Loving Stroger's tax/Stroger has failed to lead/Veto Stands, but can Stroger? - Cook County doesn't kill tax hike, so issue lives for campaign

Chicago Tribune Editorial - Loving Stroger's tax
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
May 20, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0520edit1may20,0,1895904.story


"The sales tax applies to things that most poor people don't buy." -- Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, arguing that sales taxes really aren't regressive

"I would like to go home for once in my life and relax."

-- Commissioner Earlean Collins, accepting that her support of a county sales-tax increase may push voters to oust her from office

"We don't have any businesses in my district to leave."

-- Commissioner Deborah Sims, challenging the notion that high taxation is driving businesses -- and jobs -- out of Cook County

Maybe you couldn't be at the Cook County Building on Tuesday to join the celebration of public employees, union officials and other avid fans of unsustainable taxation.

Maybe you missed their applause when an attempt to kill Cook County's hated sales-tax increase fell short. Maybe, as Commissioner Tim Schneider suggested, you were among the far larger number of hardworking citizens who were at work, trying to make ends meet for their families. Maybe you were at your business, trying to retain the customers you still have. Maybe you were at home worrying about your household's finances and ... a local tax burden that just keeps rising because your politicians don't have the guts to cut spending.

To review the bidding: The County Board had voted 12-3 to kill the full-percentage-point tax increase, and board President Todd Stroger vetoed that action. Tuesday's question: Should the board override Stroger's veto? If you had better things to do, you missed bizarre behavior from commissioners loyal to Stroger and to unions that own county government:

--In support of Stroger's tax, Earlean Collins oddly invoked Ecclesiastes, who doesn't pay taxes in Cook County. And Robert Steele said a tax rollback would cripple county health care -- letting swine flu run rampant. Then Collins and Steele deprived their constituents of any voice whatsoever on whether to uphold or override Stroger's veto. Both voted present.

--A few heads swiveled as Joseph Mario Moreno, one of the 12 board members who had voted to repeal the tax increase, this time voted to sustain Stroger's veto.

--Although Collins, Steele and Moreno were strong contestants, the award for Most Confused Commissioner goes to Joan Patricia Murphy. Try to follow: Murphy was among the 12 who voted to repeal the full tax increase. On Tuesday, though, she spoke against that repeal -- but then voted for it. She added that any rollback should be done in increments. Minutes later, though, Murphy voted against a follow-up motion to phase out the tax -- in increments -- over two years. Yes, faced with the option of rolling back three-fourths of it in 2010 and the rest in 2011, she sided with Stroger in opposing ... any tax rollback that came to a vote.

We'll leave for another day the necessary discussion on which county districts desperately need better representation. At the close of this episode in Cook County governance, this was the final score:

Stroger's veto of the full-percentage-point rollback stands. By a 10-7 margin the board did vote for the two-year rollback. Next, Stroger emerged from his office to say that, yes, he'll veto that rollback too. So here we go again.

Strange day, punctuated by clarity from John Daley, whose impatience with Stroger's refusal to streamline this government grows with every board meeting. "Eighty-five percent of our budget is personnel -- and we still do not have a hiring freeze!" Daley fumed at one point. He talked about the harsh impacts of recessions, about taxpayers losing their jobs, about families having to slash expenses.

If you couldn't be there, Daley and some of the other commissioners were speaking for you. The six board members whose votes of no or present made the veto stick? They are William Beavers, Jerry "Iceman" Butler, Collins, Moreno, Deborah Sims and Steele. They were there, all right, loving Stroger's tax.


Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: Stroger has failed to lead
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
May 20, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1581773,CST-EDT-edit20b.article


When a politician pushes for a tax increase, he'll warn you every time that otherwise the sky will fall.
And when the most militant of the anti-tax crowd get wind of a proposed tax increase, they'll tell you every time that it's a waste of your money and sure to be the ruin of the local business community.

That's why it helps to have actual facts to sort and weigh -- to see where the truth lies. But hard facts have always been conspicuously absent from Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's defense of his penny-on-a-dollar sales tax increase.

We would be more inclined to believe his dire warnings of hospital and clinic closings if he had, in the first place, presented a thoughtful county budget that took an ax to obvious waste and patronage.

We opposed Stroger's tax increase last spring, and we oppose it now. We regret that the County Board was unable to override his veto and rescind the tax on Tuesday.

And we reject Stroger's accusation that opponents of the tax are rich North Siders who lack concern for the poor.

Good government and compassionate government are not mutually exclusive.

We don't see class warfare. We see a failure of leadership.





