Progress Illinois

Cook County President Todd Stroger spent a good part of his recent interview with CBS2's Mike Flannery identifying all who had wronged him. It was a long list. Not surprisingly, political opponents from both parties were singled out by the beleaguered board president. But Stroger reserved his most pointed criticism for the media.

Referring to bad press as the administration's "hardest thing right now," Stroger took aim at the Chicago Tribune:

"Commissioner [Mike] Quigley can say anything and it will get into the Tribune editorial board, so he’s been able to have them write what he thinks. We won’t get them to write what we think because we are on different pages really."

Here he is on the Sun-Times:

"At least half of the stories are wrong but it’s just done because she [Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin] is asking someone who would not like to see me here, and I generally assume that it’s probably [...] Forrest Claypool because most of her columns sounded exactly as he speaks. And she writes as if what she's saying is true when in reality it isn’t."

Stroger clearly thinks the local papers are nothing more than mouthpieces for his political opponents. That's what made some of his final comments a little disconcerting. When asked if there was anything he wanted to add, Stroger announced that he plans to ramp up county PR efforts, including TV programming and "little newsletters":

"I don't think that most people understand the county and what we do. We will try to let them know in the future. We are working on a cable station. We'll be working on passing out little newsletters about what is happening in the county, and that has also been one of the political issues."

A cable station?

(More after the jump ...)

While the board president remained vague about his plans for this new PR campaign, it's will likely resemble "A Look Inside Cook County," a current cable access show that manages to fit a good dose of Stroger-adulation into its slick, PSA-style segments.

When Stroger ran to replace his father as board president, he vowed to increase transparency in county government. And I think most Cook County residents would agree that accessibility to information about the inner-workings of the board is something worth expanding. However, Stroger would do well to remember the difference between transparency ... and taxpayer-funded propaganda.