Alderman Burke Archives — Chicago Clout

August 18, 2018

Doctor Willie Wilson answers Chicago Tribune editorial on Stone McDonough Federal Lawsuit

August 18, 2018

City of Chicago Mayoral Candidate and frontrunner for the 2019 Chicago Election came out strong for a Federal Lawsuit filed against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Edward Burke. The Chicago Tribune completed an editorial exposing Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Burke for mismanaging 100s of millions of taxpayer dollars by Chicago Workers Compensation dictator Alderman Burke. The tribune called out mayoral candidates to address this issue.

Willie Wilson is the first Mayoral Candidate to address the Federal Lawsuit filed by political activist Jay Stone and City of Chicago employee Patrick McDonough. Doctor Willie Wilson is no stranger to the attacks of Chicago Government insiders attempting to discourage his exposing the corruption that has almost brought Chicago to its knees. Doctor Wilson, a famous and long-time humanitarian, gained notoriety recently helping disadvantaged folks pay their outrageous tax bills and speeding tickets that feeds the elite insiders’ wallets in Chicago. Doctor Wilson was accused of attempting to influence Chicago Voters, an outrageously false charge. Insiders make these charges to take away the good intentions of a man blessed with financial success and business accouterment.
If anything, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Burke should be brought to the table for refusing to give generously to the needy. Rahm and Ed squirrel away every penny they can and will not change. What a difference. The taxpayers will see through this.

Doctor Willie Wilson feels this lawsuit filed by Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough appears well justified and Emanuel and Burke should be investigated to the full extent of the law. Wilson further believes that the attorney general should join the lawsuit and be part of the investigation.

Dr. Wilson believes there is a great deal of mismanagement in the City of Chicago under the current administration totaling in the billions of dollars. This 100-million-dollar (workers comp) fund is just the tip of the iceberg.

Dr. Wilson also applauds the Inspector General of the City of Chicago for his new transparency initiative involving a searchable database on the internet. It’s more than past time for the public to be able to see where their tax dollars are ending up. Dr. Wilson believes the Inspector General is an important part of the management of the city going forward and intends to support his efforts into the future.

Special thanks to Doctor Wilson, Ms. Foxx, Scott Winslow, Frank Coconate, Mr. Avila, and Mr. Wilson’s expert support staff for their profound leadership in real issues affecting Chicago.
Chicago City workers are impressed by Mr. Wilson’s stance.

August 16, 2018

Chicago Tribune Editorial: Chicago workers' comp: $100 million a year, but no oversight

Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.
It might be tempting to brush off a lawsuit filed recently against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, as politically motivated.

Two longtime critics of City Hall accuse Emanuel and Burke of violating Illinois law and the state and U.S. constitutions. The alleged infraction? Allowing Burke, through the City Council Finance Committee he chairs, to administer the city’s workers’ compensation program. The suit argues that the program, which costs taxpayers at least $100 million per year, according to a 2016 inspector general report, should be run by a City Hall agency, human resources professionals or the Law Department.

The suit says the current arrangement — which is spelled out in the Chicago Municipal Code — is unconstitutional because it assigns executive functions to the legislative branch. We’ll leave that question to the courts. There’s zero doubt, however, that vesting complete control of the workers’ comp fund in a single committee chair, shielded from oversight, is a terrible idea.

Burke’s role as the gatekeeper of workers’ comp benefits for the entire city of Chicago invites cynicism, and rightfully so. The lawsuit alleges that Burke, who has chaired the finance committee for 33 of the last 35 years, leverages his position to load up his staff with patronage workers. The role also allows him to dole out favors as he determines the outcomes of hundreds of cases of city workers who claim they were injured on the job.

The lawsuit says jobs and disability benefits are awarded to precinct captains and others who help secure votes for Burke and candidates he supports. It says Emanuel has relinquished control of the workers’ comp fund to Burke because Burke helps round up City Council votes for measures pushed by the mayor. We’d like to see data to back up those claims, but that’s the point. Everything ends at Burke.

We have long argued, along with a few members of the City Council, that city Inspector General Joe Ferguson should have the authority to audit the program. Someone other than Burke and his staff should be reviewing cases and claims that involve public workers and taxpayer money.

