Do knee-jerk pols put any thought into votes they cast on govt. business?

One of the things that dismays me as a reporter-type person observing various levels of government is that our elected officials are the equivalent of sheep.

Daley's 'rubber stamp' council not odd, even today

The rank-and-file aldermen, commissioners and legislators (Congressmen, too, if you want to be honest) are supposed to be the bodies that give their approval to the proposals put forth by the chief executives (mayors, governors, etc.) they’re supposed to monitor.

YET LET’S BE honest. They usually do whatever they’re told to do. They “get with the program,” so to speak. The occasional public official who actually makes a point of trying to study the details and think for themselves on each and every issue winds up being regarded as a troublemaker – if not a downright huge pain in the derriere.

It is something I have seen at so many levels of government that I don’t doubt its truth. Reading a recent analysis prepared by the Moody’s Investors Service only helped to reinforce it in my mind.

The analysis was meant to study the long-range impact of the recent debacle Cook County government went through in enacting, then repealing, that penny-per-ounce tax on pop and other sweetened beverages.

Those pennies do add up – to the point where people were outraged at the increased cost of a case of pop. Even the county admits it expected to raise some $200 million per year from all those pennies. It wasn’t cheap change!

THE ANALYSIS SAID that public outrage, stirred up by the lobbying efforts of the American Beverage Association with its “Can the Tax” campaign, is now intense enough that the public will be skeptical of any government proposing any kind of tax increase – regardless of the reason.

“The political backlash against the pop tax highlights the practical limitations on raising taxes, even if a government is legally permitted to do so,” Moody’s officials wrote.

“Any future tax hikes in the wake of the pop tax repeal will likely be met with some political opposition, exacerbating budget pressures for Cook County and other area local governments,” the service wrote.

Let’s be honest. When most of the officials who voted to implement the tax did so last November, they really didn’t think much about it. They just voted “aye” because they felt they ought to do so. Likewise, most of them were just as quick to want to jump on board the repeal effort made earlier this month.

I COULDN’T HELP but see some truth in the view of commissioner Deborah Sims, D-Chicago, who complained about being forced to vote to repeal. I think I would have respected her view if she had held her ground, instead of going along with the repeal.

It is the reason why the two county commissioners I gained some respect for out of the pop tax debacle were Jerry “the Iceman” Butler, D-Chicago, and Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston. They were the two who held their ground and voted for the pop tax – then against its repeal.

The others went with the whims of following the way the wind blows – and when it blew in ways telling them to suddenly change their stance, they did so; regardless of whatever it is they really think about the issue.

Although for all I know, they may be more than willing to go with the program – either putting their faith in the elected leadership so that they want to be part of the overall organization. Or maybe they’re really just that indecisive.

NOT THAT COOK County government’s behavior is unique. Aldermen and legislators are just as inclined to follow the whims of the mayor or the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly – who admittedly have staffs of analysts who can discuss the intricacies of any measure that goes before their respective governing bodies.

So are we now going to have knee-jerk “no” votes on anything that involves the revenue by which our government’s operations are funded? That would scare me, because we already have some people willing to act in such a manner on measures they have ideological opposition to.

Thinking they can get government out of its obligations to the people merely by cutting off the funding. Will similar people stir up trash talk against the Uber and Lyft transit fees being considered to help balance out the Chicago city government budget now under review?

It’s not high-minded or responsible government by any means. It’s more about being more interested in holding on to one’s elected office at all costs – even though the individuals probably don’t have anything in mind to do with the post once they have it.

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Balancing the budget; what will we cut?

It will be interesting to see just how Cook County government manages to balance out their budget for the upcoming fiscal year; what with the fact they now have a $200 million hole.

PRECKWINKLE: Looking for pop tax alternative

That is the amount of money the county would have expected to receive from the soon-to-be defunct pop tax, the penny-per-ounce charge on purchases of pop and other sweetened drinks.

AFTER NOV. 30, that tax won’t exist. So when the new fiscal year begins Dec. 1, there’s going to be a short-fall in anticipated revenue.

Are we merely going to see the county try to concoct some sort of alternative tax to replace the revenue they were expecting to get from the pop drinkers of the Chicago area? Or are we going to get some county agencies and programs get their funding levels cut to the point where essential services will be slashed?

