Stroger accuses Devine of 'political charge'
December 22, 2005
BY STEVE PATTERSON

Staff Reporter Cook County Board President John Stroger accused State's Attorney Richard Devine of making "a political charge" by including the names of two longtime Stroger allies in court documents charging a county employee with theft.

In charging Shirley Glover last week with stealing federal funds from a county job training program, Devine said Gerald Nichols, together with another Stroger underling, Albert Pritchett, "ordered" Glover to be hired as fiscal manager for the program, even though she had 10 felony convictions and the program director didn't want her hired.

The charges also say Glover didn't have to formally apply for the job, for which she was unqualified.

Wednesday, Stroger angrily defended Nichols, his $115,000-a- year special assistant, and Pritchett, now retired, saying none of them knew Glover before she was hired.

"No one has forced anyone to hire anyone who is not qualified," Stroger said, calling Glover's 1998 hire "a big mistake," though "I will take responsibility for it" since he ultimately signed off on her hire.

'Window' into hiring

Glover's attorney, Neil Cohen, said "she was told to" lie about her criminal history when she applied for her job, though he didn't say by whom, and Stroger said that since her past became known, the county started to fingerprint top employees.

And while Stroger said references to Pritchett and Nichols are "a political charge" that he wants "corrected," a Devine spokeswoman said the office stands by the charges and that the probe is ongoing.

Stroger has long battled allegations that the county is a patronage dumping ground for his 8th Ward organization, and county Commissioner Forrest Claypool, vying for his job, said the charges against Glover open "a window into how hiring actually gets done at the county."

Nichols is an 8th Ward leader who many say is Stroger's patronage chief, but Stroger said Nichols' only role in county hiring is carrying resumes to human resources.

Nichols and Pritchett worked in Stroger's bureau of administration in 1998, when Glover was hired, but Nichols said he was on leave, running Stroger's campaign, when Glover was hired, and "I wouldn't have had any contact with anybody" regarding county hires.

Pritchett couldn't be reached to respond.

Stroger also complained that he handed Devine county findings on Glover, and now "they're making a case against the people who brought this case to them."

The issue arose during a meeting where Claypool and Commissioners Mike Quigley and Larry Suffredin called for a public hearing on Glover's hiring -- a request sent to a committee.