Q&A with state's attorney hopefuls
With the impending retirement of Dick Devine as Cook County State's Attorney, six Democrats are vying for their party's nod to replace him: Tom Allen; Anita Alvarez; Tommy Brewer; Howard Brookins Jr.; Robert J. Milan and Larry Suffredin.
The winner will face Republican Tony Peraica in November, who did not have a primary challenger.
Here are several Q&As we asked the candidates.
Q. Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? What will be your main priority?
Allen: I am running for Cook County State's Attorney to keep our families safe. I have a detailed, common-sense agenda for the office. If I had to choose one issue as the most important, it would be gun trafficking. Currently, there is no gun trafficking unit in the State's Attorney's office, and illegal guns are only really prosecuted after they are used in another crime. It used to be that after committing a crime people would throw their guns into the Chicago River, but now they are bought, sold and traded among criminals. I will create a Gun Trafficking Unit in the State's Attorney's office, and assign experienced prosecutors to work full-time tracking illegal guns to their sources and busting up the gun trafficking rings that pass these illegal weapons back-and-forth from gang member to gang member.
Alvarez: I began my career in the State's Attorney's office 21 years ago, prosecuting and winning cases involving gangs, violent street crime, domestic violence, sex predators and public corruption. Today I serve as Chief Deputy State's Attorney and oversee daily operations of more than 900 Assistant State's Attorneys. I have made a career of standing up for victims of crime. I have sat with families devastated by murder and held the hands of victims shattered by violence. I have chosen prosecution as my career and I have become good at my job. I am running for State's Attorney because I have great personal passion for this office and all that it stands for. My main priority as State's Attorney will be to provide steady leadership free of political influence while advocating for and driving change to make us even better at what we do and closer to the communities we serve.
Brewer: I have the experience to provide the type of leadership needed to "fix" a system severely in need of change and improvement.
Brookins: I am running for Cook County State's Attorney to protect our communities. I will fight to get guns and gangs off the streets, stop senior abuse, crack down on sex offenders, and put the criminals that menace our streets in jail. I will be firm but fair in dealing with all kinds of crimes, and will restore integrity and justice to this office.
Milan: I am running for Cook County State's Attorney because I believe the office must remain in the capable hands of a career prosecutor. I have spent my career in the State's Attorney's office, and feel strongly that I am the most qualified candidate to continue and improve upon the tradition of tough, fair and ethical justice. I believe the Cook County State's Attorney's Office is the best county prosecutor's office in the country. I also recognize that there is room for improvement. This is what motives me. I believe the office should be far more involved in outreach to minority communities. We need to increase diversity within our office, and we need to be more proactive in reducing violent crime. If elected, my first goal would be to implement programs that would help reduce the countywide homicide rate from more than 500 per year to fewer than 300 per year.
Suffredin: I am running for Cook County State's Attorney because we need a state's attorney that possesses not just extensive legal experience, but a real commitment to reaching across racial, ethnic and gender lines to ensure justice for every resident of Cook County. I will bring an activist approach to fight gun violence and taking on political corruption. I will use the full power to change the way our county is run and to protect our neighborhoods from gun violence. It is time for a change. In seeking this office, I bring three decades of experience as an attorney at the federal, state and local levels, in criminal and civil matters, and in public and private practice. In my 30 years as a public and private attorney, I have tried hundreds of bench and jury trials. In addition, I am the only candidate for this office to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Illinois Supreme Court.
Q. In what ways would you change current management practices in the State's Attorney's office?
Allen: The office of the State's Attorney has a poor record of hiring and promoting young minority prosecutors, and the result has been an office that simply does not reflect Cook County and does not look like Cook County. This shortfall of diversity is even more pronounced among supervisors and First Chairs. When I am State's Attorney, improving the recruitment and retention of a truly diverse team of attorneys will be a priority for me. One of the most important things we can to improve diversity in the office is to remove some of the serious financial barriers that keep young people coming out of law school from pursuing a career in public service, and I will discuss this in more detail below. One thing that we have to do immediately is to stop making excuses and make increased diversity a real priority.
