It's one thing for Cook County workers to be paid for sleeping on the job. We're used to that.
But getting paid while doing time?
That's apparently a perk of working in the Stroger administration these days -- at least if you're Todd Stroger's favorite bus boy and you work for his cousin.
According to the Sun-Times, poster boy for patronage Tony Cole was paid while sitting in a Cook County Jail cell.
And that's not all.
"[Former chief financial officer Donna] Dunnings also signed time cards that claimed Cole worked weekends that he did not show up at the office, county records show," the paper reports.
That's not even the best part, though.
"Dunnings would not comment on the excused absences, but said Cole earned the comp days off by working extra hours," the Sun-Times reports.
"When told county time sheets did not show evidence that Cole worked enough extra hours to warrant receiving that much comp time, Dunnings said a "'time keeper' kept track of comp time hours and she just signed off on the time sheets.
"A county source close to the situation said Cole was the office time keeper." It's brilliant in its simplicity.
The good news is that the FBI has paid Cole a couple visits in the pokey and that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office is also investigating.
We might get the last laugh after all.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