But Burke, assisted by weak-kneed aldermen, has managed to wall off his committee from the purview of Ferguson’s office. The City Council in 2016 helped him by gutting an ordinance that would have given Ferguson the authority to examine Burke’s books. This was after many aldermen claimed to be in favor of it a year earlier, during election season. Then they flipped.

It was outrageous then and it’s outrageous now.

By comparison, Cook County’s workers’ comp committee, chaired by County Board member Tim Schneider, R-Bartlett, reviews and signs off on decisions that are made by experts in the county’s risk management department and the state’s attorney’s office. Schneider doesn’t have a staff. He isn’t negotiating compensation decisions. And the committee and its cases are open to the scrutiny of the county inspector general and the public. Cases that require a settlement eventually come to the full County Board for approval.

At the state level, it’s similar. Lawmakers who head up House and Senate committees on public health or transportation or education don’t actually administer programs in those subject areas. The agency heads and staff who work for the state of Illinois do.

The federal lawsuit filed by Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough — two activists with a long history of fighting City Hall — asks a judge to order the city to assign the workers’ comp program to the executive branch and to grant the inspector general permission to conduct an audit and claims review and to release the results to the public. For now, City Hall isn’t commenting.

We’re happy the plaintiffs are calling attention to an issue Chicago’s elected officials have worked very hard to duck.

Emanuel and every candidate on the ballot in 2019 should be on the hot seat regarding this question: Why should an elected alderman continue to act as a program administrator, in the dark, on an issue as expensive and important as workers’ comp? And why should he (or anyone) operate outside the watchful eye of an inspector general?

It’s a blot on Chicago government that is long overdue for a fix. Who will have the guts to do it?

August 3, 2018

Ms. Leven of Better Government Association weighs in on Illinois Workers Compensation

Leven: Put Responsibility for Compensating Injured City workers in the City’s Hands
Chicago is the only major city to pay injured workers out of its legislative body. Changing that could be something for some enterprising aldermanic candidates to champion.
By Rachel L. Leven August 3, 2018
Perspective

Pop Quiz: Who manages the annual expenditure of more than $100 million to approve and compensate city workers for on-the-job injuries? Is it the head of human resources? Nope. Maybe the city’s top lawyer? Try again. Then it must go straight to the mayor? Wrong. It’s the finance committee of the city council. And virtually everyone knows, it shouldn’t be.

Chicago is the only major city to pay injured workers out of its legislative body. For example, in New York City, the function is located within the legal department. In San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles, the function is in the human resources and personnel departments. The way Chicago manages its program enables a lack of transparency, poor oversight, and a shirking of responsibilities to both workers and taxpayers.

Let’s start with transparency. The Corporation of the City of Chicago and its employees are subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The extent to which aldermen are subject to FOIA is a much more complicated question, according to Better Government Association counsel Matt Topic. A benevolent committee chair could decide to make sunshine the default, freely providing appropriate records when they are requested. But, as long as claims are paid by the city council, the chair – whomever is sitting in the position now or in the future – gets to make that decision.

The shadow extends to oversight. According to its jurisdiction, the city’s Office of Inspector General should be able to investigate misconduct within the city council. However, audits of the city council were specifically carved out from the inspector general’s powers. That means the $100 million plus spent on injured workers annually is not something the office can proactively monitor or audit.

And, it’s not just the inspector general, the workers’ compensation program historically has been a black box for the city’s administration too. Even though the city provides funds for workers’ claims from its own coffers, according to a 2016 inspector general report, the city’s law and finance departments did not have direct access to the workers compensation claims data kept by the city’s finance committee. So who ultimately is responsible for managing taxpayer risk and improving workers’ health? Not the city council. They only process the claims. They don’t run the city’s services, training, or human resource operations. It’s the city administration that is responsible, which is exactly why it’s city managers who should run the program, not lawmakers.

A lawsuit recently was filed by Jay Stone and Patrick McDonough arguing that the placement of the workers’ compensation claims program within the city council violates the separation of powers outlined in the U.S. Constitution. Jay Stone is the son of former Alderman Bernie Stone and was awarded $75,000 after an independent monitor found city workers helped defeat him in his own race for city council. Patrick McDonough is also a former political candidate and an injured worker who believes the committee mishandled his claim. This is not the first time the pair has made a run at the finance committee’s powers. It remains unclear if this attempt will be any more successful than previous ones.

