Preckwinkle wins Cook Board presidency

Democrat Toni Preckwinkle was elected Cook County Board president Tuesday and immediately declared, “The party's over” for wasteful government and slacker employees.

“I'm proud to stand here as your next Cook County Board president,” the Chicago alderman proclaimed before hundreds of supporters at the Holiday Inn Merchandise Mart.

She promised to “cut taxes and clean up county government” and pursue a reform agenda in marked contrast to Todd Stroger, the one-term county president beset by scandal and hounded from office after pushing through an unpopular sales-tax increase.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Preckwinkle led with 69 percent of the vote, compared with 27 percent for Republican challenger Roger Keats and 4 percent for the Green Party's Tom Tresser of Chicago, former leader of the No Games Chicago grass-roots organization, which successfully fought against the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Keats, of Wilmette, a former state senator attempting a political comeback after almost two decades out of the field, did not go quietly. Saying he had evidence of “unbelievably massive vote fraud,” he announced he would consult lawyers today and call for a federal investigation.

Stroger lost to Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary in February, when he ran last in a four-person race.

His administration was plagued by scandal, and his unpopular county sales tax increase cost him support. Preckwinkle has promised to roll back the tax as soon as possible while addressing a $285 million deficit.