Preckwinkle lays out 'path to victory'

Hyde Park Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle has a reputation as a bit of a schoolmarm, befitting someone who taught history for 10 years before entering politics. Yet she cautions those who suggest that being a policy wonk makes her an underdog in the Democratic primary for Cook County Board president.

"I am who I am," Preckwinkle said in a formal candidate interview at the Daily Herald this week, "and secondarily I think it's a mistake to underestimate the intelligence of the electorate."

Contrary to the stereotype, Preckwinkle displays a ready laugh and a pleasant demeanor, but at the same time she made it clear she is running first and foremost on the issues. She laid out the four corners of the foundation for her proposed "Compact for Change" with Cook County voters: a full repeal of the 1 percent increase in the sales tax imposed last year, permanent independence and autonomy for the Health & Hospitals System, alternatives to detention at Cook County Jail and a push for economic development and job growth countywide.

She said the county could roll back the full sales-tax increase -- after the Board of Commissioners voted to override President Todd Stroger's veto and cut it in half by a half percentage point earlier this month -- without shutting hospitals or clinics, as Stroger has threatened.

The health system would have to take advantage of state and federal grants it has previously ignored, she said.

"It's part of the federal resources that are available to everyone," Preckwinkle said. "You have to prove that you spent the money wisely, and you subject yourself to scrutiny of state or federal officials, and the county has not historically wanted to do that. As a result, it hasn't applied for these resources we're eligible for."

She charged that under the Stroger administration, the system had become a "honey pot to place political people."

Likewise, she said treating nonviolent drug offenders at the county jail with expanded substance-abuse programs and electronic monitoring would cut costs and improve rehabilitation rates.

"We shouldn't just warehouse people, usually at a cost of $40,000 per year per inmate," she said. "It's bad public policy, and it's bad human policy.

"Our government has two main obligations," she added, "to provide good service and to do that effectively and efficiently. And I think the county's falling down on both sides of the equation and I'm the best person to make the changes that are needed."

Preckwinkle said she plans to follow a progressive agenda laid out by commissioners Larry Suffredin and Forrest Claypool and former commissioner Mike Quigley, who moved on after winning Rahm Emanuel's congressional seat earlier this year.

Expanding from her Hyde Park political base, she has lined up the support of lakefront liberals, those in the Hispanic community and most recently endorsements from New Trier, Evanston and Northfield Township Democrats. Yet she said her main selling point in her "path to victory" is that she's not one of the other candidates.

Without bashing her opponents, she pointed to Stroger's widely unpopular tax hike, and to "ethical questions" that have followed the other candidates.

"I'm an independent, progressive reformer," Preckwinkle said, "and there's nobody else in the race who can say those things."

Preckwinkle said her 18 years of service in the Fourth Ward, which extends along the lakefront from McCormick Place to the Museum of Science and Industry, gave her the hands-on experience to shift to the executive branch.

"Although (as an alderman) you're a legislator, most of the work really is in your ward," she said, pointing to local gains in redevelopment, education and public safety during her tenure.

"If you're willing to work hard and you have a vision for what you want, you can make a tremendous difference in the communities that you serve," Preckwinkle said. "I want to take that same energy and vision to the county."

Preckwinkle is running against Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien and Stroger.