Sep 3, 2009 6:08 pm US/Central
Commissioner Sims Receives Racist Phone Threats
Sims Blames Fellow Commissioners For Profanity-Laden Rants Against Her
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-5th) switched her vote on a partial rollback of a controversial sales tax hike, leaving opponents of the tax hike one vote shy of overriding a veto of the rollback effort.
CBS
Her vote might have cost Cook County taxpayers $200 million, but Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-5th) said now she's the one paying the price. Sims received two racist, profanity-laden messages apparently from the same man a day after her decisive vote.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, Sims and her backers said other commissioners were partly to blame.
They said when some commissioners very vocally condemned Sims for her vote, they empowered someone to pick up the phone and leave the racist rant that included the "n-word," a rant the Cook County Sheriff's office was investigating on Thursday.
Sims and her backers called the messages threats.
In one profanity-laced message, the caller said "You won't repeal the tax. I hope you die of AIDS … I pray to God you get AIDS and die. (Bleeping) liar, you're a (bleeping) liar."
The rant followed a Tuesday vote by Sims to help keep a one percent sales tax increase intact, even though she had earlier voted to cut the tax hike in half.
Sims defended that vote on Thursday. "My vote was for the people of my district and not all of them look like me but the majority of them look like me."
The racist phone message was one of two that someone left for Sims. Her administrative assistant, Bernadette Palombo, was the first to hear them.
Asked what she thought when she heard those messages, Palombo said, "You know what, I was startled. I could not believe that somebody in this day and age could say anything like that."
Palomobo said she was scared. Sims and several local ministers said they were scared as well. They said they want Sims to get police protection.
Bishop Cody V. Marshall said, "I feel that this unwarranted attack must be dealt with."
The overriding allegation from Sims and her supporters was that Commissioners Tony Peraica (R-16th) and Larry Sufferdin (D-13th) – who criticized Sims vote – fanned the flames of racism.
"Both of them called me a liar, called me a flip flop; in the same vein of the call," Sims said. She acknowledged that none of the other commissioners used racist comments when they criticized her.
"I think they fueled the phone call. Anytime someone feels comfortable enough they can call you and call you a "N-word" … twice," Sims said.
Pastor Walter Turner said, "It is because of what our commissioners have done on this board to flame the fires of racism to have allowed these people to say what they want to say."
Peraica said it was "absolutely ridiculous" to suggest his criticism of Sims sparked the racist rant against her. He also repudiated the racist messages left for Sims.
"To engage in that kind of racial comments and threats, I think that's inappropriate, it's wrong and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Peraica said.
Suffredin also condemned the messages. He said he has fought to support civil rights and said it was absurd to put him in this situation.
He denied calling Sims a liar, but he and Peraica both said they disagreed with her vote change.
The threats came a day after Sims switched her vote regarding a partial rollback of last year's penny-on-the-dollar Cook County sales tax hike.
Until Tuesday, Sims was among the 14 commissioners -- the required four-fifths majority -- lined up to override
Cook County Board Pres. Todd Stroger's veto of the half-penny rollback. But she jumped ship and the measure failed 13-4, sending the board into an election season with the sales tax hike on its back.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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