County board President Toni Preckwinkle hinted throughout the barrage of propaganda put out by the American Beverage Association against the pop tax that health care services the county provides would suffer.

But Cook County Board members largely were not swayed by such arguments. In voting overwhelmingly to repeal the same pop tax that many of them voted last year to implement, they called Preckwinkle’s bluff.

TOBOLSKI: Eager to slash Cook budget

THEY’RE GAMBLING THAT there really is enough “fat” in government budgets that things can be cut without impacting essential services.

Either that, or they simply don’t care, or consider those services to be essential to them. They may just not care about the kind of people who actually have to rely on Cook County-funded services to maintain their health.

That certainly was the sentiment of county Commissioner Jeffery Tobolski, R-McCook, who earlier this week said he looks forward to cutting the county budget. “What we have (in revenue) is what we have to work with,” he said. “There are some tough decisions that have to be made.”

SUFFREDIN: Fears future tax hikes

Of course, the counter-point to that view was expressed by Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, who was one of two commissioners (the other being Jerry “the Iceman” Butler, D-Chicago) to vote against repealing the pop tax.

IN A STATEMENT he issued following the Cook County Board’s vote on Wednesday, he pointed out that one part of the pop tax was a promise that Cook County government wouldn’t consider raising any more taxes until at least 2020.

A move he said would have provided significant benefits to people living in the county. Now, they could face whatever alternate tax hike county officials concoct in their minds to try to make up for the revenue lost from the pop tax, which is necessary because, he claims, Illinois government owes Cook County some $186 million in reimbursements it hasn't been making -- which accounts for nearly the entire hole in the county budget.

In my mind, different taxes is a scary thought – one far more onerous than the roughly 20 cents extra I was paying any time I purchased a bottle of Coca-Cola (something I indulge in maybe twice a week).

BUTLER: Voted for pop tax AND against repeal

So now, county officials have the rest of October and November to figure out how to put together a budget that doesn’t leave Cook County government in serious debt come Nov. 30, 2018.

I KNOW COOK County Treasurer Maria Pappas said she offered up her portion of the county budget with a 10 percent cut in everything, and expects she’s now going to have to slash every line-item in her budget by another 2 percent.

Whether enough other officials are capable of taking such a hardline approach is questionable – I suspect many are trying to figure out what alternate item could be taxed. Of course, it has to be something that most people would feel wouldn’t impact them.

Anti-taxer mailings to pressure county commissioners continue, as now the activist-types want to ensure their desired spending cuts get imposed when the Cook County Board approves its 2018 budget sometime next month

Perhaps that is why some have suggested that the medical marijuana purchases now becoming common in parts of our state are a more acceptable item to tax.

It seems the image some people have of “deadheads” being forced to pay up is more acceptable to them than themselves having to pay whenever they buy a bottle of that beverage whose original recipe included a jolt from the coca leaf. Why else would we call it “Coke?”

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EXTRA: ‘Pop tax’ shifts – you can buy cheaper pop in Cook Co. come Dec. 1

Cook County Board members voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to support an ordinance that repeals the penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages – the tax that was enacted with a tie vote that had to be broken by board President Toni Preckwinkle herself.

SUFFREDIN: Lone remaining tax backer

Which means that the American Beverage Association’s “Can the Tax” lobbying effort was heard loud-and-clear.

IT DOESN’T MEAN that there was really a consensus of thought about this issue – which was supposed to raise some $200 million per year to balance out the budget and ensure that county-run healthcare programs and facilities would be fully funded.

All but one of the county board members who previously supported the tax (Larry Suffredin of Evanston was the lone 'no' vote) voted “aye” in favor of the ordinance to repeal the measure that came up Tuesday during a finance committee session.

But some of the people who previously supported the pop tax made it clear they weren’t happy about feeling pressure to vote to repeal it come Dec. 1 – which is the date that a new budget for the upcoming fiscal year takes effect.

Jesus Garcia, D-Chicago, said government officials will have to deal with potential budget shortfalls when they give approval to that new budget sometime next month.

“RESIDENTS OF COOK County sent a strong message how they felt about this revenue measure we tried to utilize to balance out the budget,” the former mayoral candidate said. “This budget is a statement about our morality, values and compassion, or lack thereof. We still face a revenue challenge to provide services to the needy.”

