Keats comes out swinging with five-point platform

Wilmette's Roger Keats launched his general-election campaign as Republican nominee for Cook County Board president Monday by labeling his Democrat opponent, Hyde Park Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, "a longtime insider" tied to entrenched party corruption.

Keats promised "real reform from a real independent," adding, "There is a real difference."

Keats called their back-to-back speeches to the City Club of Chicago a week apart "the start of the general election" and promised, if he wins, to do five things the day he's sworn in, Dec. 6:

• Cut the 2011 budget from this year's $3 billion;

• Fire 150 of President Todd Stroger's "friends and family," hire 25 new inspectors general and "turn them loose without limits."

• Agree to any and all Freedom of Information Act requests concerning county government;

• Organize a private-sector jobs summit drawing on advisers from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago; and,

• Replace many of Stroger's incumbent department directors.

"I don't think people realize how bad the corruption is," Keats said, but after Stroger's term in office "they started to figure it out."

Quoting U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen's line, "I see the light when I feel the heat," Keats said, "It's time to warm things up in Cook County government."

Yet Keats outlined his main campaign strategy by trying to tie Preckwinkle to Democratic Party leaders House Speaker Michael Madigan and Board of Review Commissioner Joseph Berrios. Keats pointed to Madigan's legal side business arguing appeals on county assessments as the "epicenter of pay-to-play politics," adding, "This is all with the help of his pal, Mr. Pay-to-Play Jr., Joe Berrios."

Keats cited how Preckwinkle as a ward committeeman nominated Berrios in his bid to remain chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee, and also called her "Tony Rezko's favorite alderman," pointing to how the convicted campaign fundraiser did housing developments in her ward and also contributed to her campaigns.

Keats also drew attention to the large campaign contributions Preckwinkle has received from unions, and said only he could negotiate successfully to rein in union contracts and impose pension reforms.

Preckwinkle responded that she's spent 19 years building a reputation as an independent, progressive Democrat, so "it's ironic that he should attack me on the basis of being a member of the regular Democratic organization."

She also made no apologies for receiving union contributions.

"You want support from all aspects of the community," she said, because "it spreads your indebtedness out" and ensures you're not beholden to any one group. She said it would not compromise "what you believe is the right thing."

Keats also pledged to make permanent the independent board overseeing the Health & Hospitals System and to appoint an Honest Government Commission to implement many reforms suggested by former commissioner Mike Quigley, now a U.S. representative.

"Cook County doesn't have to be the dysfunctional mess that it is," Keats said. "It's not like Cook County is ungovernable. It's governable if you choose to govern it as a government, not as a patronage haven."

Dismissing the notion that Republicans can't win countywide office in Cook, Keats trumpeted Republican momentum nationwide, saying, "Things are rolling in our direction," and added he fully intended to win and not just run an idealistic opposition campaign.

"I'm not Don Quixote," said the former state senator, although he drew less than half of the more than 300 people Preckwinkle did to the City Club luncheon at Maggiano's Restaurant in downtown Chicago a week ago.