Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica has put up his latest searchable list of what every Cook County employee makes, and it's prompted some debate.
Peraica has long been for transparency in government, but his actions raise a question:
What's the data really worth?
A lot of county employees hate it, seeing it as an invasion of their privacy. Some observers say the salaries don't mean much without context. In other words, if you don't know the extremely highly paid janitor is the committeeman's brother-in-law, the salary number itself doesn't explain much.
One commentator suggests posting the data "almost feels hostile." (TOH to Gaper's Block).
Of course, Peraica gets some political mileage out of posting the data and draping himself in the banner of good government, but he's doing the right thing.
Here's why:
There's no doubt posting the salaries of any government employee feels like an invasion of privacy to that employee.
But that's the price those employees pay for working for government. Their salaries are paid by taxpayers, and their salary information is public.
Let us stress that many county employees are hard-working, and many are underpaid.
But they're not the only folks whose salaries are subject to scrutiny.
Public companies have to make public the salaries of their top executives.
Not-for-profits and charities have to do the same.
Salaries of various public employees from agencies across the country have long been available on the Internet, even before Peraica got into the game, and there have been no reports of government slowing to a halt over jealous co-workers or anyone dying of shame.
So what's the value of the information?
To Average Joes, admittedly, not much.
They can see where their tax dollars go, which has some value, but it doesn't mean much without context.
The folks who understand the context are the county employees themselves. They know which of their colleagues got their jobs through clout, which of them hardly show up to work because they don't worry about getting fired, which of them are ripping off the taxpayers.
Those hard-working county employees see what goes on, see what those rascals get paid and sometimes, they pick up the phone.
They call the FBI.
They call the Better Government Association.
They call an investigative reporter.
That's the true value of Peraica's list.
It encourages people-in-the-know to drop a dime.
Those are the folks who help start federal investigations, help put stories in the newspaper, and once in a great while, actually help make a difference.
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It looks like Tony is the ONLY elected official with the guts to stand up to the corrupt Chicago machine.
i voted for peraica last election and will vote for him next election.
And Tony's also the only one to have his house shot at. Coincidence?
I hope he's making sure his friends and relatives who are on the payroll are listed too.
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