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Late Friday, Todd Stroger and nine other county commissioners worked to close the Cook County budget for 2008. The compromise deal doubled the county parking taxes and raised the sales tax to 1.75 percent - making Chicago one of the highest taxed cities in the nation. Those tax hikes, coupled with an agreement to cede control of the county Health Services Bureau to an independent oversight panel yielded the elusive ninth vote that Stroger had been seeking to pass his budget. Larry Suffredin, who brokered the health services deal, was the swing vote.
The changes to the county health system were overwhelmingly supported by the board and call for 14 officials from the medical, civic and labor community to pick 20 nominees to a hospital governing board. Stroger will choose nine, with the county board making the final approval. The proposal to move Cook County's health care system over to an independent oversight board came last fall after a blue-ribbon committee of business and health care executives, appointed by Stroger at the urging of US Senator Dick Durbin, recommended the move.
The tax hike will generate enough revenue for the county that Stroger will not have to come back and ask for another increase next year, and possibly the year after. It will also give him the funds to hire nearly 25,000 new county workers. "By passing this budget, the board has breathed life into this county government," Stroger told the Tribune.
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The hospital deal, in its current form, sunsets after three years.
Vital fact that was left out.
As well--" It will also give him the funds to hire nearly 25,000 new county workers."
New? I don't think so. The "nearly 25,000" concerns the workforce levels, not brand new positions made possible by the tax increase and new budget.
How hard is it to read the links on which you base your "reporting"?
Larry sufferdin rus commercials boasting how he is big enough to stand up to strogers tax hikes and then votes to raise ouer taxs like hes strogers bitch. Thank god this SOB lost for states attorney. But what do you really expect this is Crook co. and the lemmings (voters) did what they were told and voted stroger in so higher taxs and inept services is what they deserve.
How hard is it to read the links on which you base your "reporting"?
About as hard as it is for you to not be a massive bag o' douche.
Fed: I actually called Larry Saturday morning to complain. I expected to leave a voice mail, but he answered his phone and gave me the spiel about how the hospital part of the deal, though short-term, will lead to lasting reforms, and how Todd will not win reelection, even if this is the last tax increase he needs. I told him I was disappointed, given the ads. He basically said the increase was the price to pay for lasting health-care reform in Cook County.
I appreciated Larry's time on a Saturday morning, but I am very skeptical about his predictions, to say the least.
Well, at least Chicago is really beating New York City in something now--sales tax rates within the city. We should celebrate our victory, don't you think? After all, the revenue certainly will translate into more efficient services, right? You know, the juvenile hall, the hospital, better-trained picnic-table inspectors.
Then again, we don't have a city income tax, at least not yet.
Mr Smith: Uh, sorry, but your ire should be directed at the douche ... uh, person ... who could not get his facts right.
He does this on a regular basis.
But I've seen your comments, and you tend more toward knee-jerk defensiveness than accuracy. Trait of a first-rate mind, I guess.
You know what you do on a regular basis, sir? And have for years on this site? You speak with a dizzying lack of knowledge coupled with an assumed false authority. So there's little reason to answer it with anything more than a knee-jerk response, since come from the same wellspring of thought.
That you also see fit to tear down and belittle those who make every effort to enlighten is even more troubling.
Mr Smith: Let's review, shall we?
This site's main political writer writes a dizzingly wrong fact about the county hiring 25,000 new workers. He also neglects to mention the vital information of the sunset provision.
Now, I doubt few thinking people take this writer seriously--just as anyone interested in more than beer specials and food and pop culture would take you seriously--but still, this is a widely visited site that has an obligation to accuracy.
Yet, you claim I am ignorant, and you whine that I am hurtful. Christ, you even use the word "belittle." Poor you. Here's the deal: You want to write in a public venue, you must face the criticism, and praise, that comes with it. Especially when you get basic facts wrong over and over.
I agree: I know nothing about movies, or pop culture, or the trivia that seems to interest you, based on your writing.
But I know this: Kevin is wrong. One is a factual error, the other an error of leaving something vital out. Really, how difficult is it to write a summary of other writers' work?
Rather than defend the mistake--everyone makes them, though certain writers more than others--you engage in a pissing contest with the reader who pointed out the mistake.
