At least no one can ever say Cook County government is unironic.
Perpetually beleaguered Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is scheduled to address the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws this morning at the welcome breakfast of the group's 30th annual conference, which is being held in Chicago.
According to a press release issued by Stroger's office, the council is "the pre-eminent professional organization for government agencies, organizations, law firms and individuals with responsibilities or interests in governmental ethics, elections, campaign finance, lobbyist laws and freedom of information."
Perhaps Stroger will advise attendees to simply stop reading the papers when ethics inquiries get them down (see fifth item).
The truth is that organizers probably couldn't avoid inviting Stroger to speak, given that Cook County is one of the conference's hosts, along with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Ethics, the Illinois State Board of Elections, and the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission.
More than 400 people are expected to attend "from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, the U.K. and Kenya."
No word on whether Stroger - or any other city or county officials - will stick around (the conference runs through Wednesday) and learn a little something. But a few days reading the Chicago newspapers and watching the local news should be worth the price of admission for our visitors.
