Results tagged “cookcountyboard”

After all the huffing and puffing earlier this week over the new tax rollback, the Cook County Board still managed to pass its 2010 budget yesterday and there were no new taxes included. The budget, valued at $3 billion, does include that new half-percent tax rollback - from 1.75 percent to 1.25 percent. Though the battle over the veto and override still hovers on the horizon.

With a new law in effect limiting the number of votes required to override a Stroger veto, the Cook County Commissioners took another crack at rolling back the sales tax increase by one percent has fallen short. According to a tweet from Com. Tony Peraica, the votes were 10 NOs, 6 YESes, and 1 absent. In another tweet, Peraica identified the YES votes as himself and Commissioners Claypool, Gorman, Goslin, Schneider, and Silvestri.

An ethics measure approved by the Cook County Board yesterday will require county contractors and lobbyists to disclose the names of relatives who are elected municipal, county or state officials according to Clout Street.

The competition for Cook County Board President just got a little stiffer. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis has announced - as expected - he'll be running for the spot next year. Davis made the announcement last night, while also celebrating his birthday, but side-stepped questions about whether or not he would have supported the tax rollback that Stroger vetoed, saying, "Taxpayers in Cook County are leery of paying the highest sales tax in the nation, and they want to know where their money is going." The growing field of competitors for the President slot also includes Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and Terrence J. O'Brien, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board president. [ABC 7]

The challengers are starting to line up to take on embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in next year's election. With Stroger already seeking reelection and others like Toni Preckwinkle announcing their intention of challenging Stroger, it'll be a crowded field. At a speech yesterday announcing the kickoff of his petition drive for a place on the ballot, Davis said, “You can't operate an enterprise on a patronage system. You cannot operate an enterprise because it does not belong to you, it belongs to the people." [FOX 32]

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has a thought on the ordinance the Cook County Board passed last week, decriminalizing marijuana: not so fast. Dart expressed some concerns with the new ordinance, saying, "I think any time you're talking about legalization or downgrading there needs to be a very thorough discussion. It needs to be based on facts and analysis. I don't know if that was done." Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has not officially approved the bill but has indicated he doesn't plan to veto it. [WBBM]

In a surprise move, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has reversed course and now says he won't veto the new measure the Cook County Board passed yesterday, decriminalizing marijuana in unincorporated parts of Cook County. According to Chicago Breaking News:

Besides the controversial marijuana decriminalization, the Cook County Board also tackled another tax rollback but unlike last time they might succeed in getting it past President Storger thanks to a veto-proof majority. The measure rolls back the tax by half a percentage point, from 10.25 percent to 9.75 percent. The measure passed by a vote of 12-2 with one present vote and Commissioners Peraica and Claypool absent, but both of those commissioners have said they will vote to override Stroger's expected veto at the Board's September meeting. UPDATE: Per Peraica's twitter, the vote was 13-3 with 1 absent. The Sun-Times has more information including a full break down of the vote.

In a move that's caught almost everyone by surprise, the Cook County Board yesterday voted to decriminalize marijuana in very small amounts in unincorporated parts of Cook County. Under the legislation passed, sheriffs can arrest someone possessing less than 10 grams of marijuana on misdemeanor charges or simply issue a $200 ticket. The measure was introduced by Commissioner Earlean Collins who admitted personal motivations: her grandson was arrested for having a small amount of marijuana. Collins, though, made a salient point: arresting marijuana offenders is crowding jails. According to the Sun-Times, she said:

The field for next year's Cook County Board President race continues to get a little smaller. Cook County Assessor James Houlihan announced today he wouldn't be running for the office after all. So far, the field against Todd Stroger consists of Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) - read our interview with her, Part 1 and Part 2 - and others either in or considering a run include: U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown, Commissioner Larry Suffredin and Sheriff Tom Dart. [Sun-Times]

• Police have arrested a man in connection with an attempted assault on a doctor in her office earlier this week; the man was turned in by his girlfriend.
• Has Mayor Daley ditched Stroger for Preckwinkle in the upcoming Cook County Board President race?
• A quick thinking paramedic helped save a woman who suffered a heart attack at the Taste of Chicago earlier today.

This afternoon, the Cook County Board upheld President Todd Stroger's veto of the tax repeal by a vote of 11 to override the veto, four to uphold, and two "present" votes; 14 votes are required to override the veto. Clout Street has how they voted:

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has quit his waffling on whether or not he's going to veto a recent board decision to repeal a 1% sales tax increase, and has answered in the affirmative. Appearing moments ago on the Cliff Kelley show on WVON-1690, the Toddler told Kelley getting rid of the tax would harm funding of all public safety, treasurer, transportation, and health departments, and made the case for the vast amount of responsibility Stroger has running the county government, as well as talking about his general level of awesomeness. Stroger says he has determined that rolling back the tax now would create a deficit next year of $245 million, and "probably a half billion the year after that." He also claimed that the move to repeal was purely political and a way to embarrass him, and he "can't play politics when it affects people's lives, it's too important."