Alvarez: I would foster an environment of inclusion among managers and employees in the office and work to ensure that management decisions and promotions are based on performance evaluations and nothing else. One specific problem I would work to address is the increasing "burnout" rate among young Assistant State's Attorneys due to current rotation schedules which keep them in the Juvenile and First Municipal sections far too long. We are losing many of our best and brightest at the two- to three-year mark because they are burning out and losing the passion that originally brought them to our office. I would change the rotation of ASAs as they come up through the criminal division to allow them to experience a broader range of assignments. I believe it would be a boost to morale and would provide valuable experience in several different areas which would ultimately add to their development as trial attorneys.
Brewer: Presently, the State's Attorney's office seems to place more emphasis on winning than doing justice. The pressure to win is so strong that often Assistant State's Attorneys fail to question obvious lies told by the police to sustain a conviction. As the next State's Attorney, I would encourage all Assistant State's Attorneys to do what they believe is just. This is the only thing mandated by the Professional Code of Conduct for the State's Attorney.
Brookins: In addition to fostering a culture in the State's Attorney's office that would attract and maintain diversity of thought and personnel, the office should be more efficient and effective. It is currently woefully behind in its use of technology both in and out of the courtroom. We must learn from other cities that have successfully implemented technology to make day-to-day functioning of the office more efficient. The prosecutors should be used more effectively by assigning both legal and non-legal staff duties that best use their skills and experience. Streamlining the way work is done will save both time and taxpayers' money.
Milan: In April of 2002, I created a plan which reduced the number of two-year-old felony cases from over 1,500 to 700. To continue this task, I would recommend that all judges follow a differentiated case management system to ensure that cases are kept on a schedule. Second, the offices of Chief Judge, the State's Attorney and Public Defender and members of the defense bar should meet monthly to address specific cases that have long surpassed the schedule. This sense of urgency will decrease the number from over 700 to fewer than 300. I would also conduct an extensive audit of the office budget to ensure no dollars are wasted. I would work to find money to increase the salaries of prosecutors, from those in their first year (to improve recruitment) up to veteran prosecutors (to increase retention). This will strengthen the office and allow us to better serve the community.
Suffredin: I would hope to do the following: (a) change the way cases are assigned to give more career lawyers opportunity to handle a variety of issues. (b) I would also work to help lawyers pay down their private student loans. (c) I would redouble efforts to hire new lawyers and encourage experienced lawyers to join the office. Today law firms do more recruiting from lateral transfers than from new grads. The office will always be a great place for new lawyers to work but the mix of new hires needs to insure that the most diverse work force is being hired. (d) We must give the lawyers in the office more opportunities to handle important cases sooner. (e) I believe the office must have more diversity so as to have sensitivity to the overall community. (f) The office must become more community oriented and ASA's must be out in schools, community groups, and religious settings listening to what issues threaten the safety of our communities. Lastly, we must build up the civil side of the office to protect our communities from environmental abuse, mortgage and payday loan fraud, utility problems and other issues.
Q. How would you go about reducing the time it takes cases to move through the system?
Allen: Right now there is an extraordinary backlog of criminal cases in Cook County, and something must be done to reduce it. There are two things we need to do in order to start chipping away at this backlog: the first is to get creative at resolving cases (especially drug cases) that linger unnecessarily in the system. Second, the State's Attorney's office needs new, aggressive leadership from the top. Many drug cases are more appropriately resolved with drug court or treatment than through a lengthy and expensive trial, and it is important for the State's Attorney's office to work to better utilize these programs. But ultimately, we need a State's Attorney who can personally lead the office through the hard work of moving these cases through the system. We also need to modernize the operations of the office to allow the attorneys to work faster and more efficiently.
Alvarez: Several years ago our office developed a protocol that was presented to the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Courts to try to identify murder cases currently on court dockets and set an appropriate timetable for their adjudication. That process met with some initial success but it has since stalled. I would propose setting up a case management system that would include representatives from all areas of the criminal justice system -- specifically the state's attorney's office, the judiciary and the public defender's office. I would propose that these principals meet regularly to devise a system to evaluate and prioritize pending criminal cases with the goal of moving them to a speedier conclusion. Because ultimate courtroom authority rests with the Judge, the onus in this matter falls on the Cook County Chief Judge and the judiciary to take a more aggressive stance in moving cases forward.
