182 seized, and 372 total man-hours assisting the Glenview Police Department [A recent article in the Chicago Sun Times dated February 26 th, 2012 is entitled Chicago Gangs Getting Pushed Out Of City, Into Western Suburbs mentions the Sheriff's role in curbing gangs.] 35 BOMB SQUAD While the duties of The Cook County Sheriffs Police Bomb Squad do not require them to actively render explosive ordinance harmless on a daily basis, unfortunately in todays climate they are a necessary entity of this department. In meetings held in with officials of Des Plaines, Glenview, Northlake and Lemont all 4 towns have used the services provided by the Cook County Sheriffs Police Bomb Squad. It is far better to continue to provide this service, than to need a Bomb Disposal Technician and not have one available. -The Cook County Sheriffs Police Bomb Squad provided 142 man-hours to the federal government assisting, The F.B.I, A.T.F, and The United States Secret Service. -The Cook County Sheriffs Police Bomb Squad provided vital homeland security assisting railroads, in addition to once even providing support T.S.A in securing our nations airways. -The Cook County Sheriffs Police Bomb Squad provided services to jurisdictions outside the County of Cook including; The Joliet Police Department, Johnsburg, IL (assisting in a death
35 http://www.suntimes.com/news/10859218-418/chicago-gangs-getting-pushed-out-of-city-into-western-suburbs.html

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investigation), Kane County Sheriffs Department, Lake County Sheriffs Department and Will County Sheriffs Department. SPECIAL OPERATIONS/VICE This service, among other numerous other services, entails arresting prostitutes as well providing enforcement in the Cook County Cigarette Stamp Tax. -The Cook County Sheriffs Police Vice Unit arrested 260 prostitutes in 16 different municipalities. The socio-economic nature of this offense means this is not a burden faced by some towns within Cook County. If any member of this task force had any law enforcement experience they would tell you that prostitution related arrests routinely garner information which provide intelligence useful to Gang Crimes Investigations as well as solving property crimes, in jurisdictions other than where the prostitution arrest occurred. -Starting on 12 September 2011, the Cook County Sheriffs Police Special Operations Unit began the task of enforcing the Cook County Cigarette Stamp Tax, after a mandate from the Cook County Board President. From that date until 30 November 2011 that unit, through their enforcement of a Cook County Ordinance, issued fines in the approximate amount of $2,800,000 of which $977,000 was contributed to the Cook County General Fund. It is projected to contribute an estimated $6,000,000 to the Cook County General Fund in 2012. SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS/TASK FORCES The Cook County Sheriffs Police Department has representatives on every multi-agency task force in suburban Cook County. -One question posed by the presidents task force at 4 separate meetings with suburban towns was if they utilize the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department for special investigations. Those towns cited that they use task forces for high profile investigations (NORTAF, MCAT, WESTAF, and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force.) With a detective section larger than most towns' police departments, The Cook County Sheriffs Police Department provides detectives and evidence technicians to every task force listed. This department nonetheless provides outside agencies with personnel to assist them in major investigations. Having a jurisdiction of Cook County this department has the unique ability to serve on every law enforcement task force. They provide insight, knowledge and experience not readily available to smaller communities of suburban Cook County. -The Cook County Sheriffs Police Department is also a participating agency in the FBI's Chicago Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. This is a highly specialized unit that recovers digitized evidence to assist criminal investigations and gather information that lead to theft, child pornography, and terrorism arrests. This agency not only serves all of Cook County but any law enforcement agency in Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, JoDaviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whtieside, Will, and Winnebago counties. A Cook County Sheriffs Police Officer currently serves as director of the FBI-founded Chicago Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. Those services provided and many more all come off the back of the patrol officer. Without having an active patrol division, these portions of the Cook County Sheriffs Police could not do their job.

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POLICE WORK IS A PUBLIC SERVICE, NOT A BUDGETARY LINE ITEM The task force is comprised of leaders of industry, public officials, and private citizens. They appear to be looking at police work from a dollar and sense perspective, rather than the duty of protecting the citizenry and property, and enforcing the laws of the land. Here is where private sector success turns to public sector failure: Core government functions like police, fire, and the military are public services. They do not turn a net profit. They never will. Everything that makes a successful private sector enterprise comes down to one thing: Profit. Without it, no company survives. The core mission for government functions: Public service. This inherent shift in the core mission makes all the difference. Public agencies do not make widgets in a factory. They cannot go out of business, because public safety is not a business. Public safety is a duty and a service that our citizens depend on, every minute of every day.

