Lawmakers look to cut board president's veto power

Daily Southtown

October 12, 2006

By Krystin E. Kasak, Medill News Service

A state lawmaker and a Cook County commissioner Wednesday proposed reducing the veto power of the president of the county board.

State Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) and Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) called for legislation that would lower the votes needed to override a presidential veto from a four-fifths majority to three-fifths.

Now 14 of the 17 commissioners have to vote for an override. Because the board president is unlikely to vote to override his veto, an override actually requires votes from 14 of the remaining 16 commissioners, or nearly 90 percent of the board. The new rules would require 11 votes to override.

"Potentially requiring more than 80 percent of the board to override that veto is tilting the balance of power far too extremely in the direction of the president," Fritchey said.

Quigley, one of the board's reform-minded members, said the four-fifths requirement has a "chilling effect" on initiatives. He said often a proposal is not introduced because commissioners know that if the president opposes it, it has no chance to be approved.

Fritchey and Quigley predicted that the legislation would get a favorable reception from the General Assembly in January. The amended law would apply to all county boards in Illinois.

"I cannot envision anyone opposing fostering democracy -- in Cook County or anywhere else," Fritchey said. "I would have to question any commissioner who opposes (the legislation)."

In Cook County, the Democratic candidate for board president, Todd Stroger, who's trying to succeed his father, John Stroger, in the post, said Wednesday that he strongly supported the proposal. Stroger's opponent, Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-Riverside), could not be reached for comment.

The idea to reduce the required veto majority was proposed as part of Quigley's October 2002 reform plan, "Reinventing Cook County."

Fritchey said a four-fifths override majority doesn't exist anywhere else in the United States.

Historically, the high standard was adopted when the Cook County Board consisted of 10 members from Chicago, usually all Democrats, and five from the rest of the county, mostly Republicans. The board president has almost always been a Democrat.

By setting the veto override majority at four-fifths, the Chicago commissioners were always able to outvote the suburban members.

In 1994, the county board's representation was changed to single-member districts, largely eliminating the need for the four-fifths rule.

Copyright 2006, Sun-Times News Group

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