WBEZ | Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

Year 25: Toni Preckwinkle

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:54:00 -0500

Many of you know Toni Preckwinkle as a longtime Chicago politician. Currently, she's Cook County Board President, a seat she's held since 2010.

Before that, she served for almost 20 years as alderman of the 4th ward.

But where was she at 25? That's something you might not know.

She was just a few years out of college (she got both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Chicago) and was working as a history teacher in Englewood.

At the time, she figured she would continue teaching for the rest of her career. Maybe she'd become a principal, but she thought she'd stay in education.

But life took her in a different direction.

President Preckwinkle joined Rick Kogan and WBEZ Producer Lauren Chooljian on the Afternoon Shift recently to talk about how teaching, though not a life-long career, has informed who she is today.

Year 25: Sharing stories from a milestone age.

Preckwinkle considers $800 gaming machine tax

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:54:00 -0500

With her 2013 budget address coming up this week, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has given a few hints as to what her office won't do to fill the $115 million dollar shortfall.

"Everything is on the table, with the exception of property and sales tax increases," Preckwinkle told reporters last week.

But as for any other details...

"My budget staff insists that I’m not to give any numbers because they’re still fiddling with things," she said.

As for other items that are on the table, Preckwinkle spokesman Owen Kilmer said Monday that they're "considering" a tax on gaming machines. If passed, the tax would require an annual $800 dollar sticker on any machines that pay out — like slots or video gaming.

But according to Illinois State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie), the idea doesn't make economic sense. Lang has been a long-time proponent of gambling expansion across the state.

"Video gaming was put in place to be one of the funding sources for the capital bill that we passed 3 years ago," he said. "Anything that taxes additionally these devices is a hit on those local businesses...it means less people employed, it means less economic development and it means less money for the local municipalites that were supposed to get a local share."

Kilmer said the tax would raise about $1 million for the county, a large chunk of which would likely come from the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. According to the latest report from the Illinois Gaming Board, Rivers has 1,044 electronic gaming devices, which could cost them more than $835,000 if the proposal becomes part of Preckwinkle's budget.

Rivers Casino spokesman Dennis Culloton declined to comment on the proposal.

"This is the first we're hearing of this and we'll respond after we get a chance to review the proposal," Culloton said.

According to Kilmer, the county is also considering renting out the 34th and 35th floors of the George Dunne county office building and a tax on guns and ammunition that Preckwinkle floated last week.

The 2013 budget gap was originally estimated at almost $270 million dollars, but Kilmer says the county is expecting federal reimbursment funds from the Affordable Care Act. Under what's known as the 1115 waiver, the county early-enrolled uninsured patients that would have be eligible for Medicaid in 2014.

Preckwinkle's budget address is scheduled for Thursday.

Illinois Dems make wish list for Obama if he wins

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:21:00 -0500

Illinois Democrats in Charlotte, N.C. are making a wish list for what they’d like to see out of a second term in the White House for President Obama.

It’s not that they are taking the presidential election for granted, but officials here are already bringing up many issues they want put in place if a like-minded Democrat keeps the White House.

"If we really want to jumpstart us and get us out of this quagmire, it has to be based on a solid infrastructure bill," said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, who represents Chicago's North Side.

"I think we need to invest more in our young people and one of those things we need to do is make it easier for kids to go to college or to trade school," said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

"One of the issues I'm very concerned about and I think (Obama) is as well is the challenge of moving people out of poverty and into the middle class," said Chicago Alderman Will Burns.

Those three officials won’t get a chance to advocate for their issues on center stage at the national convention this week, but others from Illinois will.

Gov. Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth all get their chance to take the microphone later Tuesday evening at the Democratic National Convention.

National agency calls for closure of Cook County Juvenille Temporary Detention Center

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:02:00 -0600

A national criminal justice agency is calling for the closure of Cook County's long-troubled Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and is suggesting the county needs to reform the way it deals with detaining juveniles.

The JTDC has a storied past, complete with citations over unsanitary conditions and overcrowding. In a recent report, the National Council on Crime and Deliquency said conditions have greatly improved at the center, but the current design has security flaws and isn't worth renovating. The study, commissioned by the Jane Addams Juvenile Court Foundation, also called for an investigation into the disproportionate number of minorities in Cook County's juvenile detention centers. According to their research, African-American youth are detained at 46 times the rate of their white peers.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Friday that significant work and resources have gone into the JTDC, even admist budget cuts and tightening in other areas. Preckwinkle said she too has seen progress at the center, but isn't opposed to closing it.

"It's what I want to do eventually, it's just not tomorrow," she said. "There are 300 kids in it and we have no other place to put them."

