Marathon Pundit: Stop the Cook County Board from instituting the nation's highest sales tax

On Monday, the Cook County Board of Commissioners were forced to table their proposal to raise the sales tax in America's second most populous county to the highest level in the country--up to 11 percent in Chicago--because they didn't have the necessary votes.

The commissioners are scheduled to revisit the tax hike proposal on October 16.

I've been calling Cook County a "patronage army" over the last few days. In today's Chicago Sun-Times, there's an example of what I'm talking about:

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger this week hired the girlfriend of his powerful ally, Commissioner William Beavers, for a coveted county job.

But after the Chicago Sun-Times began inquiring Wednesday about the hiring of Patty Young, she was taken off the payroll.

Both Young and Beavers initially denied she was a county employee, but other employees confirmed she had been working there.

Young later said she decided not to accept the job in the county Purchasing Department -- where she would have reported to the wife of Stroger's best friend -- because it didn't pay enough.

How about this irony: Monday, Young's first day on the job, was the day that an emergency session was called to put the tax increase in place.

Stroger, who was at first coy about his support of the tax increase, doesn't even have a 2008 budget in place, but he still wants to pick our pockets. This is the same man both Barack Obama and Dick Durbin enthusiastically endorsed by exaggerating his accomplishments, that is if he even had any, as a legislator.

Listed below are the seventeen Cook County Commissioners. The Republicans, along with Democrats Mike Quigley, Forrest Claypool, and Roberto Maldonado, oppose the tax increase. My commissioner, Larry Suffredin, has done work for the Illinos Restaurant Association, is considering recusing himself from the vote.

Some don't have (surprise) published e-mail addresses. For those pols, I have their fax numbers for you.

Earlean Collins, (D) 1st District, Fax (312) 603-3696
Robert Steele, (D) 2nd District, rsteele@cookcountygov.com
Jerry "Iceman" Butler,(D) 3rd District, jbutler@cookcountygov.com
William M. Beavers, (D) 4th District, Fax (773) 933-5535 or (312) 603-4678
Deborah Sims, (D) 5th District, Fax (312) 603 6381
Joan Patricia Murphy, (D) 6th District, jpmurphy@cookcountygov.com
Joseph Mario Moreno, (D) 7th District, Fax (312)603-3759 or (773)927-7166
Roberto Maldonado, (D) 8th District, rmaldonado@cookcountygov.com
Peter N. Silvestri, (R) 9th District, Fax (312)443-1154 or (773)774-2901
Mike Quigley, (D) 10th District, CommQuigley@aol.com
John P. Daley, (D) 11th District, jdaley@cookcountygov.com
Forrest Claypool, (D) 12th District, Fax (312) 603-1265 or (773) 832-4663
Larry Suffredin, (D) 13th District, lsuffredin@cookcountygov.com
Gregg Goslin, (R) 14th District, commissionergoslin@cookcountygov.com
Timothy O. Schneider, (R) 15th District, toschneider@cookcountygov.com
Anthony J. Peraica, (R) 16th District, ajperaica@cookcountygov.com
Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, (R) 17th District, eadgorman@cookcountygov.com

And let's not forget Democrat Todd Stroger, the board's president, Fax (312) 443-4397

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