While Stanley Moore, D-Chicago, said he thinks he should get credit for initially supporting the pop tax. “I have shown I will take the hard vote, if need be,” adding he fears there will be “cut, cut, cut, cut at the expense of the disenfranchised.”

Suffredin, the lone opponent of pop tax repeal, said he believes the county suffers financially because Illinois government is not providing the full amount of reimbursement it is supposed to provide for healthcare programs.

While Deborah Sims, D-Chicago, said she was bothered by being pressured to change her vote. “It’s not fair that nine of us (who supported the pop tax) take the heat, and everybody else walks away free.”

NOT THAT EVERYBODY was concerned about reductions in healthcare services by Cook County government. Jeffrey Tobolski, R-McCook, said he anticipates such cuts in spending.

“What we have (in revenue) is what we have to work with, there are some tough decisions that will have to be made,” he said.

As for the politicking, Richard Boykin, D-Oak Park, said he was “overjoyed and elated this tax is going to go away.” Although Tobolski was most blunt, saying, “I’m glad this damned thing is over.”

Of course, we’ll get to re-do the issue again Wednesday, as the county board will meet as a full board, rather than as a committee, which means that Jerry “Iceman” Butler, D-Chicago, will get his chance to add his thoughts for the record – assuming he shows up for the county board meeting rather than being absent, as he was on Tuesday for the finance committee session.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The official info that Cook County government put forth to try to justify the pop tax they enacted Nov. 10, 2016 that took effect at the beginning of August of this year.

Will ideologues ruin Preckwinkle reputation the way they did Ogilvie?

Presuming that Cook County Commissioner John Daley and three others who indicated last week they changed their minds about the pop tax keep to their word, it would seem the tax meant to ensure the county can cover its financial obligations for health care services and other expenses will wither away.

If signs like this really stirred up anti-pop tax attitudes, will their hostility carry over to hurt Toni Preckwinkle come 2018 Election Day? Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

It creates the potential vote by the Cook County Board later this week of 12-5 (or maybe 13-4) in favor of an ordinance to rescind the penny-per-ounce on pop and other sweetened beverages. Which county board President Toni Preckwinkle will veto – but is a strong-enough vote to over-ride her – if it holds fast.

NOW SOME PEOPLE are not considering this sufficient suffering for Preckwinkle. They’re determined to stir up resentment at the polling place – getting enough people to vote against her re-election bid next year because she had the nerve to realize that the county has financial obligations that must be met.

PRECKWINKLE: Remains firm on pop tax

People in the real world don’t get to tell bill collectors we don’t have the money so we’re not paying. In reality, we have to come up with the finances to meet our obligations. We need to pay up!

Which is why I have consistently thought (and still believe) that this pop tax that adds about 20 cents to the bottle of Coca-Cola I occasionally buy is something we all have to pay – if we really need to have those carbonated beverages in supply.

It also is why I’m not terribly sympathetic to the lobbying efforts of the American Beverage Association – which represents the pop manufacturers who probably don’t want anyone else managing to get a larger cut of the money paid by people when they feel the need to buy pop.

THEY WANT IT for themselves. Understandably, but not a high-minded cause by any means.

OGILVIE: Insisted Ill. needed income tax

The trick is to see how, in coming months, this issue plays out. Will people really hold a grudge against Preckwinkle – and carry out their revenge on Nov. 6, 2018 by voting ABP?

The one thing that Toni has going in her favor is that as of now, the Anybody But Preckwinkle vote literally has nobody else to pick. People who were contemplating seeking the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board president have decided not to do so. As for the Republicans, their political party may get bogged down in the mass of anti-Trump and anti-Rauner rhetoric to put up a serious challenger.

But there are those people who can manage to get worked up at the “T” word just as much as many ideologue-minded Republicans will get worked up at the “A” word tying the governor to abortion.

Is there a 'Dan Walker' type for county?

I’M SURE THERE are those looking back to the 1972 election cycle – the one in which incumbent Gov. Dick Ogilvie lost to Democrat Dan Walker; in large part because one of the major accomplishments of Ogilvie’s one term in office was that Illinois implemented its original state tax on residents’ incomes.

