Official Profile of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins Candidate 2010 Illinois General Election

CANDIDATE

Jennifer Bishop Jenkins

CANDIDATE FOR THE OFFICE OF

Cook County Commissioner, District 14

CANDIDATE PARTY

Democratic

ELECTION

November 2, 2010 Illinois General Election

CANDIDATE STATEMENT

My name is Jennifer Bishop Jenkins, and I am running to be your next Cook County Commissioner from the 14th District. I am committed to building a Cook County that WORKS. I bring better ideas for better government, guided always by my constant commitment to the principles of workability, sustainability, and quality of life for our communities.

I am running against a 12 year incumbent who has supported Stroger's patronage-laden budgets, inflated no-bid contracts to politically connected firms, borrowing 3/4 of a BILLION dollars to fund Stroger's spending, the use of the controversial contingency fund to travel extensively and make personal donations, and has NOT been there for his constituents when they have needed him, time and again. He has been called "Stroger's favorite Republican" and he has had enough time on this board collecting a paycheck from us but not delivering on the needed reforms and services that the voters I talk to everyday are demanding.

We are going to win this race because voters know that I will be a full time commissioner, devoted to deep and serious reform in Cook County. They know that I am committed, competent, and independent.

I am endorsed by the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI-IPO) and many other groups.

The 14th District is a large, beautiful, and diverse section of Cook County that runs entirely along the southern border of Lake Cook Rd from western Winnetka, Kenilworth, and Golf, and most all of Northbrook, all the way west to Barrington and the Kane County line. It includes Northfield, Glenview, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Wheeling, East Dundee, Barrington, Barrington Hills, South Barrington, and parts of Mt. Prospect, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Rolling Meadows, and other communities.

Please visit my website at www.JenniferBishopJenkins.com for full information, to share your concerns, to ask questions, or to set up a meeting.

These are the issues that I will address once I am elected your Cook County Commissioner:

STREAMLINE COOK COUNTY

The 14th District shares significant border with other counties - more than any other district in Cook County. We border all three neighbors: Lake County, McHenry, and Kane Counties. The facts speak for themselves. The high sales taxes in Cook County hurt our local businesses in the suburbs bordering other counties and resulted in a measurable drop in income for our retail businesses. The Stroger Sales Tax has been a disaster. I will work to immediately and fully repeal it.

With the new veto-override threshold lowered, half the sales tax has already been repealed. I am one of the few candidates for Cook County Board that supports an immediate repeal of the other half of the Stroger sales tax as well.

I will CUT taxes. My opponent supported the now controversial 10-25 property tax plan that simplified the rate of the taxation but did nothing to address the rise in assessed values of homes at a time of national financial crisis when the market values were actually declining. Property taxes going way up at a time when values are going down. Voters I have spoken to are shocked at this mismanagement by current leaders on the county board, including my opponent.

I am fully committed to balancing the Cook County Budget without raising taxes that hurt the families and businesses of the 14th. What works in government is to cut bloated bureaucracies and find smart and sustainable ways to streamline County services. On my website you can download a detailed 6 page budget proposal I have already written and submitted as public testimony against the current budget and budget process.

Also at my website www.JenniferBishopJenkins.com there is a link to a lengthy plan that shows how Cook County government can be significantly streamlined by consolidating departments with duplicative functions, such as all the property tax agencies, and the Board Clerk and Secretary.

My opponent has never once accomplished a single major structural reform of this nature in his 12 years on the Cook County Board.

I will lead a transition to zero-based budgeting that will significantly reform the Cook County Budget process. Current budget practice is that the starting point each year for each item in the budget is last year's figure. This outrageous practice makes reform almost impossible, and much of the system was designed to keep patronage jobs in place that benefits incumbents with their loyalty. Zero-based budgeting assumes nothing from year to year, and each program must be continually vital, and every expense justified before it is allowed to continue. I will lead implementation of departmental streamlining and consolidation plans already advanced by former Commissioner, now Congressman Mike Quigley.