However, Stone and McDonough aren’t the only ones concerned about the placement of workers’ comp, just the most dogged. A 2016 city council resolution called for hearings on the subject. It had two sponsors and went nowhere. Changing who oversees workers’ comp claims is not an easy sell politically and would take the support of some powerful people in the city council and the administration or a demand from residents. But an election is on the horizon, so maybe it’s time for another attempt at taking workers’ comp away from the finance committee. This could be a good government change for some enterprising aldermanic candidates to champion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel L. Leven
Rachel Leven is the BGA’s policy manager focusing on Chicago and Cook County. Before joining the BGA, Leven ran communications for the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG), a nationally renowned municipal oversight agency.

June 21, 2018

Illinois Workers Compensation Commission Conflict of Interest Meetings

On Wednesday, June 20, 2018, many of the Illinois dirty crooks gathered to slice up the Illinois Workers’ Compensation pie for their own selfish use. Back in the old days, the crooks kept to themselves, sliced up the cash, and went on their way. The new breed of thieves is much worse and they steal from people with no way to defend themselves. Lawyers were a noble profession but the worst scum practice workers compensation. No doubt, Illinois workers’ compensation lawyers include some of the sleaziest dirtbags known to man.
The lawyers that practice workers compensation in Chicago includes lawyers part of the Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association. Some of these lawyers cut deals that are not in their client’s best interest. Some of these lawyers refuse to file paperwork to reinstate benefits, promise the moon to get the business, and then sit on the case starving their clients. As soon as some of these lawyers get the signature from the injured worker, they feel like their job is done. They wait until a client is starved and then willing to take a cheap settlement far below value. The lawyers are willing to sign off on scam lawsuit loans because they get a client off their back for a long time. Some of these loans are 36-39 percent annual percentage rate loans compounded every six months. What kind of a shit lawyer would encourage a client to take these loans? By the time the client gets a settlement, nothing is left. Some lawyers get a percentage of the proceeds of the loans, mainly in Chicago. If you attempt to obtain a new lawyer, the commission lists the prior lawyer name so they can contol the case from start to finish. It is all about the final cut.
One of the last meetings was an Appellate Court Luncheon. People could ask Justices questions about current trends in workers compensation. The lawyers at the University Club enjoyed a nice meal provided by contractors that make millions screwing injured workers and provided fraudulent medical reports that are so false as to be a joke. The lawyers on hand were asking silly questions to gain favor from the Justices. It was embarrassing.
The State of Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission staff, Arbitrators, and Commissioner enjoyed a $100.00-dollar freebee. It is a major embarrassment, these staff members are rubbing elbows, talking about cases, sharing envelopes, vacation homes with the same people that they are policing. That is like the prisoners sharing the jail with the wardens. Government employees responsible for protecting injured workers are violating the open meetings act. These Government employees should not be in a meeting that cannot be enjoyed by the public.
Governor Rauner has made a joke of the workers’ compensation commission. One IWCC workers joked, “the niggers ruined a good thing”. “remove their people cases and the system will work again”. Almost every case heard by the Chicago Illinois Workers Compensation Commission is fixed. Some lawyers are not held accountable for being unprepared. Many lawyers collude with other lawyers to fix cases and make fees at the end of the case. Some lawyers go to court ill prepared with no medical records. Now, the IWCC is so screwed up, injured workers have no idea when their cases will be heard. The online notification system is so lacking lawyers lie to their clients on when hearings occur. This is not a mistake, the Arbitrators do not want injured workers around, so they will see how messy the IWCC is run.
The fix is in and the injured workers suffer. You can run, but you cannot hide.

June 5, 2018

Crisis looms in Illinois workers’ compensation system thanks to Emanuel and Alderman Burke

The News-Gazette

By DR. DAVID FLETCHER

There’s a crisis looming in our state’s workers’ compensation system. If allowed to fester, it will keep workers from receiving timely medical treatment for workplace injuries. It will delay workers’ recoveries and their return to their jobs. And it will end up costing more for the very businesses and insurers seeking efficiencies in the system.

This crisis is not one you’ve heard about from the business and insurance communities. It’s a crisis created by their failure to implement laws that have been on the books in Illinois for more than a decade.