The Sheriff's Office generates $25,587,000 in revenue36 and is projected to bring in another $6,000,000 in cigarette tax enforcement, while the Cook County Building and Zoning Department adds $2,100,000 from unincorporated areas. Wheel tax stickers (the unincorporated Cook County version of city vehicle stickers) add another $3,540,000. That's a total of $35,337,000. Compare that to the 2012 total operating cost of the Sheriff's Police (just like that of a large suburban city with 100,000+ residents): $36,886,944.37 ____________________________________________________________________________ If the task force were a dictatorship, they would propose creating a fee-for-service model where none currently exists: Charging residents directly for police services. Imagine their world where a policeman hands you a bill after you called 911: $5 for locating a missing child. $10 for bomb defusing (per bomb, of course). $2 for each mile on a taxi-meter to drive a stranded motorist home. ____________________________________________________________________________

If Cook County enters into any deals for annexation and eliminates the Sheriff Police it will end up costing Cook County more money, create additional bureaucracies, and have hidden costs.

36 http://blog.cookcountyil.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/12-Revenue-Estimates-Pres-Rec-R1.pdf FY 2012 37 http://blog.cookcountyil.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/V-SHERIFF.pdf Sheriff's Police Line Item

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The majority of independent task force is filled with supporters of the current Cook County Board President. They demonstrate little understanding of unincorporated Cook County and no knowledge of how law enforcement works. From its inception, the majority of this task force was assembled to justify a position held by the current Cook County Board President that has already failed when previously brought before the Cook County Board. While it is easy to say annexation will only affect the patrol functions of the Cook County Sheriffs Police Department, this will affect Cook County as a whole. In every police depaprtment nationwide, the patrol division is the core and backbone. It is the front line that provides support, intelligence, and security all enabling suppression of gang activity county-wide, assisting in every task force, curbing prostitution, and standing ready with bomb disposal. By farming out services it will affect not only Cook County but northern Illinois as well, by eliminating a bomb squad and a role in the FBI-founded Chicago Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. The annexation of unincorporated Cook County will assuredly cost the citizens of Cook County more than its spending right now - through loss of revenue and no oversight as to how each particular town spends the money given to them. This task force appears to be trying to put a price tag on a public service; thats dangerous to do by any measurement. __________________________________________________________________________ FINAL CONCLUSION __________________________________________________________________________ Infrastructure & Building Codes The task force has said unincorporated Cook County building codes are inadequate. Compared to what? If one were to believe their unproven assertions, the newspapers should be full of daily headlines about buildings falling down every day in unincorporated areas. Why don't they use their lobbying power to improve building codes instead of creating more bureaucracies that will cost more money? They could open the Lobbyist Back Door that Preckwinkle created to exert their benevolent influence. Coming Soon: The Tainted Report Ultimately, this Tainted Task Force will report its recommendations, which will rubber stamp and regurgitate Preckwinkle's agenda: Eliminate unincorporated areas without regard to cost by pushing annexation, or paying suburbs subsidies to do the County's jobs in those areas, or driving for additional punitive taxes & fees on unincorporated residents ... all based on an unproven premise. No consideration will be given to keeping anything unincorporated as it is (allowing natural annexation to occur as it has since 1831) even if it's more cost effective. Please ask yourself two final questions: 1. As the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department is virtually self funded by existing revenue from Sheriff's Office functions, why are Toni Preckwinkle and the Civic Federation so intent on eliminating it? 2. If the position of Toni Preckwinkle has so much merit, why the need to assemble so blatantly biased a task force that rubber stamps goals already set, rather than impartially examining options and objectively reporting independent findings?

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TONI PRECKWINKLE

UNINCORPORATED COOK COUNTY TASK FORCE*

BARRY NEKRITZ

HENDERSON YARBROUGH

RANDY BLACKENHORN

DAVID BENNETT

KING HARRIS

ADRIENNE ARCHIA

LAURENCE MSALL

SCOTT SAEF

WOODS BOWMAN

Elaine Nekritz

Karen Yarbrough

Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus (MMC) CIVIC FEDERATION Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)

CITIZENS FOR Elaine Nekritz Michael Kreloff Chairman CFEN

Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC)

LEGEND

Recipient of County Money PRECKWINKLE Campaign / Contributor Lobbyist, Active & Registered Related Individual Modernization Report / Contributor CIVIC FEDERATION / Board Member CMAP Member / Legislative Sponsor MPC / Executive Committee MMC (Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus)
Lester McKEEVER

M. Hill HAMMOCK

COOK COUNTY Modernization Report

Susan McKEEVER

* Task Force Members shown above: Barry NEKRITZ, Hon. Henderson YARBROUGH, Randy BLANKENHORN, David BENNETT, King HARRIS, Adrienne ARCHIA, Laurence MSALL, Scott SAEF, and Woods BOWMAN. * Task Force members NOT SHOWN: Hon. Timothy Schneider Hon. Deborah Sims Carol Teschky, Maine Tsp. Supervisor The remaining persons shown are not members of the task force.

Washington, McKEEVER, and Pittman

CMAP, MMC, and MPC have longstanding mutual goal relationships

March, 2012

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