Suffredin had to make his own version of this choice during county budget deliberations last week. After years of marketing himself as a reformer, he had to decide whether to stand tall on his soapbox as the county government shut down or flip-flop and make a deal that would increase Cook County’s sales tax.
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And did he mention the independent governance of the health system? “I really believe the governance issue is very important,” Suffredin said. “If the county hospital [system] is going to fail–and we are very close to that position–it would hit like a tsunami around us. Other hospitals would be inundated. We’ve got to remember this hospital [system] is essential to regional health.”
It’s an old trick to blame the media for your political problems, and Suffredin can be criticized at least as much as he can be credited for the terms of the deal he cut.
