At what would be the last meeting for a trio of names familiar to those who follow Cook County politics, Todd Stroger, Tony Peraica and Forrest Claypool took some good-natured jabs, said goodbyes, and thanked supporters. Stroger, who lost the Democratic primary to 4th Ward Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, defended the unpopular penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase he worked to implement. “That penny literally kept the government running. Without that money, we would have had to shut some doors, cut days off, not provide some services as we actually are dictated to (provide) by the state.” Stroger told press after the meeting. He also publicly thanked his cousin, Donna Dunnings, saying “I’d like to give her a lot of credit for the success we had,” as she, according to the Sun-Times, "openly wept" in the audience. Dunnings was fired by Stroger in 2009 after a patronage scandal that had her bailing a former steakhouse busboy out of jail, twice, amid allegations that he was improperly promoted and carried on an inappropriate personal relationship with her. more ›

Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica has scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference at Daley Plaza to address his weekend arrest in suburban McCook for allegedly tearing down campaign signs of his opponent in tomorrow's election, McCook Mayor Jeffrey Tobolski. more ›

Oh, Twitter. Even though you bring us joy sometimes, you can also stir up feuds. Twitter feuds between friends, enemies, and frenemies is nothing new, nor are feuds between, say, media outlets. But the raucous over Twitter has now extended to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. We've posted before about Com. Tony Peraica (Rep., 16th) and his tweeting habit from board meetings. Whether we agree or disagree with his views, the Tweets are also a good way to stay up-to-date on what was generally happening at the meeting and sometimes vote-by-vote reports on important ordinances. But one Commissioner had enough and introduced what he admitted to be an "Anti-Twitter" ordinance. Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (Dem., 7th) introduced the ordinance to prevent Peraica from tweeting during meetings but the ordinance was shot down earlier today. Moreno expressed concerns about the information Peraica was relaying, calling it often "inaccurate" while Peraica saw it as " a clear violation of freedom of speech." more ›

Cook County commissioners made a dramatic u-turn at their last meeting -- the forthcoming regime change led them to discuss containing costs. more ›

After the suburbs raised holy hell about a new red light camera ordinance the Cook County Board passed last week, the Board is now backing down on the new ordinance. The Parking Ticket Geek reports that the Board voted 9-4 (with three presents and one absence) to allow the municipalities to opt out of having the red light cameras placed at intersections. Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Wilmette, and Bartlett were among the 'burbs who were none-too-pleased about the ordinance. Commissioner Tony Periaca, who voted against the original ordinance, said, “It’s an overreach and an encroachment on their sovereignty and sets a dangerous precedence. It’s a way to separate taxpayers from their money. It’s not about safety it’s about revenue.” Commisioner Patricia Murphy, who voted present, didn't exactly rebut Peraica when she expressed concern over that revenue: “If they opt out in great numbers how does it effect our budget. I’m worried what this means to the budget if municipalities choose to opt out. If they opt out you’re not going to have anything left." more ›

With just seven months left in the captain's chair, Todd Stroger has entered the "Screw It Zone," prompting new restrictions by the Cook County Board. more ›

Not content with last fall's half-percent rollback of the 2008 sales tax increase, Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica plans to introduce a measure today that would call for a complete rollback of what's left. The County Board raised their portion of the sales tax from .75 percent to 1.75 percent in 2008 but had that trimmed to 1.25 percent by last fall's rollback. The County Board took advantage of a new state law that lowered the threshold to override Cook County President Todd Stroger's veto. [WBBM 780] more ›

Yesterday, Cook County Board President Board president Todd Stroger once again promised to veto last week's half-percent sales tax roll back passed by commissioners. Asked about a possible veto override by the commissioners, Stroger told CBS 2, "I hope that what's good for the county is done by the commissioners." Unfortunately for Stroger and his supporters, there's a new law now in effect which means the Board only needs to provide 11 votes to override Strogers veto instead of the previous threshold of 14. Stroger plans to announce his veto at a noon press conference in front of the main entrance of Stroger Hospital, accompanied by nurses, doctors, clergy, and community members. more ›

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. more ›

The Cook County Commission's bid to repeal President Todd Stroger's veto of the tax rollback has fallen short. Commissioner Tony Peraica, one of the most Stroger critics on the board, has come down hard on Commissioner Deborah Sims via his Twitter feed, indicating that her change of heart was the difference maker: more ›

As our pal Steve Rhodes reminds us over at NBC, former Blago Chief-of-Staff John Harris served under Mayor Daley as his budget director and deputy aviation commissioner. Could the feds have an even wider net? Will Harris divulge things about Daley as well as Blago? Rhodes points out: more ›

