Alvarez undaunted by challenges ahead of her

No one is suggesting that winning the Cook County State's Attorney's Office - and becoming the first Latina to ever do it - was easy.

But now comes the really hard part for Anita Alvarez: running the office.

Alvarez comes into the job at a time when violent crime is rising, budgets are tight, mistrust of the office by minority communities is rampant, questions over the office's desire to pursue political and police corruption charges are high and political wounds within the office itself are fresh.

Welcome to victory, Anita!

But if those hurdles were weighing on Alvarez, she wasn't showing it Wednesday afternoon when she stopped by Daley Plaza to thank voters for putting her into office by an astounding 70 percent over Republican Tony Peraica, who garnered just 25 percent. Green Party candidate Thomas O'Brien took home 5 percent.

"It feels great," said Alvarez, when asked how she felt Wednesday. "I am happy that the campaigning part is over, because I'm anxious to get back to work."

Alvarez said she'll return when she's sworn in Dec. 1.

And while many candidates on the day after the election can't seem to remember what they promised during the campaign, Alvarez Wednesday reiterated as goals the objectives she laid out in her campaign:;

•Restoring community prosecution offices in Chicago and the suburbs;

•Getting Springfield to pass a bill that requires gun owners who "lose" or have their guns stolen to report them as such within 72 hours. The measure, she said, lets police and prosecutors crack down on violent offenders who ditch a gun after a crime and then claim they lost it when police recover the gun;

•Instituting more training for 911 officers on how to handle domestic violence crimes;

•Putting together a system that more readily and quickly gets 911 tape recordings over to prosecutors for domestic violence calls. Having tapes at initial hearings helps prosecutors carry a case even when intimidated victims might later recant their accusations;

•Sitting down with Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court Division Paul P. Biebel Jr. to put an estimated schedule on prosecutions for crimes so that they don't languish in the system. Alvarez said such a procedure worked years ago to reduce the backlog of 2-year-old murder cases and could be used effectively again. Biebel couldn't be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon;

•Creating a separate mortgage fraud unit to attack mortgage fraud and mortgage-related crimes against seniors. To pay for the fraud unit, Alvarez said she proposes a $1 fee on mortgages, much like a $1 fee in insurance policies that pays for the county's auto theft unit.

Alvarez also said she's going to look into partnerships with churches that might be willing to provide space for the community prosecution units, in order to cut county costs.

Alvarez got to the general election after defeating five men in the primary, one of whom was her co-worker, Bob Milan, the First Assistant State's Attorney to Dick Devine. Alvarez is the No. 3 person in the office. With two people in the office running for the job, many employees in the office chose to back one or the other, creating some awkward moments when Milan lost and Alvarez won.

Several high-level people left the office after the primary, taking other jobs in the Cook County Sheriff's Office or the private sector, apparently unwilling to continue under Alvarez, or fearing they would not be welcome after backing Milan or other opponents.

Alvarez says while she will make some changes in the policy-level positions of the office, employees who backed Milan or other candidates have nothing to fear.

"Just do your job and you'll be fine," she said.

She also denied those leaving have created a brain drain or any significant obstacle to keeping the office running smoothly.

Alvarez said she'll pick her first assistant "soon," but declined to give details on who that might be or when the selection would be announced.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=4&type=video&item=41">Alvarez meets the public </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>