Ogilvie (himself a former Cook County Board president who used that post as a springboard to the Statehouse Scene) argued that the state’s finances had become so unstable that the tax was necessary. Financial experts will argue that the tax turned out to be essential.

Yet there were enough people who voted against Ogilvie because of that tax that he wound up losing re-election.

Could governmental history repeat itself by stirring up enough people p-o’ed by the thought of paying a few more pennies each time they buy pop (which is expected to add up to a few million dollars to balance out the county budget)?

Daley name still influences our government

OGILVIE WASN’T HELPED by the fact that Dan Walker and his walk across Illinois caught the imagination of many as a viable alternative (although I know many of the same ideologues who still denounce Ogilvie’s income tax view Walker as an even worse choice).

As I already stated, as of yet, there is not really a credible challenger to Preckwinkle – although it’s always possible that there’s somebody currently out there passing about nominating petitions to try to get on the ballot for the March 20 primary.

But could she wind up going into our local political history as the woman who pushed for a tax to ensure that Cook County met its expenses – only to be penalized at the polling place?

In a world that could seriously elect Donald J. Trump as president with only 46 percent voter support, anything is possible.

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There have always been people seeking to save a penny or two on pop buys

I can’t help but wonder what my late mother would be saying these days, what with the Cook County tax on sweetened beverages that has boosted the price of pop significantly.
 

Outrage! Really?. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

There are the people who are getting all hysterical about the fact that some people are choosing to shop at supermarkets and other stores just across the Cook County line – giving a boost to stores in suburban Lake and Will counties and even over in Lake County, Ind. (which is the only surrounding county that actually borders Chicago proper).

BUT THE IDEA of making a trip to stock up on pop was nothing new for my mother. It was an idea she had been doing for decades.

I can remember as a small child having to accompany my mother when she and a friend (who owned a truck) would make special trips to those shops that exist right on the Illinois/Indiana state line.

They’re the ones that boast you can avoid paying Illinois taxes when you stock up on your cheap cigarettes and fireworks, along with assorted carbonated beverages.

For my mother, the latter was always the attraction. We’d stock up on several cases which usually would last several months. My mother always felt the cost savings made the trip worthwhile.

EVEN IF IT meant one had to get used to generic brands of pop to drink. Although when one is a kid and pop is mostly something sweet that gives you gas, it doesn’t really matter too much.

But I suspect if my mother were confronted with the people who now are behaving as though they have discovered a new concept by traveling to a place like Highland Park or Hammond, Ind., in order to buy pop and avoid paying the penny per ounce tax, she’d snicker at them.

They’re merely doing something she (and people like her) had been doing for years.

People have been coming for decades to places like this for cheap pop

About the only difference is that these shops (which still exist) deal in those generic brands. If you want to buy the name brands of carbonated beverages with sugary taste to them, you need to find a full-fledged supermarket. Although even some of them are trying to score points amongst would-be pop shoppers.

PERSONALLY, MY THOUGHT is that some people are determined to claim they saved a few cents on their purchases, no matter how miniscule the savings turn out to be. It might be over-stating it to say they’re just cheap, but there would be truth to that attitude.

The idea that if Cook County were to rescind this pop tax that they’d suddenly stop making such shopping purchases elsewhere is silly. Besides, the county has financial obligations it must meet – the public outcry would be worse if county health services were slashed due to a lack of revenue. We're likely stuck with the pop tax!

If anything, I’d be more interested in seeing if anyone is keeping track of fast-food joints and other restaurant-type places that provide pop as a drink to go along with their meals.

As recently as Tuesday, I stopped off for lunch at a White Castle. Three cheeseburgers and a Coca-Cola – and my receipt indicated that the pop had a $0.21 tax added on to the total bill because of the pop.

SHOW ME EVIDENCE that people are now demanding water or some other non-sweetened beverage to go along with their fast food and maybe I’ll be convinced that this tax is having an impact.

How much would people whine if Cook Co.cut services?

Particularly if it persuades people to eat less last food. Although that might actually be something for their own good, and that of society's public health, to tell you the truth.

But until that occurs, I’m going to be convinced that the people most outspoken about the pop tax are the ones amongst our society who are just inclined to complain about everything – particularly how much more things cost now compared to their childhood.

