Cook commissioners leave rancorous impression before primary

The Cook County Board set out with an agenda clearly meant to appeal to voters in its last meeting before Tuesday's primary, but sparks flew over the sales tax and the county's bidding process, leaving a lasting impression of continued rancor among the commissioners.

The tinderbox issue was once again the county sales tax, raised a full penny on the dollar midway through 2008, with that increase cut in half at the end of last year in a move set to take effect in July. Republican Riverside Commissioner Tony Peraica placed an item atop Tuesday's agenda to roll back the entire increase to the previous level of 0.75 percent, but Evanston Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin called it "a political stunt" and "a sham," and Chicago Democratic Commissioner Earlean Collins told Peraica she could not support "your craziness."

Chicago Democratic Commissioner Deborah Sims took issue with Peraica's penchant for posting on Twitter during the meeting, but she really got offended at his reference to "those folks" who don't have health insurance and count on the county for medical care.

She called Peraica "racist," saying, "What 'those folks' are you referring to?" She labeled Peraica's proposal "a political stunt" and an example of "the stupid stuff that you do."

"I object to this personal attack under the guise of discussing the issue," Peraica said.

Chicago Democratic Commissioner John Daley, chairman of the finance committee, said the issue had been discussed enough over the last three years. "We've debated this issue very well," he said. "No issue has been debated more."

In the end, he joined 11 commissioners voting to table the proposal by sending it to committee. Peraica was supported by suburban Republican Commissioners Liz Gorman of Orland Park, Gregg Goslin of Glenview, Timothy Schneider of Bartlett and Peter Silvestri of Elmwood Park and Chicago Democrat Forrest Claypool in voting to take up the tax, but it failed 11-6.

The conflict wasn't only along party lines. Chicago Democratic Commissioner William Beavers, usually an ally of President Todd Stroger, upbraided the county's Chief Financial Officer Jaye Williams for the bidding on a yearlong malpractice-insurance contract and accused her of passing the details of one bid to the competitor who won the deal. Williams denied that, and Chicago Democratic Commissioner Edwin Reyes came to her defense, saying, "Miss Williams' integrity should not be questioned on this board." In the end, the board voted 9-6 to re-examine the annual deal negotiated by Williams at $4.3 million and instead adopt a stopgap at $700,000 a month, a costly decision Chicago Democratic Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno called "foolish" and "stupid."

That undid much of the early goodwill engendered by passing resolutions in support of Haiti and in memory of CLTV reporter Carlos Hernandez Gomez and election-law attorney Michael Lavelle.

Chicago Democratic Commissioner Bridget Gainer joined Goslin, Gorman, Peraica, Schneider, Silvestri and Suffredin in proposing an ordinance amendment to make the independent Health and Hospital System oversight board permanent - a key plank in the campaign platform of Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle in her race against Stroger in Tuesday's primary, with fellow challengers Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien.

Yet that proposed ordinance too was sent to committee. Gainer said it proved complicated in deciding how the 11-member board would be reappointed when its initial term expires in 2011 and whether seats would be staggered so that everyone wouldn't have to be replaced at the same time. She said it was unlikely to be ready by Feb. 9 for the board's only scheduled meeting next month.