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No Override for the Cook County Party of No

A political showdown over the repealof a sales tax increase that couldhave affected thousands of poor peoplecountywide gave new meaningto the old clich alls fair in love andwar when the outcome may not befair at all. As the battle raged overwhether the Cook County Boardwould be able to muster up enoughvotes to override President Todd H.Strogers veto of the repeal, the futureof the countys health care system,county jobs and the impact onother services, hung in the balance.

Had the repeal stood, it would havemeant slashing vital services andforcing the independent health boardto shut the doors at Provident andOak Forest Hospitals including theclosure of many, if not most of theCountys neighborhood clinicswhere Blacks and Latinos live. Inaddition to that, possible cuts in publicsafety and job losses in a recession,would have been far too heavyof a price to pay. County officialsalso anticipated that departmentswould have been required to cutcosts by more than 20% across theboard.

In the end, Strogers veto was sustained.Whats frightening however,was the havoc a group of commissioners,most of them from the northside, could have caused, had the decisiongone the other way. What thisfaction wanted was the repeal of afull sales tax increase of a penny onthe dollar. A thorn in Strogers sidesince taking the job, his relationshipto the commissioners has been akinto President Barack Obamas struggleswith the, Republican Party ofNo, where the commissioners offermore dissension than solutions in addressingcounty problems. In tryingto offer solutions to the budget crisisand to keep the health care systemrunning, Strogers proposed trimmingthe tax increase, anticipatingfederal stimulus dollars would makeup the difference. But all of that fellon deaf ears Tuesday as the commissionersfought to sustain the repeal.

The course of events have beenlike a three-ring circus where politicalinsiders say the goal was to embarrassStroger as the next electiondraws nearer even at the expense ofhurting the poor. Officials even expectedthe repeal could have resultedin a $245 million loss in revenue forthe county overall affecting not onlyhealth care but public safety as well.But to even think that services couldhave been shut down because agroup of battling commissionersmore interested in politics than comingtogether to solve problems, isenough to make anyone shudder.

Throughout the course of events,the sales tax has always been controversial.Whats more interestingthough is that while the flap over thehike has kept Stroger and the countyin front of the issue, the city hasraised nine different taxes in the lasttwo years, Stroger told theChicago Sun-times recently. In thesame issue, the paper pointed outthat the mayor has raised taxes, finesand fees by a whopping $329 million,including the largest propertytax increase in Chicago history. In2005, his $85.7 million tax packageincluded a one-quarter of one percentincrease in the Chicago salestaxnot that Stroger is trying topick a fight with the Mayor, but thefact is, the idea of a tax hike is notcounty specific.

Political games and scoring pointshave to cease when it comes to peopleslives and the services they deserve.Even though it looks likeProvident and Oak Forest Hospitalswont be closed and despite the factthat other services will apparently remainin tact, the people should remainalert and refuse to allowpolitical selfishness to get in front ofwhats really important.

And its not just the public thatneeds to stay vigilant, but electedofficials, represented by the people,need to stay alert as well. In this situation,many of the officials in thecounty whose budgets could havebeen affected by the repeal decidednot to wade into the debate, choosinginstead to remain on the sidelines.Publicly stating that said it wasnttheir job to get into the middle of theissue, one representative said, its thejob of the commissioners and PresidentStrogers to figure outhow to fund government and makedecisions about budget priorities, Eric Herman, spokesmen for CookCounty Assessor Jim Houlihanstated in the Chicago Sun-times recently.

Clerk of the Circuit Court DorothyBrown reiterated this message whenshe suggested its the Cook CountyBoards mandated responsibility torun county government and that includesmanaging the countys financesand budget in an effectivemanner. Staying out of the controversydidnt make her indifferent towardsthe issue or how it wouldaffect her constituents, she said. Infact, she said four years ago, she recommendedthat the Cook CountyBoard of Commissioners establish aCitizens Budget Review Committee,comprised of professional individualswho would be charged with analyzingthe annual budget anddetermining if there was wastefulspending. Sounds like a goodidea, but when the County Board ignoredher advice, Brown said thatsas far as she went with the Board onthe issue.

County Clerk David Orr didntnecessarily want to get in the middleof it either. Stroger has not contactedme or my office about the taxrepeal or his veto of the repeal, hesaid, stating that, he has been unableto get reliable budget informationfrom the Presidents office. Orrsaid it was therefore difficult, toknow how big of an impact it couldhave on his office, but if the commissionersoverrode the presidentsveto, the budget cuts could haveranged anywhere from 12 to 22 percentin his office. He added, he didbelieve, Greater reforms and efficienciesare needed across theboard.

But creating greater efficienciesstarts in an environment where thereis better communication. And regardlessof who reaches out to whomfirst, isnt open communication apart of an efficient process? Yet awillingness to solve problems, and tocommunicate even when its difficult,regardless of who reaches outfirst, is rare in American politics.

Sheriff Tom Dart relied on the constitutionwhen he talked about thepossibility of cuts and how it wouldaffect his office. We would neverask President Stroger for advice onhow to run the jail, so we dont planto advise him on how to run his government.Its up to the countyboard to decide how to fund countygovernment and its up to the presidentto decide how to operate it.Nowhere in the sheriffs job descriptiondoes it say anything about doingeither of those things. The sheriffsjob is to properly and safely run thesheriffs department and, each year,convey to the board how muchmoney we need to do those things.Last year, we told the county boardwe needed $430 million to run ourdepartment and they figured out away to pay for it, as they do everyyear, he said.

According to officials, the impacton the 2010 budget could have had atotal cut of $136 million, out of atotal budget of roughly $1.066 billionfor public safety. So Dart mayhave been right. Its not his job either,but in terms of feeling safe, thecuts could have affected us all.

Treasurer Maria Pappas said shecould live with the cuts if the tax isrepealed because she produces $7million a year from a self-fundingaccount. So, if they want a cut, Improducing my own revenueImnot for these bond dealsthe$300,000 we need for bonds cancome from my own [self-funding]account she said. And aspokesperson for the Board of Review,Thomas Jaconetty, said anycuts would have had an adverse impact,on his office but he wanted to,take some time, to respond to theissue after the Boards meeting onTuesday. Anything else would havebeen premature, he said.

The elected officials who took aback seat on how this issue couldhave impacted the poor, missed anopportunity to show leadership inthis situation. Even though for now,the repeal is a non-issue, the peoplewho could have been affected, wentun-represented for the most part bythe public officials they decided toelect.

The question posed to Dart, Orr,Brown and the others had less to dowith job descriptions and the constitutionor where the buck stops interms of whose running what. It hadmore to do with the people and thefolks who would be affected by cutsin the budget if those cuts remaineda possibility. To some extent the officialswe talked to are correct. Thereis no legal obligation to address theissue and they were right, its not intheir job descriptions. But whatabout a moral and ethical responsibility,if not a legal one? At whatpoint does morality and ethics in politicscome into play? At what pointdo factions at war against the CookCounty Board President put downtheir differences and oppose thelabel of the, Cook Countys Party ofNo, and stand up for what is rightfor the people even if they do notlive on the same side of town as theydo?

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