Chicago Tribune: Rare rift stirs up DuPage board

[Tweed]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0502010331feb01,1,876950.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

Split votes are unusual on the DuPage County Board, where all 18 members and the chairman are Republican. But last week, four members broke ranks with their increasingly powerful chairman--and described it as one of their toughest votes ever.

On its face, the vote was about giving Chairman Robert Schillerstrom more authority. The measure made his veto harder for the board to override, allowed him to appoint a personal attorney and gave him more discretion to decide which County Board committees should exist.

Yet two board members who opposed the measure said the underlying motive was to set the stage for a legal challenge in which the county could be declared home rule--which would grant it the ability to impose a wider range of taxes.

The wording of the changes appears to improve the county's case that its chairman is also its chief executive. Because under the state constitution, counties with a chief executive are home rule, a court challenge could lead to DuPage being declared home rule. That would circumvent the other ways a county can attain home-rule status--through the state legislature or by referendum.

Although Schillerstrom conceded Monday the county could benefit from home rule, he and board members who supported the changes deny that had anything to do with it. Schillerstrom said the measure was part of an ongoing effort to streamline county operations."

All 18 members of DuPage board are Republican? That's sad. What can we do to change that? It's great they are fighting. It just mirrors the whole statewide trend.