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Cook County Politics
With a deadline to pass a budget just 36 hours away, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger told commissioners Thursday he has done his job by proposing a spending plan and it's now up to them to vote it up or down or come to some other resolution. One would think that being County Board President, it would make it his obligation, when his first budget proposal fell flat, to work with commissioners to devise a compromise budget. To their credit, the reform bloc of the Cook County Board has held together surprisingly well. The anchors of that bloc - Commissioners Claypool, Quigley, Suffredin and Peraica; aptly named the Four Horsemen - have managed over the last several budget cycles to put together enough votes to block tax-hike laden budgets and push for government streamlining as a solution. So far, it looks like it's only the reformers who are making progress: Commissioners managed to narrow Stroger's projected shortfall to $234 million-a red-ink cut of nearly $50 million-during more than eight hours of meetings Wednesday night and Thursday morning as they neared the midnight Friday deadline to approve a budget. Looks here like Stroger is already tired of fighting the fight his father had to fend off for the last couple year of his tenure as Board President: Stroger said Wednesday he is standing firm on his sales-tax proposal, noting he already revised it downward. He said it would keep the county solvent for years to come and contends his critics and potential political rivals don't want that to occur because it would allow him to avoid seeking a tax increase in the 2010 election year. Again, not that any of us really ever imagined Stroger as the type with the public policy acumen and sharp negotiation skills to strike a deal on his own. And when would be possibly have time to concoct a compromise? He's still too busy working on his speech-reading skills: UPDATE: 4:45pm WLS' Bill Cameron is reporting that there was quite a blow up between Stroger and Mike Quigley, as each did his best blow out the County Board's PA system. The path to a compromise, this is not. UPDATE: 5:15pm This is getting stranger and stranger... The Chicago Sun-Times' Steve Patterson is reporting that Stroger now wants an even higher sales tax-hike: Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has the votes he needs to raise the sales tax high enough to balance the county budget. Com. Roberto Maldonado has been the hold-out vote, opposing the sales tax he sees as "regressive". If it's indeed true that Stroger has the votes to pass his lower sales tax rate proposal, and he's now dumping that for political convenience when he's up for reelection - fears of Forrest Claypool, anyone? - it's hard to imagine being able to bring Maldonado on board. We'll continue to follow this as it develops... More coverage: ABC 7 Chicago: County gov't on verge of shutdown Filed Under: Cook County Politics E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format |
Countdown to Election Day
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