My mother was doing this years ago, and she didn’t have a pop tax to complain about.

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Nobody wants to pay taxes, but they’ll also complain about lack of services

There’s a scene in the 1995 film “My Family” in which actor Jimmy Smits’ character marries a woman from El Salvador to bolster her efforts to avoid deportation, then tries to dismiss his parents’ disapproval of such cynical behavior against the sacred institution of marriage by sarcastically saying, “I’m a god---n revolutionary.”

Who'd have thought political statement being made?

I can’t help but think the same sarcasm applies to many of the people who these days are getting offended over taxes – particularly the one that is drawing the national attention to Chicago in the form of the pop tax.

JUST ON TUESDAY the Chicago Tribune reported about one of the latest lawsuits filed in Cook County Circuit Court. There’s a man from suburban Schaumburg who’s upset that when he went to his local Walgreens store to purchase bottled sparkling water, he was hit with the tax.

He argues the packaging clearly indicates the water is unsweetened, while the so-called pop tax applies to sweetened beverages.

The man who filed his lawsuit last week said he wants a jury trial (probably because he wants a court ruling based in public sentiment rather than the technicalities of the law) and class-action status, which would allow for other people who have objections to the Cook County pop tax to pile on.

Why have one lone person suing someone over the penny per ounce fee the county wants to charge on pop and other sweetened beverages if you can have many?

THIS IS ABOUT people wishing to make a stink over an issue which basically amounts to them feeling a bit cheap and not wanting to pay an additional cost every time they buy their 2-liter bottle of pop (which can come to about $0.65 more).

In the case of Walgreens, the Tribune reports that the company admits it screwed up when coding the products it sells – which means that when the cashier swipes the water bottles at the register, it comes up with the pop tax added on even though it’s not supposed to.

And since it’s programmed to do that, the cashier has no authority, or ability, to take it off. Walgreens officials say they’re working to fix the situation. Which is about all we should expect to happen.

PRECKWINKLE: Arousing cheapskate anger?

I think the people who are hoping to go after Walgreens as a way of attacking the pop tax itself are just more interested in hearing themselves yell and scream. Of course, they’ll scream even louder whenever government fails to provide the services they expect as part of their life’s routines.

THEY’RE BEING ‘REVOLUTIONARIES’ against the issue of about 20 cents being added on to the cost of a single-serving sized plastic pop bottle. All of which is meant to help balance out the Cook County government budget.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been making an effort for the past year or so to reduce the amount of carbonated beverages I consume (I enjoy an occasional Coca-Cola too much to totally give up the habit, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a daily purchase), but this particular pop tax just strikes me as being yet another increase in the cost of daily life. Nothing is as cheap as it used to be when I was younger.

Yet some people are determined to carry out this petty fee and their disagreement to an extreme. Maybe it’s because the more serious taxes are too complex for them to go after.

Similar to how some Chicago residents get all worked up over being charged 7 cents for the cost of a plastic bag whenever they buy something.

PERSONALLY, I VIEW that fee as a cost of convenience for not having to carry my own bags to the store. Although for those who have their own canvas totes or whatnot to bring with them when they shop, more power to them!

Yes, I’m aware of the new poll showing 87 percent of those questioned hate the pop tax. Then again, how many people are going to do anything about it? This is one tax that gradually is going to become a part of the daily routine – no matter how much some retail groups try to challenge it in court and how petty Cook County gets with their counter-lawsuits against them.

Personally, I’d feel like a phony revolutionary if I claimed I was opposed to either of these taxes (pop or plastic bags) on some high-minded principle involving the legitimacy of taxation.

It would be more honest if the people who are complaining were to just come out and tell the truth – they’re feeling cheap!

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‘Pop’ goes the soda, tax to take effect

Interesting to see that Cook County government officials were quick to praise the judge who on Friday issued the order that allows the county to start taxing sweetened beverages as of Wednesday.

People will soon have to start taking tax into account

That tax was supposed to take effect July 1, and county board President Toni Preckwinkle said that Cook County lost some $17 million for not being able to charge the one cent per ounce tax on pop and othered sugared drinks.

COUNTY OFFICIALS HAD said that if the tax were not eventually implemented, county government’s finances would come up short this year and next – and some 1,100 people would have to lose their jobs. As things went, some 300 people were given layoff notices earlier this month.

