Politics

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Cook County commissioners voted for a new sales tax rollback after Board President Todd Stroger's veto of an earlier one was sustained, and Stroger says he will veto the new plan too.

The first major order of business at the County Board meeting Tuesday was a vote to override Stroger's veto of the board's vote to repeal a 1 percent sales tax hike in 2008. That vote failed.

For the vote to have succeeded, 14 of the 17 county commissioners would have had to vote in favor of overriding Stroger's veto of the board's repeal of his 1 percent tax hike from 2008.

But Stroger won the votes of four commissioners – William Beavers (D-4th), Deborah Sims (D-5th), Joseph Mario Moreno (D-7th), and Robert Steele (D-2nd), and thus, his veto will stand and the tax will remain.

The final vote was 11 to override the veto, 4 not to override, and 2 present, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reported.

But immediately afterward, the board voted 10 to 7 to eliminate 0.75 percent of the sales tax hike by Jan. 1, 2010, and 0.25 percent more in 2011, accomplishing the same rollback that Stroger vetoed over a longer period of time.

Stroger won one, then promptly lost one today.

"I vote for the poor people," said Commissioner William Beavers. "I'm voting to keep those hospitals open."

"I will not vote in favor of closure of any of those clinics or any of those hospitals," Commissioner Tony Peraica said.

"Sales tax is helping to make our government the symbol of bad government," said Commissioner Larry Suffredin. "And that's kind of hard to do in a state like this."

"Because I see fallout on both sides, I'm not going to vote for either one," said Commissioner Earlean Collins. "I'm not going to play the game. It's silly on both sides."

Flannery says there is a major battle brewing.

"This is not gonna go away. People are angry, rightfully so," said Commissioner Forrest Claypool. "They see higher taxes paying for scandal and abuse in this government. They're suffering in this economy, and they want it repealed."

"I will veto that because it's not good for the county," Stroger said. "We know where that will put us. It will put us back in the hole."

Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16th), a frequent Stroger critic, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that he found the vote to sustain Stroger's veto disappointing.

"Todd Stroger and the commissioners who supported his veto today decided to keep the waste and tax the people – and they should be ashamed for punishing the taxpayers for the mismanagement of county government," Peraica said in the statement. "I once again commend all those commissioners who held strong and voted to repeal the onerous sales tax increase."

On May 5, the board voted 12-3 to repeal a 1 percent hike in the Cook County sales tax that was enacted in 2008. The hike made sales taxes in Chicago the highest in the nation, at 10.75 percent.

But Stroger vetoed the repeal vote six days later, warning that if the tax were cut, then county health care and other vital services would also have to be cut. He held a news conference at Provident Hospital of Cook County the day after his veto, and said if the board's vote had stood, Provident might have had to close.

Stroger was furious with commissioners on the day they voted to veto the tax hike, arguing that it hurt the retail industry and business by sending shoppers to other counties.

"I don't want to hear any of that crap about we're supposed to do this and that!" Stroger said to the commissioners in a raised voice at the May 5 meeting. "Do your job! Your job is to fund this government and make sure it works!"

On Tuesday morning, a group of ministers gathered in the County Building to voice their support of Stroger, and urge commissioners to do the same.

"Especially when you see headlines like the Tribune, saying institutions like the University of Chicago are closing institutions, where poor people have got no place to go, so how dare we not come down here and tell these commissioners and the public once again – do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons, and that is support this veto and do not support the override!" said the Rev. Mark Allen.

The University of Chicago Medical Center announced Tuesday that they will close the Women's Health Center on 47th Street near Woodlawn Avenue due to budget problems.

On the opposite side of the ministers, a group called Fix Cook County urged commissioners to override the veto.

Stroger has five days to file his formal veto. There will likely be another override vote at the County Board's next meeting on June 2nd. If it fails, several commissioners vow to do exactly what they did today: pass another sales tax repeal. It could continue till the Democratic Primary next February.

CBS 2's Susan Carlson, Political Editor Mike Flannery and Ed Marshall contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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