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See Paloma's answers (below) to the Chicago Tribune candidate questionnaire. To contact the campaign email paloma@vote4paloma.com:
Previous political experience (elective and appointed):
I ran for Alderman in the 14th ward in the last election. I'm the current 14th ward green party committeeman.
Education:
I graduated from Thomas Kelly High School in 1992 and from Robert Morris College in 1997. At Robert Morris I majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and I was in the honor society of alpha beta gamma and represented the college as a student ambassador. I attended Dominican University as a candidate for a Masters in Education.
Q: Submit a brief essay that explains why you are qualified to hold this office.
A:
I am the most qualified candidate for the Office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County because I have spent decades advocating for the community as a candidate for office, as a member of community organizations such as South Side United Local School Council Federation as a mother for 4 wonderful and musical children and so much more.
My main qualification is my clear and demonstrated desire to see justice served for the people of Cook County – for the elimination of the scourge of corruption that plagues almost all of Chicago area local government – including in the Office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Some of the largest problems faced in Cook County are due to the corrupt self-interest of elected officials and the clear and blatant operations that funnel simple campaign ‘volunteers’ into city and county jobs.
I am qualified because I have demonstrated my independence from the corruption of Chicago and Cook County elected officials as I have challenged them as a citizen and as an independent candidate for office. In particular I ran for Alderman in 2007 against one of the most powerful politicians in Illinois – Ed Burke.
The people Cook County will know that in me they have the strongest advocate for their interest, for changing the culture of corruption in Cook County offices. No other candidate for this office can show such a record of leadership and independence.
I have also worked as a public school special education teacher and when I challenged the principle of the school when I saw money being spent improperly – I was fired after I refused to keep quiet.
Back when I ran for alderman against Ed Burke in the 14th ward, the Chicago Democratic Party Machine sent their top lawyer against me and raised flagrantly false accusations and tried to keep me off the ballot.
After 2 months in court I prevailed and succeeded in giving the voters in the 14th ward a choice on the ballot – for the first time since the 1960’s.
It is about time that an independent and community minded citizen step forward to serve the people of Cook County.
Having raised four wonderful children while completing my college degree, I know the value of very hard work and doing what is right.
I am a strong administrator, having completed an undergraduate Business Administration degree, working for years in Business and having run a household and a public special education classroom and having grown up in a family of entrepreneurs watching my dad and brothers start a number of businesses around Chicago.
I was born in Mexico and have lived most of my life in Chicago, I speak two languages fluently so I am sensitive to the needs of all the people of Cook County.
Q: List your three most significant accomplishments
A:
A significant accomplishment I made was as a candidate for alderman in the early spring of 2007 I won a viscous two month-long court case against me. This case attempted to kick me off the ballot for alderman in the 14th ward and was clearly backed by the local Democratic Party and my opponent, the powerful and almost always unopposed - Alderman Ed Burke. I am proud that democracy in one corner of Chicago – in the 14th ward – won against the corrupt and entrenched forces that run the city and the County all in their self interest against the public interest. Winning this case was a long shot as I alone was pitted against the Democrat’s top lawyer.
Another significant accomplishment of mine is that I have raised four wonderful and talented children all while I was completing my higher education in Chicago.
Finally, not just winning the court case against me, but stepping forward to represent the interests of the people and run as a candidate for alderman at all – where in the southwest side of Chicago you literally risk your life and your property to run against corrupt ‘machine’ politicians – has been one of my greatest accomplishments. Where too many people in Chicago have had to cower and accept things as they are (and not work towards changing things to how they should be) in the face of viscous, corrupt and self-interested politicians and their city and county employed foot solders. To show what desire there is in the community for change in the face of this regime – I won my court case only 3 days before the aldermanic election in 2007 and yet I still received 10% of the vote. This was the first time Ed Burke faced an opponent on the ballot since he was elected to office, over 30 years before. Justice and democracy prevailed for the people of the 14th ward on that rainy day in April.
Q: List your three most significant post-election goals.
