By STATE REP. JOHN FRITCHEY
State Rep. John Fritchey, 11th District
As we are all aware, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted three different times to rollback the recently-increased County sales tax, only to be vetoed each time by Board President Todd Stroger. Put differently, Cook County Commissioners attempted three different times to represent their constituents, only to be thwarted by an unreasonable amount of power, afforded to President Stroger under an arcane and unjust law that required a 4/5 majority, or 14 commissioners, to override his veto. The Board President possessed an extraordinary amount of power unbecoming to a democratic body. Until now.
Recently, Cook County Commissioners voted once again to rollback the sales tax increase, and once again, for the fourth time, President Stroger vetoed it. This time, however, he may be out of red ink. Today, the Cook County Board can overturn Stroger’s decree with only 11 votes.
Since 2006, I have been working on legislation with Congressman Mike Quigley to reduce the veto override threshold down from a 4/5 majority to a 3/5 majority – a more acceptable, just, and democratic threshold. Over the past three years, we faced considerable opposition and obstacles, and neither the public outrage nor political will existed to reform the system. In fact, during the 2006 campaign season, one candidate running for Cook County Board President supported the measure, and stated that it was “not about politics or power, this is about what is best for Cook County.” Soon after the campaign, that candidate’s support for the measure waned when he was elected President of the Cook County Board, and following President Todd Stroger’s self-serving flip-flop, the idea died shortly after.
After living with the highest sales tax in the country and amidst an economic depression, what was once just an abstract law became very tangible to the public, who rallied their elected officials to support our legislation this fall. Now, with the support of many of my colleagues in Springfield, a new version of the bill to lower the Cook County veto threshold passed in the General Assembly and was quickly signed into law by Governor Quinn.
As a result, the County Board needs only a 3/5 majority vote, or 11 votes, to override President Stroger’s veto, and while I do not know how Commissioners will choose to vote this time around, it pleases me to say that they finally have the power of democracy with them now and the opportunity to do what is best for Cook County residents, not just what is best for elected officials.
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Well, this is all fine rhetoric, but I wonder if Rep. Fritchey would be so bold as to put his money where his mouth is and eschew any campaign funding or support from the powerful SEIU, government workers union, which is predominately responsible for Stroger having won in 2006.
During that election period, the East Rogers Park neighborhoods and others were flooded with flyers that attacked Stroger’s opponent,
Tony Peraica on the specious grounds that he was against gay marriage!! (As if the Cook County Board has anything to say about that.)
Stroger narrowly won and, I think no one but the SEIU thinks that he has been anything but a disaster. But it’s far too easy to simply trash the Toddling without pointing to the scoundrels who happily put him in office.
More on Stroger’s inanity at today’s http://www.chicagolampoon.blogspot.com
What kind of story is this? A state representative running for County Commissioner talking about how bad things are in Cook County when there is a pension disaster coming at the state level? What about no road funding and no education funding? Where is the discussion about all the state failures?
We need new elected officials everywhere in Illinois.