Cook County Board President Todd Stroger won a political battle Tuesday that officials in his camp said the day before he was likely to lose.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger won a political battle Tuesday that officials in his camp said the day before he was likely to lose.
At Tuesday’s Cook County board meeting, commissioners fell one vote short of overriding Stroger’s veto to repeal the sales tax.
To override Stroger’s veto 14 votes were needed, but the measure failed with a vote of 13-4.
The one person who could have forced the county to rollback the sales tax to 1.25 percent from 1.75 percent was Commissioner Deborah Simms. On Monday, Simms told the Defender she would vote to repeal Stroger’s veto.
However, she was prepared to change her vote if the rollback meant closing health care clinics.
“I will change my vote in a heartbeat if I find out clinics will have to close,” she said in advance of Tuesday’s showdown. “I worked too hard to get these clinics open, and I am not about to let them close.”
Her 5th District includes some of the poorest south suburbs such as Robbins, Ford Heights and Phoenix.
“Since we could not get the vote delayed so commissioners could gather accurate information about our financial condition and since no one knew for sure knew what would happen to the clinics, I changed my vote,” Simms explained Tuesday. “I represent some of the poorest communities on the South Side and I was not going to take a chance of losing clinics I fought long and hard to get.”
______
To read the rest of this article, subscribe to our digital or paper edition. For previous editions, contact us for details.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
