Gorman praises board action to override Stroger veto of sales tax rollback

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                 CONTACT:  Peg Walsh:  773-704-4655                  

           

Commissioner Gorman and County Board Override Stroger’s Veto of Sales Tax Repeal

December 1, 2009 – Today marked a major victory for Cook County taxpayers and businesses as Commissioner Liz Gorman joined with eleven other county board members in voting (12 to 5) to override President Todd Stroger’s veto of the 0.5% Sales Tax Repeal.  The 0.5% Sales Tax Repeal was passed by the county board by a 12 to 5 margin on November 17, 2009 after two previous repeal votes were vetoed by Stroger.  Within days of this most recent Sales Tax Repeal vote the board president, for a third time, vetoed this tax-cutting measure.

During today’s debate from the floor of the county board, Commissioner Gorman, in her remarks stated, “A new chapter in Cook County Government is being written today!  What governmental bodies are you aware of that have successfully repealed a tax?  In this economy, governments are making hard cuts and looking to increase tax and fee revenues wherever possible.

With this repeal, we are being proactive by leveling the playing field for our businesses so that they can grow, compete and create jobs.  This sales tax repeal will return consumer confidence back in Cook County. In turn, this will provide opportunity for municipalities to increase their local tax receipts by rolling back a portion now. 

This vote should be used as a litmus test for voters to hold elected officials accountable.  Not only does this repeal represent a sales tax cut, but it makes a bold statement -- that this body recognizes that taxpayers are not satisfied with the tax and spend policies that have dominated county government for decades and that this county board is serious about fiscal responsibility.  I hope this is the first step in many that will lead to more constructive reform initiatives and tax policies for county government.”

Today’s successful override vote was made possible by new legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor (October 2009) that reduced the veto override threshold from 4/5 to 3/5.  Commissioner Gorman sponsored the county board resolution that urged the state legislature and governor to pass and sign this legislation.  

The 0.5% Sales Tax Repeal will reduce the Cook County Sales Tax from 1.75% down to 1.25%. The Sales Tax Repeal will be effective on July 1, 2010.

Other commissioners also deserve credit for supporting the Gorman Repeal Ordinance

Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman had the smarts to act quickly to organize a coalition of commissioners to draft the ordinance to repeal the repressive Todd Stroger 1 Percent Sales Tax, introducing it, enlisting support and being flexible to work with the other commissioners on a final version that gathered momentum and won Tuesday.

Todd Stroger, the beleaguered Cook County Board President, was adament that he WOULD veto the Gorman Repeal Ordinance after it passed. But reality set in and set in hard, despite the fiery words of his dragon lady Christine Geovanis, who does a better job taking Stroger's official PR photographs than she does defending his failures. Stroger realizes that a veto of the repeal would all but guarantee his utter and total defeat in the Democratic Party Primary in the spring next year. Now, at least he has somewhat of a chance to maybe come in second in a two-candidate primary contest.

But Stroger is being pushed by fanatics on all sides around him and he has been flip-flopping. Veto or not to veto? Save Cook County or Destroy Cook County. Hope for a career or abandon his career?

Maybe Stroger won't take Gorman for granted the way he has.

But the other major part of the story is the courage of County Commissioner John Daley who also stood up and said the words that made voters and constituents feel a brief moment of relief, where just for that moment voters in Cook County felt that our elected officials DO care about what happens to us.

Daley told Todd Stroger "you might want to listen for a change." The Chairman of the powerful County Board Finance Committee, Daley cautioned that "a Stroger veto" ... "would be a mistake, because of the strong vote of the board."

You have reinforced my belief, John Daley, that you do care about the people of Cook County. Thank you for having the courage to say that. And thank you for standing with the Gorman Repeal Ordinance to force Stroger to see the reality.

It took courage for all of the county commissioners to vote in favor of the repeal, and shame on those who voted no, like Bill Beavers, Jerry Butler and Robert Steele, all hoping to pander to racial politics.

