Dance marathon produces final budget

The Cook County Board got increasingly punchy as it waited for an endless series of amendments to be processed in completing its 2011 budget in the predawn hours Saturday morning.

With commissioners waiting for a final budget amendment calling for furloughs and countywide shutdown days to be printed out at about 3 a.m., it began with Commissioner Robert Steele piping a dustie by fellow Commissioner Jerry “Iceman” Butler into the public-address system.

Butler first scowled, then cracked a sly smile, and the fellow commissioners and those in the audience erupted in laughter. From there, it quickly descended to a mix of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Pink Floyd, Etta James, the Temptations and the Beatles' “We Can Work It Out,” which turned out to be only slightly premature. Aides shimmied to “The Age of Aquarius” and sang along to “I Love You Just the Way You Are.”

They did finally turn off the music to work things out at 4:15 a.m., with final passage 15 minutes later, thus ending the county-board equivalent of an all-night dance marathon.