Preckwinkle declares win in Cook Co. board prez primary

Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle declared victory in the Democratic race for Cook County president Tuesday as voters sent a strong and unmistakable anti-tax message to incumbent Todd Stroger.

"This victory belongs to the people of Cook County, people who have demanded reform and accountability from their government," Preckwinkle told about 150 chanting supporters at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza in Chicago.

"Today the people of Cook County have all spoken with one voice - black, white, Latino, Asian, gay and straight, North side, South side, West side, Chicago and the suburbs," Preckwinkle said, promising to repeal the 1 percentage point sales-tax increase Stroger backed and saw imposed in 2008.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Preckwinkle led with 49 percent of the votes. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien had 22 percent, Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown had 14 percent, and Stroger trailed with 13 percent. Preckwinkle's lead was even larger in the suburbs, where she pulled in 53.6 percent of the vote.

On the Republican side, the slated candidate Roger Keats, a former Wilmette state legislator, led with 68 percent to 31 percent for Chicago police officer John Garrido.

Stroger cheered his county employees for "three very good years," but also "an exhausting three years," conceding, "Sometimes your message doesn't get out."

It was the voters, however, who delivered their message loud and clear in what amounted to a tax referendum on the sales-tax increase, which was half rolled back late last year over Stroger's veto in a move to take effect in July.

O'Brien was actually the first Democrat to say he'd roll it back completely, and he told supporters Tuesday night that they had the momentum, but the clock ran out with the early primary. "We got our message out," he said, "but the time frame was short."

Keats called Preckwinkle "a friend of mine," but said he was already looking to hit her on tax hikes she approved as a Chicago alderman, a line O'Brien tried against her but found ineffective.

Stroger insisted to the end the tax hike was necessary, though it brought Chicago's overall sales tax to 10.25 percent, the highest for a major U.S. city. "We have done a good job to maintain the county services," he said in conceding defeat. "This is a bump in the road. Life goes on."

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Robert McCoppin contributed to this report.