As doctors who care for workers compensation patients, here are our concerns: Illinois law spells out the right for medical professionals to receive prompt payment for the care we give to patients with workplace injuries.

Just like any other business or profession, we need to be paid for that care we give, so that we can compensate our employees and keep open the doors of our medical practices.

Yet, many Illinois workers’ compensation insurers completely ignore the prompt payment law. To date, there has been no remedy for doctors and other caregivers who remain unpaid for months and months at a time.

Furthermore, state law mandates that insurers accept electronic billing and documentation for workers’ compensation claims. This expedites the process.

Yet, many insist on an obsolete paper-based medical billing system, which delays medical care to injured workers and wastes resources.

Add to this bleak reality a recent, alarming increase in delayed payments for already-approved workers’ compensation medical care claims. The result is more and more physicians unable or unwilling to treat injured workers.

Since 2005, the Workers’ Compensation Act has allowed medical professionals a late interest penalty for approved workers’ compensation medical care.

Yet there is no way for doctors and others to enforce or collect this interest.

Even if the workers’ compensation insurer approves care for an injured worker, it can and often delays payment for the medical treatment rendered. These delays can last for years.

A recent court ruling found that medical professionals can’t even go to court to collect this interest.

Since the court decision, these payment delays have worsened to the point of doctors dropping out of the system.

What’s lost in the current debate on workers’ compensation policy is that medical professionals — the physicians, surgeons, hospitals and specialists — actually provide the care that supports our entire system.

Medical professionals are the ones who get injured employees back to work, reduce employer costs for time off and long-term injuries and work with employers to prevent work-related accidents from even happening in the first place.

We are often blamed for the system’s ills, even though we are in a unique position to make that system function.

When workers are hurt on the job, they need timely access to dedicated physicians, surgeons and specialists to treat their injuries. We in the medical community stand ready with solutions to the problems that are threatening the health of our workers’ compensation system.

It’s time to pass legislation that forces workers’ compensation insurers to start following the law. The alternative is having doctors and care centers rush to the exits.

John Maszinski, who works for the Illinois State Medical Society, submitted this piece by Dr. David Fletcher of Champaign.

March 22, 2018

Garry McCarthy for Mayor of Chicago Video

March 19, 2018

Update on Mary Kate Manion, St. Pat’s Queen, Alderman Burke and Thomas Manion.

The Chicago Saint’s Patrick’s Day Queen is an honor to many young women aspiring to pad their resume. Chicago Clout made news when we demanded all Queens be of Irish Heritage. It makes sense. I attended the St. Pat’s Queen day of choice and in typical manner, clout rules the pick. If you have a crook like Alderman Burke on the committee, what do you expect.

In 2018, Alderman Burke pushed for an employee of the Committee on Finance. Alderman Burke controls the Committee on Finance and shakes down the contractors for all he can. If you want to do business with Chicago, Alderman Burke and Mayor Rahm Emanuel get a piece of the action. Please visit the Jay Stone for Mayor website and be blown away.

Mary Kate Manion was named by Alderman Burke as the 2018 Chicago Saint Patrick’s Day Queen. Mary Kate Manion was named after a fictional Irish girl with a rotten attitude in the movie “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne. You can always count on the Burke’s to fix the job interviews to make sure the friends and campaign donators get their kids on the payroll. Thomas Manion, the connected butch part owner of the Rory Group and other money-making enterprises made a $1500.00 contribution to Alderman Burke, then his daughter becomes queen and has a great job with the city of Chicago. See how Chicago taxpayers pay the fee for Ed Burke?

Mary Kates’ past included a shady early morning run in with the Elmhurst Police. Mary Kate was 20 years old and drinking in public under age. She had a hard time walking after admitting to consuming at least three Coors beer at a party on York Road. She and her friend told the police when confronted, “This is fucking bullshit, I live right there!!! “This isn’t wrong!!! The police had to explain to the future queen, she is not of legal age to consume alcohol and she lied to police. Most young ladies know not to walk the streets at 2:00 a.m. in the morning.

Remember Alderman Burke goes to bat for these type of characters, just make the check to Alderman Ed Burke. Mary Kate has the clout to get on the city payroll thanks to Alderman Burke. Nice choice Eddy Boy. Time for an investigation into the Committee on Finance. Time to look into the Rory Group and their employees.