So does this mean with Judge Daniel Kubasiak ruling that the tax can take effect and cannot be construed as being too confusing for people to comprehend that county government workers jobs’ are safe?

Not so fast!

As Preckwinkle put it, “until we are able to fully implement and collect revenue from this tax, we will continue to review our financial position and make adjustments accordingly.”

COUNTY OFFICIALS HAD said the tax would raise some $67.5 million through Dec. 1, and some $200 million during the county’s 2018 fiscal year. Will it be just a matter of subtracting the $17 million loss – or will other factors come into play?

Who’s to say just how long it will take before things stabilize. Or if it turns out that the tax shortfall will turn out to be merely an excuse, and if some people on the county government payroll will wind up losing their jobs regardless?

Personally, I found it interesting the way various groups were ready to rant with their pre-formed statements of praise or outrage. It makes me think what would have been most interesting is if someone had inadvertently hit the wrong button on the computer and sent out the statement that was intended to express themselves in the event the “pop tax” had withered away for good.

For what it’s worth, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association says it’s “disappointed,” and they’re “exploring all legal options.”

WHILE THE ILLINOIS Public Health Institute says it is “gratified” to see the tax take effect – but for quite the back-handed reason. They hope that adding about 20 cents to the cost of a single-serve plastic pop bottle, and about 65 cents to the cost of a 2-liter bottle, causes people to think in terms of consuming less in the way of carbonated beverages.

“The sooner people stop drinking sweetened beverages, the sooner we expect to see a decline in the chronic diseases caused by too much sugar,” institute officials said, in a prepared statement.

Which I suppose makes sense in theory – I know I have tried during the past year or so to reduce the amount of carbonated drink I consume (although I still enjoy the occasional can of Coca-Cola).

But I also note the number of times I have waited in line at a cashier to purchase that can of pop – only to have people ahead of me making their purchases of cigarette packages.

WHICH ALSO FACE many significant taxes that are supposed to discourage people from smoking, but instead just create intense levels of grumbling about how much a pack of “smokes” costs these days.

That might also make the ultimate beneficiary a business I remember from when I was a kid living near the Illinois/Indiana border – they sold cheap pop, cartons of cigarettes and fireworks. It was right on the state line – making it alluring to those who felt compelled to have such items.

Will 'cheap pop' attract more people to these border businesses?

There are many other such businesses in existence in the border areas surrounding Cook County, and there always will be certain people eager to save a few pennies on these particular purchases.

But if it turns out that the surrounding counties claim some sort of financial benefit from the Cook tax, I’d have to say they can have that form of “economic development” if it means we can reach some sort of higher purpose.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Just a thought – the kind of people who enjoy a “soda” with their hot dog are the same kinds who are probably eager to rush out to the grocery store and start buying Heinz-brand “Chicago Dog Sauce.” And we all remember what “Dirty” Harry Callahan thinks about people who put ketchup on their hot dogs.

Saving jobs? Or cheap pop!

Are we really on the verge of putting some 1,100 people out-of-work because we want to keep the price of pop and other sweetened drinks as low as possible?
 

Is this worth 20 more cents?

That’s the line of logic being offered up by Cook County government these days, where officials say layoff notices will have to be issued in coming days to a significant number of county employees.

THAT IS BECAUSE the penny per ounce tax increase on the carbonated drinks too many of us consume at too high a rate has been stalled by the courts, meaning it can’t be charged and Cook County government can forget (for now, at least) about raising the revenue it mentally had already spent to maintain its operations.

For the record, the county was expecting some $67.5 million for the rest of their fiscal year (through Nov. 30) and more than $200 million for the next fiscal year – which begins Dec. 1.

That’s a big hole to suddenly have crop up in the budget. I can see where county officials would be dismayed at the various restraining orders that have prevented them from charging the penny per ounce fee they wanted to start collecting back on July 1.

Those restraining orders, as of now, run through July 21 – at which time there will be more hearings in the Cook County Circuit Court and a judge could eventually issue an order that strikes down the pop tax outright.

 

Will county government services need to be cut?

NOW AS ONE who has experienced the “wonders” (sarcasm most definitely intended) of job layoffs, I’m not thrilled about the idea of any worker being let go for any reason – particularly one that isn’t their fault.

