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Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a bill that makes it easier for Cook County commissioners to beat back a veto, reducing the number of votes needed from 14 to 11. And while Quinn called the measure a chance to make government more responsive to voters, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wasn't too happy about it. Stroger's governmental affairs director Derek Blaida said the president's office "believes there are constitutional concerns and questions over changing the power of the executive branch and shifting that to the legislature during the middle of a term," according to the Tribune. Blaida said that Stroger will continue to review the measure, with an eye on a legal challenge.
Hours after the law went into effect, county commissioners called a special vote for next Monday to roll back the Cook County sales tax. Commissioners have voted to cut the controversial sales tax twice before. Each time Stroger has vetoed the measure, and county commissioners haven't been able to muster enough votes to override the veto. This time, says Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, there are enough votes to make the roll back stick. For his part, Stroger says the tax hike is critical to "keep the county solvent and protect the vital services that the most vulnerable citizens of the county rely on, including public health and safety."
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"...keep the county solvent and protect the vital services that the most vulnerable citizens of the county rely on..."
read: "....keep the county solvent and protect the vital income that [Stroger's] family and friends rely on...."
Toddler is a d-bag.
I know the state legislature is scoring easy political points off the rampant Todd-hate, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying this. F Stroger. Not so nice when he's not the one doing the pushing.
Sadly, this will be the first time I vote against someone instead of voting for the candidate I believe in the most. To quote George Costanza "You could throw a dart out a window and hit someone" better qualified than The Toddler.
Wow, white males really really really hate Stroger! In fact far more (a couple of universes) than they hate( if they do hate) Daley, Madigan, Burke, Hynes, etc. And of course race has nothing to with it.
I'm sure these Stroger haters are also following (with grave humanitarian concern) the struggle to make sure that the county hospital system continues to provide universal healthcare. I'm also sure that they are equally concerned with the continued displacement of hundreds of poor Black people from Chicago (by Daley) to what have become modern day apartheid Bantu States of the south suburbs. Now that they know what Apartheid Bantu States were, because they generally give less than (if might borrow- universal- language from both commentators above) a F*ck about people of color especially poor people of color.
Nope none of that matters. Just blind hatred for Stroger
because he has benefited from Chicago's thriving white male political machine and has spread a few crumbs to the Black Community, which is referred to by white males as "friends and family"
The same white guys, who have been self righteously hating from atop of mount Olympus down onto America before the American Revolution.
Yup yup yup.
Yup, that must be it. Racism!
That's why Preckwinkle wants to get rid of the tax, right? She must be racist too.
No, kind Sir,Ms.Preckwinkle is a poltical opportunist who has at best compromised her community for her piece of that Daley Bread.
Please note, I am being charitable when I say "at best compromised"
Why are you assuming I'm white? Oh, right. The icon thing.
I do not believe the fact that I am white and the fact that I hate Todd Stroger have much relation, other than that my race provides me no incentive to blindly ignore the guy's idiocy.
A question (to which I expect no coherent answer): In all your defense of Stroger, I've never seen you express why you think Stroger is a good county president. I merely see you trot out a list of people who are just as bad, a list with which most of those who comment on this site agree. You don't see many fans of Daley or Madigan roaming this site, after all. So, without comparing him to people we also don't like, what is it about Stroger you've found so engaging? How specifically has he been good for Cook County? Why should I vote for him?
Blue N' Line!
Wait, you mean to tell me that some one actually wants to talk about Stroger’s policies?
Please say it aint so!
o.k. I have to admit, I’m more into housing, economic development and juvenile Justice and what I know about Cook County in these areas is that while Daley (and Preckwinkle) get credit for ethnically cleansing poor Black people out of Chicago into the south suburbs( i.e. the CHA Plan for Transformation) Cook County has done a solid job of providing a safety net using stimulus money to increase new and revitalize the existing housing stock in Cook County, especially the south suburbs.
