Cook board 9th candidates differ on sales taxes

There's little disagreement among the three candidates running for 9th district commissioner on the Cook County Board when it comes to sales taxes.

All say they were opposed to the 1 percent sales tax increase supported by board President Todd Stroger, and they support a repeal of the remaining half percent.

So it seems the candidates argue, instead, about who is most opposed to the hike.

Commissioner Peter Silvestri, the four-term Republican incumbent who also serves as village president of Elmwood Park, says he “vociferously opposed the tax increase, and has sponsored or co-sponsored every measure that would repeal it.

But Democrat Cary Capparelli of Chicago, president of the OMNI-Communique management and marketing firm, said Silvestri still “votes for every program that capitalizes on (the tax).

Capparelli, who describes himself as a “traditional Democrat, said he'd vote to cut funding for social welfare programs if elected. Many of those programs, he said, “typically don't matter to people of the 9th District.

Green Party candidate Brock Merck, of Chicago, a police officer and art store operator, pointed to the number of fee increases over the course of Silvestri's 16 years on the board.

Merck, who says he's always been a registered Republican, called Silvestri a “big spender on hospitals, the sheriff's department and court system.

“The sales tax (issue) is one minuscule part of his makeup, Merck said.

Silvestri's opponents claim he has voted with Stroger more than 80 percent of the time.

But Silvestri said all commissioners probably have a high percentage of voting together – when it comes to resolutions honoring people and “perfunctory votes on county expense bills already accrued, for example.

“I've voted against the administration on every substantive issue," he said.

He called his opponents' criticisms “red herrings" that detract from a “genuine conversation."

“Either they don't know the truth, or they'd just rather misrepresent," he said.