Toni Preckwinkle
Encyclopedia
Toni Reed Preckwinkle is the current Cook County Board President and a former alderman
in the Chicago City Council
representing Chicago
's 4th ward in Cook County
, Illinois
, United States. She was elected on November 2, 2010, as president of the Cook County Board. Preckwinkle first sought office in 1983 and was defeated twice before securing election in 1991 and subsequently being re-elected as alderman four times.
Preckwinkle has been an occasional critic of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
. In her first four terms in office she emerged as the council's prominent defender of affordable housing
. Among other issues, she is known for her sponsorship of living wage ordinances, her expressed concerns regarding the costs and benefits of the city's Olympic bid, and her strong stance against police brutality
and excessive force.
in the Hyde Park community area
, where she earned her bachelor's
and master's degree
s. She is married to Zeus Preckwinkle, a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Ancona Montessori School. They have two children. Her husband is Caucasian
, which at times has been a campaign issue.
After college, Preckwinkle spent ten years teaching history in several high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area, including Calumet High School, the Visitation School, and Aquinas.
In 1985 and 1986 Preckwinkle was President of the Disabled Adult Residential Enterprises (DARE). Preckwinkle has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Political Action
Director of the Near South Chapter of the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI-IPO)
. During and after her 1987 aldermanic election campaign, she worked as a planner for the Chicago Department of Economic Development. By 1990, she had become executive director of the Chicago Jobs Council, and become allied with civil rights attorney R. Eugene Pincham
.
Chicago's fourth ward is on the South Side of Chicago
, adjacent to the Lake Michigan
lakefront. It includes all of the Kenwood
and Oakland
community areas
, the northern portion of Hyde Park
and the eastern portions of the Washington Park, Grand Boulevard
and Douglas
community areas. The northern part of the ward (North of 45th Street) is predominantly poor and African American, while the more racially diverse southern half is predominantly middle and upper middle-class.
.
Evans was Chicago Mayor Harold Washington
's City Council floor leader and lieutenant.
In 1983, she gained enough support to force a runoff election.
(Chicago Aldermen are elected without regard to political party
affiliation, but must earn a majority of votes or the top two candidates have a runoff election. ) In the runoff, Preckwinkle carried traditionally "independent" precincts in Hyde-Park, but Evans was able to win by carrying the precincts in the north of the Ward.
In the 1987 elections, Evans defeated Preckwinkle by a 77% to 21% margin. In 1987, although both the Chicago Tribune
and Chicago Sun-Times
endorsed Evans, they praised Preckwinkle for her numerous qualities, including intelligence and independence, and expressed hopes she would continue in politics. Preckwinkle was endorsed by state Rep.
Carol Moseley Braun
and also by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
, but not by Harold Washington, who endorsed Evans.
On February 27, 2007, Preckwinkle was elected to her fifth four-year term.
Preckwinkle has developed a reputation for progressiveness. On the City Council Preckwinkle was known as a progressive member, independent of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley
, with whom she dissented more often than any other alderman. Preckwinkle is one of the few aldermen on the current City Council occasionally critical of the policies of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
. In 2004, she and Dorothy Tillman
were the only aldermen to vote against the Mayor's city budget, and in 2005, Preckwinkle was the lone dissenter. Preckwinkle has supported the majority of legislation advanced by the mayor and his allies, including most of Daley’s annual budget proposals; his controversial use of tax increment financing
, an economic development program in which tax revenues are funneled into accounts controlled almost exclusively by the mayor; and, ultimately, his quest to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Preckwinkle has championed set-asides for affordable housing
as her signature issue, and the municipal ordinances she sponsored in 1993 and 1999 for affordable housing increased city expenditures on low and moderate income housing by 50 percent. In 2007, she pushed for increases in the existing Affordable Requirements Ordinance. This mandates housing developers using land bought at a discount from the city to make at least 10 percent of their housing units "affordable", or to contribute money to an affordable-housing fund by increasing the percentage to 15 percent. The issue is considered a key element in the debate about ending homelessness
in Chicago. Her detailed knowledge of public housing has been recognised in the national press, which has cited her defense of the maligned Vince Lane when the federal government took over Chicago's public housing
projects.
