Desiree Grode

Background:

I have been attending the Cook County Board meetings regularly for over a year.

Community Service:
42d Ward US Postal Service Customer Advisory Council (Chicago)
Director on Newberry Plaza Condominium Board (Chicago)
Director on International Music Foundation Board (Chicago)
Chicago Bar Association Orchestra (First Violin)

Law Offices of Désirée L. Grode:
Private practitioner with a practice focusing on Trusts & Estates matters: estate planning, estate, generation-skipping and gift tax, audits, probate matters, and guardianship proceedings. Was Of Counsel in the Trusts and Estates practice groups of two mid-size Chicago law firms.

Education and Professional:
Juris Doctor and LLM in Taxation from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law. Admitted to the Illinois Bar. Member of the Chicago Bar Association's Trust Law and Estate/Gift Tax Law Committees.
Member of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.

Master & Bachelor of Music (Violin Performance), Indiana U. School of Music
Vienna Academy of Music, Vienna, Austria.
Performed professionally, playing in symphony orchestras, synagogues, ballets, operas, recitals and continue to perform.

Personal
First-generation American: child of Holocaust survivors who through hard work and patriotism realized the American Dream.

Goals:

I want government to work as efficiently as the private sector, therefore reducing taxes.

Issues:

LOWER SALES TAX!

How?

1) Collect over $100 million in outstanding bills due the Cook County Health system, and implement strict billing and collection procedures.

2) Merge county agencies into fewer entities (like many counties throughout the USA) to eliminate hundreds of patronage jobs which should have never existed.

3) Post all county revenues, expenditures and bids online to create transparency and accountability in Cook County government.

Grassroots Support:

Grassroots organizing is essential in my campaign to help end an era of machine politics and nepotism. (The incumbent inherited his seat from his mother).

DFA Values:

Fiscal Responsibility:
In order for government to be fiscally responsible it must operate more efficiently like the private sector. Merging county agencies would reduce costs: for example the Recorder of Deeds office could be part of the Circuit Court Clerk’s office, as it is in many counties throughout the country.

There are many inequities between government employees and private sector employees.
Millions of private sector employees lost their jobs due to lack of business, yet they must pay high taxes to support bloated government agencies which should operate more cost-effectively with many fewer employees.

Government employees get furlough days (i.e. unpaid vacation days), however in the private sector employees must take pay cuts yet still work full-time. Furlough days disrupt government services which may be a political ploy to squeeze the taxpayers.

Publicly Financed Campaigns
Publicly financed campaigns would help extinguish corruption in government.

Social Issues:
I strongly support a woman’s right to choose and marriage equality.