Maybe his bark is as bad as his bite. It looks like Mayor Rahm Emanuel's threat to fire or suspend employees who owe the city money worked like a charm.
Since the mayor issued his threat about five weeks ago, to take disciplinary action against scofflaw city employees, more than 1,200 city workers have stepped forward to either pay off their debt or enter into a payment plan.
That has added up to more than $1 million in the city's coffers, money that includes overdue parking tickets or water bills.
But there's more work to do.
"When people across Chicago are working hard to make ends meet, it simply is not acceptable that city employees have $3 million in outstanding debt owed to the city's taxpayers," the mayor said in a news release.
The city's comptroller has been calling commissioners to make sure they stay focused on the collections, and even talking to employees directly.
