Chicago Daily Observer

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has two weeks to name directors to a new, independent board to oversee the county’s vast Bureau of Health Services, which critics contend is a patronage-laden fiefdom controlled by 8th Ward Democrats….....Here’s the list:

*Dr. David Ansell, vice president and chief medical officer at Rush University Medical Center

*Fernando Grillo, former secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation

*Warren Batts, retired Premark International CEO

*Dr. Carl Bell, president and CEO of Community Mental Health Council & Foundation Inc.

*Norman Bobins, chairman emeritus of LaSalle Bank Corp.

*Daniel Cantrell, who is on the staff of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.)

*David Carvalho, deputy director of the Illinois Dept. of Public Health

*Margaret Davis, executive director of the Healthcare Consortium of Illinois

*Dr. Joseph Flaherty, dean of the College of Medicine at University of Illinois-Chicago

*Quin Golden, former chief of staff ... Read More...

Cook County Assessor James Houlihan has contributed $190,000 to a candidate running for a seat on the board that reviews the work of Houlihan’s office.

If Jay Paul Deratany wins election to the Cook County Board of Review, two of its three commissioners will owe their spots, at least in part, to Houlihan’s backing. In 2006, Commissioner Brendan Houlihan, no relation to the assessor, won after getting nearly $72,000 from Houlihan’s campaign fund.