Stroger on county budget deadlock: 'We are stuck'

November 27, 2007 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- The Cook County Board is in another deadlock over the budget. President Todd Stroger admits he doesn't have enough votes to pass his proposal for a massive county sales tax increase. So county commissioners are now considering cuts in programs and services. And, with tempers short, some of the rhetoric is getting nasty.

The county board, according to Todd Stroger, is stuck, without enough votes to raise taxes or balance the budget by cutting $240 million in jobs, programs and services. That is raising the frustration level to the point where one of Stroger's top allies is saying, to the chagrin of his colleagues, that this is only happening because Stroger is black.

"It ain't playing the race card. You know it and I know it. Everybody knows thatr. If Todd was a white man, he wouldn't have half of these problems. You just don't want to commit it," said Commissioner Bill Beavers, (D) Stroger's floor leader.

Commissioner Beavers, who is Todd Stroger's floor leader and a former Chicago alderman, says the county budget battle reminds him of "council wars," when Ed Vrdolyak organized the white aldermen from the old Democratic machine to oppose a minority bloc aligned with Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington.

"Who's going to control the county?" said Beavers. "White or black? That's all it is."

Beavers is also accusing Republican Tony Peraica of "hating black people," whichm according to Peraica, is deplorable, totally untrue and a mischaracterization of what the budget battle is all about.

"To insert the element of race when the logic has failed, when they cannot get the votes together to pass this billion dollar tax increase, then it's a racial issue. This has nothing to do with race," said Commissioner Tony Peraica, (R) Riverside.

"I've never played the race card. I think it's wrong for anyone to play the race card," said Commissioner John Daley, (D) finance chairman.

The mayor's brother, finance committee chairman John Daley, says the budget battle is not about race, but about Stroger's inability to sell a massive tax package to a majority of the commissioners, something Stroger reluctantly agrees with.

"They are correct, we are stuck. They don't want to take the leap and make the vote for revenue. But they also don't want to decimate the system. Right now they're all afraid," said President Todd Stroger, (D) Cook County Board.

Before the meeting, health care activists lit candles to pray for the hiring of more doctors and nurses in county medical facilities, as Republican on the board talk about closing all the remaining clinics to save money.

"This isn't rocket science. There are only two options, either raise revenue or cut costs," said Commissioner Peter Silvestri, (R) Elmwood Park.

"That would be a disaster," said Jerry Butler, (D) 3rd District.

Commissioner Butler, a former soul singer who's nickname is "the Iceman," seems to be boiling these days about the budget battle. He and the other Stroger allies defend the need for higher taxes to pay for the jails, the courts and the hospitals. But they don't have enough votes. So the next step may be a nasty round of budget cuts on Friday.

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