The fact they are working with progressive community development organizations as opposed to for profit corporations (ala the City of Chicago) means less corruption and more community needs being met. Cook County, recognizing the endemic racism in the trade unions has committed stimulus dollars for job training programs to develop/rehab these same houses.
Cook County has been extremely forward not just with housing but working with area community colleges to partner in green job development with housing and retrofitting factories. They have also implemented ex offender programs( a great one!) with job training for future barbers, forestry and animal care workers. They have also created minority training program at the Zoo, which is part of Cook County.
And speaking of green, my neighbor who is green to the point of being retarded( I hope she doesn’t read Chicagoist) sits on some Cook County Advisory Board. She she goes on ad nauseam about Cook County roads being safer for walking and biking especially around schools. See I hang around real geeks who read real books and are involved in their community, as opposed to just wearing hipster clothes and ranting on about how the world is wrong, and of course demonstrating how clueless they are on Chicagoist. Oh and she also mentioned some gibberish about less birds being killed crashing into Cook County Buildings, but frankly I wasn’t interested because I hate pigeons and hope they all die.
Also, although the thought of a forest in the city is depressing like those fake animals in Blade Runner, my other friend who works for a community organization that deals with the forest preserve says that Stroger has made the forest preserve more bike friendly and increased programs for youth and families and improved the natural trails and cleaned up the 95th street forest preserve that was considered ghetto!
I know alot of people who work for smaller non-profits and many of them talk about the ability to bring partnerships to Cook County and run with them.
Needless to say none of these things make the paper.
Wow. Some very interesting points. I'm impressed.
So if you don't mind, let me continue to press. In your opinion (and with the base of knowledge you carry from your day-to-day life), how many and to what extent of these things Cook County has accomplished are specifically attributable to Todd Stroger himself, how many continue simply because of inertia from his father's era, and how many continue due to those around Stroger. How essential would you say Todd Stroger, in his three years as county board president, has been in these policy decisions you cite.
Blue line with all do respect, its a little difficult to have real policy discussions after a long days work, and honestly I'd rather spew venom at idiots because its easier, which I'm gonna do now. But as tomorrow is a holiday I will get back to your question then when I am refreshed because it is an interesting question and has larger policy implications.
Blue L
I would hazard to say Stroger is the first modern county board president and is growing slowly into the job while trying turn around a large ship that he does not completely govern or control. I cannot over stress that his job unlike the mayors and governors is a partnership with many other elected officials who are a lot more powerful and experienced than he. He is also trying to serve three masters, Cook County, the Machine and the Black community, which he now has to do.
He has made some big mistakes, including Donna Dunnings. It could have been a smart move, had she not been crazy.
He has also surrounded himself by machine operatives who are not loyal to him, but to their own committeemen. They hamper many of his reforms.
But one of his biggest mistakes was thinking that he was gonna get the pass that the rest of the Machine gets. Also he has not communicated to the public who he is and what his job is. He has let the major media outlets do that for him. And while their coverage has gotten fairer, the damage has been done.
But he has set change in motion, which is also the reason why so many now want the job because he has broken away from the Democratic Machine, not completely but he is headed in that direction.
Cook County government has been an arm of both city and state government in terms of policy and politics. What’s interesting- and never reported -is that the politics part has driven the policy part for a long long long time and has always been driven by the democratic machine, while the county board president has operated as a “coordinator” so to speak. Especially in terms of jobs for the machine up until now. But Cook County is still loaded down with clouted “employees. Many of them f*cked up at the city or state and are now buried in Cook County. This includes employees who couldn’t qualify for the CPD or CFD so they obtained guns and badges with the Sheriffs Department. These are the vast majority of jobs. They are union and Not controlled by Stroger and mostly white. They’re controlled by about ten ward and township committeemen and Daley- who’s brother is a committeeman. With the exception of one committeeman who is hispanic, the rest of these individuals are white, and mostly Irish. When Stroger was first elected, he against the wishes of these individuals slashed the county budget by 17 percent. The press never hailed what was the first major reform/ house cleaning in Cook County. I’m not sure why Stroger did this because while it was “good government” and endorsed by groups like the Civic Federation and the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, most white liberals would not /will not vote for him no matter what he did/does. This is where race comes in. When Stroger was slated to run by the Democratic Party, Lisa Madigan’s father’s action were far less democratic as he beat the party in line including using the resources of the party and state( illegal) to singularly get her elected. This was barely and issue in her campaign. And she ran against a candidate far more qualified. Also the Cook County Democratic Machine has promoted and continues to promote whole families into elected office, like the Cullertons, etc. The Stroger family is small potatoes and cannot even be mentioned in the same breath.
