Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: It's your call, Cook County

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: It's your call, Cook County
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
November 24, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1901010,CST-EDT-edit24b.article


To no one's surprise, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger once again on Monday did his one-two punch on taxpayers.

He worked to block efforts to give residents a little sales tax relief, by vetoing a half-cent sale tax rollback.

And he did his best to frighten our neediest residents that their county health care is at risk.

It's becoming a familiar move, but now county commissioners have a chance to fight back.

We expect them to stand up to Stroger and his scare tactics and keep the half-penny rollback they approved last week.

This time, the rollback has a chance of sticking, because commissioners can more easily override Stroger's veto, thanks to a recent change in state law.

As we've argued before, the rollback is a small decrease, one that's easily planned for in the county's coming fiscal year, since the decrease won't even go into effect until next summer.

On Monday, Stroger urged voters to call their county commissioners to put the pressure on.

So we'll do likewise.

Call your county commissioners and tell them their re-election depends on bucking Stroger's veto and, at long last, giving taxpayers some modest relief.