Stroger Defends Transition To Preckwinkle

CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) - Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is defending the way he's handling the transition with incoming Board President—and critic—Toni Preckwinkle.

At the latest County Board meeting, Commissioner John Daley requested an update on the reportedly testy transition process and outgoing President Todd Stroger was eager to give him one.

Stroger tells commissioners he is working with incoming President Toni Preckwinkle, though he may not be providing her transition team with as much information as quickly as it seems to want.

Commissioner William Beavers, a Stroger ally, says Preckwinkle would get more cooperation if she stopped talking about how many country employees she'll fire when she takes over.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Mary Frances Bragiel Reports

He said Preckwinkle should "Listen, shut up and get over here and try to do some work. That's what you need to do. "

But, in fact, there's an ordinance that says County officials have to cooperate with the next President.

Alderman Preckwinkle's transition team issued a statement in response to Stroger's assertions. It reads: "The transition efforts got off to a slow start. As we've said before, we've had some cooperation within the different departments. But we've got three weeks for the rest of the transition and we, put simply, need more information and faster."

Newsradio 780 Political Editor Craig Dellimore contributed to this report.

In:
• Mary Frances Bragiel
• Todd Stroger
• Toni Preckwinkle