Political Essays
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Using the Chicago Inspector General’s HRAIL Efficiency Report as a Jumping-Off Point for More Contract Learnings
I like to read contracts generated by the City of Chicago. They help me understand how things work. I don’t mean to be coy or world-weary about that. I just mean that when we’re forced to codify what we’re willing to pay for, we expose ourselves. I also like the Office of the Inspector General…
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I Used to Own @mayordaley: The True Story of a Twitter Account
So I noticed today (via Greg Hinz) that the @mayordaley Twitter account had risen from a year and a half of silence. I've been waiting for this day for a while now. I used to own the @mayordaley Twitter account. In fact, I started it on November 18, 2008, the same day I got wind…
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Me and Hoffman
In October 2005, Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed David Hoffman to be the new Inspector General of the City of Chicago. He breathed new life into a moribund, embarrassing department in city government. Shortly after the appointment, I helped create the first Web site for the department. That’s when I first met David Hoffman. He…
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A Closer Look at the Summary Report for Chicago Inspector General’s Office Case #’s 09-0481 and 09-0482
I've been reading a goodly amount of sturm und drang coming from various places about a recent report from Inspector General David Hoffman calling for, among other things, the firing of City of Chicago Commissioner of Human Resources, Homero Tristan. So I decided to take a fresh look at the report at the center of…
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“I Got A Guy” and “The Lady Derivation”
Yesterday at EveryBlock we launched our first Special Report — an annotated map of addresses mentioned in the criminal complaints associated with Operation Crooked Code, a “joint investigation of the Inspector General’s Office, the U.S. Attorneys Office, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has resulted in the arrest of 15 individuals, including 7…