Preckwinkle was a co-sponsor of the living wage
ordinances that passed the city counsel in 1998 and 2002. On July 26, 2006 Preckwinkle was one of 35 aldermen who voted to approve the 2006 Chicago Big Box Ordinance
sponsored by Alderman Joe Moore
(49th) which for 7 weeks made Chicago the largest United States city that required big-box retailers
to pay a "living wage."
In October 2007 Preckwinkle opposed naming a landmark in the 4th ward for 1976 Nobel literature
laureate Saul Bellow
, reportedly on the grounds that Bellow had made remarks that Preckwinkle considered racist. She also opposed the renaming of a stretch of street near the original Playboy Club
"Hugh Hefner
Way",
In 2006, Preckwinkle decided to paint over two 36-year-old, unmaintained and severely damaged public murals in the 47th Street Metra
underpass. The murals had been created by graffiti
artists, working with permission from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and had represented themes that included Latin-American, African, Mayan
, Indian, and Native American
spiritual
practices. The walls were later covered with newly-commissioned murals: one is made up of a series of ceramic tiles and the other is a traditional painted mural featuring the city and important historical South Side figures, including former Alderman Dorothy Tillman
.
Preckwinkle has been outspoken in support of the city settling the Jon Burge
torture case, rather than continuing to spend money in the litigation process. Preckwinkle has also been proactive in the effort to pursue compensation for victims of police brutality in the Jon Burge
cases and sought hearings on the initial special prosecutor
's report. She has been a critic of the decades-long delay in settling the case, and she was a proponent of the settlement.
In 2007, Preckwinkle pursued disclosure of Chicago Police Department
officers who used excessive force
. The United States District Court
had ruled that the records be unsealed and made available to the public. However, on July 13, 2007 the city, through its corporation counsel, filed an emergency motion to stay the judge's order. When the city argued in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to against disclosure, it made the point that aldermen would have access to the information. Preckwinkle's August 23, 2007 request for disclosure was denied.
The unsuccessful Chicago 2016 Olympic bid
placed the main site of the $1.1 billion residential complex, which would have accommodated athletes in an Olympic Village
in the 4th Ward. Preckwinkle expressed her reservations about the initial plan, and was involved in plan revisions. Since the planned construction was almost entirely in her ward, she expressed concern that her constituents were not offered a chance to voice their concerns with the plan. She was an early advocate of moving what would have been the Olympic Village from the McCormick Place truck yard to the Michael Reese Hospital site. On March 14, 2007 Preckwinkle joined four other South Side aldermen in voting against a $500 million public-funded guarantee to back up Chicago's Olympics bid. On September 9, 2009 Preckwinkle voted to authorize Mayor Richard Daley to sign the International Olympic Committee's host city contract that included financial guarantees putting full responsibility for the Olympics and its proposed $4.8 billion operating budget on taxpayers.
Preckwinkle succeeded Evans as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman in 1992, defeating former Evans administrative assistant Johnnie E. Hill by 6,227 to 2,327 votes in the March 17, 1992 primary election; Evans had filed nominating petitions to run for re-election as committeeman and run for judge, but withdrew his name from the ballot for committeeman so his name would only appear once on the ballot, for the judgeship (to which he was elected).
Preckwinkle was re-elected as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman on March 19, 1996, running unopposed on the ballot after her successful challenges to the nominating petitions of Charles S. Williams and her 1995 and 1999 aldermanic challenger Kwame Raoul
, who were both just a few dozen signatures short of the number required to earn a place on the ballot.
Preckwinkle was re-elected, again running unopposed on the ballot, as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman in March 2000, March 2004 and February 2008.
On November 6, 2004, the 10 Democratic ward committeemen whose wards make up parts of the 13th Illinois legislative district voted to appoint Kwame Raoul to the state senate seat vacated two days earlier by then U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama; 4th Ward Democratic committeeman Preckwinkle and 5th Ward Democratic committeeman Leslie Hairston
had the largest says in the appointment with 29% and 27%, respectively, of the weighted-vote based on the percentage of votes cast in each ward in the 13th legislative district for Obama in the November 5, 2002 general election.
