Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: Veto override update is the right thing to do

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: Veto override update is the right thing to do
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
October 31, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1856333,CST-EDT-edit01a.article


The dispute over how many Cook County commissioners should be needed to override a veto by County Board President Todd Stroger is not, at its core, about Stroger or his hated sales tax increase.
It's true we've questioned the necessity of the tax increase, given the waste and inefficiency in county government.

We have also been critical of Stroger's management of county finances.

And, of course, the sales tax increase is what prompted the effort by state lawmakers last week to reduce the number of County Board votes needed for an override.

But our concern here is more about a fundamental issue of fairness, one that transcends a single decision or political figure.

Right now, 14 out of 17 commissioners on the Cook County Board -- four-fifths of them -- are needed to override a Stroger veto. It's an usual quirk in the rules governing the Cook County Board, rooted in a time when the board was much smaller.

For all practically purposes, Stroger can kill any measure he wants, with a virtual guarantee it will stay dead.

Even his loathed sales tax increase could muster only 13 votes on the County Board to roll it back.

A legislative veto is intended to be fundamental check on executive power. But a check on power isn't much of a check if the trigger can never be pulled.

No County Board president should have that much power, whether it's Stroger or someone else.

A measure state lawmakers approved and sent to Gov. Quinn last week would lower the number needed for an override from four-fifths to three-fifths of the commissioners, or from 14 to 11.

That's similar to the rules governing other legislative bodies, from the state Legislature to Congress.

Stroger has indicated support, in theory, for rolling back the number of commissioners needed to override him, but not if it jeopardizes his tax increase.

Which from our perspective is completely beside the point.

This debate is not about one tax increase.

It's about giving residents of Cook County a meaningful voice through their elected representatives on the County Board, which Quinn will do when he signs this bill into law.