It's been quite a week for Tony Peraica. His live-twittering of the Cook County Board's vote to repeal the one-percent tax increase put him front and center in the ongoing Saga of the Toddler. Then his house was the intended target of gunshots fired into a neighbor's home instead. Undeterred, Peraica has ventured on, leading the fight against the Toddler's veto threat (or lack thereof). And just because it's the weekend, don't think Peraica is resting. Early this morning, Peraica played Woodward & Bernstein and tweeted, "Inside Stroger Admin. sources indicate that Todd will NOT veto sales tax repeal on Monday." We'll have to wait and see if Peraica's correct, but at this point we're inclined to think his scoop is probably dead on.

In something of a surprise selection, it was former Chicago Park District official Bridget Gainer who was selected to replace Mike Quigley on the Cook County Board today. Quigley’s former chief of staff Kimberly Walz had been the favorite to take the spot, replacing her old boss, but in the end the committeemen selected Gainer. [Sun-Times]

Easter Saturday: apparently a great day to replace a Cook County Board member.

NBC Chicago has announced that Todd Stroger will discuss his 2010 re-election bid on their Sunday Desk program. Last time, the Toddler sailed into office on little more than name recognition and the obligatory support of leading state Democrats (nice job, guys). This time around, he's facing a field of probable competitors including last time's rival Forrest Claypool, and Alderman Toni Preckwinkle. No one knows where or when Paul Vallas is going to land in the race (or for what party), but I'll-run-for-anything candidate Tony Peraica claims to not be worried about Vallas running as a Republican. Enterprising and internet-savvy types: now is the time to park yourself on AnyoneButTodd.com.

Ah, technology. Is there anything it can't do? Aldermen on Facebook and Mayor Daley on the YouTubes? What's next? How about a Cook County Commissioner on Twitter? Better yet, how about a Cook County Commissioner on Twitter who "live-tweets" board meetings? Thank goodness for Tony Peraica, who has taken to Twittering the board meetings using the "#cooklive" hash. You can check out Tony's Twitter here.

• President Obama will apparently never have a Commerce Secretary: Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (NH) has withdrawn his name because of a difference of opinion over the stimulus package.
• Lawmakers are considering banning future governors from emblazoning their name on signs a la Blago and the Tollway.
• That's not the only sign issue in the state: now there's a fuss over the county road markers that the Cook County Board approved earlier this week, a fight that's being led by a pair of Board commissioners.

 

Looks like Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno took advantage of the county’s “family-and-friends hiring plan” again. The Sun-Times reported this week that Moreno, a close ally to the Stroger family, used his political clout to get a lucrative hospital contract for a campaign supporter and friend, Ronald Garcia. The Feds and the county’s inspector general are now looking into the matter.

Mayor Daley sure is busy. Or at least chatty.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners had a contentious meeting yesterday as they tried to resolve a looming budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. The board must pass a budget by Feb 29 or face a partial shut down of the county government.

According to a new Sun-Times analysis of last Tuesday's county-wide primary races, those candidates that attempted character assassination of their rivals by associating them with unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger lost, almost across the board. Stroger's approval ratings are basically in the same territory as President Bush's—somewhere between rock bottom and Herbert Hoover—so the prevailing logic was that if you could associate a candidate with Stroger, it would be like transferring his unpopularity onto them. Makes sense, right?

It wasn't all about roasting pigs out in the 'burbs this week:

One of the more contentious races in Tuesday's election is at the Cook County Board of Review, where incumbent Joe Berrios is facing a stiff challenge in trial lawyer Jay Paul Deratany. For many homeowners throughout Cook County, the Board of Review is their best chance at finding relief from both the monster property tax increases proposed by Mayor Daley and the County Board and the skyrocketing assessments of County Assessor Jim Houlihan.

Just days after the death of his father, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has indicated that he may agree to give control of the county hospitals to an independent agency. Stroger's chief of staff Lance Tyson told Crain's Chicago Business "the intent is to take health services for the poor out of the sphere of politics and put it into a sphere of greater business expertise." The proposal to turn the county's health care system over to an independent body came last October, when a committee of business and health care executives commissioned to study the systemreleased their recommendations.

Former Cook County Board President John Stroger has died, Mayor Daley announced this morning. He was 78.

In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's...

Don't settle for another Wednesday of and Girl Scout cookies that have been in the freezer for months (not ... that ... we do that ...). There's a shitton of stuff going on tonight!

Amid criticism and sermons, the Cook County Board voted 9-7 this afternoon to defer until mid-October any further action on theproposed two percent sales tax increase. So while the tax hike isn't off the table yet, the deadline for first-quarter tax increases was today under state law — which means any increase that may happen won't take effect until April 1, 2008, at the earliest. (The county's fiscal year ends November 30.) County Commissioner Roberto...