Preckwinkle chairs the ward organization, the Fourth Ward Democratic Organization, which was one of sixteen Chicago Democratic ward organizations named in a complaint filed on August 31, 2005 with the Illinois State Board of Elections by the Cook County
Republican Party
charging that Democratic Party ward organizations are illegally housed in City-funded neighborhood ward offices. Taxpayers fund aldermanic service centers, which are open to the public. State law prohibits the use of public funds by any candidate for political or campaign purposes. The complaint against Preckwinkle's ward organization was one of nine that a Hearing Officer appointed by the Board recommended proceed to the next step of the hearing process, an Open Preliminary Hearing. On October 17, 2005, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Elections, the Board entered an executive session
and voted, in a 4–4 tie, along strict party lines, failing to adopt the recommendation of the Hearing Officer, and ordered the complaints dismissed. The complaint against Preckwinkle's ward organization was one of eight that the Cook County Republican Party appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Illinois
. On January 23, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Illinois appellate court to conduct a judicial review of the Board's dismissals of the complaints.
Preckwinkle nominated Joseph Berrios for re-election as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Cook County at a meeting of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee on March 3, 2010. At the time Berrios was the incumbent chairman as well as a commissioner with the Cook County Board of Review and the Democratic candidate for Cook County Assessor. Berrios was re-elected.
cover story on Barack Obama's political origins.
The article begins by recounting a 1995 meeting between Preckwinkle and Obama in which he discussed a possible run for the Illinois Senate seat then held by Alice Palmer. According to the New Yorker's account, Preckwinkle "soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful." In 1995, she successfully challenged the signatures of Obama's opponents in the Democratic Primary for the Illinois Senate, allowing Obama to run unopposed.
Preckwinkle supported Barack Obama early in his political career, endorsing him in his campaigns for Illinois Senate in 1995–6, U.S. House in 1999–2000
, and U.S. Senate
in 2003–4. She was among those who encouraged Barack Obama
to make his first run for the United States Congress
in 2000, and she was an early supporter when he ran in 2004. When Obama later became a United States Senator
following the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois
, Preckwinkle had a large say in his Illinois State Senate replacement. She became Obama's Alderman when he moved from Hyde Park to South Kenwood in June, 2005.
According to the New Yorker article, Preckwinkle had since become "disenchanted" with Obama. The article’s author suggested that Preckwinkle's "grievances" against Obama were motivated by Preckwinkle's perception that Obama was disloyal. Notwithstanding any such concerns, Preckwinkle was an Obama delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
in January 2009. She launched her campaign website on June 18, 2009. On February 2, 2010 she won the Democratic Primary, defeating the incumbent Board President Todd Stroger
, among others. Preckwinkle faced Roger Keats, the Republican nominee, in the November general election. On November 2, Preckwinkle became the first woman elected as Cook County President by capturing over two-thirds of the vote. Her Republican opponent received only 26% of the vote, and then moved out of Illinois. She recommended that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
appoint Will Burns to succeed her as Fourth Ward Alderman, but Burns noted a preference to run in an open primary. Mayor Daley appointed Shirley Newsome as 4th Ward Alderman on January 12, 2011.
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
in the Chicago City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
representing Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's 4th ward in Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States. She was elected on November 2, 2010, as president of the Cook County Board. Preckwinkle first sought office in 1983 and was defeated twice before securing election in 1991 and subsequently being re-elected as alderman four times.
Preckwinkle has been an occasional critic of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
. In her first four terms in office she emerged as the council's prominent defender of affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
. Among other issues, she is known for her sponsorship of living wage ordinances, her expressed concerns regarding the costs and benefits of the city's Olympic bid, and her strong stance against police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
and excessive force.
Early life, family, and career
Preckwinkle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, moving to Chicago to study at the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in the Hyde Park community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
, where she earned her bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
and master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
s. She is married to Zeus Preckwinkle, a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Ancona Montessori School. They have two children. Her husband is Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
, which at times has been a campaign issue.
After college, Preckwinkle spent ten years teaching history in several high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area, including Calumet High School, the Visitation School, and Aquinas.