Brewer: Setting general time lines would be helpful. I implemented time lines as the director of enforcement for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. It helped move cases twice as fast.
Brookins: As I describe above, one of my first priorities will be to use advanced technology and smarter assignment of personnel to reduce time spent on paperwork and make the best use of the talents and abilities of all employees. The office has a long way to go to become more effective and efficient.
Milan: In April of 2002, I created a plan which reduced the number of two-year-old felony cases from over 1,500 to 700 cases. To continue this task, I would recommend that all judges follow a differentiated case management system to ensure that cases are kept on a schedule. Second, the office of Chief Judge, the State's Attorney and public defender and members of the defense bar should meet monthly to address specific cases that have long surpassed the schedule. This sense of urgency will decrease the number from over 700 to fewer than 300.
Suffredin: Implement the new case management program for the office and keep pressure on staff to keep cases moving.
Q. With Jon Burge stories still showing up in the news, what, if anything should the next State's Attorney be doing to help ensure that police conduct themselves professionally in investigations and interrogations?
Allen: Whether someone wears coveralls to work, or a police uniform, or a business suit, we all have to follow the same laws. As State's Attorney I will prosecute anyone who commits a crime. It will be important for our next State's Attorney to be someone willing to make a clean break with the office's past. I also think it is critically important that our next State's Attorney not simply give up on pursuing Jon Burge himself. The statute of limitations appears to have expired for many of Burge's crimes, but that doesn't mean that no viable prosecution strategy is available. For example, there is no statute of limitations on conspiracy, and Wisconsin officials were able to leverage that fact into successful prosecution of a clergy-abuse case that was more than 40 years old.
Alvarez: The first thing we should do as candidates is to speak honestly about this issue and not attempt to incite simply with the mention of "Jon Burge." Yes, in my view the actions of Commander Burge and other police officers were reprehensible and constituted official misconduct. Appropriate prosecutions did not take place for reasons beyond the control of anyone in this race. Moving forward, there are safeguards that have been put in place to deter misconduct such as the videotaping of interrogations. This initiative has helped tremendously to ensure that there is no abusive behavior by officers. I believe that early intervention on the part of the State's Attorney's office is crucial in cases of police misconduct or brutality. That is why I would increase the number of ASAs assigned to our Professional Standards Unit to improve our ability to intervene as quickly and effectively as possible.
Brewer: The next State's Attorney should attend Roll Call at each police district and personally express to the officers what is expected. Police officers should be warned that lying under oath to obtain a conviction and using excessive force will be basis for prosecution. The police should also be encouraged to interrogate suspects in their homes.
Brookins: The Jon Burge case has been a disgrace to this office, an embarrassment to our city, and an atrocity in the lives of the victims. In addition, it has tarnished the reputation of all of the upstanding prosecutors and police officers who were not involved in the Burge case and who carry out their jobs with dedication and integrity. While most police officers uphold the law and honorably perform their duties, as State's Attorney, I will not shrink from prosecuting police officers when they commit crimes, just as I have not shrunk as alderman from demanding settlements to finally bring the victims justice. Integrity can only be restored to the office of State's Attorney when everyone -- both within and outside of the office -- knows that crimes will be prosecuted regardless of the perpetrator. Justice can only be served when the State's Attorney's office follows the facts fairly and unflinchingly.
Milan: We should expand our public integrity unit so that we are better able to prosecute all police and public corruption cases. We should keep a database of all complaints -- from phone calls to complaints made in court or in motions -- and watch for patters of improper conduct of any officers. We must continue to deal harshly with all instances of police misconduct. Law enforcement should be held to a higher standard than the rest of the community.
Suffredin: There is a serious problem in our community concerning police misconduct. I intend to reform the felony-review function to allow ASAs to be legal advisers and enforcers of constitutional human rights and not become police investigators. I will have a new unit to review misconduct allegations and have ASAs make recommendations for action. We must re-establish the confidence of the community in both the police and the State's Attorney's office. The front line ASAs are the original defenders of society against public corruption. I hope we can stop it from happening but we will use the full force of the law to punish any misconduct. Credibility of the police and the fairness of the courts can only be restored by letting the community know what is happening. I would get ASAs out of the courthouse and into the communities to explain that justice and fairness is happening every day in Cook County courts.