Preckwinkle said this isn't the first time she's considered closing the JTDC; she told reporters Friday she once said she wanted to "blow it up." Both Preckwinkle and JTDC's transitional administrator, Earl Dunlap, agree the county would be better served by four to six smaller centers, rather than one large one.

Cook County Board kicks medical examiner issue to Finance Committee

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:19:00 -0600

There are still questions over whether the Cook County chief medical examiner could get fired. After recent photos of bodies piling up in the Cook County Morgue, Dr. Nancy Jones came under attack. She runs the morgue and has given a variety of explanations for the problems.

But in the process of all the attention, county Commissioner John Fritchey discovered an old county ordinance. It essentially gives the chief medical examiner a lifetime term in office.

On Wednesday, new language making it easier to fire this position was set to be voted on by the county board. But the moment it was introduced, Commissioner John Daley moved to delay the vote by sending it to his Finance Committee.

Fritchey said it's a mystery to him why that happened.

"It really doesn't make sense that this matter would go to the Finance Committee in any event. Intergovernmental, legislative? That would make sense - if it had to go to committee," Fritchey said.

He added that his proposal is not directed at firing Jones and that he only moved to change the language around the office because it's the first time it came to his attention. He said approving this new language would not solve the problems of the morgue.

Various aspects of the morgue's operations, including Fritchey's proposal, are likely to be reviewed in Finance Committee meetings.

Overhaul for Cook County medical examiner's office

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:52:00 -0600

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office will be getting an overhaul. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday there will be changes in personnel, policy and protocol in the medical examiner’s office. That comes after recent stories in the news about the county morgue being over capacity.

Preckwinkle said her offices have been reviewing the Medical Examiner department before those news stories broke. But she said she was “disturbed and disappointed and discouraged” at some activities of the department.

Preckwinkle said her office is “conducting a top to bottom review of operations” and there’s also a recently launched external investigation by the Inspector General. The Inspector General’s probe was launched after media reports that the morgue’s coolers, which are designed to fit 300 bodies, were well over capacity and bodies were piling up.

At Thursday’s news conference, Martha Martinez, a county deputy chief administrative officer, said in November the count was 363 bodies and some had to be double-stacked on one tray. Preckwinkle blamed the full coolers in part because the county saw a “record number of storage cases in November,” another way of saying more bodies than usual, and on recent cuts in state funding for indigent burials.

“It was a combination of our system being taxed to the maximum and our lack of resources to provide burials for people,” Preckwinkle said.

She also expressed dismay that staff in the medical examiner’s office went to the media with issues they had about the department, rather than going straight to her.

When asked why current chief medical examiner Dr. Nancy Jones was not at the news conference to answer questions as well, Preckwinkle said, “I’m the president of the county and it’s most appropriate for me to be answering questions about county operations.”

Jones, a hire from former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, has recently come under fire from Preckwinkle for the management problems in the department. The board president would not say whether she would fire Dr. Jones, but did say, “People will lose their jobs.”

Preckwinkle also said, “I think the problems we have here are a reflection on the way in which operations have been conducted and not on resource cuts from the county side.”

Currently the chief medical examiner position does not have a term limit, which is something County Commissioner John Fritchey said he wants to amend in the county code. Preckwinkle hinted that among the changes made to the medical examiner’s office, a way to oust an ineffective manager would be one of them.

“It’s inappropriate for anybody in county government to have a term that’s equivalent to a federal judge, which is a life term,” Preckwinkle said.

President Preckwinkle defends releasing immigrant detainees

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:46:00 -0600

Saul Chavez, accused of driving drunk and killing a man, posted bail and was released despite the federal detainer placed on him. He was released under an ordinance passed last year by the Cook County Board--Chavez is now presumed to have left the country.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle joined Eight Forty-Eight to discuss why she still supports the ordinance and her response to a letter she recently received from the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, John Morton, who said the ordinance “undermines public safety in Cook County and hinders ICE’s ability to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle asked for a study to identify better ways for the county's judges to set bail in criminal cases. She joined Eight Forty-Eight to discuss the hot-button issue. WBEZ's West Side bureau reporter Chip Mitchell, who has been covering the ordinance since last summer, also joined the conversation.

County Board looks to pass budget Friday

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:05:00 -0600

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is gearing up for a vote on her 2012 budget on Friday, even though the county still has not struck a deal with labor unions to avert nearly 800 layoffs.

Preckwinkle’s administration estimates the layoffs will save $40 million next year, at a time when the county is looking to close a $315 million deficit. She has said union workers could avoid about 500 of the layoffs if they agree to take unpaid holidays.

But as of Friday morning, Preckwinkle said there was still no agreementdespite ongoing talks.

