Todd Stroger wasn’t about to quietly accept Tuesday’s historic rebuke from taxpayers who demand reform of his fat government. The Cook County Board president wasn’t going to let board members kill half of his precious full-percentage-point increase in the sales tax without plenty of theatrics and threats.

Board members were not swayed by the exaggerations of a public official who abused the county payroll by hiring his family members and friends, that notorious steakhouse busboy included. Who refused even to freeze hiring in hard times, despite urgings from John Daley, the board’s finance chairman, to take that small step.

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