Veto Stands, but can Stroger? - Cook County doesn't kill tax hike, so issue lives for campaign
By Hal Dardick
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
May 20, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cook-county-tax-vote-20-may20,0,2075514.story


An unpopular sales tax increase will stand after Cook County commissioners failed to overturn it Tuesday during a political performance that featured a cast of officials prepping for a campaign season that could turn on the issue.

In a result predicted by both sides, commissioners fell three votes short of overriding Board President Todd Stroger's veto of an ordinance that on Jan. 1 would have ended a penny-on-the-dollar tax increase Stroger pushed through last year.

With Stroger seeking re-election next year and the tax issue still burning hot with the public, voters should expect an extended run of political theater. Defeated in their attempt to quickly roll back the sales tax increase, 10 commissioners turned around and approved a new measure to repeal it by 2011, prompting an immediate veto promise from Stroger.

"This is not going to go away," said Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago), who said he will announce next month whether he will challenge Stroger in the February primary. "People are angry, rightfully so. They see higher taxes paying for scandal and abuse in this government. ... We're going to keep repealing it. If he wants to veto, he can do that at his own risk."

The sales tax debate is becoming political in ways familiar to residents of Chicago, a city often noted for its racial, socioeconomic and regional divisions. Stroger backers portrayed the issue as one that pits poor and minority residents on the South and West Sides who support the tax against wealthier North Side residents clamoring for repeal.

"It's unfair to commend certain North Side commissioners on the rich side of town for doing the right thing for listening to their core constituents, yet [say] it's wrong for commissioners who represent the South and West Side of town to represent their constituents," political organizer Mark Allen said before the board meeting.

Allen was joined by a dozen African-American activists and ministers who dubbed themselves "Soldiers for Stroger," a name first used by supporters of Stroger's father, John, who led the county for nearly 12 years.

"You're mistaken if you think that this is not political, because it is," Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-Chicago), a consistent backer of the tax, said during the debate. "This is about the haves and the have-nots. And it's fine when the people that have say, 'You don't need it,' because they don't need it."

Commissioner John Daley (D-Chicago) took issue with those who would inject race into next year's campaign.

"Members on this board want to provide good quality health care for everyone, and to bring race in is a bad mistake," said Daley, the brother of Mayor Richard Daley. "Anyone who runs on race loses. It's that simple."

Claypool and other repeal proponents maintain that without patronage and waste, the county can do without the $400 million generated by the tax each year.

Stroger, citing new federal revenue, is willing to roll back one-fourth of the increase but says the rest of the money is needed to prevent decimation of the county's vast criminal justice and health-care systems.

"The reason that I vetoed this is because it's not good for the county," he said. "We know where that will put us. It will put us back in the hole. It will not serve our mission. Our mission is health and public safety."

Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a business-backed budget watchdog agency, said that of $380 million in projected revenue from the new tax in this budget, about $46 million, or 12 percent, is going to health care.

Tuesday's result was virtually pre-ordained because 12 commissioners voted two weeks ago to repeal the tax hike knowing it would be difficult to get the extraordinary 14 votes required to override a Stroger veto. That meant the political stage play largely has been about campaign jockeying.

Stroger and commissioners who supported higher taxes were put in the position of wearing the political jacket twice for the same increase -- once for approving it and again for blocking its repeal.

But Stroger can continue to note that all 11 commissioners who voted to repeal the tax increase just a couple of years earlier voted to give big raises to county workers -- saying they would find the needed revenue later.

Stroger, Claypool, Sims and others have been consistent on the sales tax issue, but some commissioners have sought political cover as the public pressure failed to subside.

Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (D-Chicago) managed to switch sides twice: last year, he voted for the tax hike. Two weeks ago, he voted to repeal, saying he's "done getting beaten up." On Tuesday, he voted against overriding the repeal.

"I made a mistake by going along, by being swallowed up by the whirlpool effect on the vote, you know?" he said. "I didn't think people would be so ignoramus and vote for it."

Commissioner Joan Murphy (D- Crestwood), who introduced the tax increase last year, voted two weeks ago to repeal it. On Tuesday, she at first said it was irresponsible to phase out the entire 1-percentage-point increase on Jan. 1, then went ahead and voted to kill it anyway.

Another commissioner who switched positions was Daley, who conceded the debate was political.

"This is part of the election, and we know it," he said.

"I voted my conscience," he added. "When I voted for the tax, I did believe we needed it. But in that period of time, things have changed, and I'm not sorry to say I made a mistake."

Later, Daley said he's "not out there bum rapping" Stroger. "People have asked me, 'Can he be re-elected?' I said that's up to the people of this county. I said it's not the Daley family who is controlling it. He has to sell his message and get his message out why this tax was necessary, and so far he hasn't."

hdardick@tribune.com