Attorney recalls ‘proudest moments’ representing Arlington Heights for nearly half century

The village of Arlington Heights has been in existence as a municipality for nearly 140 years, and for more than a third of that time, Ernest R. Blomquist III has been the village prosecutor.

Blomquist, an icon in the Northwest suburban legal community, recently was feted for his legal acumen, work to keep Arlington Heights safe, and mentorship to young lawyers and community members over 48 years representing the village on cases ranging from DUIs to homicides.

“Ernie talked about fairness. He talked about equity. He talked about justice. And he talked about class,” Police Chief Nick Pecora said at a public recognition of the retiring attorney last week. “Ernie taught me and he taught every member of the police department that’s here tonight how to be fair to everybody, how to treat everybody equally, how to administer justice without being heavy handed, and how to do it with class.”

Village Trustee Jim Bertucci, who was encouraged by Blomquist to get involved in civic organizations and activities in the 1990s, said if there were an Arlington Heights Hall of Fame, “Ernie would be inducted into it.”

The public praise from village officials past and present came after Blomquist notified village hall of his intention to reduce his professional practice, which has included prosecution of municipal ordinance violations, traffic offenses, misdemeanor cases and other matters on the village’s behalf in Cook County circuit court.

Last month, Mayor Jim Tinaglia appointed Elizabeth Hantzos, who has been at Blomquist’s right hand at the courthouse for the past 19 years, as his successor.

Blomquist, 80, is a Mount Prospect native who graduated from Prospect High School in 1964 and went on to earn degrees at Western Illinois University and the Chicago-Kent College of Law. A onetime teacher in Mount Prospect, he was inspired to pursue a career in law by his two grandfathers.

That legal career started as an assistant Cook County state’s attorney in the criminal division. He was hired by Arlington Heights in 1977.

But he was first introduced to the Arlington Heights Police Department as a junior in high school, “and they got me the hard way,” he quipped.

“Having been the subject of a prosecution by Arlington Heights when I was a kid, I learned lessons and I tried to impart those lessons on the young people who came before me in prosecuting,” he said of his approach as municipal prosecutor.

Blomquist worked with the police, fire, building and health departments to prosecute violations of state law and village code. “We covered everything from drunk drivers to truant students. We dealt with animal cases. We dealt with drug cases, fights, nuisances,” he recalled.

But the biggest case came at the start of his career in Arlington Heights. In fact, his job interview with the legendary, late Village Attorney Jack Siegel — later regarded as the dean of Illinois municipal attorneys — came in 1977, as Siegel was preparing for a landmark defense of village zoning codes before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“When I appeared in Jack’s office, I opened the door — it was a big office — and it was just full of clutter. Stacks of books and papers and files and legal pads, and I couldn’t find Jack,” Blomquist said. “He was sitting in the corner on the floor, and he had books and things all around him. That interview was really a microcosm of going to law school all over again. He had me sit on the floor with him and for two hours we went through cases and argued issues.”

Blomquist was part of Siegel’s legal team that argued before the high court and won.

“Jack made me the lawyer that I am,” Blomquist said.

Blomquist’s career spanned the tenures of six mayors, four village managers and five chiefs of police. He was part of the inaugural Prospect High School Hall of Fame class in 2004 and is the namesake of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association’s Ernest R. Blomquist III Lawyer to Lawyer Mentorship Program. He’s been named “Man of the Year” by three different groups.

“The proudest moments I ever had were when I would step up on a case and say, ‘Good morning your honor, my name is Ernie Blomquist, I represent the village of Arlington Heights.’ It still resonates with me and it always will.”

Blomquist is now working with Pecora, whom he’s known since the police chief was a beat cop in the 1980s, to form a nonprofit foundation and raise funds for a monument to memorialize three Arlington Heights officers who died in the line of duty.

cplacek@dailyherald.com