Ethics

• Helped pass amendments to the Inspector General Ordinance granting the County’s Inspector General wider authority, greater independence, and increased resources to root out corruption.
• Helped pass a series of amendments to the County Ethics Code that allows the Board of Ethics to initiate investigations into potential ethics violations and to penalize ethics violators by levying fines against them.
  

• Helped pass legislation increasing the period during which a former County employee is barred from working for a County contractor from one year to two.

• Helped pass legislation requiring bidders on County contracts to disclose political contributions and whether they employ any former County employees on their staffs.

• Helped pass a package of ethics reforms mandating greater transparency in the property tax appeal process.  It required the online posting of all appeal decisions, including property owner name, attorney name, property address, and reasoning for the decision. 

Environment

• Gubernatorial appointee on the bi-national Great Lakes Commission.
• Helped pass the Cook County Recycled Purchasing Ordinance – a major expansion of environmental purchasing guidelines.
• Helped pass legislation to encourage the use of rubberized asphalt on County roads.
• Authored a report outlining urgent reforms needed in the Cook County Forest Preserve District.

• Helped pass the Cook County’s Green Building Ordinance, spearheading the movement towards green construction across Cook County, requiring all new facilities to meet the LEED standards developed by the U.S. Green Buildings Council.  The legislation made Cook County the first county in the nation to adopt green building legislation.
• Authored a report calling on the county to acquire 1,190 acres of land in the Lake Calumet region.
• Helped pass legislation to protect environmentally sensitive land, such as a resolution requiring the Forest Preserve District to funnel all revenues from surplus land sales into its land acquisition fund, and a comprehensive land use ordinance re-focusing the district on the intended purpose, preserving land in its natural state.
• Authored and helped pass legislation banning the use of County and Forest Preserve District funds for the purchase of individual bottles of water, saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Helped pass legislation making Cook County one of the first major jurisdictions in North America to take action to reduce the number of birds injured or killed each year when they mistake the reflections in window glass for open sky and collide with buildings.