Obviously vital to the budget reform process is removing Todd Stroger as Board President and replacing him with a competent financial manager and reformer, not more of the same.

An example of the impact of our concerns about Cook County fiscal management was recently seen when the Fitch Rating Service downgraded Cook County bonds:
“According to Fitch Rating, June 6,2009, Cook County Bonds were downgraded from AAA to AA on June 9, 2009. Their analysis stated “The downgrade reflects increased pressure on financial operations, as evidenced by declining general fund balances, growing dependence by the county's massive health system on tax subsidies … Further compounding diminished financial flexibility is the increased burden of a high-sales-tax environment in the current weakened economy.”
"When [new Cook County Health System CEO Bill Foley] asked for a copy of the system's latest financials, his finance chief warned him that they're merely his 'best guess' because of the county's shoddy recordkeeping." (Crain’s Chicago Business 8/10/09

In 2009 this headline appeared in the Chicago Tribune: “State blocks $2.8 million from use by Cook County President Stroger: Financial mismanagement is alleged in a long-troubled county office”. Hal Dardick, Tribune reporter, wrote on August 19, 2009: “Citing financial mismanagement in a long-troubled office that Cook County Board President Todd Stroger now controls, state officials have cut off access to $2.35 million in federal job training grants and demanded the county return another $1.8 million.”

Clearly there are not enough reform-committed Commissioners and those with the leadership skills necessary to take charge of this process and make the fundamental changes necessary. The County Board needs 9 strong reliable votes to reinvent Cook County, and that is exactly what I will work to do.

I support extending the independent health systems board put in place by Commissioner Suffredin. This board has already achieved great savings for the taxpayers. And I support working to find the best model going forward to continue the success of that effort while maintaining public accountability and transparency. Various models of a permanent independent Cook County Health Care Board are being discussed, and I will carefully examine each one.

I was one of the first candidates for commissioner that has openly expressed outrage over the 60% error rate (yes, you heard that right!) in the County Hospital billing and coding procedure. While other commissioners reacted to this news at the meeting I attended with no comment, or they debated the need for better job training for the hundreds of employees, many put in place for patronage reasons, I investigated with medical professionals to find the state of the art software which would eliminate human error from this process, saving us potentially millions of dollars. Cook County should implement this. As I have been talking about it publicly, others are beginning to as well.

PROTECTING FOREST PRESERVES
I strongly support the Friends of the Forest Preserves, and their plans for an independent all volunteer Forest Preserve District Board. Currently Cook County Commissioners serve also as the Forest Preserve District Board. This often represents a direct conflict of interest between the fiduciary obligations of both boards, one with a mission for development, and the other with a mission for conservation.

On September 11, 2009, the Chicago Tribune covered the meeting I was present in support of the Forest Preserves. “Our elected stewards of the Forest Preserve District have once again succumbed to pressures to give away the Cook County public's forest preserve land, even though state law and their own ordinances prohibit it.”

My opponent voted to support this land grab even though a Cook County attorney rendered a legal opinion in the meeting that this was illegal.

Friends of the Forest Preserve support separating the Forest Preserve District Board from the Cook County Board, and I am fully behind this effort. Contact your Illinois state Senators and support SB 176.

I will take a strong and consistent stand to end all this and all other conflicts of interest on the Cook County Board.

I have been endorsed by the Sierra Club, who has stopped supporting my opponent because of his failure in environmental leadership.

END THE CORRUPT HIRING

I am committed to substantially downsizing the number of patronage workers in Cook County. Estimates have cited an additional 15% burden (the "Patronage Tax) on taxpayers overall to pay for the Cook County patronage system. This system creates jobs for loyal workers who in turn work to keep the elected official in office. There is almost no transparency or accountability
On August 24, 2009, a Chicago Sun-Times staff reporter with The Better Government Association wrote “Patronage workers with the Cook County Forest Preserve District are seeing more green these days -- in their paychecks. With people everywhere facing tough financial times, the 28 forest preserve patronage workers who've been on the payroll since 2006 all got hefty raises in the following two years, an analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Better Government Association has found. They're among 38 forest preserve workers who are exempt from the Shakman court order that bans political hiring in city and county government.”