And while white liberals (like Chicagoist writer Kevin) like to proclaim their affection for Harold Washington, what they don’t say is that even during Harold Washington’s second election, he was greatly disappointed at only receiving a few more votes from even the liberal white community then he did for his first election.
This also holds true even more for Stroger who is no Harold Washington. Stroger also had to cut the budget for his own office by 17% which also pissed of his base as well. I am sure that his father would not have done this.
I don't care who folks vote for, I'm just alarmed that no one takes the time to find out what's going on in County Government.
Right. I voted for Obama but I'm a racist because I think Stroger is a boob? Up yours.
Up your Mother's with a dump truck cause that's what she needs and it would fit!
Yea sure its just that simple, that you voted for Obama, Yea you're a moron.
But of course! It would be a Stroger Hater who reaches into his pubble of knowledge of civic affairs and public policy in Cook County, and draws up
a Sienfield sitcom qoute. Ironic or apropos? You be the judge, Dearest Reader.
And you misspelled: Seinfeld, quote & used the non-word, pubble, whatever the hell that is!
The Toddler is a halfwit that thinks that the most important job of Cook County government is to employ his equally halfwitted relatives!
Daley, Madigan, Mell & the rest of them are also no damn good, but The Toddler stands out in that crowd not because of race, but because he's a fool without a clue!
His attempts to justify the 1% sales tax are ludicrous! Oak Forest Hospital has more kitchen employees than it has patients!
Spook's usually half in the bag by noon. Sloppy keys.
"Daley, Madigan, Mell & the rest of them are also no damn good, but The Toddler stands out in that crowd not because of race, but because he's a fool without a clue!"
Sure, the white boys are just smarter, which is why the press spares them the intense scrutiny even though they are far far more powerful. It all makes sense now!
Tanx!
Wow - Seinfeld Fan = White = Uninformed! Man, you really nailed it...
Also, I don't hate Todd Stroger. I've never met him. I do hate the way he ham-fistedly "governs" this County. I do believe he was voted into office, not on his own merits or qualifications, but on the name of his then-dying father who, by the way, was a very good CB president. Nepotisim, graft and angry foot-stamping are the watchwords of Little Todds legacy. Can Brown, Preckwinkle or O'Brian do a better job? Unknown. But I am definately willing to find out.
Just because a white person doesn't like something doesn't make it racist. In fact, it makes you look like a racist for bringing it up.
I agree. People who constantly inject race into debates and discussions have some racial issues of their own to work out.
That being said, I do think intense dislike of Stroger gets a little over the top at times, but I still hope he goes down.
actually I always spell Sinfelds name wrong just to show my loathing for every thing about that show including the characters and the people who watch it. It says lot about our country where that show and stupid sex in the city runs forever yet The Wire only gets four seasons.
And please tell me how he ham-fistedly "governs" this County? I mean compared to the other ten elected officials. It appears to me that you don't even know what the Stroger's roll is. But I do appreciate your evenness as oppose to the rest of these bigots
p.s and when I say elected officials I do mean Cook County elected officials who also run county government, equally, but don't get any scrutiny.
and its clear to me that this blind hatred from people who don't even know what the roll of county board president is, is all about race. Further people who don't even follow county government in terms of policy.
Ah, it's all about race. The privilaged scion of a political family slides into a leadership position when his father's medical condition is hidden from the public. He then proceeds to blame "the media" for all of his problems while going about some of the most egregious and blatant patronage hiring and out and out nepotism seen in Illinois. The Cook County government is stunningly corrupt, and Stroger is just the latest iteration. His tax just further feeds the broken system.
