A.D. Q&A with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board and chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, has been at the center of local politics, power and policy for years, so she has a lot of critical issues to discuss, from COVID struggles at the county’s health system and what suburbanites are getting for their federal relief money to three major retirements among county commissioners and what the party might do to replace them, and her worries about big money – specifically Ken Griffin’s money – in politics. Preckwinkle also provides an update on the ongoing spat that’s pitted county officials against Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown: the source of the surge in violence locally. Lightfoot says she’s gotten nowhere in efforts to address what she says is the big problem: electronic monitoring. That’s just garbage, Preckwinkle says, pointing to low arrests and a historic mistrust of cops in neighborhoods. But there’s some room for optimism there as well, which she discusses. Also on the agenda: Preckwinkle’s thoughts on guaranteed basic income, and why she thinks one of her riskiest political moves – raising the sales tax – was worth it.