And this is just the tip of the Patronage Iceberg in Cook County government that I am committed to eliminating.

My opponent has supported patronage hiring year after year after year and failed to be present at the one meeting this year where the board actually tried to put a check on Stroger's extensive nepotism and cronyistic hiring spree.

REDUCING CRIME AND ITS COSTLY IMPACT

Through tragic personal experience, I have more expertise on this issue, and from a victim perspective, than any other candidate in the race and will bring strong reform to the Criminal Justice system in Cook County. The criminal justice system makes up almost half of all the dollars that Cook County taxpayers put out each year. It is the largest single item in the county budget.

I have unique insights and specific plans for better services and ways to save money in the day to day operations of the nation's largest unified court system and single site jail. I will bring best practices to the county and we will reduce crime and the high bill taxpayers pay for it.

I am endorsed by the Cook County Sheriff' FOP for my nationally recognized expertise in criminal justice matters, a subject my incumbent opponent admits he knows little about.

Each act of violence in Cook County, one of the most violent places to live in the nation, exacts a horrific cost, but not just in the financial burden it places on all residents. Lives are damaged, often beyond repair, and quality of life for our communities suffer.As a former domestic violence victim and a murder victims' family member who went on to become a nationally recognized expert, I know how to save money and better our communities through violence prevention.
For example, any shooting incident in the county costs an estimated $400,000 each. There are significant costs in law enforcement, court, incarceration, investigation, and health care issues that fall to taxpayers to cover. I have a plan for implementing best practices nationwide for law enforcement, programs for first offenders, reducing the easy access to guns by criminals, and regional cooperative efforts that could potentially save Cook County many millions of dollars, while also greatly enhancing our quality of life. This is what brought me to run for the Cook County Board, and it is what will distinguish me as one of its most effective leaders.
COUNTY SERVICES SHOULD WORK FOR PEOPLE

I am committed to bringing better county services to the north and northwest suburbs. Half of all Cook County residents live outside of Chicago in the suburbs. They put in most of the tax income, but do not receive most of the services. Many of the residents that I have talked to on the campaign trail complain that they see very clearly what the county TAKES from them in taxes, but do not see what they are getting for that money. And while we all benefit from the roads, the courts, the jail, and many other county services, it is clear that the 14th District is not getting as much as it is giving.

The average rate of return on dollars back into the district under my opponent's 12 year reign has been about 22% on the dollar. He has not made sure that the 14th District gets a fair amount of the taxes back to them in services that they have paid out.

I often hear reports that phone calls from residents with various concerns are not being answered promptly by the incumbent commissioner. I will be a full service, full time Commissioner that will answer every phone call, meet with anyone with concerns, and work efficiently and responsively for all the residents of the 14th District. Unlike other commissioners, this will be my only and full time job.

I will not, for example, make substantial income in private real estate development while at the same time voting on TIF districts and zoning matters as a Cook County Commissioner as does my opponent. I will not vote for or accept a pay raise until Cook County has a balanced budget. I will support and take across the board pay reductions as other new incoming candidates are working together to do. I will not need to vote “present” on matters before the Cook County Board, as many Commissioners sometimes have to do, because of conflict of interest.


ITS TIME FOR NEW LEADERSHIP

12 years and supporting Stroger and other forms of mismanagement - voters have had enough. Vote on November 2 to end the status quo on the Cook County Board.

I very much appreciate your support on November 2, 2010 and look forward to working with you all for a better Cook County. www.JenniferBishopJenkins.com

CANDIDATE WEBSITE

ORGANIZATION ENDORSEMENTS

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFO

PRESS ARTICLES

VIDEO

YouTube - Jennifer Bishop Jenkins, Cook County Commissioner 14th District, Gregg Goslin