That's amazing, pal. You have a real talent for attacking the messenger. You should find a job in political PR.
Or just stick with writing about beer specials.
no cred for my photo?
Sorry about that, Joe! It's been fixed. Give the servers a few minutes to catch up....
I agree: I know nothing about movies, or pop culture, or the trivia that seems to interest you, based on your writing.
Thanks, it's always nice to hear from a fan.
haha, thanks Kevin, it was nice to have something to bitch about.
haha, thanks Kevin, it was nice to have something to bitch about.
Mr Smith: And that is the best you can offer to inaccurate reporting, a tired quip that really means nothing.
Matilda is right on about this. What's with the douche crap? Is that the best you can do, Smith? An eighth grade insult? If you want to be critical of someone, why don't you back yourself up with some facts to justify yourself instead of calling someone a douche. Should we not expect accurate reporting from journalists and bloggers? If Chicagoist wants to have a good reputation, then it needs to report the facts accurately. I don't understand what your problem is.
Well, since Kevin apparently can't be counted on to correct mistakes--even when the criticism comes from an ass such as myself--it's up to the thinking adults to do so for him.
The new budget, with the sales-tax increase, does not, as Kevin claims, " .. give him the funds to hire nearly 25,000 new county workers."
No, the new budget, and sales-tax increase, is expected to result in some 1,000 new positions, according to every account I have seen.
I am not sure if Kevin knows the difference between new positions and existing workforce levels. Granted, the likes of the SEIU would love to have 25,000 new government jobs--hell, they were probably whispering such sweet nothings into the ears of certain county board members--but that ain't happening, despite the inaccurate summaries of the site's political expert. Tell me, Kevin, where would those 25,000 new workers go? Is Cook County opening up another jail, perhaps one in the south 'burbs?
As for the hospital deal, the board that will result has a three-year life, under the current proposal. It's anyone's guess whether this part of the deal will last, or will result in lasting reforms to the county hospital system.
Sparky is right. I picked the wrong thread to point out matilda's general douchery, as it is not present here. In this case, he has a valid point. He's said plenty of other douche-y things and I should have criticized him for those.
I regret the error.
Yet, still no correction.
Thanks for the apology, Mr. Smith, but I regret you lack the ability to simply, and quickly, check whether I was making a valid point in the first place, instead of using what seems like your new favorite word: Douche. Did you see a Summer's Eve commercial last night or something? Or is this merely another example of what passes for wit and originality in the Smith household? A regular Mr Wilde you are.
By the way, checking my claim would have required little more than following the link Kevin so helpfully provided and then going from there. Hell, you could have used a tool I like to call Google, or visited various online news sites--most are free, after all. Or, you could have simply paid attention to the news and then retained that information for future use, as most of us were taught in school.
Let this long, painful ordeal serve as another lesson for you, Mr Smith: Even when the messenger is an extraordinarly douche-esque, as you might say, oftentimes the message is, at the least, factually accurate. You need to learn to seperate the message from the messenger.
Don't worry. I won't charge you tuition today. I'm in a generous mood. But I can't keep holding your hand like this. Sooner or later, you'll have to walk on your own.
I don't think Mr. Smith was conceding a point to you, matilida....
"...... you also see fit to tear down and belittle those who make every effort to enlighten is even more troubling."
Wow is that what you're doing Tilly Till Till,enlightening us?
I'm still out on this, but I am concerned that this might be the beginning of privatization.
I think that Larry Suffredin is a decent guy. However, he should have stuck to his guns about the tax hike.
I do not think the "independent" board will turn out to be very independent. It just wasn't worth the price, i.e., Suffredin voting for the tax hike. Bad move. And like the commenter above, now I am glad Suffredin lost for State's Attorney.
And Kevin fails to correct his mistake, still. I don't see how any one can trust his observations. Does Chicagoist even care about accuracy, or just getting page hits?
Privatization, Spook? I doubt Stroger, Daley and their buddies would give up all those jobs.
Vise: You're comments are tiresome....