In 1985 and 1986 Preckwinkle was President of the Disabled Adult Residential Enterprises (DARE). Preckwinkle has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Political Action
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
Director of the Near South Chapter of the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI-IPO)
Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization is an independent, not-for-profit, Illinois political organization. Often referred to by its acronym, IVI-IPO, has roots dating to 1944, when the Independent Voters of Illinois was founded. In 1979 the IVI merged with the...
. During and after her 1987 aldermanic election campaign, she worked as a planner for the Chicago Department of Economic Development. By 1990, she had become executive director of the Chicago Jobs Council, and become allied with civil rights attorney R. Eugene Pincham
R. Eugene Pincham
R. Eugene Pincham was a pioneering African American civil rights attorney, judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, justice of the Appellate Court of Illinois, and ardent critic of the U.S. criminal justice system...
.
The 4th Ward
South Side (Chicago)
The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
, adjacent to the Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
lakefront. It includes all of the Kenwood
Kenwood, Chicago
Kenwood, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the 77 well-defined Chicago community areas.Kenwood was part of Hyde Park Township, which was annexed by the City of Chicago in 1889....
and Oakland
Oakland, Chicago
Oakland, located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA, is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Some of Chicago's great old homes maybe seen on Drexell Boulvard. 19th century women's rights and Jewish activist Hannah Greenebaum lived in Oakland. The late 19th century...
community areas
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
, the northern portion of Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Chicago
Hyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...
and the eastern portions of the Washington Park, Grand Boulevard
Grand Boulevard, Chicago
Grand Boulevard, located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the well-defined Chicago Community Areas. The boulevard from which the community area takes its name now bears the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive...
and Douglas
Douglas, Chicago
Douglas, located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas. The neighborhood is named for Stephen A. Douglas, a famous Illinois politician, whose estate included a tract of land given to the federal government...
community areas. The northern part of the ward (North of 45th Street) is predominantly poor and African American, while the more racially diverse southern half is predominantly middle and upper middle-class.
Unsuccessful campaigns for alderman
In her first two aldermanic election attempts for the 4th ward, in 1983 and 1987, Preckwinkle lost to the incumbent, Timothy C. EvansTimothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. He is the first black Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court and a graduate of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He was first elected to the bench in 1992....
.
Evans was Chicago Mayor Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
's City Council floor leader and lieutenant.
In 1983, she gained enough support to force a runoff election.
(Chicago Aldermen are elected without regard to political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
affiliation, but must earn a majority of votes or the top two candidates have a runoff election. ) In the runoff, Preckwinkle carried traditionally "independent" precincts in Hyde-Park, but Evans was able to win by carrying the precincts in the north of the Ward.
In the 1987 elections, Evans defeated Preckwinkle by a 77% to 21% margin. In 1987, although both the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
and Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
endorsed Evans, they praised Preckwinkle for her numerous qualities, including intelligence and independence, and expressed hopes she would continue in politics. Preckwinkle was endorsed by state Rep.
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an American feminist politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the first and to date only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an...
and also by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization is an independent, not-for-profit, Illinois political organization. Often referred to by its acronym, IVI-IPO, has roots dating to 1944, when the Independent Voters of Illinois was founded. In 1979 the IVI merged with the...
, but not by Harold Washington, who endorsed Evans.
Third campaign for alderman
In 1991 Preckwinkle and four others challenged Evans for the 4th ward alderman's position. In the first round of voting on February 26, 1991, she won nearly one-third popular vote in the ward by winning 20 of 58 precincts (all in the Hyde Park-Kenwood community). Evans and Preckwinkle again advanced to a runoff election, as they had in 1983, but this time the majority of the eliminated candidates endorsed Preckwinkle. On April 2, 1991, Preckwinkle performed better in the northern part of the ward and was elected by a 109 vote margin, defeating the 17-year incumbent alderman Evans.Alderman
Preckwinkle has developed a reputation for progressiveness. On the City Council Preckwinkle was known as a progressive member, independent of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
, with whom she dissented more often than any other alderman. Preckwinkle is one of the few aldermen on the current City Council occasionally critical of the policies of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
. In 2004, she and Dorothy Tillman
Dorothy Tillman
Dorothy J. Tillman is a former Chicago alderman in the 3rd Ward . A member of the Democratic Party, she represented part of the city's South Side in the Chicago City Council. As an Alderman, Tillman was a strong advocate of reparations for slavery. In April 2007, she was defeated in a runoff...
were the only aldermen to vote against the Mayor's city budget, and in 2005, Preckwinkle was the lone dissenter. Preckwinkle has supported the majority of legislation advanced by the mayor and his allies, including most of Daley’s annual budget proposals; his controversial use of tax increment financing
Tax increment financing
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is a public financing method which has been used as a subsidy for redevelopment and community improvement projects in many countries including the United States for more than 50 years...