A:
First of all, I will cut my salary by 25% to $80,000 and as the elected Clerk to the Circuit Court of Cook County plan to spend many more hours in the service of the court and the people of Cook County than anything approximating a typical job. The current salary for Clerk of $105,000 is disgraceful while so many families in Cook County are struggling just to make ends meat and to better their life and the life of their children. The extra savings from my lower income will go directly towards the technology improvements I plan for the office and also for the internship and mentorship programs I envision. There is no justification for this position – or almost any position in Cook County Government – to be earning in the range of five times the median individual income (in Cook County around $25,000). It is all too clear that the bloated corruption – famous nationally – existing in Cook County has led its elected officials to forget that these positions of public trust are about being a public servant and not a lordly aristocrat.
I will make the office of the clerk of Cook County a complete e-office. I will implement better technology improvements such as increased use of secure and verifiable digital signatures of digital documents, to create scanned copies of all current and archived documents to reduce paper processing and retrieval expenses as well as enabling more cost effective original document storage facilities – as the need to access original will be reduced and therefore the costs to retrieve those documents will also be reduced. I will also fix the glaring holes in the Circuit Court’s exchange of electronic information with the State of Illinois Police and Judicial system. According to the Illinois Integrated Justice Information System Board, a major issue in Cook County (including the Clerk of the Circuit Court) is “the inability of its justice information systems to robustly share electronic data across agency boundaries.” When I help oversee these changes, cost savings, reductions in clerical errors and stopping incorrect data filtering through the local and state judicial systems will all result. These are the kinds of modern and sensible technological improvements that the people of Cook County expect to see in a Clerk’s office. It is time for a new administration in this office.
As part of my commitment to the community and to those in greatest need, I will start an innovative public school professional internship and mentorship program. Working with the most underserved public schools in the Chicago Public Schools, I will develop a mentorship and internship program where students will receive a small stipend and school credit to come into Clerks office and work with various staff to shadow their job, learn how an office works in all kinds of functions ranging from administrative duties, IT and systems workers, intake and public service positions. This will provide invaluable professional experience that is all too difficult to receive in many of our communities. I will also work with other departments within Cook County to encourage them to follow my model and help serve the people of Cook County. This will be a wonderful and effective way to leverage public funds spent running an administrative function – as the Office of the Clerk of Cook County – and multiply its usefulness as a training ground for providing key skills to our underserved youth. Finally the employees involved in this program will also benefit not only in their involvement as a participant in improving the community but in the process of learning by teaching.
Q: Do you favor repeal of Cook County's recent increase of the sales tax by 1 percentage point? If so, what offsetting budget reductions do you propose?
A:
Yes, I favor a repeal of Cook County's recent increase of the sales tax because that tax is regressive: the lower your income, effectively, the greater percentage of your income is taxed. Cuts would come in an investigation of corrupt, patronage jobs. But more revenue would be raised in other ways – I strongly push the Cook County Board to vastly expand the methods used to means test property tax assessments it levies on residents. Residents that have received the most benefit from society in wealth and earn well above the minimum required to survive should have the most burden to ensure that the public trust and public interest – a well-run efficient government serving the needs of all especially those most in need – is served.
Q: If you ask the County Board for a higher appropriation at any point during your term, what tax increases or spending cuts will you propose to pay for it? Specify.
A:
If, after a review of the needs of the office once I am elected, the office requires further funds beyond the normal cost of living increases expected of any employing entity, I will recommend that the county offset these extra expenses by increasing its tax revenue using progressive, means tested taxation available to it such as a means tested property tax assessment system.
Again, measures such as reducing my own pay as Clerk and eliminating unnecessary jobs at the Clerk’s office that were created as ghost positions (such as the reported “Systems Analyst” at the Clerk’s Office hired at $63,000 per year that apparently actually spends almost his entire time gathering the morning paper for the current Clerk of the Circuit Court or driving the current Clerk to various appointments) will help offset any needed extraordinary increased revenues. Jobs like the “Systems Analyst” and many other patronage, wastful and fraudulent positions draining the public purse (in effect an extra ‘corruption tax’) will be eliminated and greater service to the users of the Circuit Court system in Cook County will result.
Q: The county treasurer's office has demonstrated how technology improvements can dramatically slash the workforce while dramatically improving services to citizens. What specific technology improvements will you introduce, and how many jobs will your actions eliminate?
