Todd Will Provide

Homer: Ok, we need forty-thousand dollars. How much do we have in the checkbook?
Marge: Seventy dollars.
Homer: Have we deposited any forty-thousand dollar checks that haven't cleared yet?
Marge: No.

Eric Herman reports on Cook County's Simpsonsesque accounting in your Chicago Sun-Times:

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger on Tuesday "identified" $25 million in additional funds for the offices of the Cook County state's attorney and public defender, and other programs.

If delivered, the funds will alleviate two issues of concern to lawyers in the criminal courts: Shorter work weeks for public defenders and alleged pay disparity suffered by prosecutors. ***

The funds will restore $8 million to the public defender's budget, eliminating the need for shortened work weeks, Stroger spokesman Steve Mayberry said.

They also will restore $1.8 million to the state's attorney's office, he said. That money will be used to establish pay parity between prosecutors and public defenders. ***

The funds also will save the state's attorney's "drug school" program from the budget ax. ***

Other programs to be saved by the $25 million include drug therapy for AIDS treatment at several clinics and the Access to Care health program.

The money will come from the transfer of $13.2 million from the Forest Preserves, $4.25 million from the sale of the old Domestic Violence Courthouse, the elimination of jobs exempt from the federal Shakman decree and other sources, Mayberry said.

You know the Toddler's administration is running a tight ship when it finds $25,000,000 in the couch cushions.

This line from the lead editorial in your Chicago Tribune says it well: "What's increasingly obvious is that Stroger lacks the maturity and skill to lead the reform agenda his inaugural speechwriters promised."