Should we be surprised???

Todd Stroger, the President-elect of the Cook County Board said he was going to fire Gerald Nichols who was John Stroger's (his father and former Cook County Board President)Patronage Chief, but now the Sun-Times reports that Stroger is going to keep him on the payroll...

"I'm going to bring Gerald on to help me figure out who's who and what's what," said Stroger, who takes office next week. "He obviously knows everybody in the county, I don't care what people say. Tell me somebody who doesn't know who Gerald Nichols is."

Stroger insists Nichols, a longtime boss in Stroger's 8th Ward political organization, will still be fired in January. But until then, "I don't see any reason not to find out what he knows about what's going on."

[Bobbie]Steele earlier said Nichols, as special assistant to President John Stroger, would sort mail and similar duties, but "we were unable to verify a real job description" for him.

This is what his former opponent Commissioner Tony Peraica and Commissioner Mike Quigley had to say and Todd's response to that...

Commissioner Tony Peraica, who ran against Stroger, said bringing Nichols back, no matter how briefly, breaks a campaign promise.

"It's the first sign showing the deception played on the voters," he said. "Gerald Nichols knows how to take advantage of county government and its taxpayers to perpetuate the political machine."

Commissioner Mike Quigley, who backed Stroger, said "there are plenty of other folks who know how the county operates and could probably advise him for free."

Stroger is unwavered.

"Maybe they ought to be president," he said of critics.