Deborah Sims threatens taxpayers: "We've got to get that penny back"

We've been given fair warning. If Deborah Sims is re-elected, she will vote to raise our taxes (again) here in Cook County. "I think that penny -- we need to figure out how to get it back," she told the League of Women Voters candidate forum in Flossmoor on Wednesday night, "We've got to get that penny back." Despite the observation from Sims' opponent, Sheila Chalmers-Currin, that we "pay the highest sales tax in America," the current County Commissioner for the 5th district was completely unmoved. The increase of the penny sales tax was justified, and Sims made it very clear where she stood.

With Todd Stroger and raising our taxes.

Supporters of Deborah Sims passed out the flyer that Todd Stroger has been using to explain why the County's increase in our sales taxes shouldn't be a cause for alarm. Like Todd Stroger, Sims boasts that Cook County is "in good shape," one of the few governmental entities in the country that is completely unaffected by the worst recession most residents have ever seen. But the reason that Cook County can "afford" to pay for Deborah Sims' expensive Cadillac or her chauffeur or Stroger's relatives or contracts that go not to the lowest but the highest bidders (who just so happen to be political backers of Todd Stroger and Deborah Sims) is because Stroger and Sims raised Cook County taxes to a level that allowed excessive spending for their personal benefit.

But we aren't overtaxed, Sims told us. Nope, the County's portion of your tax bill is miniscle and more than justified. So much so that she pledged to add another penny to it!

"We've got to get that penny back," Sims told the crowded room in Flossmoor.

Sims' opponent couldn't have disagreed more with her intention of raising our taxes again. "We are taxed enough," Sheila Chalmers-Currin said last night. She noted that Sims' comments were a "perfect example of being out of touch with your constituents."

"This tax is too much," she concluded.

Wherein one of Deborah Sims' employees interrupted Chalmers-Currin, and was publicly admonished by the League of Women Voters' moderator.

Given additional time, Sheila Chalmers-Currin observed that "We can't afford four more years of the same." The back of the crowd erupted in applause.