Preckwinkle To Slackers: 'The Party's Over'
CHICAGO (CBS) - The first woman to be elected as the president of the Cook County Board sent a warning to workers who might be slacking off on the job – the party is over.
Longtime Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) won the race with 69 percent of the vote, of 902,923 votes, compared with 27 percent, or 347,317 votes, for Roger Keats and 4 percent, or 52,407 votes, for Green Party candidate Tom Tresser. A total of 98 percent of the precincts were reporting.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports Preckwinle had a simple explanation for her victory. She explained that she ran as a Democrat in a Ddemocratic county for a position that has been held by Democrats for more than 30 years.
"I'm proud to stand here as your next Cook County Board president," Preckwinkle told a crowd of supporters.
The 63-year-old alderman becomes the first woman to be elected to the county wide office.
"Surely as a woman, I'm going to be sensitive to women's issues as president of the County Board," such as "continuing to have abortions at Cook County hospital (and) being sure that women have opportunities to be vendors for the county."
Tucker reports Prekwinkle will have to work twice as hard as her male predecessors. She inherits a budget deficit of at least $250 million.
She promised supporters she would end patronage, root out waste and get rid of lazy workers.
"People would come up to me and say, 'I'm a county employee,' but there are people in my office who read the newspaper all day or make personal calls all day," she said. "The party's over."
Preckwinkle hasn't even moved in her office yet, but she's already started working. She launched a transition website and said anyone who wants a job with the county should please apply.
Preckwinkle was first elected alderman of the 4th Ward in 1991, representing parts of the Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland and Bronzeville neighborhoods. After coming up short in 1983 and 1987, she defeated Ald. Timothy Evans (4th), a onetime mayoral candidate who now serves as chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Preckwinkle moved to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees. Before becoming alderman, she spent a decade as a history teacher, and also served as executive director for the Chicago Jobs Council, a city coordinator of economic development, and a development officer for the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club.
