(New York Times) — It is a longstanding practice for Cook County’s Democratic Party heavyweights to dismiss would-be reformers as weaklings and phonies. But this year provides a twist: While the party leadership has embraced Toni Preckwinkle, who is campaigning as a reformer for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, some activists and commentators have grown skeptical that she really is as independent as she has claimed.