, an economic development program in which tax revenues are funneled into accounts controlled almost exclusively by the mayor; and, ultimately, his quest to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Preckwinkle has championed set-asides for affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
as her signature issue, and the municipal ordinances she sponsored in 1993 and 1999 for affordable housing increased city expenditures on low and moderate income housing by 50 percent. In 2007, she pushed for increases in the existing Affordable Requirements Ordinance. This mandates housing developers using land bought at a discount from the city to make at least 10 percent of their housing units "affordable", or to contribute money to an affordable-housing fund by increasing the percentage to 15 percent. The issue is considered a key element in the debate about ending homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
in Chicago. Her detailed knowledge of public housing has been recognised in the national press, which has cited her defense of the maligned Vince Lane when the federal government took over Chicago's public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
projects.
Preckwinkle was a co-sponsor of the living wage
Living wage
In public policy, a living wage is the minimum hourly income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs . These needs include shelter and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition...
ordinances that passed the city counsel in 1998 and 2002. On July 26, 2006 Preckwinkle was one of 35 aldermen who voted to approve the 2006 Chicago Big Box Ordinance
2006 Chicago Big Box Ordinance
On July 26, 2006 the Chicago City Council voted to approve an ordinance sponsored by Alderman Joe Moore which for 7 weeks made Chicago the largest United States city that required big-box retailers to pay what its sponsors characterized as a "living wage." This legislation was widely watched and...
sponsored by Alderman Joe Moore
Joe Moore (politician)
Joseph Moore is the alderman representing the 49th Ward of the City of Chicago. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was first elected to the City Council in 1991 and re-elected in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011....
(49th) which for 7 weeks made Chicago the largest United States city that required big-box retailers
Big-box store
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store...
to pay a "living wage."
In October 2007 Preckwinkle opposed naming a landmark in the 4th ward for 1976 Nobel literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
laureate Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
, reportedly on the grounds that Bellow had made remarks that Preckwinkle considered racist. She also opposed the renaming of a stretch of street near the original Playboy Club
Playboy Club
The Playboy Club initially was a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first club opened at 116 E. Walton Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States, on February 29, 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room...
"Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
Way",
In 2006, Preckwinkle decided to paint over two 36-year-old, unmaintained and severely damaged public murals in the 47th Street Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...
underpass. The murals had been created by graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artists, working with permission from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and had represented themes that included Latin-American, African, Mayan
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, Indian, and Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
practices. The walls were later covered with newly-commissioned murals: one is made up of a series of ceramic tiles and the other is a traditional painted mural featuring the city and important historical South Side figures, including former Alderman Dorothy Tillman
Dorothy Tillman
Dorothy J. Tillman is a former Chicago alderman in the 3rd Ward . A member of the Democratic Party, she represented part of the city's South Side in the Chicago City Council. As an Alderman, Tillman was a strong advocate of reparations for slavery. In April 2007, she was defeated in a runoff...
.
Preckwinkle has been outspoken in support of the city settling the Jon Burge
Jon Burge
Jon Graham Burge is a convicted felon and former Chicago Police Department detective and commander who gained notoriety for allegedly torturing more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991, in order to force confessions...
torture case, rather than continuing to spend money in the litigation process. Preckwinkle has also been proactive in the effort to pursue compensation for victims of police brutality in the Jon Burge
Jon Burge
Jon Graham Burge is a convicted felon and former Chicago Police Department detective and commander who gained notoriety for allegedly torturing more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991, in order to force confessions...
cases and sought hearings on the initial special prosecutor
Special prosecutor
A special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have...
's report. She has been a critic of the decades-long delay in settling the case, and she was a proponent of the settlement.