Kevin, you are so arrogant. The rants may be tiresome, but Matilda makes a point. You are a journalist, correct? Or am I wrong? As a journalist, you should pride yourself on accuracy. You even claim that you learned the value of hard work growing up with a family of steelworkers. Why not work hard on reporting politics with accuracy? Why would you want to do your job half-assed? Why not report the news properly? Everyone makes mistakes, but as a hard-worker who takes pride in his work, why don't you 1) admit the mistake 2) correct the mistake 3) not make excuses that someone is being tiresome when they call you out on the mistake? It's called professionalism, Kevin. If I saw your byline on a different news source, such as a newspaper, I would be less likely to trust your reporting based on these incidents.
Kevin: You were wrong. It's that simple. And you refuse to correct or even acknowledge the mistake. Why is that? Is your dislike of me stronger than your devotion to accuracy? Are you that arrogant?
By the way, it is "your," not "you're."
Everyone makes mistakes. Real writers and real adults correct them, despite the rants of the messenger.
Sparky: Talking reasonably to this guy is pointless. It is clear he does not value his writing enough to care about accuracy. It is clear he has never learned to take criticism well, and has an amazingly thin skin for someone who writes in the public venue, or someone who pretends he has some tough, blue-collar heart. It is clear he is better off writing propoganda for adoring fans--perhaps the activist chicks doing union recruiting, or the Edwards' phone bank alumni club--than insightful commentary for thinking citizens.
Fuck it, Kevin, you win: You made the mistake and you are sticking by it, despite factual evidence offered to you. I admire your reckless stubborness in a way. It seems to work for you.
Funny thing: I tend to agree, in general, with most of Kevin's politics, and even when I don't agree, I trust that his positions are honest and heartfelt. It's just that he is an apparently hopeless hack when it comes to factual writing, which is a pretty big sin when you are writing about politics and government for fellow citizens.
Jimmy Mutha F*cking Crickets!
Yall need to back the F*ck up.
Kevin did a synopsis of a very complex and intricate story. What’s important to him is perhaps not what’s important to you. He wrote what was fact, but left out what “You” think is important.
Man, yall act like he stayed up all night and spray painted “Spook Hates the Cubs” all over the
walls of that stupid baseball field.
The dude knows his politics.
And I'm shocked at your behavior Sparky! Chill, son
Spook: He got a basic fact wrong. On this issue, it has nothing to do with what I think is important.
Kevin writes: "The tax hike will generate enough revenue for the county that Stroger will not have to come back and ask for another increase next year, and possibly the year after. It will also give him the funds to hire nearly 25,000 new county workers."
Uh, no. The county will not hire 25,000 new workers as a result of the new budget and the sales-tax increase. The county plans to hire about 1,000. If you don't believe me, look it up and/or call county officials. I have done both things.
And if you don't still believe me, do the math of what 25,000 new workers might cost. Be sure to include the cost of benefits, too. And then compare that figure with what the tax increase is expected to bring in.
Kevin apparently does not understand the difference between new job positions and workforce levels, a odd mistake from someone who writes about governments and budgets. Or, he cannot be bothered to fix a typo that gives a grossly misleading perception.
I think the three-year sunset is vital, but that is more an error of omission. The worker figure is an outright factual mistake.
Do you neeed more explanation?
Nope Ye need none further, and your point doth have Merit!
But perhaps you might want to take a step back and realize that a Kevin is a volunteer writer for Chicagoist. As oppossed to Margaret who clears more money than a Chicago Alderman and Chuck Sudo who clears more money than a Southside Minister,excepting kick backs(cash and beer) from the liquor industry for his Beer of the Week picks.
But Back to Kevin, you might have noticed that covering politics is probabaly the most difficult topic covered on/in Chicagoist. So perhaps Dear Tilda, had you not immediately attacked him like famished pit bull going after a leather boot with bloody meat in it, he might have offered some clarity, perhaps even a "my bad". Why should he respond to such venom? And really, who cares?
Spook, please don't call me son. I am a girl :)
Anyway, because it is such a complex issue, he should be sure to get it right. Should he be held to a different standard? I know he is a volunteer, and I can appreciate and respect it, but a simple correction would have satisfied.I am not criticizing him because he made mistakes. Everyone does. I am criticizing that he does not correct them.
