Cook County Board to vote on extending top watchdog’s term

Cook County’s independent inspector general likely will step down from his role in two years, setting off a search to replace the pioneering watchdog tasked with reining in government corruption andwaste.

As Patrick Blanchard’s current six-year term winds down in October, the Board of Commissioners on Thursday is expected to reappoint him until 2022 in order to make time for a lengthy search for the county’s next top watchdog, according to Blanchard and the board’s agenda. Blanchard, whose exit was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, began his role in 2008 as the first in the county to assume such a position.

In an email to the Tribune, Blanchard hinted the nature of his planned exit was amicable.

“I am set to wind down my 30-year term of service with the County and we believed that this 2-year term couldbe used as agood transition period to ensure continuity and allow the comprehensive selection process to proceed,” Blanchardwrote.

The search for his replacement could take between eight months to a year, he said. And though “Cook County government has come a very long way” since he began his current role, Blanchard said his successor will surely be busy safeguarding those gains and rooting out wrongdoing.

“I hope the next IG holds a firm commitment to the principles and mission of the OIIG (Office of the Independent Inspector General),” Blanchardwrote. “Theperson shouldbe dedicated and possess a true sense of integrity and respect for the people we serve.”

In his 12 years as inspector general, Blanchard has investigated allegations of: a Cook County commissioner pushing cops to scrap a friend’s parking ticket; Gov. J.B. Pritzker receiving hefty property tax breaks after a “scheme” to remove toilets from a Gold Coast mansion; an SUV driven by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s security chief being used to improperly deliver political materials; robust pay raises for the top brass of the Cook County Health system; and a hiring system teeming with patronage practices at the Cook County Board of Review.