Division Street

WTTW may have to bring Jerry Springer in soon to moderate Chicago Tonight if this keeps up.

On Thursday night, things got a bit heated when Todd Stroger pushed back against Eddie Arruza, telling him he liked coming on the show but wasn’t going to defend everyone one of his Shakman-exempt patronage hires. (Why not? We’re paying their salaries.) Stroger also questioned the premises of Arruza’s questions - because, you know, no allegation every made against the county is true and you can’t believe everything you read and so on and so forth.

Stroger also said that public defender Ed Burnette’s charges against him were “an outright lie” (for what it’s worth, the Sun-Times editorial page backed Burnette today); that criticisms from commissioners Forrest Claypool and Mike Quigley are not true because “they don’t know . . . this is all politics . . . obviously the people who are saying these things don’t understand”; and that he has made “every change” requested by federal monitor Julia Nowicki.

Stroger might have thought he looked tough, but he really looked like a man-child with no potential for growth.

Arruza responded to one outburst by asking when Stroger would finally hire an HR director. Stroger wasn’t sure because that’s been outsourced to an executive search firm.

Another gem was Stroger’s contention that the threatened secession of Palatine was “not a political question.” Should we file it under Entertainment?

Stroger’s appearance came one night after he was invited to appear with Claypool and Quigley and somehow the phone messages from WTTW to Stroger’s office got, um, lost.

Stroger’s performance was one of several recent dramatic episodes. For example, Stroger spokesman Gene Mullins had a set-to last month with commissioner Larry Suffredin in which Suffredin at one point said “You make up numbers!”

And last Thursday, former state Sen. Carol Ronen squared off against Rep. John Fritchey over Governor Blagojevich, with CLTV’s Carlos Hernandez Gomez providing color commentary.

Give it a look, and tell me if you don’t feel the urge to yell “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”

It was almost better than The Hills. I can’t even remember why Lauren is so mad at Heidi anymore, but who cares when you’ve got The Surreal Life: Cook County.

In last night’s episode, Todd Stroger’s childhood friend and taxpayer-supported public relations chief Gene Mullins squared off against Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin on Chicago Tonight. The Better Government Association’s Jay Stewart played the role of “Voice of Reason” while Eddie Aruzza expertly moderated.

The story up to now: After excruciating budget showdown which resulted in a widely loathed sales tax increase, Stroger’s hinky spending continues, including plans to add a public relations consultant to the PR team that is already 15-people strong because, after all, the county’s woes are the media’s fault.

Here’s a rough look at the script, edited for clarity with occasional interjections shouted at the TV from Division Street. Imagine the voices getting louder as it goes.

ARRUZA: Why?

MULLINS: To promote the activities we have and services we offer at the county hospitals . . . that people don’t know exist.

ARRUZA: What’s been done up to now? Why isn’t that good enough?

MULLINS: Of the 15 people referred to by the Sun-Times . . . only myself and the assistant director report to the president and talk to the media . . . the rest perform different tasks . . . cable employees, graphic designer . . . all are listed under PR, but they don’t all perform the duties of PR.

DIVISION STREET: Those are just budget titles.

ARRUZA: Why aren’t you reassigning jobs to utilize the budget better?

MULLINS: We have to bring in professionals to get the word out.

DIVISION STREET: It’s not like we can depend on the amateurs on our payroll.
(more…)

She’s the bane of old-school alderman who say she “doesn’t have a clue” and the mayor calls her most recent actions “silly.” Is she an idiot, or is she fearlessly taking on the Machine? Find out tonight when federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan is interviewed by Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight, 7 p.m., WTTW.

And after Brennan, a look at the top ten most endangered places in the state according to Landmark Illinois.

Chicago Tonight: They’re in my head!