Toni Preckwinkle’s tenure as Cook County Board President and Democratic Party Chairperson has made Chicago less safe, undermined school quality, and helped make residents of Chicago and Cook County among the highest taxed in the nation. It’s time for a change
There is something about an election year that drives lawmakers to do just about anything to gain attention, generate positive media coverage, or influence public opinion in the lead-up to the polls. In another cheap stunt, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has cooked up a plan to give over 13,600 homeowners a one-time $1,000 check for property tax relief. This $15 million give-away leaves over 1.1 million homeowners and renters left out of the giveaway.
Ironic how this handout is being warmly received by the same people who admonished Dr. Willie Wilson’s charitable endeavors, which included helping poor families pay for their property taxes, out of his own pocket no less.
Recall that Toni Preckwinkle, alternatively known as the “Architect,” is not just the President of the County Board, but also the Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. Though Boss Toni deliberately maintains a low profile, which helps her evade much-deserved criticism, she recently announced her intent to seek reelection as Board president for a fifth term.
This property tax relief grant is about as contrived as Preckwinkle’s 2022 Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot. At the time, Preckwinkle boasted that it was the largest publicly funded, guaranteed income program in the nation. Spending $42 million in federal funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the two-year pilot provided monthly, no-strings-attached payments of $500 to 3,250 households.
For a little perspective, 748,776 of Cook County's 2.1 million households are struggling financially. Part of the trickery behind Preckwinkle’s $15 million election-year gimmick is the Board president securing the services of a politically connected vendor, an entity in poor standing with the state, to run the $15 million dollar program. The vendor is being paid $1.4 million to administer the program. With these types of stunts, it is little wonder property taxes on homeowners have risen 10-times the rate of their property values.
As Preckwinkle begins her quest for a fifth term, she will almost certainly make the case that effective fiscal management is one of the primary reasons that voters should return her to office. Yet, her leadership is lacking sound fiscal management. Preckwinkle’s budgets have grown from just over $3 billion in 2011 to an astounding $9.9 billion in 2024. Moreover, Preckwinkle has balanced her budgets at the expense of public safety, as 40.9 percent of the budget once went to public safety in the early stages of her term as Board president. Today, a mere 17 percent is appropriated to safety in County budgets.
To best serve readers, it will be helpful to complete the picture of the damage Preckwinkle has wrought.
- As Party Chairman, Preckwinkle selected and orchestrated the elections of Mayor Brandon Johnson, former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, and the members of the Democratic Socialist Party, all of whom have committed untold damage on Chicago and caused division in the Cook County Democratic Party.
- Preckwinkle is a close ally of CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, who uses the members of her union as a proxy army for Preckwinkle’s candidates and agenda. Davis Gates recently secured a second consecutive contract that will cost taxpayers another $1.5 billion, expanding union ranks and compensation while blocking any changes that will improve neighborhood schools or expand quality school choices for poor families.
- The “property tax relief” announcement comes on the heels of the Chicago Tribune’s story about the long-delayed, computer overhaul of the county’s property tax and court systems. The initial $75 million price tag has climbed to more than $185 million. In addition, the county spent $80 million on upkeep to maintain the old mainframe and to oversee the troubled contractor, bringing total taxpayer cost so far to $265 million, a Chicago Tribune investigation found.
- It is no coincidence that Preckwinkle’s hand-picked Co-Chair of the Cook County Democratic Party and designated partisan assassin, State Senator Robert Martwick, is a Cook County property tax appeals lawyer. Martwick’s law firm is in the lucrative business of appealing the Assessor’s valuations of his clients’ properties.
- Preckwinkle appointed Martwick to the Democratic “slating” committees that selects — you guessed it — the Tax Assessor, the Board of Review Commissioners, and Cook County Judges. Only in Preckwinkle’s Party could corruption be so blatant.
- Preckwinkle has spearheaded efforts to reduce incarceration, and during her tenure, the population of Cook County Jail population has been reduced by almost half. Releasing thousands arrested for crimes should have, at least, resulted in savings to the taxpayers, but the cuts in the jail population have been offset by substantial increases in salaries for members of her loyal political army, the healthcare unions, and raises for both members of her administration and for employees in Sheriff Tom Dart’s office.
- Preckwinkle, too, is the political driving force behind the Criminal Industrial Complex, which rewards law firms that either file litigation against or represent Cook County and the City of Chicago. Among this network are purported “civil rights” law firms that receive massive settlements, researchers who spread fictions about the “successes” of releasing violent criminals before trial, and the “advocates” who trumpet the propaganda that these policies somehow will protect victims of crime.
These lies, corruption, and fiscal mismanagement have all occurred while businesses and residents flee Cook County in record numbers due to the plague of violent crimes — which are a direct result of Preckwinkle’s “reforms” — and due to inconceivable property tax increases. While her mentee, Brandon Johnson, continues to lead Chicago down the path of destruction, as the 2026 election for County Board President nears, voters will get their chance to remove the "Architect" — or block her handpicked successor — from office.
If voters remain under Preckwinkle’s spell, the corruption and incompetent leadership that has made Chicago less safe, undermined school quality, and helped make the residents of Chicago and Cook County the highest taxed in the nation, will continue without interruption. And then, the "Architect" will win reelection, and Toni Preckwinkle will choose the next mayor.
