Commissioner proposes county smoking ban
The Daily Southtown
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
By Jonathan Lipman, staff writer
Nearly all of suburban Cook County's bars and restaurants could go smoke free under a proposal to be introduced today. North Side Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) said he wants to open a "second front" on the smoking debate that has engulfed Chicago City Council.
His proposed ban would prohibit smoking within 25 feet of all public spaces, including bars.
A county ordinance would affect all businesses in unincorporated Cook County, as well as any Cook County city, town or village that did not have its own ordinance regulating smoking.
Quigley said a smoking ban never has been proposed in Cook County.
"I think we should have a smoke-free country, and to the extent I have power and jurisdiction over a section of that area, I want to do that," Quigley said. "I want to save lives. I want to make people healthier."
It has taken years of city council debate for a smoking ban to have a legitimate chance at being approved in Chicago. Nonetheless, Quigley is optimistic.
"I think we'll have strong support, and I predict we'll pass this on the county level," Quigley said. "But it's in its infancy. We wanted to raise debate and take this to another level."
As city aldermen continued their discussion on a city ban Monday, Quigley conferred in the count council chamber's back room with representatives of the American Lung Association to line up their support.
The association and other smoking foes have lobbied for the city ban with a relentless public relations campaign. The Illinois Restaurant Association and others have lobbied just as fiercely against it.
Quigley has brought the issue personally to County President John Stroger. Stroger has not seen the final ordinance and has not formed a position, spokeswoman Caryn Stancik said.
South suburban commissioners were skeptical of the proposed ban. Elizabeth Gorman (R-Orland Park) said she'd want to see details and research about the effect on businesses before deciding. Joan Murphy (D-Crestwood) opposes a ban.
"People should have a right to choose what they want to do, and businesses should have a right to do what they want to do," Murphy said. "Every time we pass these laws we're infringing on people's personal liberties."
Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-Chicago) was not available for comment.
One of Quigley's usual allies on the board, Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston), said he can't vote yes or no on the ban because of his long history as a lobbyist and attorney for the Illinois Restaurant Association.
"This is an issue I've got to just stay out of," Suffredin said.
If a ban passed, any community that did not have a smoking ordinance in place would be affected, said professor Ann Lousin, an expert on Illinois constitutional law at John Marshall Law School.
Municipalities, when they do pass ordinances that supersede the county's, usually do so to make their ordinances stricter, not looser, Lousin said.
"They'd have to directly put themselves in direct opposition," Lousin said. "They'd have to vote for smoking. ... I don't see that happening."
Quigley plans to introduce the ordinance at today's county meeting, where it will be referred to a committee.
Quigley will run for Cook Co. president
The Daily Southtown
June 14, 2005
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley promised Monday to hold taxes steady for the $3 billion county government as he announced his candidacy for county president.
Quigley made three campaign pledges: no new taxes, new ethics standards and a reorganization of county government...Quigley has been a critical voice on the board since 1998, frequently at odds with incumbent President John Stroger, who has not yet announced his intentions for the 2006 race."
Cook Board race shaping up; Commissioner says he'll seek presidency
Chicago Tribune
June 13, 2005
"Two-term Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley plans to announce his candidacy for County Board president Monday, making him the first Democrat to jump in the race…
Quigley points to his legislative successes on the County Board, particularly in the areas of gay rights, the environment, fiscal discipline and affordable housing."
Quigley set to announce he'll run for Stroger's post
Chicago Sun-Times
June 13, 2005
"While others pace the sidelines, waiting for Cook County Board President John Stroger to say whether he'll seek re-election, one Democrat isn't waiting and says he won't get out of the race, no matter how many others join him…Quigley, of Chicago, said he was a lone voice of opposition to Stroger when he took office in 1998, and is glad there are now enough voices to have blocked two proposed tax increases. Still, he said, he wants to see "this revolution" through…The party has lost the courage of its convictions," he said. "I'm pro-choice, for equal rights for everyone, I'm strongly pro-environment, in favor of gun control and no new taxes, and I don't apologize for any of it."
Rebel plans to run for county board president
Daily Herald
June 13, 2005
"Mike Quigley says he's the one you should thank for no new taxes for the last two years in Cook County…Among the accomplishments that Quigley touts - besides defeating tax increases - are passing ordinances that gave benefits to domestic partners of Cook County workers and allowed private domestic county workers to register their relationships with the county, thus allowing them to claim benefits at companies that provide them."
Firebrand has eye on Stroger's job
Daily Southtown
June 13, 2005
…Mike Quigley, who has served on the board since 1998, says he is the logical choice to change county government, having been the first - and oftentimes the only - board member to quiz county officials about their spending before a group of reform-minded freshmen joined him in 2002….
183 days, $200 million, Dec. 19
Chicago Tribune
May 31, 2005
...Board member Michael Quigley, who has written many of those cost-savings and downsizing reports, says the County Board's perennial refusal to make the tough decisions on how to conserve taxpayers' money meets his definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Right now--not during some manufactured budget crisis next winter--is the time to demand big, permanent changes in staffing, in overtime, in management layers, in virtually automatic pay raises...
Grieving, Cook County style
Chicago Tribune
March 31, 2005
...Cook County Board member Michael Quigley stepped up this week with what sounds like an excellent reform proposal: that the county outsource the oversight and eligibility certification of minority- and women-owned businesses to an independent firm. Quigley argues that the county's current program does too little to expand local markets for many of these firms: "Time and again we see that lucrative contracts and subcontracts are going to a small cast of inside players getting more than their fair share..."
For decades , 'lively' and 'Cook County Board' almost never found their way intothe same sentence
Chicago Tribune
March 30, 2005
...But in the last few years, a rare and welcome bipartisan boldness of a few commissioners has crept in like a virus, beginning with the election of Democrat Mike Quigley back in 1998...
Reinventing Cook County
Chicago Tribune
February 28, 2005
...Beyond monitoring the relatively tiny budget cuts to protect services to the poor, board members need to execute a complete streamlining. Quigley's detailed "Reinventing Cook County" reports are superb road maps for consolidating, downsizing and modernizing for the 21st Century a government designed in the 19th.Without that kind of bold restructuring, future budget shortfalls will be far, far worse...
Hotels, dining out may cost more this year
Chicago Tribune
January 5, 2005
...Cook County Board President John Stroger today will unveil a 2005 budget that calls for higher taxes from hotel-room users and restaurant-goers, according to one board member who immediately blasted the proposal.
"Cook County doesn't need new taxes," Commissioner Mike Quigley of Chicago's Northwest Side said. "It needs new ideas."