Southtown Star endorsement:
January 27, 2010
Toni Preckwinkle does not ooze charm. But, frankly, charm is the last thing Cook County government is in need of right now. It's time to put a serious adult in charge of the county and its approximately $3 billion annual budget and to restore some credibility to the key office of county board president.
That's why we're endorsing Preckwinkle, an independent Chicago alderman and a no-nonsense leader, for the Democratic nomination in the Feb. 2 primary election - which is the critical election, tantamount to winning the office in this overwhelmingly Democratic county.
This is how Preckwinkle views the county's mess, as told to the SouthtownStar: "I believe the greatest failure of the current administration is not mismanagement, it's not endemic corruption, and it's not the hordes of patronage employees - though these are all serious shortcomings. It is, rather, the current administration's cynical disregard of the wishes, concerns and fears of the citizens."
We agree. It's way past time to restore some confidence among the county's citizenry that corruption and arrogance have not consumed the county board and that real changes loom on the horizon.
Chief among them is a repeal of current board President Todd Stroger's sales tax increase, amounting to a penny on the dollar, that he rammed through in 2008. Commissioners, getting some religion as politicians usually do in an election year, halved that increase last fall and then overrode Stroger's veto of that action, but the drumbeat to rescind the entire tax hike remains loud and growing.
Preckwinkle does not promise that a full repeal will happen overnight but vows to accomplish it "in conjunction with implementing responsible spending practices, eliminating wasteful programs and ensuring that the county fully captures all due income."
She has identified specific measures to achieve those goals, such as reducing the use of outside law firms, merging the forest preserve district police with the sheriff's department and even consolidating the offices of assessor, treasurer and recorder of deeds because they perform similar functions.
And she's committed to forcing Cook County government into adopting new and reasoned spending practices, something she says the bloated government "has ignored for too long."
Getting rid of the higher sales tax, which has given Chicago and Cook County among the highest such rates of any local governments in the nation, also will help address a serious and significant concern about lost business for communities that border Will County - and help deter more businesses from choosing other counties, or states, in which to open or expand.
Such a stagnant business climate is just one of the problems that exists for this county and this region. Another major one is the county's overburdened health care system and the fate of Oak Forest Hospital, which is so important to meeting the medical needs of the impoverished in the Southland.
We believe that Preckwinkle's stewardship will help shape a sound fiscal voice for the county's health care system, without abandoning compassionate oversight for the down-and-out who depend on it so greatly.
At the same time, she's willing to discuss what she terms a "rational and cooperative public-private network" to deliver public health care. We believe this kind of thinking is necessary to move forward to find a a new and better model for the system.
It's also necessary, we believe, for someone strong and reform-minded to lead and encourage a board that has shown signs of increased independence but remains too controlled by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and other Democratic bosses.
We're not sure of Preckwinkle's style back in her days as a history teacher. But if it involved a ruler and raw knuckles, we hope she brings the tools of her trade along to the board presidency.
We know several in her party who are in real need of old-time discipline - and we don't just mean the fiscal kind.