But I also don’t doubt that many people aren’t terribly sympathetic to the idea of the county wanting to preserve its operations – which some may have their own ideological hang-ups about in thinking have grown too big.

If you really are the type of person who thinks it’s a good thing that the county will have fewer workers, I’ll say you’re a cold-hearted person.

Having a pop not the same experience of old

But there may be those who view the tax bills they’re already paying and figure they don’t like the idea of paying one penny more.

WHICH IS WHY the notion of this particular pop tax being only one cent per ounce may sound terrible. Besides, that’s about a 20-cent increase in the typical plastic bottle of pop meant to evoke the image of the old glass Coca-Cola bottles we all used to drink from.

And as for the 2-liter bottles that are all so popular, that’s another 65 cents added to the price.

Personally, I don’t that’s overly excessive – although I’ll also admit that I have been making an effort during the past year to reduce the total amount of carbonated beverages I consume.

I still enjoy an occasional Coke, but have to admit to finding ice water equally refreshing, Maybe I’m just getting boring in my old age.

BUT SERIOUSLY, IT would not be the worst thing in the world if people would think twice about the amount of carbonation they feel the need to consume. Which, if you think about it honestly, can create a gassy condition that can’t possibly be good for any of us.

If you think I’m somehow trivializing this issue, keep in mind that this is the essence of all the legalese that eventually will be spewed in open court as attorneys argue on the merits of the county being able to use a pop tax as a revenue-raising source.

At some point, a judge is going to have to decide on the merits of carbonated beverages in general, and the right of an individual to have a Coke (and a smile, according to the old jingle) for as cheap a price as possible.

Is that really a right? In order to properly express my thoughts on that concept, I’d have to guzzle down a Coke or two in order to get the proper tone to my belch!

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2016 is here; everybody wants to be 1st

First baby: A girl named Jaylaine, born at 12:01 a.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in suburban Park Ridge.

First murder: A 24-year-old man who was shot dead at about 2 a.m. in the Bronzeville neighborhood when he was arguing with another man who happened to be armed with a pistol.

NEW YEAR’S DAY is one of the quirky days of working in the newsgathering business. We get all obsessed with documenting the “first” of all sorts of things that typically wouldn’t get much mention, if any at all.

Particularly if they had happened just hours, or even minutes, earlier. Because they would then have been amongst the final activities of 2015. The old year, ancient history. Been there, done that! Let’s move along.

Yet you’d be amazed at the number of people who get all worked up over being acknowledged as a “first.” Take the ‘first baby’ saga, which is one I had my fill of way back in 1989.

Because on Jan. 1 of that year, I was a reporter-type person for the now-defunct City News Bureau, and I was on duty that overnight shift. I wound up having to make the call between dueling hospitals (one of which may have been Lutheran General, if I remember right) that were claiming to have had babies born just as the clock was ticking off the final seconds of the old year.

I ULTIMATELY MADE the judgment call of a tie, and other news organizations followed our lead. Which resulted in a third hospital that was just moments behind claiming I had somehow cheated them out of recognition.

The concept remains the same annually

I still recall the frantic phone call City News received at about 3 a.m. on 1/1/89, as a top hospital administrator felt compelled to give me a piece of his mind that we wouldn’t recognize his claim to have a “first.”

You’d think at that hour he’d have better things to obsess about. Apparently, he didn’t.

All I know is that for the past quarter-century, I have always associated the thought of the “first baby” with neurotic hospital administrators desperately trying to get themselves some press for actions that don’t involve allegations of medical malpractice on their parts.

THAT IS WHAT I suspect the desire to be a “first” is for many officials – a chance to get mentioned in the news publications and programs for something that doesn’t involve their screw-ups.

The site of many more firsts, come Monday

Such as the fact that on Monday, somebody is going to be awarded the first marriage license in Cook County. Clerk David Orr made sure we in the news media are aware of this fact – issuing a statement telling of the $800 in prizes to be given to the soon-to-be wed couple.

