Gun violence, public corruption top issues for Cook County state’s attorney candidates
Combating gun violence and prosecuting public corruption are among the top priorities for Cook County state’s attorney candidates Democrat Eileen O’Neill Burke, a retired appellate court judge, and Republican Bob Fioretti, a former Chicago alderman.
They are vying to replace Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who is not running for a third term.
Prosecutors will file detention petitions “each and every time someone is caught with an assault weapon, including guns that have switches and extended magazines,” Burke said during a recent Daily Herald endorsement interview.
Prosecutors also will ask “for detention each and every time someone is charged with forcible felony with a gun, knife or some type of weapon,” she said. And they will request detention for individuals charged with a forcible felony in sexual assault cases and individuals charged with committing a violent crime on public transit.
Fioretti called gun violence a top priority.
“I’m going to get (illegal guns) off the street,” said Fioretti during a separate Daily Herald endorsement interview. “Anyone having an illegal gun is definitely going to be charged.”
Investigating and prosecuting public corruption also ranks high on the candidates’ to-do lists.
Burke referenced how at one time, federal prosecutors targeted “big fish” — like former Chicago alderman Ed Burke, convicted of racketeering and bribery, and former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, currently on trial for a racketeering and bribery scheme involving ComEd — while county prosecutors targeted lower- level officials.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year opened the possibility of more county-based public corruption prosecution. According to Burke, the decision “gutted one of the tools” U.S. attorneys use to prosecute public corruption. In its decision, the high court narrowed federal corruption laws targeting elected officials by reversing the conviction of former Portage, Indiana Mayor James Snyder. Snyder was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity after he accepted $13,000 from a trucking company from which the city purchased five trash trucks. The court held that the federal law used to convict Snyder applies only to situations where the official accepts a gift before taking government action, not for a gratuity offered afterward.
Illinois’ anti-corruption statutes remain in place, said Burke, meaning charges that can no longer be prosecuted federally may be brought by a county prosecutor. To that end, Burke says, if elected, she will recruit former assistant U.S. attorneys to join the office’s public corruption unit.
“I want the public corruption unit to be the best possible unit we can be and now we have an opportunity,” she said.
Fioretti agreed “the (state's attorney’s) public integrity unit needs some beefing up,” adding that public and private corruption is an ongoing problem.
“Not enough attention is paid to public corruption,” Fioretti wrote in a Daily Herald candidate questionnaire. “That will change when I am in office.”
Additionally, Fioretti intends to ask the Cook County Board for resources to investigate the property tax system if he’s elected.
“We have abundant anecdotal information that the system is rife with corruption and insider dealing,” he wrote in the questionnaire. “The average residential homeowner has no voice in the process. I intend to be that voice.”