The council will be the county's counterpart to World Business Chicago, a city-funded nonprofit that MayorRahm Emanuel retooled soon after his election and whose board he has tried to leverage to recruit new companies to the region.

The members of Preckwinkle's new council are more diverse, both in race and gender, than the additions Emanuel made to the World Business Chicago's board, but the county announcement comes almost one year to the day after Emanuel's. In that time, the mayor has been aggressive on economic development. His press office frequently issues news releases on job announcements big and small, even when city resources or staff do not appear to be the linchpin in the relocation or job growth.

"I think one of the clear differences is our predecessors," Preckwinkle said, referring to former Mayor Richard M. Daley and former Board President Todd Stroger. "When I walked in the door, I had no budget, no plan for a budget, nothing. ... We frankly have been focused internally on cleaning up the mess ... and (we've had) ongoing federal investigations. I don't think Rahm had to deal with those kinds of issues when he walked in."

World Business Chicago Vice Chairman Michael Sackswill serve on Preckwinkle's advisory board, which will help with coordination between the two groups. From Preckwinkle's perspective, enticing businesses to move from the suburbs to the city, or vice versa, will not help the regional economy, so she doesn't see the advisory board getting into the game of trying to, say, lure a business from Lake County to Cook County.

"We need to focus on broad economic growth, not this crazy stealing of jobs from elsewhere," she said. "It's a waste of energy and it's counterproductive."

Preckwinkle, a Democrat, singled out Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for his "shortsightedness and mean-spiritedness" in his efforts to recruit Illinois companies to Wisconsin. She also criticized a recent decision by the village of Rosemont to spend taxpayer money on a new headquarters and museum for the Big Ten Conference, which is moving less than two miles away from a facility in Park Ridge.

"That's more about the zero-sum game, and that's not what we're playing," she said. The council will focus on "how we can strengthen our region and make it more vibrant economically. That does not mean moving jobs around on the chess board."

County documents lay out potential topics for the council to tackle, including selecting industries to focus on, improving the community development block grant program, more aggressive promotion of a tax-incentive program to get abandoned buildings back on the tax rolls and further consolidation of government agencies and purchasing decisions to save money and reduce hassles.

In an interview Wednesday, Rogers added improving support for minority-owned businesses.

"I think it's an important part of Toni's spirit, and it's something I agree strongly with," Rogers said.