But no, it's because he's black.
That's the sort of myopia that got Danny Davis off the ticket, to present a "United Front".
Using race as a way to protect a creep like Stroger only weakens valid complaints of actual racial bias.
Trust me Spook, like OJ Simpson, Todd Stroger is black when he's in a bind.
"while going about some of the most egregious and blatant patronage hiring and out and out nepotism seen in Illinois."
and if you believe that, then you are either a racist or a idiot or a combo. Needless to say the only nepotism you can point too is Donna Dunnings who has more education that you do I'm sure. But go on and try!
Yeah, all that education Donna Dunnings really helped her while she was fucking the busboy & getting him that terrific job he was so not qualified for!
You ignored my comment on the number of Oak Forest Hospital kitchen employees.
And the $10,000 custom rug with the county seal that was roped off for a day until the media blew the whistle on it.
And the $250,000 for the idiotic number signs for all the county highways.
And the proposed $250,000 for the unnecessary county film office, which will be staffed by more of The Toddler's stooges that need a job & taxpayer funded pension.
Or that he's going to waste money on appealing the veto change even though the state constitution gives the state the right to change any county at any time for any reason!
Or the way he manipulated the system when his father was dying so that the old man wouldn't be removed from the ballot, even though he was probably brain dead the instant he had the stroke!
Is that trying enough for you?
Give me another day & I'm sure we could come up with hundreds of ways The Toddler has been incompetent!
Scoots
Honesty most of your concerns are jacks and a rubber ball compared to the Grand Political Toys are Us Store of city and state government. but perhaps you could send me the link about the Cook County High Way signs as I’m not sure how much high way signs are going for these days? Additionally as Cook County is the second largest county in the state, I’m not sure that those signs are not badly needed I mean, I’d hate to ride around on a signless road.
And as Cook County roads are now being made ( just found the press release via google) to accommodate bikes, pedestrians and children walking to school, I’m not sure if this includes better signage. But the policy according to the Active Transportation Alliance says one of the best policies in the country.
But I have not been able to google any information about the signs so please show me a link.
As far as Film Office goes, I agree, but why does the City and State continue to have an office as well? Good for the goose good for the gander right? This again is the double standard.
And honestly for the family part, you would think that you could come up with at least a few more cousins and an old uncle sleeping on the pay roll for all the talk about Stroger's relatives on the pay roll. Do you really wanna match Donna Dunnings with the hires of the city? You are incensed over the bus boy, and rightfully so but it pales in comparison to the shenanigans in city hall. But city hall and state stories- hiring the legislatures wife- right before the election tend to go away after a day. But Stroger’s laundry hangs on the line for a long long time
About the rug, I thought it was more like 8 thousand, and I’m not sure how much large industrial rugs cost? And how long was it roped off? I seem to remember that it was not firmly attached to the ground and they didn’t want people to slip on it.I also know that Daley and the state have their seal on very thing. And it seems like the city spends a lot more money on their side of the building than the county side as they share the same building. Actually the city side looks a lot better, but we pay for that.
And I ignored your comment about Oak Forest Hospital having more kitchen employees than patients because it sounds like a rant crazy lie of a angry white male who hates Stroger. I didn’t think you were serious. Do you see what I mean about blind hatred?
Correct me if I’m wrong but besides for the Hospital charge( which again sounds rabidly crazy) I can see no reason for such hate.
On the taxes, I think we need them, but you are aware that Tom Dart, the Chief Judge of the county courts- Evans, and the rest of the County elected officials will get the majority of these funds right? I mean every body loves Tom Dart, Maria Pappas,Anita Alvarez and David Orr right? They get the far majority of the funds and they hire their own people. Also the state will get most of the penny tax. The only reason why Springfield wants to get ride of the County’s penny tax, is because they want to raise taxes by over ten percent and they don’t want to share.