It's time for Bianchi to step aside

We don't want to rush to judgment. And we can understand McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi's reflexive response to stay in his job while defending himself against a 21-count felony indictment.

But, one way or another, Bianchi needs to step aside as his case plays out. One way is for him to resign outright. Another is for him to take an unpaid leave of absence. Either way, it would show that he is putting the business of the people ahead of his own personal travails.

Bianchi, 67, a two-term Republican from Crystal Lake, was indicted by a grand jury Friday on charges he used county employees, equipment and funds for political purposes. Among the claims is that he tracked campaign donor lists on office computers and sent employees to political events during work hours.

He denies all charges. His attorney warned special prosecutors to "be ready for a war."

That's all well and good. But when people go to war, they need to focus on the matter at hand. Bianchi's trying to avoid a conviction that could put him in prison for as long as five years. That means he won't be able to focus on the duties he was elected to perform.

"I believe he has to focus on his defense, as anyone would, but that is something he will have to determine," said state Rep. Mike Tryon, chairman of the McHenry County Republican Party.

We urge Tryon and anyone else who can influence Bianchi to emphasize that it is in the best interest of the county for him to step down.

Even if he could focus on both tasks at once, Bianchi would be faced daily with conflict-of-interest issues, legal experts told Daily Herald staff writer Charles Keeshan in a Sunday article.

For example, how could Bianchi supervise assistants who have been named as witnesses in the investigation that led to his indictment? How can he represent the state at the same time the state is prosecuting him on corruption charges?

It all adds up to a messy situation. And we've seen messy situations before. We urged former Kane County State's Attorney Meg Gorecki to resign after she had her law license suspended for telling a friend a county job could be lined up in exchange for payoffs to the right people.

She never did resign, instead serving out her suspension and then the rest of her term with a cloud over the office.

And we urged former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign after he was indicted. He refused and so he was impeached. Once convicted on impeachment charges, the state Senate voted unanimously to remove him from office.

Bianchi says the indictment is part of a political conspiracy on the part of his opponents who are upset that he "restored integrity" to the state's attorney's office.

If true, the only way for him to keep that integrity intact and not allow the office to be compromised is by leaving it - at least for now.