A:
With my plan for technological improvements in office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, I foresee being able to shift at least 5% of manual human resources currently spent on inefficient and or redundant information and document processing to direct constituent services. My measure for performance of the Clerk’s office will be service to the public and the community – with a focus on serving those most vulnerable and those most at risk. I plan on increasing the bang for the buck that the public will get in this office – and this does not mean mass layoffs. My technology improvements along with my program to find improperly or possibly illegally hired employees and terminate them or refer them to the state’s attorney’s office, again, will greatly increase the effectiveness of the Clerk’s office to serve the public and the community. If, in my program to root out the corruption in the office, cost savings can be made either in shifting, eliminating or consolidating positions above the expected shift as described above – then I imagine I will both be able to increase the service delivered by the office of the Clerk and be able to save the public money in the expenses of running the office. And that would benefit everyone.
Q: In the past, high county spending on technology hasn't been matched by lower labor expenses in several offices. Should county officials whose technology investments fail to produce promised savings have their future budgets reduced accordingly?
A:
If an official promises that lower labor expenses will result from certain increased technology spending – and that does not occur – then the official has broken their promise. Of course we have come to expect broken promises from candidates and officials that will promise plenty and sometimes use quite inspiring language during the promise. When such a promise is broken, should a blanket policy be enacted to say that in future the budget of that official will always be cut? Of course not. We should have a standard of measure by which we judge the performance of officials, their departments and government. And for me, the greatest measure to judge is service to the public and in particular to those most vulnerable and at risk and in need. So for an official that does not deliver on a promise to save costs, to me, if the official nonetheless improved the performance of service to the public for her department – that in fact the most important measure of her department was met. As with all management, if a project or a effort fails to deliver results, the best response is to analyze what happened, learn the lessons, change the team if need be and try to accomplish the goal a second time. Finally, service to the public – as a measure to judge proper government – includes delivery of that service in the most effective and efficient means possible.
Q: How can Cook County accelerate the pace of criminal cases to provide swifter justice for defendants and crime victims, and reduce headcount at the county jail. (Don't be shy if the office you seek isn't involved in criminal justice; the expense implications of slow case movement burden the entire county budget.)
A:
The problem facing Cook County with both over-crowded jails and over-crowded and backed-up courtrooms is not one where defendants should receive less of a day in court to defend themselves so that the County can save a few dollars and cover up its own mismanagement and corruption. Instead, the problem facing Cook County is one where sufficient resources should be provided to government to enable it to efficiently and effectively serve the public – in this case in adequate courtroom physical facilities and staff using a fair taxation system. And clearly those most likely to suffer injustice in the County Court system are those that cannot afford their own expensive private attorneys and so are at the mercy of justice system. When we have addressed meeting the needs of those most in need – enabling safe, comfortable, healthy housing, access to good nutrition and excellent education and providing the tools for self empowerment and engagement in our community – spending on these long term priorities and goals will eventually lead, I believe, to not only more appropriate laws, but then also less lawlessness. These are the priorities that are so seldom spoken of – but that should be on the lips of every citizen that has a daily concern for true justice – and not just an occasional thought that it would be nice one day.
Q: What county offices should be eliminated outright or combined with others?
A: The separate offices of Management Information Services and that of the Office of Office Technology clearly have overlapping duties and bringing those offices together – under one strategic management structure - should help remove possible redundancies. Aside from this, with the county organized under 60 offices and bureaus there are plenty of obscure corners to hide patronage jobs. The byzantine nature of the way County government is organized needs to be rationalized and as I’ve stated a comprehensive and thorough review of all employees and whether or not they were hired properly and if their performance justifies their continued employment with the county or their termination or not needs to be conducted.
Q: Should an elected county official who is indicted on public corruption charges resign from office immediately, or instead await adjudication of his or her case?
A:
I believe an elected county official who is indicted should take a leave of absence during the period of the indictment until the case is decided. Public officials have an obligation to serve with the public’s trust and an indictment for public corruption, whether malicious or in good faith, necessarily raises serious questions about that official.
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