He ran against Toni Preckwinkle as a Democrat four years ago, but this election, former Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti is running as a Republican in an effort to unseat Preckwinkle as president of the Cook County Board.
The two candidates disagree on a slew of topics, including on the county’s pandemic response as well as the strategy to fight crime.
With $1 billion in federal COVID relief money sent to Cook County, Preckwinkle says those funds were meant to invest in the people, not paying debt.
This week, she’s promoting a new program devoted to mental health, telling reporters that “we’ve been very careful to try to make investments that will be impactful and not burden the taxpayers when the money runs out.”
Fioretti has a different vision for how the funds should be used.
“(We should) provide some of that COVID money to give job training to people who need it, to give them the right kind of training, that they can have a livable wage,” he said.
The differences don’t end with the handling of COVID, either. Fioretti has been a critic of the controversial “SAFE-T Act,” which will end cash bail in the state of Illinois on Jan. 1. Preckwinkle agrees with the new policy.
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“I think we’ve shown that this works and it’s fair to the people that come into criminal justice system who are poor and without resources,” she said.
The “SAFE-T Act” will allow judges to determine whether or not a defendant should be held in jail pending trial, based on criteria that include an evaluation of whether or not the defendant is a flight risk or if they pose a danger to an individual or the community at-large if released.
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Another issue on the docket is the handling of migrants who have been bussed to the Chicago area from Texas. With nearly 3,100 migrants having just arrived in the Chicago area, Preckwinkle says the current budget can absorb the costs, though she has also called for more federal aid.
Fioretti argues that not enough information has been shared to make a proper assessment, and that more transparency is needed.
“Who fits the bill? The county foots the bill for all those who are coming here, and we don’t even know the numbers,” he said.
Preckwinkle also has offered public support for embattled State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who is coping with a staffing crisis as she’s seen 235 prosecutors and staff resign in the past 15 months.
“I think the State’s Attorney has set a quite different course from her predecessors, and there are some people who are not on board with that, and if they’re not on board with that, it’s good that they’re gone, if you ask me,” she said.
With so much on the line, it is not known whether Preckwinkle and Fioretti will debate prior to the Feb. 28 municipal general elections, though Preckwinkle has thus far declined invitations to do so.
“Elections are about the future, how we treat our citizens, how we make sure we all have a good living here,” Fioretti said.