In 2007, Preckwinkle pursued disclosure of Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
officers who used excessive force
Excessive Force
Excessive Force is a musical side project started in 1991 by Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM and Buzz McCoy of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.-History:...
. The United States District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
had ruled that the records be unsealed and made available to the public. However, on July 13, 2007 the city, through its corporation counsel, filed an emergency motion to stay the judge's order. When the city argued in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to against disclosure, it made the point that aldermen would have access to the information. Preckwinkle's August 23, 2007 request for disclosure was denied.
The unsuccessful Chicago 2016 Olympic bid
Chicago 2016 Olympic bid
The Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful campaign, first recognized by the International Olympic Committee on September 14, 2007...
placed the main site of the $1.1 billion residential complex, which would have accommodated athletes in an Olympic Village
Olympic Village
An Olympic Village is an accommodation centre built for an Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, athletic trainers, and other staff. Since the Munich Massacre at the 1972...
in the 4th Ward. Preckwinkle expressed her reservations about the initial plan, and was involved in plan revisions. Since the planned construction was almost entirely in her ward, she expressed concern that her constituents were not offered a chance to voice their concerns with the plan. She was an early advocate of moving what would have been the Olympic Village from the McCormick Place truck yard to the Michael Reese Hospital site. On March 14, 2007 Preckwinkle joined four other South Side aldermen in voting against a $500 million public-funded guarantee to back up Chicago's Olympics bid. On September 9, 2009 Preckwinkle voted to authorize Mayor Richard Daley to sign the International Olympic Committee's host city contract that included financial guarantees putting full responsibility for the Olympics and its proposed $4.8 billion operating budget on taxpayers.
Democratic Party Committeeman
Preckwinkle is also the Democratic Committeeman for the 4th Ward, a position within the Cook County Democratic Party. Each of the 50 wards of the city and the 30 townships of Cook County elect a Democratic Committeeman to the Cook County Central Committee. These committeemen form the official governing body of the Cook County Democratic Party which, among other purposes, endeavors to attract, endorse, and support qualified Democratic candidates for office.Preckwinkle succeeded Evans as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman in 1992, defeating former Evans administrative assistant Johnnie E. Hill by 6,227 to 2,327 votes in the March 17, 1992 primary election; Evans had filed nominating petitions to run for re-election as committeeman and run for judge, but withdrew his name from the ballot for committeeman so his name would only appear once on the ballot, for the judgeship (to which he was elected).
Preckwinkle was re-elected as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman on March 19, 1996, running unopposed on the ballot after her successful challenges to the nominating petitions of Charles S. Williams and her 1995 and 1999 aldermanic challenger Kwame Raoul
Kwame Raoul
Kwame Raoul is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 13th district since his appointment to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama in 2004...
, who were both just a few dozen signatures short of the number required to earn a place on the ballot.
Preckwinkle was re-elected, again running unopposed on the ballot, as 4th Ward Democratic committeeman in March 2000, March 2004 and February 2008.
On November 6, 2004, the 10 Democratic ward committeemen whose wards make up parts of the 13th Illinois legislative district voted to appoint Kwame Raoul to the state senate seat vacated two days earlier by then U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama; 4th Ward Democratic committeeman Preckwinkle and 5th Ward Democratic committeeman Leslie Hairston
Leslie Hairston
Leslie Hairston is alderman of the 5th ward of the City of Chicago; she was elected in 1999. She was re-elected in 2003 & 2011.-Early life:...
had the largest says in the appointment with 29% and 27%, respectively, of the weighted-vote based on the percentage of votes cast in each ward in the 13th legislative district for Obama in the November 5, 2002 general election.
