Supporters of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's bid for re-election to her post gathered for a fundraising event sponsored by Women for Preckwinkle at the headquarters of Christy Webber Landscapes, 2900 N. Ferdinand St., on Sept. 9.
"It's been an interesting ride these last four years," said Preckwinkle, who added that, "It's a mixed blessing to succeed someone who's inept. We've tried to clean things up in Cook County. It's been a challenge on the fiscal side and a challenge on the performance side."
In her first six months, she added, "I spent a lot of my time firing people, explaining [that the Board President's office] was not a place to employ family members, but a place to employ people."
Preckwinkle spoke about the challenges of making both the county's healthcare and public corrections systems sustainable.
The latter system, she said, was especially daunting, since only 7 percent of prisoners in Cook County Jail are serving a criminal sentence. The other 93 percent are awaiting trial, oftentimes for nonviolent, drug-related offenses.
"It's because we have a cash bond system, and most people simply can't afford to pay their bonds," Preckwinkle added. "We've got to figure out a way to make the system more fair and just."
She thinks the solution is allowing non-violent offenders to be released on their own recognizance. Such a system is employed in Washington, D.C. In that city, nonviolent offenders awaiting trial are let out of jail but receive regular phone calls, text messages and emails reminding them of their court dates.
"The majority of them show up for trial," Preckwinkle said, adding that such a system would save the County about $143 per prisoner per day. "Across the board, their system's results were not much different from ours."
Among those speaking at the gathering were Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts; Lynn Cutler, senior policy advisor at Holland & Knight LLP; and Leslie Pilot-Gatton, president of Gilead Management, LLC.