“We came to an agreement with our unions in the middle of the night … in the last budget cycle,” Preckwinkle said, referring to the 2011 budget process that dragged on right until the legal deadline. “And I can't predict what's gonna happen this time.”

Commissioners on Friday shot down a proposed penny-a-pack cigarette tax hike, and a new tax on cigarette rolling machines - both measures that had been pushed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, the union that represents about 5,000 county workers.

Labor unions have also suggested that Preckwinkle should dip into reserve funds in order to avoid layoffs. But the county’s rainy day fund is already at a perilously low level, and any withdrawal could trigger a downgrade from credit agencies, which would result in higher borrowing costs for the county, Preckwinkle said.

Though the impasse between Preckwinkle and unions continues, her 2012 budget has already cleared some key hurdles and seems likely to pass a final vote Friday. Earlier this week, commissioners signed off on some key revenue-generating proposals that the president is hoping will bring at least $48 million to the county next year. Those include a hike in the alcohol tax, and the tobacco tax expansion.

Republican Commissioner Peter Silvestri said he expects to cast a "yes" vote Friday. He came out against the president's call for more tobacco taxes, but got behind a small hike in alcohol taxes.

“I don't think people are gonna leave their favorite watering holes, so to speak, to go to Indiana or DuPage to have a drink,” he said.

Preckwinkle, a Democrat, has won praise from commissioners after backing away from some unpopular budget proposals, such as a plan to charge courthouse parking fees for jurors, and an idea to make residents of unincorporated Cook County pay for police patrols from the county sheriff.

Following an era of often-contentious debates under former Board President Todd Stroger, Preckwinkle’s flexibility caught Commissioner Tim Schneider, a Republican, a bit by surprise.

“What I never thought I would say, five, six years ago, is that Cook County could be a model for what other government agencies may look to for how government should be run,” Schneider said.

Cook County threatens to cut some CTA funding

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:58:00 -0600

The Chicago Transit Authority is threatening to reduce some suburban bus service if several Cook County commissioners follow through with a plan to cut $1.3 million in county funding to the agency.

The proposal filed this week could set up a showdown between County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the City of Chicago over how much money each government should chip in for CTA service.

Just days before the CTA is set to present its 2012 budget proposal to the Cook County Board of Commissioners, a bipartisan group of four board members introduced a non-binding resolution Thursday proposing the county reduce the amount of gas tax revenue it turns over to the CTA each year to $675,000, from $2 million.

Citing the county’s projected $315 million budget deficit for 2012, the commissioners urged Preckwinkle to offer less money to the CTA next year. Cook County should be paying less for the suburban service it receives, based upon ridership, according to the resolution.

"The CTA primarily serves city residents and we are looking at potential options that would allow us to allocate funds for the benefit of all County residents," said Jessey Neves, a spokeswoman Preckwinkle.

But for the CTA, the stakes could be much higher than a relatively small $1.3 million funding cut: At risk is about $128 milion in discretionary money that the agency receives from the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees all Chicago-area transit agencies. State law stipulates that the RTA can't dole out that discretionary money unless the CTA receives a combined $5 million in support from both Chicago and Cook County, RTA Executive Director Joe Costello said in a statement to WBEZ.

That could turn up the pressure on the city to contribute more, even as it copes with its own budget problems.

“This resolution would violate a 30-year-old compact between the city, county and state to support mass transit in the region,” CTA spokesman Brian Steele said in a statement to WBEZ Friday. “Reducing this funding could possibly lead to some reduction of bus service in suburban Cook County.”

The CTA serves 40 suburbs. Agency representatives will show up to Tuesday’s County Board meeting to make their opinion known, Steele said.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office did not respond to requests for comment.

The board members maintain that while the county has traditionally handed over the money to the CTA, the transfer isn’t required by state law. The resolution is sponsored by Commissioners Joan Patricia Murphy, D-Crestwood; Peter Silvestri, R-Chicago; Deborah Sims, D-Chicago; and Jeffrey Tobolski, D-LaGrange.

None of the commissioners responded to interview requests Friday.

Preckwinkle and Dart hoping to cut costs, not safety services

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:36:00 -0600

The proposed 2012 Cook County budget would help plug a projected $315 million dollar deficit but it also reflected lots of tough decisions by Board President Toni Preckwinkle. The budget involved layoffs, new taxes and new fees; and there were quite a few proposals that could affect public safety. A task force will take a deeper look at a measure to share costs for Cook County’s policing services with unincorporated areas. Also, prison populations would go down – as many as 1,000 inmates would get out of jail over the next year. Eight Forty-Eight asked two people intimately involved in the plans, President Preckwinkle and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, to explain what the budgetary moves would mean for public safety.

Music Button: Justice, "Brainvision", from the album Audio Video Disco, (Elektra)