County Board Kicks Morgue Reforms To Committee

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 2, 2012 3:55PM

The Cook County Board seemed primed to vote on reforms to correct the growing scandal involving overcrowding at the county morgue yesterday. Then Commissioner John Daley moved to delay the vote by referring it to the Board's Finance Committee, which he, coincidentally, chairs.

So what's the deal? Fellow Commissioner John Fritchey wants to know.

"It really doesn't make sense that this matter would go to the Finance Committee in any event. Intergovernmental, legislative? That would make sense - if it had to go to committee," Fritchey said.

It appeared that the Board was okay with the proposed reforms, until Fritchey discovered an old ordinance on the County's books that gives the medical examiner a lifetime appointment. The current County Medical Examiner, Dr. Nancy Jones, has come under sharp criticism for the morgue scandal and the varying reasons she's given for the growing piles of bodies there. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has said there will be reforms and firings in the wake of the scandal, but that it would take weeks to get to the root causes of the mess.

Despite support for the proposals, some commissioners ran to defend Jones. Commissioner Deborah Sims said, "I think it only fair that she have due process, and that's the only way we are going to come to a real clear conclusion." Daley said he referred the measures to the Finance Committee because "there are a number of issues that have to be addressed in the total of this office, and it will be involving the commitment of capital."

The photos of the mess at the morgue (discretion advised) have been shocking and appalling, but Commissioner Bridget Gainer told NBC Chicago's Charlie Wojciechoski, "While a picture can tell a story, it doesn't always tell a true story."