Apparently, no one on the Peoria County Board has any clout with Aaron Schock

April 10, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Good news, folks. Peoria County is in fine fiscal shape. Otherwise, would the county have $5,000 to throw in the toilet like this every month?

The County Board voted to hire a federal lobbyist to represent their interests and bring more dollars back to the area.

The county hired the Ferguson Group LLC of Washington, D.C., by a 12-6 vote Thursday for the remainder of the year for $5,000 a month.

And here we thought that with Aaron Schock in Congress and getting all this wonderful attention for his abs, the 18th District would reap all sorts of benefits from his popularity. Not to mention that fact that his predecessor is a member of President Obama’s cabinet.

Nope. All that matters is making sure you have a fixer on the payroll.

By the way: How is this lobbyist firm going to be able to prove that it is responsible for even one single dollar of federal spending tossed out way? Answer: They can’t. Who is to say that an increase in Fed revenue wouldn’t have come anyway because of the stimulus package and the influence of Schock and LaHood?

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5 Responses to “ Apparently, no one on the Peoria County Board has any clout with Aaron Schock ”

  1. 11Bravo on April 10, 2009 at 11:13 am

    Your headline pretty much sums up what thoughts when I read the article as well. Upon further investigating I found that the City of Rock Island (about 40,000 people) pays $120,000 a year to this firm. So how much does the County think it is going to get with a measly $60,000 a year?

    Riggenbach is clueless if he thinks a DC lobbying firm is going to make an impact on the amount of sitmulus money the county gets, since the stimulus money is primarily being divvied up at the state level anyway.

    Kudos to the 6 who voted against this waste of money.

  2. Brian G on April 10, 2009 at 11:22 am

    I generally don’t dabble in the politics of another area, but I’m sure that someone would leak who first broached the subject of hiring a lobbying firm. It will be interesting to track the political donations of the lobbyists to see if any of that money ends up in any local political coffers.

  3. Dr Thompson on April 10, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    firm info: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?lname=Ferguson+Group&year=2008

  4. Karrie E. Alms on April 10, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    My understanding is that the Peoria County Finance and Legislative Committee members have gone to Washington, D.C. in the past two months. Additionally, I have heard that Patrick Urich has some connection to the federal stimulus money that is coming into Illinois. If true, then perhaps Peoria County may be in a better position.

  5. ep blondie on April 10, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    Peoria County may not have clout with Schock but all Cat has to do is whistle and the new congressman will come running….