Lawmakers Push To Lower Cook County Veto Override Threshold

Last week, Cook County commissioners failed to override Board President Todd Stroger's veto of an ordinance to roll back some of the controversial 2008 sales tax hike -- this despite the fact that 13 of the 17 board members voted in favor of the override. In her Sunday Sun-Times column, Carol Marin explained why the "all but impossible" veto override threshold is still in existence:

House Speaker Mike Madigan and Stroger are the problem.

Each is a believer in the time-honored Chicago tradition of one-man rule. Thus, in Cook County, it's all but impossible to override a presidential veto because the threshold is so much higher than in other units of government across the country. Others require a three-fifths majority to override, but not us. We're stuck with a four-fifths requirement. [...]

And the Democratic Machine seems to like it that way. That includes Speaker Madigan.

As Marin goes on to note, two state lawmakers -- Sen. Dan Kotowski and Rep. Julie Hamos -- are hoping to pass legislation lowering the override threshold from a four-fifths majority to a three-fifths majority during the General Assembly's veto session in October. This spring, Kotowski passed a measure out of the Senate aimed at doing just that, but it stalled in the House Rules Committee (where Speaker Madigan sends bills to die). This morning, both legislators talked to reporters about their renewed effort at a Chicago press conference. Watch a few excerpts: