Let's See How They Vote

NO CONFIDENCE:

Political Hires ... Financial Mismanagement ... And Now a Tax Increase?

Zorn: Peraica's 'No Confidence' Resolution 'Makes Sense'

CHICAGO, IL - Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica will introduce a resolution of "No Confidence" in the Stroger Administration at next week's County Board Meeting - and Stroger continues to prove he is more than worthy of such a resolution.

In addition to Stroger's continued hiring of political cronies and family members in the wake of the County budget crisis - this weekend Todd called for an increase in property taxes.

"Why does Todd want to raise taxes? So he can have more taxpayer money with which to hire friends and family," said Peraica. "Stroger has shown that his only concern with the County budget is how to use it as a political tool to reward cronies and contributors. Cook County taxpayers don't need a tax increase, they need competent leadership that Stroger simply refuses to provide."

Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn wrote of Peraica's resolution:
"The motion makes sense. Stroger's brazen continuation of crony politics has broken faith with those who believed the reform platitudes he issued during his successful campaign against Peraica last fall."
Zorn’s complete column

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin wrote over the weekend:
"In the midst of a wrenching county fiscal crisis in which doctors, nurses, prosecutors and public defenders have been laid off and medical clinics closed, the County Board president keeps finding creative new ways to play with the payroll. A payroll that he generously pads with six-figure salaries for relatives, cronies and pals."
Marin’s complete column

The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board wrote this week:
"Stroger's real problem isn't bad press. It's his imperial style, out-of-whack priorities and his mismanagement, which have all led to the bad press. The media, after all, didn't decide to rope off an elevator at the County Building for Stroger's exclusive use. We didn't hire his cronies for six-figure salaries at the same time the county was cutting nurses and prosecutors and other frontline service workers. Stroger did those things and more, and he apparently thinks the answer is not for him to stop doing them, but for us to stop writing about it."
Complete editorial

Peraica's "No Confidence" resolution will put the Cook County commissioners on record as either supporting, or opposing, Stroger's continued troubling actions.

"It's been a good year for Stroger friends and family, but a bad year for frontline workers, nurses, prosecutors and Cook County citizens in need of health care," said Peraica. "This resolution will send a clear message that the despicable actions of the Stroger administration will no longer be tolerated, and that the taxpayers and residents of Cook County have lost confidence in Todd Stroger's ability to govern."