February 11, 2018

Rahm’s Meaningless Promises By Jay Stone Chicago Mayoral Update

Mayor Rahm Emanuel told U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier that Chicagoans should demand an honest government. This is very ironic since Emanuel’s own dishonesty was one of the reasons that made this federal court hearing necessary. Emanuel’s election victory to congress was the result of political corruption that led to a federal judge appointing a monitor to oversee City of Chicago personnel from 2004 to 2014. Before the FBI halted Chicago’s political and criminal scams that went undetected for decades, trucking company owners paid bribes to city employees and donated campaign contributions to politicians like Emanuel in return for the city paying the trucking companies $60 million a year to have their trucks sit idle in city parking lots. After pleading guilty, disgraced Deputy Water Department Commissioner Donald Tomczak testified at Robert Sorich’s federal court trial that up to 225 of his unlawful political soldiers campaigned for Emanuel when Emanuel ran for congress. In another federal court trial a second witness corroborated Tomzcak’s testimony about Emanuel’s ill-gotten congressional victory. He said that Emanuel joined his illicit congressional campaign workers for beers after they campaigned door to door on Emanuel’s behalf.

If reporters inquired about Emanuel’s tainted congressional victory, Emanuel responded with, I’m not wallowing in the past, I’m looking forward to the future. Emanuel doesn’t even bother to deny his involvement in this massive scandal because he knows the evidence against him is irrefutable federal court testimony. The testimony implicating Emanuel is irrefutable because the federal court witnesses would have had their prison time extended for lying. How can voters trust Emanuel to provide honest Chicago government when he hasn’t been honest about his involvement in a scandal that included 60 convictions and the federal court monitoring city politicians and personnel for 10 years?

Emanuel previously lied about remaining vigilante against corruption and cooperating with Chicago’s inspector general. More recently Emanuel has failed again to combat corruption as he promised in federal court. Emanuel continued to support Chicago Public School’s CEO Forrest Claypool after the Chicago Public School’s inspector general recommended firing Claypool for ethics violations and Claypool’s attempt to cover-up his misdeeds. Below is Emanuel’s federal court statement that contains his lie of leading a city government that keeps the people’s interest first.

“Today is your day. After living under a cloud of mistrust for decades, you can be confident that your city government operates in a way that keeps your interests, and only your interests, first. But you too have a role to play going forward. Always demand professionalism. Always demand transparency. Always demand a government that is honest – because you deserve nothing less. “

Emanuel’s support of CEO Claypool came after 99 percent of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members approved a no-confidence vote in Claypool. Emanuel won’t dare claim his support of Claypool was in the best interest of CPS students, teachers, and parents when nearly every CTU member expressed no confidence in Claypool. After Claypool did not live up to Emanuel’s standards of honesty, professionalism, and transparency (see Emanuel’s quote above), 99% of the CTU members demanded Emanuel’s handpicked school board fire CEO Claypool. Instead of Emanuel following through on the words and values that he espoused in federal court, Emanuel stood up for his corrupt and disgraced CEO whom he had previously appointed.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel Put His and His Cronies’ Interest First

Since 1972 thirty-three Chicago aldermen have plead guilty, or either a judge or jury found them guilty. Thirty-three convicted aldermen is seven more aldermen necessary for a quorum to hold a City Council meeting. The staggering Chicago alderman conviction rate is one alderman is convicted every 16 months. In other words, 33 of the last 100 alderman have had a criminal conviction. Each guilty aldermen was trying to line his or her pocket with money they had no business taking. Soon the number of convicted aldermen will most likely rise to thirty-four. In Dec. 2016 Ald. Willie Cochran was charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of extortion and two counts of bribery. Allegedly Cochran stole charitable contributions intended for poor children and seniors and used most of his ill-gotten money to gamble.

Cochran was charged with stealing charitable funds two years after Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in federal court, “… you can be confident that your city government operates in a way that keeps your interests, and only your interests, first.” Is Rahm Emanuel’s silence his way of maintaining Ald. Cochran was acting in the interest of the people of Chicago when he stole money from a charity to pay for his gambling? Why hasn’t Mayor Moral High Ground called for Cochran’s resignation since a grand jury indicted Cochran more than one year ago?