The Palmer House Hilton, Lettuce Entertain You restaurants, iO Improv Comedy Clubs, LaSalle Flowers and Bryan Docter photography all are kicking in to that prize package – which I’m sure means a whole slew of free advertising to be generated for those companies by whichever couple feels compelled to be at the clerk’s office in the Loop when it opens at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Personally, I wonder what kind of people would feel compelled to get up early and force themselves to the head of the line, just to get themselves on the Monday evening television newscasts as the first newlywed couple.

ALTHOUGH I DON’T think anybody is as extreme as Jim “Moose” Murphy, the guy who for nearly 20 years in the 1980s and 1990s used to camp out on New Year’s to ensure he was the head of the line to get the first permit issued for the year by the Forest Preserve District.

Murphy, who died in 2009, was with the Antler Dancer’s Sportsmen’s Club, which used to like to have a huge-scale party (with liquor flowing freely) each summer in the forest preserves of southwestern Cook County near suburban Palos Park. For Murphy, it was absolutely essential he had permit Number 000001.

Although Murphy’s saga always reminded me of that episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa and other Springfield residents of some intellect got a permit to hold a Renaissance-type costume event in the town gazebo – only to find that the town thugs were already gathered there and refused to leave.

I would have feared for the physical well-being of anyone who had tried to cut in front of Murphy and his crew in that line. It would have become an ugly scene.

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Is political unity a problem? Would we be better off w/ state or federal split?

I remember one time when I happened to be entering the Cook County Building at the same time as county Commissioner John Daley.

PRECKWINKLE: A concensus leader?

We engaged in a couple minutes of chit-chat, and I made a wisecrack about how much more peaceful county board meetings had become since the departure of Todd Stroger as board president.

TO WHICH DALEY made a serious response about how “rational leadership” (in the form of current board President Toni Preckwinkle) can bring about more peaceful relations among politicians.

I couldn’t help but remember that moment when I learned Tuesday of the new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. It seems that the county board has become about as compliant as the City Council.

During the first three years of Preckwinkle being in charge of county government, the county board backed her 73 percent of the time. That compares to 88 percent of the time that the City Council went along with the desires of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“Since she has been in office, the board now looks more like the ‘Rubber Stamp’ City Council of Rahm Emanuel, with Preckwinkle rarely losing a vote and with more agreement and cooperation with the board on issues,” the study reads.

PERSONALLY, I’M SURPRISED the level of support is that low for Preckwinkle. While I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a constant attendee at county board events and functions, I can’t recall that many moments when Preckwinkle didn’t prevail.

EMANUEL: Consensus, or strong-arm?

In fact, most of the actual county board votes on issues are structured as an “aye” or “nay,” rather than a specific roll call with actual votes recorded for each commissioner.

It is too easy for Preckwinkle to come out and say that board voted for her on just about everything!

DALEY: Wise observer?

The study has a slight tint of attitude in thinking that our government officials ought to be challenging each other – perhaps because one of its people included political science professor Dick Simpson; whose own political credentials include being one of the few aldermen who used to vote “no” on a regular basis when Richard J. Daley was mayor.

I’M A LITTLE more skeptical about political opposition – perhaps because I see just what it can be when we get people so entrenched in their own interests that they’re unwilling to listen to anybody else.

BOEHNER: Consensus? Or hard-headed?

Now I realize it can be just as bad to have a single tyrant-type figure who can strong-arm everybody else into doing what they want (which is what exists in many suburban municipal governments where few people pay attention). But are things really any better in Congress, where a Republican caucus is so determined to prevent anything desired by President Barack Obama that nothing gets done.

That may be a case where the ideologues have House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, strong-armed. But he often comes across as a willing and complacent accomplice in the inactivity.

 

OBAMA: Rubber-stamp Congress a fantasy

When it comes to the Springfield Scene, we definitely have a jumbled mess – leaders of the Democratic Party persuasion who can’t coordinate and a Republican Party leadership that thinks the solution is to dump Dems so they can strong-arm state government the way they did back in that fantasy spring of 1995.

THE BOTTOM LINE is that we have a state government these days that is very much dysfunctional – to the point where they’re passing state budgets that they know are flawed. But they just don’t want to accept reality and make tough decisions.

By that way of thinking, the activity around the Cook County Board these days comes across as ever so rational.

It’s almost a shame that Preckwinkle has heavily suggested she’s seeking re-election this year. Perhaps her approach to government could serve the people well at another level.

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