Stroger's tax day--and yours

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Chicago Tribune Editorial
February 25, 2008

Members of the Cook County Board on Monday will be asked one more time to make their constituents pay hundreds of millions in higher taxes -- because board President Todd Stroger has blatantly refused to keep his promises. Refused to do his job. If you want County Board members to know how you feel about that, keep reading.

The stakes Monday are high. County officials threaten dire consequences if they don't get all those new tax dollars. Stroger -- incredibly -- wants you to think any such consequences are your fault, not his.

Baloney. Stroger has no one to blame but himself and his arrogance. Remember, he has created the crisis that threatens county services -- including health care for poor citizens. Taxpayers should be outraged by Stroger's inaction and the risks he has invited. Taxpayers don't, though, have a duty to sacrifice more millions for him to squander:

* At his inauguration on Dec. 4, 2006, Todd Stroger swore -- swore -- to streamline the $3 billion basket case that is Cook County government. Had he kept this pledge -- it was strong and unequivocal -- he'd have created a county government taxpayers could afford:

"[T]oday we are brought together by a shared goal -- and for me, a solemn oath -- to reshape our county government, and to have the courage and resolve to make bold changes. ... We will transform this government into a more modern, more efficient operation. To get there, the transitions will be tough, the sacrifices -- painful. The dramatic change -- worth it."

But Stroger didn't do that. Didn't come close. Didn't even try.

Instead he wasted his first year adding friends and family members to the payroll. He let county government slop along -- and then supported $888 million in new taxes for 2008, including a 2-percentage-point increase in the sales tax. Yes, the regressive sales tax that hits poor people hardest.

Why bother keeping a "solemn oath?" Taxpayers always foot the bill.

* At 1:15 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2007, as the County Board neared approval of a budget for 2007, Stroger promised to quickly convene a summit of civic and business leaders to reorganize county government.

Stroger broke that promise too. No summit. No reorganization. He's even kept secret the reports of his transition teams. Citizens can't see which sacred cows in county government his advisers wanted him to slay. Why bother? Taxpayers always foot the bill.

* When he campaigned in 2006, Stroger said he'd cut the county payroll to 22,000. His proposed budget for 2008 calls for adding 1,130 employees, for a total above 24,800. Reallocate job slots from featherbedded departments to areas where they're needed? Why bother? Taxpayers always foot the bill.

* County Board members decided Dec. 12 not to make taxpayers give Stroger his beloved tax hikes. For lack of support, his sales tax increase didn't even come to a vote. Board members warned that they'd have to make deep cuts in Stroger's spending plan.

In the ensuing two and a half months, did Stroger craft a new, more realistic budget? No. Instead he's lobbied, and lobbied, for ... a fat sales tax increase: When his big idea flopped, he was out of ideas. His regime has a million (mostly lame) reasons why it hasn't sold off surplus land or refinanced debt or slashed patronage workers by the hundreds. Why bother? Taxpayers always foot the bill.

Stroger clearly assumed that citizens would forget that "solemn oath." He's had almost 15 months to make it a shining reality.

Instead, he chose not to bother.

Now it appears 2008 will be the year the County Board restructures his government. That begins by admitting that, especially in perilous economic times, citizens deserve better services, from fewer political hacks, at a cost that won't drive people and their employers to less taxing locales.

And that means dismantling patronage fiefdoms, nixing insider contracts and passing legislation to downsize county government.

Nine board members have opposed raising the sales tax: Democrats Forrest Claypool, Roberto Maldonado, Michael Quigley and Larry Suffredin, and Republicans Elizabeth Doody Gorman, Gregg Goslin, Tony Peraica, Tim Schneider and Peter Silvestri. Bravo.

Maldonado has insisted publicly and often that he won't vote for a sales tax hike because his older and poorer constituents can't absorb it. All along, though, Stroger's people have thought that they would find a way to make Maldonado buckle to Stroger. We'll see.

If you'd like to contact the eight Democrats evidently inclined to reward Stroger for his chronic refusal to keep his word, here's how:

* William Beavers, South Side and south suburbs: 312-603-2067 and 773-731-1515.

* Jerry "Iceman" Butler, Near South Side, south suburbs: 312-603-6391.

* Earlean Collins, West Side, west suburbs: 312-603-4566 and 773-626-2184.

* John Daley, South and Southwest Sides, southwest suburbs: 312-603-4400.

* Joseph Mario Moreno, Southwest Side, Cicero: 312-603-5443 and 773-927-7154.

* Joan Patricia Murphy, south suburbs: 312-603-4216 and 708-389-2125.

* Deborah Sims, South Side, south suburbs: 312-603-6381 and 708-371-4251.

* Robert Steele, Near North, West and South Sides: 312-603-3019 and 773-722-0140.

Then there's Todd Stroger. His numbers are 312-603-6400 and 312-603-5500.

Call one, call them all. This is Stroger's tax day -- and yours.