There were two inspector general ordinances proposed the day Mayor Emanuel was complicit with the 25 aldermen who voted to restrict the Chicago inspector general’s authority. After the City Council vote IG Joe Ferguson said, “Today’s oversight transfer legislation nudges the ball forward, but leaves Chicago with a form of Council oversight that is still separate (procedurally) and unequal (substantively), from the rest of City government.”

Chicago has no frontline defense to stop corrupt aldermen. The FBI and Justice Department were responsible for the investigations and successful prosecutions of all 33 convicted aldermen. Four of the 33 aldermen were convicted of having ghost employees on their city council committees. Most likely former Alderman Tony Laurino would have been the fifth alderman convicted for having ghost employees on his City Council committee. Laurino did not officially make the aldermen hall of shame for providing 35 no-show jobs because he died before his trial. In spite of Mayor Emanuel’s federal court pledge to have a Chicago government that keeps residents’ interest first, the ordinance that handcuffed the inspector general’s office only protects the interest of Emanuel and his crony aldermen.

Given Mayor Emanuel’s federal court promises to remain vigilante against corruption and lead a Chicago government that works only for the people’s interest, you would have expected Emanuel to move heaven and earth to pass an inspector general ordinance that could actually fight City Council corruption. Furthermore, the staggering conviction rate of one aldermen every 16 months and four aldermen previously convicted of ghost pay-rolling are other compelling reasons that should have persuaded Emanuel to put the full force of the mayor’s office behind an ordinance that gives the IG oversight of aldermanic committees and programs.

By allowing aldermen to block the IG from investigating their committees and programs, Mayor Emanuel forsook his core values for a political purpose; he wants aldermen to vote his way on other matters. Emanuel garnering citizens’ votes on election day is easy compared to securing an alderman’s vote. To win the next election, Emanuel will tell voters what they want to hear–like the hollow promises Emanuel made in federal court. But aldermen desire something more than Emanuel’s meaningless rhetoric for their vote. They want something concrete and tangible in return for their support of Emanuel’s legislation.

Aldermen are indebted to Emanuel because Emanuel protected the aldermen from the IG investigating their committees and programs. Lousy legislation is virtually guaranteed because Emanuel’s lackey aldermen will provide Emanuel with the votes he wants regardless of how bad Emanuel’s legislation is for taxpayers. You’ll see more aldermen going to jail and City Council waste because Emanuel agreed to block the IG from fully investigating aldermanic committees and programs.

This is a typical Chicago politics win-win–a win for the Mayor Emanuel and a win for the aldermen who are in cahoots with the mayor. But it is not a win for the people’s interests that Emanuel pledged to protect in federal court. Rahm, shame on you for not honoring your promise to always put the citizen’s interest first.

October 11, 2017

Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission Website “Lipstick on a pig”

Illinois Workers Compensation Commission revealed a new website, according to my friends at the OIEG and the DoIT Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology. After checking the website by Chicago Clout IT hackers, many of the website weaknesses have been exposed. Please make sure you completely check all the information to be correct before you go online. CAPCHA is not working correctly on the site and much of the information on the cases are incorrect. IWCC needs to make sure this data is updated and correct. Trial dates are wrong, current lawyers are wrong, time of court dates are wrong. What a mess.
Several new arbitrators have been names and have been appointed by governor Rauner. If you are an unconnected person and a democrat, you are screwed. Point blank. Most of the appointments are anti-labor lawyers. The main problem is the lack of experience in some instances. Let’s get the politics out of the workers Compensation system. Many injured workers are taking lousy settlements because they are so frustrated by the system.
The WCLA associated attorneys are really doing them a disservice. Many cases are going to be dragged on for years because lawyers do not want to present their cases to Rauner appointed arbitrators. The entire workers’ compensation is every bit as messed up as their website.
Welcome to the new corrupt IWCC in Cook County, Charles Watts, Steffen Ketki, Robert Luedke, Tiffany Nicole-Kay, Robert Harris, Thomas Cieko. Arbitrators are only 6 % black. I hope the Governor appoints more Hispanic, blacks to the Board. I know there is an abundance of Italians. Let’s pass the wealth around.