Maybe the new dynamics of the Daley-Gorman alliance with Commissioners Larry Suffredin and others may bring a new day for the people of Cook County.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

County Commissioners and how they voted to protect the rights of taxpayers

Here is the break down of the vote on the repeal of the repressive Todd Stroger 1 Percent Sales Tax that took place on Tuesday May 5. The ordinance was sponsored originally by County Commissioner Liz Gorman, and received 12 votes of support, three no votes with two commissioners absent.

This is a breakdown of the vote, plus the county's links to the commissioners who need to be pressured, followed by my analysis below:

NOT PRESENT FROM THE BOARD
Earlean Collins, 1st District
Phone: (312) 603-4566
Fax: (312) 603-3696
Phone: (312) 603-4566

Deborah Sims, 5th District
phone: (312) 603 6381

Voting to KEEP the Sales Tax
Robert Steele, 2nd District
Phone: (773) 722-0140
Email: rsteele@cookcountygov.com

Jerry "Iceman" Butler, 3rd District
Phone: (312) 603 6391
fax: (312) 603-5671
Email: jbutler@cookcountygov.com

William M. Beavers, 4th District
phone: (773) 731-1515
fax: (773) 933-5535


Voting to REPEAL the Sales Tax

Joan Patricia Murphy, 6th District
phone: (708) 389-2125
fax: (708) 389-2240
Phone: (312) 603-4216
Email: jpmurphy@cookcountygov.com

Joseph Mario Moreno, 7th District
Roberto Maldonado, 8th District
Peter N. Silvestri, 9th District
Bridget Gainer, 10th District
John P. Daley, 11th District
Forrest Claypool, 12th District
Larry Suffredin, 13th District
Gregg Goslin, 14th District
Timothy O. Schneider, 15th District
Anthony J. Peraica, 16th District
Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman, 17th District

Stroger plans to Veto the Repeal this morning, exposing his hypocrisy. In a transparent political move to try to save his crashing political career, Stroger proposed repealing or rolling back .25 percent of the 1 percent Sales Tax Increase that he proposed and that is punishing the people of Cook County.

But the board, thanks mainly to Gorman, pushed through the plan to roll the sales tax back completely.

In addition to Gorman and Suffredin deserving praise for their courage to stand up for the rights of Cook County taxpayers, Commissioner John Daley and Mario Moreno also deserve praise for telling Stroger to his face that he needs to wake up.

Joan Murphy, though, the chief sponsor of the sales tax, only supported the repeal hoping that she will be able to withstand an election challenge in the Spring of next year (2010). Murphy will go down with Stroger, most likely losing their re-election bids in the Democratic Primary and will not make it to the November 2010 General election.

Murphy needs to go. She's the biggest hypocrite.

Although there is little the county's voters can do about tyrants Bill Beavers, Jerry Butler and Robert Steele (remember Robert Steele's mother, Bobbie Steele, took the job of County Board President mainly to increase her retirement -- pathetic. Talk about putting meaning behind your last name. Just spell it right -- STEAL.)

Notice that Simms and Beavers have the least contact information.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Gorman does the heavy lifting to roll-back the Todd Stroger Sales Tax

While others were grabbing the spotlight, credit Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman with doing the "heavy lifting" to put together the campaign to repeal the abhorent Todd Stroger 1 Percent Sales Tax.

Gorman came up with the original proposal and got strong help from fellow commissioner Larry Suffredin.

The original plan was to repeal it in stages, .25 percent each of four years. Gorman then pushed to have the repeal expedited, with Suffredin's backing and the backing of others, and she went around and rounded up the vote for today's meeting.

In the end, the board decided why waste their time playing piecemeal rollbacks and they went full steam -- after finding their courage with Gorman and Suffredin's help -- and rolled the Todd Stroger 1 Percent Sales Tax completely as of Jan. 1, 2010.

Stroger's flak, Christien Geovanis, was on Chicago Tonight blathering about how the sales tax has been raised in years and it was costing county government money. Are you kidding me? The sales tax is a built-in tax generator that Geovanis either ignored or is just to blinded by her exhorbitant taxpayer salary. As the cost of products rises, so too does the revenues from the originals ales tax of .75 percent.

Geovanis also tried to argue that Stroger does not fear the public's wrath. Great. She said he will veto the repeal Wednesday (May 6, 2009), the next day of the vote. When he does that, he will seal his fate as one of the shortest serving and most despised Cook County Board Presidents in Cook County History.

