Public defender may dump ex-county employee as client

The Cook County Public Defender's Office may be getting rid of Tony Cole - the ex-Cook County employee at the center of a hiring controversy - as a client.

The office will file a motion, to be heard Thursday at 9 a.m. by Judge James Patrick Murphy, questioning whether he shouldn't hire his own lawyer, using $4,000 in bond money that has been posted as payment, said Patrick Reardon, the First Assistant Public Defender.

The issue had been broached in passing at Cole's last hearing, but Cole informed the judge the bond money was not his. But Reardon noted for purposes of the court, the money is considered Cole's, and private attorneys are frequently paid out of such funds.

Cole was hired by county board President Todd Stroger and worked as an aide to ex-Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings, who personally bailed him out of jail twice after he was accused of violating an order of protection. It is her bond money that is on file.

Stroger eventually asked for Dunnings' resignation after a newspaper prepared to publicize the bail postings.

The state's attorney's office has subpoenaed Cole as part of a criminal investigation, but won't say what it is investigating.

In an interview Monday, Cole spoke highly of his public defender attorney, Peter Bormes, saying Bormes had done an "excellent" job last week in pointing out the unusual amount of attention probation officers paid to Cole, who is facing $200,000 bond for a mere misdemeanor charge. Cole has maintained that the charge and bail are being trumped up because of the larger issue at stake, his county employment and his knowledge of county secrets.

The Cook County public defender's office used to be headed by Edwin Burnette, who was bounced by Stroger after Burnette accused him of meddling in the office. Former Cook County Judge Abishi Cunningham now runs the office.