Preckwinkle chairs the ward organization, the Fourth Ward Democratic Organization, which was one of sixteen Chicago Democratic ward organizations named in a complaint filed on August 31, 2005 with the Illinois State Board of Elections by the Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
charging that Democratic Party ward organizations are illegally housed in City-funded neighborhood ward offices. Taxpayers fund aldermanic service centers, which are open to the public. State law prohibits the use of public funds by any candidate for political or campaign purposes. The complaint against Preckwinkle's ward organization was one of nine that a Hearing Officer appointed by the Board recommended proceed to the next step of the hearing process, an Open Preliminary Hearing. On October 17, 2005, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Elections, the Board entered an executive session
Executive session
An executive session is a portion of the United States Senate's daily session in which it considers nominations and treaties, or other items introduced by the President of the United States. These items are termed executive business; therefore, the session is an executive session. It can either be...
and voted, in a 4–4 tie, along strict party lines, failing to adopt the recommendation of the Hearing Officer, and ordered the complaints dismissed. The complaint against Preckwinkle's ward organization was one of eight that the Cook County Republican Party appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Illinois
Supreme Court of Illinois
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five appellate judicial districts of the state: Three justices from the First District and...
. On January 23, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Illinois appellate court to conduct a judicial review of the Board's dismissals of the complaints.
Preckwinkle nominated Joseph Berrios for re-election as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Cook County at a meeting of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee on March 3, 2010. At the time Berrios was the incumbent chairman as well as a commissioner with the Cook County Board of Review and the Democratic candidate for Cook County Assessor. Berrios was re-elected.
Relationship with Barack Obama
Preckwinkle's views on Obama were prominently featured in a July 2008 New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
cover story on Barack Obama's political origins.
The article begins by recounting a 1995 meeting between Preckwinkle and Obama in which he discussed a possible run for the Illinois Senate seat then held by Alice Palmer. According to the New Yorker's account, Preckwinkle "soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful." In 1995, she successfully challenged the signatures of Obama's opponents in the Democratic Primary for the Illinois Senate, allowing Obama to run unopposed.
Preckwinkle supported Barack Obama early in his political career, endorsing him in his campaigns for Illinois Senate in 1995–6, U.S. House in 1999–2000
Illinois's 1st congressional district election, 2000
The 2000 United States House of Representatives election for the 1st district in Illinois took place on November 7, 2000. While incumbent Democratic Representative Bobby Rush handily defeated his Republican opponent, Raymond Wardingley, this race is noteworthy for the primary challenge Rush...
, and U.S. Senate
United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004
The 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term. The Democratic and Republican primary elections were held in March, which included a total of 15 candidates who combined to spend a...
in 2003–4. She was among those who encouraged Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to make his first run for the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 2000, and she was an early supporter when he ran in 2004. When Obama later became a United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
following the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois
United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004
The 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term. The Democratic and Republican primary elections were held in March, which included a total of 15 candidates who combined to spend a...
, Preckwinkle had a large say in his Illinois State Senate replacement. She became Obama's Alderman when he moved from Hyde Park to South Kenwood in June, 2005.
According to the New Yorker article, Preckwinkle had since become "disenchanted" with Obama. The article’s author suggested that Preckwinkle's "grievances" against Obama were motivated by Preckwinkle's perception that Obama was disloyal. Notwithstanding any such concerns, Preckwinkle was an Obama delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Campaign for Cook County Board President
Preckwinkle announced that she would run for President of the Cook County BoardCook County Board of Commissioners
The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district for four year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the nation's second largest county with a population of 5.2 million residents...
in January 2009. She launched her campaign website on June 18, 2009. On February 2, 2010 she won the Democratic Primary, defeating the incumbent Board President Todd Stroger
Todd Stroger
Todd H. Stroger is the former president of the Cook County, Illinois Board and a former alderman for the 8th Ward in Chicago. Stroger is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chicago City Council by Richard M. Daley...
, among others. Preckwinkle faced Roger Keats, the Republican nominee, in the November general election. On November 2, Preckwinkle became the first woman elected as Cook County President by capturing over two-thirds of the vote. Her Republican opponent received only 26% of the vote, and then moved out of Illinois. She recommended that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
appoint Will Burns to succeed her as Fourth Ward Alderman, but Burns noted a preference to run in an open primary. Mayor Daley appointed Shirley Newsome as 4th Ward Alderman on January 12, 2011.
External links
- Toni Preckwinkle Cook County Transition
- Alderman Toni Preckwinkle Biography official City of Chicago site
- Full coverage at the Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
- Candidate: Toni Preckwinkle at the Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
- Profile at Cook County Democrats
- Supporters of Ald. Toni Preckwinkle