Commentary
By Gary Kopycinski, Editor and Publisher,
Rosemary Piser, Associate Editor,
eNews Park Forest
The entire Chicagoland area needs the Cook County Board to work, and the fact is, for the past several years, it hasn’t. Besides the serious ethical questions it raises, political patronage is a horribly inefficient and expensive way to do government. In this, Cook County has excelled, and it needs to stop.
Board President Todd Stroger has shown repeatedly that he is not up to the task. From the beginning, Stroger isolated himself, starting with his attempt to reserve one elevator at the County Building for his use only.
Several things concern us about Dorothy Brown, from her “jeans days,” as well as reports from those close to her that employees felt compelled to give Brown cash for her birthday.
The Cook County Board needs an executive who is ethical, reform-minded and practical. Alderman Toni Preckwinkle is all three, and she will receive our votes.
Preckwinkle has been an Alderman since the early 90s, and has not lost her reformer attitude. Still, she has always delivered services for her ward. She will make a far, far better manager of the Cook County Board as a policy-making body than we’ve had in decades.
We don’t care for machine politics. Preckwinkle is an independent Democrat and has been for decades. Throughout her career on the Chicago City Council, she has dissented with Mayor Richard M. Daley more often than any other Alderman. Against much of the Democratic machine, Preckwinkle endorsed Barack Obama for then Alice Palmer’s State Senate seat – this after Palmer herself changed her mind about not running for re-election and filed papers in December 1995. Preckwinkle resisted arm-twisting from other Democrats and stood by Obama based on her own principles.
Preckwinkle understands two components that are critical for Cook County: the need for quality health care and the delicacy of the budget process.
Toni Preckwinkle is ready to be an executive. We urge Cook County residents to vote for her for Board President.
