Preckwinkle looking forward to win in November general election
The most stunning upset of this year’s primary election saw a low-key alderman win the Democratic nomination county board president, over a well-known incumbent whose father was the first Black in the post.
AldermanToni Preckwinkle (4th), a proclaimed independent and progressive Democrat, captured 49 percent of the vote in the Feb. 2 primary to defeat Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Dorothy Brown and Water Reclamation District Commissioner Terrence O’Brien. She now faces Republican nominee Roger Keats, a former state senator, and Green Party candidate Tom Tresser, in her quest to be the next county board president.
“This is a Democratic county so I fully expect to win in November,” Preckwinkle, 62, told the Defender. “After 18 years as a public servant, I think now is the time to make some changes.”
If Preckwinkle wins the general election in November she will become the first elected female Cook County Board president.
Former Cook County Commissioner Bobbie Steele was appointed interim president from August to December 2006 after incumbent John H. Stroger Jr. suffered a debilitating stroke.
During her Feb. 2 acceptance speech, Preckwinkle spoke about change and accountability for county government.
“This victory belongs to the people of Cook County, people who demanded reform and accountability from their government. Now is the time to end patronage. Now is the time to cut waste,” she said.
Supporters of Preckwinkle are confident she will not only win in November but also make a fine president.
“(Preckwinkle) worked very hard, and so she knows government, and she’ll do very well there,” said Mayor Richard M. Daley.
And the mayor’s brother, Cook County Commissioner John Daley, D-11th Dist., who chairs the county board’s finance committee, welcomed the opportunity to work with her.
“I look forward to working with her on any issues that she wants to discuss,” he said.
After first not being able to get a return phone call from Commissioner Daley prior to the election, Preckwinkle and Daley met Friday at a downtown restaurant to break the ice.
“He’s a good man and together I know we can work together to move this government forward,” she said.
The Hyde Park resident has several goals she plans to immediately tackle once in office. They include repealing the county’s unpopular sales tax increase, rebuilding the health care system, expanding alternative sentences for non-violent offenders, and stimulating more economic development.
To achieve these goals, she said, requires hiring competent and qualified people who are not her relatives. Stroger has long be dogged by patronage hiring, including giving his cousin, Donna Dunning, a job as the county’s chief financial officer. He later asked her to resign from the position after it was revealed Dunning had an inappropriate relationship with one of her workers – who was also hired by Stroger.
Preckwinkle wants more alternative sentencing, such as day reporting, boot camp and electronic monitoring, used by judges when handing out sentences.
“By doing so, it would help reduce overcrowding at Cook County Jail,” she said.
Preckwinkle called the state of affairs with the county’s Juvenile Detention Centers “a nightmare.” She proposes fostering relationships with organizations whose focus is toward at-risk youth to help improve the facilities.
Keeping all county clinics and hospitals open is also a priority for Preckwinkle, who also plans to make the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, the county’s independent health board, permanent.
“They have done a lot in a short amount of time, namely reducing its dependency on county government for financial support,” the alderman explained. “Quality health care is what Cook County government is primarily responsible for providing, and to do so it will require trimming the budget and identifying new revenue streams.”
She is open to leasing county assets and instituting furlough days to remain financially solvent.
“Nearly every public servant is being asked to make sacrifices so I don’t think county employees should expect to keep getting pay raises and not make more sacrifices like everyone else,” she added.
When it comes to economic development, Preckwinkle plans to create a development office that would be charged with pursuing state and federal grants the county could be eligible for. She said the county has been reluctant to seek more grants, in part, “because it would require the county to open its books up to outside auditors.”
Elected alderman in 1991, Preckwinkle was one of five aldermen who voted against the controversial parking meter lease deal. She supported the city’s Olympic bid and was instrumental in drafting the Memorandum of Understanding, a legally binding agreement that guaranteed minority benchmarks had Chicago won the Games.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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