Endorsement: Spyropoulos for Cook County circuit court clerk

Mariyana Spyropoulos will carry high expectations on her shoulders when she likely assumes the office of Cook County circuit court clerk in December.

But her background, both as a working attorney and a 14-year commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board, gives us confidence that Spyropoulos is our best chance yet to finally free the office from the long years of scandal still lingering from the tenure of longtime clerk Dorothy Brown.

Spyropoulos, a Democrat, won the March primary over incumbent circuit clerk Iris Martinez, who legitimately has made some strides to modernize the office since winning it in 2020, when Brown didn’t run for re-election. In the Nov. 5 general election, Spyropoulos faces Republican Lupe Aguirre, an attorney and former Chicago police officer, who has not campaigned.

Spyropoulos, whose campaign has been largely self-funded, says her mission will be to bring integrity, transparency and modernization to the office that oversees Cook County’s enormous court system. She also aims to ensure that judges, attorneys and the public can get timely access to paperwork. She has helped bring some of that transparency to the MWRD.

Convinced that circuit clerk personnel are not allocated correctly, she promises an agencywide audit and to engage a consultant to ensure that the staff and office resources are being used efficiently. She wants the circuit clerk’s office to work with pro bono legal clinics to help lawyer-less people file the correct documentation.

Spyropoulos’ goal is a professional, transparent clerk's office accessible to everyone. She is endorsed.