Endorsement: O’Neill Burke for Cook County state’s attorney

One prominent observation that comes from evaluating the campaigns of the candidates seeking the nation’s second-largest prosecutor’s office is how similar their concerns are. Both retired Appellate Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke, a Democrat, and Republican Bob Fioretti are highly critical of recent trends in the office and want to restore its image as an effective instrument in the fight against crime

But, for the most part, the comparison ends there.

Not only is O’Neill Burke critical of much that has happened in the office in recent years, she has specific plans to address her concerns and intends to implement them without delay. As a retired justice, a former criminal defense attorney and a former assistant state’s attorney, she has direct experience from nearly every entry point with this office and the criminal justice system more broadly.

She cites as her top priority the need to gain control of what she sees as a “surge of gun violence in our community.” And she recognizes that achieving that goal, as well as all goals involved in reducing crime and supporting victims, depends on establishing, as she writes in answers to the Daily Herald questionnaire, both a “robust felony prosecutor division to go after violent crime and a restorative justice bureau to handle low-level offenses when the offender can get back on track before they turn to violent crime.” The issue isn’t just dealing with crimes after they have occurred; it’s also creating systems that prevent them from occurring in the first place.

Part of that objective requires rebuilding and upgrading the office’s cadre of assistant state’s attorneys, a goal that both O’Neill Burke and Fioretti hold. But O’Neill Burke advances it with detailed plans to make ongoing training a constant and fundamental element of the office’s activities.

Fioretti offers some relevant qualifications. As a former Chicago alderman, he has direct insights into government operations. As an attorney who has handled high-profile civil rights cases, he understands the judicial system and is aware of areas that need to be addressed. He previously has sought this office and other county positions as a Democrat and now complains “the Democratic Party left me” on matters of criminal justice.

But O’Neill Burke’s diverse, direct experience with all aspects of the criminal justice system and her energetic descriptions of what has gone right, what has gone wrong and what needs to be kept and what to be improved show her to be a Democrat who has a firm grasp on the central goals of a prosecutor’s office and how to achieve them. We’re confident she will make a great Cook County state’s attorney, and she is endorsed.