The Better Government Association, as of this writing, looks to have convinced Cook County Board President Todd Stroger to hand over the cellphone records of four former employees or employees -- himself included -- involved in the hiring of an ex-restaurant worker with a bad habit of breaking the law, Tony Cole.
This is good for the county. Good for honest government. And, we're happy to add, good for Chicago's deserved reputation as a town where public corruption investigations are aggressive and effective.
For this, credit goes to the media -- newspapers above all, but also to TV news. It goes to the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, which is traditionally more agressive than most of its counterparts around the country. And it goes to the BGA, which for many years worked closely with the media.
Most famously, the BGA partnered with the Sun-Times in the late 1970s to pull off one of the most celebrated newspaper investigations ever -- The Mirage. That was the name of a bar that the Sun-Times opened and ran with the BGA just to document how city inspectors and others put the squeeze on local businesses.
The BGA grew a little soft in more recent years, but under its new boss, former newsman Andy Shaw, it's obviously looking to make waves again.
And that can only be good.
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