Harvey Mayor Eric J. Kellogg / Facebook
Some solid reporting recently by the Chicago Tribune on the City of Harvey, its troublesome mayor Eric Kellogg and his disastrous police force.
Here’s the latest story relating to the Trib investigation: Lawmakers seek answers from Feds about Harvey
Not only were new problems uncovered and reported meticulously – including details on shady cops allowed to work in the south suburb – the newspaper highlighted the failings of outside government agencies to help fix things.
That’s been a goal of the BGA for a while – encouraging government to do its job, at least as we see it – and it’s of renewed interest to us.
Just in recent months the BGA has:
- Filed complaints with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against four current or former public-sector attorneys for alleged ethical transgressions.
- Asked the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate the Koschman/Vanecko case to see whether federal charges are appropriate for members of the Chicago Police Department or Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
- Requested the Illinois State Board of Elections to use a tool that’s long been available but rarely used: Demanding campaigns to submit to audits of their books.
We made this last request because of our own findings about Kellogg’s campaign fund, which has been taking in donations and spending money but not publicly reporting these finances – as required under state law.
The way Kellogg has run Harvey, as detailed by the Trib this month, has been atrocious. Here’s to hoping that outsiders step up and do what’s needed. The residents there deserve better.
This blog post was written and reported by the Better Government Association’s Robert Herguth, who can be reached at rherguth@bettergov.org or (312) 821-9030.