Forget the Governor's race or the stampede to oust Sen. Burris. One race that's just as intriguing that's heating up for the next election seems to be for the Cook County Board President's spot. Incumbent Todd Stroger's list of opponents seems to have grown longer with the addition of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, who has announced he is forming an exploratory committee to look into running for the position. Said Davis, "One could say that Cook County government, after the illness and death of President John Stroger, has experienced a crisis in leadership." If Davis jumps into the fray, he'll join Tony Preckwinkle (who we recently interviewed - keep your eyes peeled for that one) and Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, both of whom have already announced their candidacy for the spot. Republican commissioner Tony Peraica, who ran against Storger in 2006, has yet to announce if he'll run though Demorcat Forrest Claypool has already announced he won't run, instead completely leaving the Board. [CBS 2] more ›

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: more ›

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. more ›

As two more officials refused to jump into the tax repeal fray, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is finding himself more and more alone on the issue. So much so that he can't even make up his mind as to whether or not he'll make good on his threat to veto the Board's decision to repeal the one-percent tax increase. Aides to Stroger told the Tribune that a decision isn't likely until Monday which also happens to be the last day Stroger could use his veto. more ›

A report by the Riverside/Brookfield Landmark claims Riverside police are saying that shots fired at a house located in the 300 block of Scottswood Road yesterday morning were actually intended for a neighboring house: the residence of Cook County Commissioner (and serial Tweeter) Tony Peraica. more ›

It's a good day if you're tired of higher taxes. WBEZ reports the Cook County Commission has just voted 12-3 to repeal last year's one percentage point sales tax increase. The three votes against the appeal came from William Beavers, Robert Steele and Jerry Butler. Even more eye-opening is Tony Peraica's Twitter feed which featured the following tweets from the Commission's meeting: more ›

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger officially asked county commissioners to reduce the county sales tax by a quarter of a percent Wednesday, although he couldn't give any hard numbers about why the reduction was possible, or where the funding to replace it would come from. He told the press that the lack of "hard numbers" was because the county was still in talks with the federal government. He expects that federal recovery act funds will help close the gap on county services. Stroger persuaded county commissioners to raise the sales tax by one percent last year, saying that county services would be severely cut without the drastic hike. more ›

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. more ›

While the big party was in Grant Park, another historic win went down in Cook County last night as Pilsen native Anita Alvarez became not only the first female state's attorney in the county's history, but is also the first Hispanic state's attorney. With 93 percent of the results in, Alvarez garnered 69 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Tony Peraica's 26 percent; Green Party candidate Tom O'Brien had five percent. more ›

There may never be a presidential race quite like the current one (proof enough), but don’t let that fool you into blowing off important local races (and yes, voting for judges is important so don’t even take the easy way out by voting “no” for all of them). The long list of candidates and offices, some of which you may never have heard of, can be intimidating, but we at Chicagoist have come up with a quick guide highlighting some of the important races. We've also included other resources that might come in handy on Election Day, which should just happen already. more ›

images for his Republican themed cooking show (yeah, we don't get it either), "What's COOKin' With the Republicans!" And now, Peraica has taken to having a van drive around and bug the shit out of everybody. more ›

Since the Sun-Times won't say it, we will: We call bullshit, Dan Schmitt. Schmitt is the producer who's responsible for putting Top Chef Stephanie Izard's face on a logo for a public access show from Tony Peraica's campaign called, "What's COOKing With The Republicans?" Not only is it the weakest and most drawn out use of a pun for political purposes in recent memory, but it's just not possible that you would create a "cooking" show and use Izard's visage - and then claim you had no idea who she was. Especially when you took her likeness from a Top Chef promo photo. more ›

[Peraica] lavished praise on Fitzgerald and said he only meant to emulate his corruption-busting approach. more ›

Cook County Commissioner and State's Attorney candidate Tony Peraica called on the county board to rescind the one percent sales-tax hike, only to get beat down by Bill "Hog Nuts" Beavers. In a press release, Peracia said:

This destructive tax was passed last February by only one vote. Instead of raising taxes on the suffering taxpayers of Cook County, we need to cut spending by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. We hope to convince two additional Commissioners to change their stance on this important issue. The ordinance, if passed, will still allow the county to collect $200 million to use to pay off its borrowing - which I voted against - and fill the 'budget gap' for fiscal year 2008.

Juvenile Detention Center Director Earl Dunlap faced harsh words from County Commissioners yesterday on everything from his communication with the board to the way he dresses. more ›

Cook County Commissioner and GOP candidate for state's attorney Tony Peraica took a swipe at his opponent, Democrat Anita Alvarez yesterday. "It reinforces to the citizens of Cook County that what we have is corruption on steroids that is prevalent at all levels of government," Peraica said, referring to a photograph of her on the front page of last week's El Dia, a Spanish language newspaper. That photograph, taken during a fundraiser at a Southwest Side restaurant, shows her posing with Jorge Montes de Oca, Jr, son of the paper's owner and, until recently a wanted man. more ›

Does anyone have an Alphabet Pal? Because this NBC news video of how Alphabet Pals curse if you press the F and M keys at the same time the possibly offending utterance. Argh! [NBC 5] more ›