Politics is complex. That is why only certain people write about politics. Kevin appears to be incredibly qualified, based on what he has done in this city. I give him credit for informing the public on these issues. But, like I said, if Kevin wants to have any credibility as a journalist who writes about Chicago (or any) politics, errors like this matter.
You don't see Margaret ignoring her mistakes. She corrects them. Not only is she a good writer, she is a professional.
And if you read, Matilda wasn't spewing venom or anything like that until Mr Smith provoked it. Time and time again, there have been errors in the politics posts. And they have been pointed out. Sometimes nicely and sometimes not so. All Kevin would need to do is correct the mistakes, errors, typos, misunderstandings, whatever. But he does not. Instead he comments that other people's comments are tiresome.
Is he not correcting them because Matilda is the one that pointed them out? If so, that's unprofessional. Regardless of who offered it, no matter the tone, he should address it like the professional volunteer journalist blogger he is and the professional volunteer journalist blogger that he probably lists on his CV when he looks for a future job.
Is it because he doesn't care? If so, that's unprofessional and arrogant.
Am I being unreasonable? Why should I back off? I have not said anything wrong, nor have I said it rudely.
Spook: I appreciate the efforts of volunteers.
But, what is so hard about fixing a mistake?
Even volunteers need to earn credibility. Kevin has little thanks to his inability, now and in the past, to fix mistakes.
In fact, Kevin has a responsibility to fix his mistakes. That is what public writing means. He does not get a free pass because he is not paid.
Even now, the mistake remains, even though it is a glaring mistake.
I can't imagine who actually takes Kevin seriously anymore.
In the real word, a writer with his arrogant pride regarding mistakes would find himself unemployed soon enough, I think.
Sparky, I call every body son, son. It’s how I roll, feel me?
But you don't think Matilda is carrying this bone a wee bit too far down the road? But heck, tell you what, I'm always looking for extra support, so if I can list you two as delegates for the commentator of the month convention, I will tell you where Kevin sleeps( if you wanna call it sleeping) during the day. Matilda can make some wooden stakes,open Kevin's coffin and plunge them right into Kevin's 200 year old heart and he will never do such a dastardly deed again. Just make sure she doesn’t look into his eyes Because he will hypnotize you untill the sun goes down and then, well you know what happens then!
Spook: You have my vote, but I am easily bought.
Mistakes not fixed, in my view, deserve regular attention. But I also think writers have certain responsbilities to the public, so that is where I am coming from. If the guy would just admit he made a mistake, the issue would die. But he won't.
Spook, that's cool. I'll vote for you, but in the true tradition of Chicago politics, you need to buy me off. I am cheap, of course, not like the rest of those cronies, so an evening at the Hopleaf or Map Room or Delilah's would be an adequate honorarium for my vote. Then we can talk politics (I'm like Norm Wilson in a skirt; I'll get you to Commenter of the Month like he helped Carcetti become mayor). I like the way you've changed your image, but with a little hair gel, a few nice suits, use of more semicolons in your posts, a little less dada rambling, a great speech---shiiiiiit!---you could be Commenter of the Year. I can even get Matilda off of Kevin's back...I'm that good.
O.K, now your playing the Wire Card! My weakness!
What a team, Norm Wilson and Carcetti! o.k, lets begine negotiations.
Hummm……as people like hates pups and Spav1 think your Spook is afraid to show his well chiseled face, perhaps we should do a meet up at the Map Room for the first scheduled democratic republican debate! They have T.V's and I'm sure the proprietor would be so moved if asked to host such a event.
Maybe Chicagoist political writers Kevin, Sundak, Sudo could attend( as unlike Spav1 and Hates Pups we are giving ample notice) and of course I could send out a smoke signal to Ben Joravsky to lure him out. But we would have to lay some ground rules, like no outside information( that could be potentially damaging)will be exchanged, no social security numbers, home addresses, parents alive or dead questions, how many siblings, occupations, etc, just politics, beer and urgent commentator of the month reform!
P.S Tell me that Omar is still alive! Actually don't tell me any thing dead or alive. The next season is out in June.
But I hope they kill Cheese. Prop Joe and Slim Charles would be the more formidable team to contain Marlow rein!
Spook you are falling behind on the wire. The dems arent going to have there nomination ready until the convention. Ill give hillary credit she is going to try and make it a race.