But, he still has time to hang out at his favorite exclusive clubs and restaurants to hire the wait staff when one of his lackies expresses some favor for them. Gorman stepped back to let the talking heads grab the spotlight, but she is working hard to bring that sales tax down. Even if Stroger vetoes the repeal -- he only needs four lackies to do it and he has three (who voted against the bill already -- losers Commissioners William Beavers, Robert Steele, and Jerry Butler.)

Pathetic. Uncaring. Bureaucrats who are enjoying their clout at the expense of the public trough. Gorman's drive may well have put the first of many nails on Stroger's Political Coffin.

Hopefully, he'll be out on the street where he'll be forced to enjoy his clout on his own dime instead of at the expense of the taxpayers. I wonder how many of the consultants will bail on Stroger and suck up to the successor once Stroger finds himself trying to recover from his political illness. Tragic.

-- Ray Hanania

http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

I interviewed Gorman and Suffredin on WJJG 1530 AM Radio Tuesday afternoon when I subbed for Judy Baar Topinka. Click here to listen to the Podcast Audio of the 60 minute interview.

As we first reported, County rolls back the Todd Stroger sales tax in two-steps, not four

Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman's plan to roll back the "Todd Stroger Sales Tax," named in honor of beleaguered Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, was adopted this afternoon after superceding an original plan to do it four steps. The board approved a final version that rolls it all back in one move by Jan. 2010.

Gorman told the OrlandParker.com two weeks ago that she planned the introduce the tougher rollback and to force Stroger to trim back on wasteful spending that is mainly in his offices. Stroger can eliminate relatives and patronage off the payroll and cut his staff from 25 communications experts to five, for example. In fact, if Stroger initiated the cuts in his office first, most of the rest of the county would also trim back services and tighten their belts.

But Stroger, an inexperienced neophyte at the game who inherited the job with no real county experience following the death of his popular father, John Stroger, who was put in power with the backing of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Gorman will be on WJJG 1530 AM Radio at 4 PM CST/Central time discussing the rollback (http://www.radiochicagoland.com/). Invites also went out to Cook County Board Commissioner Larry Suffredin.

Stayed tuned for updates on this taxpayer victory!

-- Ray Hananiahttp://www.radiochicagoland.com/

New plan to be proposed to roll back Stroger Tax completely over four years

Fearing a real backlash from over-taxed residents in Cook County, Board President Todd Stroger proposed rolling back only a modest .25 percent of the 1 percent he added last year to the county's sales tax. The Stroger Tax raised the county portion of the sales tax from .75 percent to 1.75 percent, which in turn increased the burden on taxpayers already strapped by state and local sales tax hikes.

That proposal was swiftly sent to committee during this morning’s Cook County Board meeting. But tonight, a coalition of Republicans and progressive Democrats are weighing a new plan to roll-back the entire Stroger Tax not just by one .25 percent increment, but by four .25 percent increments in each of the next four years beginning this year until the entire “Stroger Tax” is repealed.

Leading the charge is 17th District Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman, who has the backing of several commissioners whose ears have been ringing with voter opposition to the Stroger Tax.

Stroger can count on his City Machine minions to defend the tax, but there might be nine of the 17 commissioners who like Gorman have the courage to stand up to Stroger’s waste-filled rule.

“We plan to introduce the proposal to the next board meeting,” Gorman said Wednesday night. “I just got off the phone with several commissioners and the proposal has a lot of support.”

That puts emphasis on the published claim from her anticipated county board rival, Pat Maher, that “there is more to just voting no” at board meetings. Gorman actually has not just voted “No,” she puts meaning behind the word voting “no” to unnecessary tax hikes that Stroger has forced upon the over-taxed residents of Cook County.

Gorman questioned the need for the millions that the Stroger tax will reap from over-taxed county residents, and challenged Stroger’s claim that the county can use the $100 million in stimulus money to pay county operating costs.

“That stimulus money should go to stimulate the economy and not to cover his expenses,” Gorman said. “We can’t put that in operating expenses. It’s supposed to go for new project to help create jobs and strengthen the economy.”

Gorman is right on when she argues that the money shouldn’t go into Stroger’s back pocket to pay for his city Machine patronage army, cronies and consultants.

The next board meeting is on May 5th. In the meantime, voters can help make this work by contacting their local county board commissioners and telling them to follow Gorman’s lead.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Stroger Tax “roll-back” a cheap political trick by a desperate politician

It’s called the “Stroger Tax,” one of the most repressive, unfair and unjustified government taxes adopted in a long time.

Named after Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, the tax represents adding 1 percent to the sales tax in Cook County with the joney earmarked for his wasteful and corrupt government.

The tax has caused a severe backlash against Stroger, who got his job when his father, a longtime Machine patronage ward committeeman, turned the seat over to him with the blessing of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who pays more taxes to the state of Michigan on his home there than he does on the luxury South Loop townhouse he bought to escape from the Southwest Side. But that’s another story.

Suburbanites have been rallying against Stroger in droves and it is not about race, although members of his staff wish it were. It would be so much easier to snub the suburbs if they could only say it’s because Stroger is African American.

But the issue isn’t race and Stroger is in a bind. His county government is bloated with waste, choked with unjustified patronage hirings and jobs held by relatives and friends. He is surrounded by a wall of do-nothing, ineffective public relations flaks.

With Tony Rezko in the slammer ready to testify against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Stroger doesn’t even have his strongest campaign fundraiser at his side any more. And, voters are being energized by the anticipated candidacy of Paul Vallas on the Republican ticket for Cook County Board President. Vallas has the backing of County Commission Elizabeth Doody Gorman who has helped voters stand up to the “Stroger Tax.”

The Cook County Board is a collective mostly of spineless losers who speak with loud voices and vote with glaring hypocrisy. Gorman is one of but a handful who refuses to bend to Stroger’s Machine and has stood her ground challenging the “Stroger Tax” with consistency.

So what is an ineffective, unrepresentative, isolated County Board President to do one year before he has to run for re-election?

Instead of slashing his budget, he is playing an old political game, probably suggested by one of his do-nothing consultants and advisers. He says he is going to “roll-back” a portion of the Stroger Tax by a quarter percent. He put out a press release saying he would “roll-back” the county’s oppressive sales tax from 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent.

Stroger must think we voters are stupid. He must think that we don’t see this as a purely political gimmick that he could “roll-forward” after the election if he wins. Which he won’t.

Stroger’s polls show that he couldn’t win election against Rezko if Rezko suddenly got out of jail and found his name plastered on a voting ballot instead of on all the mud-slinging campaign literature it has dominated over the past two years.

So he figures the voters in the growing suburbs of Chicago are stupid. They voted overwhelmingly to reject the Stroger Tax in referenda in several townships and more referenda will be placed on next year’s ballot including one to throw Stroger out of office. Today, throughout the county, voters are gathering to protest Stroger’s taxes with “Tea Bag” parties, too.

Stroger’s offenses are numerous.

I remember when African American Rap Star Kanye West blasted President Bush by racistly blurting out during a concert to raise funds for the poor “Bush hate Black People.” Some people insist the same about Stroger, that he disrespects and doesn’t care about White people.

Stroger has been unresponsive to the requests from the suburbs for interviews. He refuses to be accountable to that segment of the population and plays to the racial fears hoping race will be the issue so he can hide from the reality of his failed leadership.

But race is not the issue. At issue is government incompetence. Government waste. Government arrogance. And a government that neither listens nor talks to all the people of the county.

Instead of “rolling back” the Stroger Tax, Todd Stroger should resign now and spare himself the humiliating rejection he has worked so hard to earn.

Rolling back the tax .25 percent is an empty gesture, a gesture of a government official and his do-nothing minions who are more concerned about their own personal political futures than they are about the future of the people they lord over in Cook County.

Stroger is one of the most irresponsible leaders the Chicagoland region has encountered in many years. And his roll-back is more of an act of desperation than one of leadership. It only reinforces the notion that Stroger has no regard for the public, only his selfish, personal future as he tries to cling to his place at the banks of the government trough.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com