Endorsement: More for Cook County state's attorney in Democratic primary
Kim Foxx of Flossmoor has a lot going for her, and since her election four years ago as Cook County state's attorney, she can be rightfully proud of the needed movement her office has made toward criminal justice reform.
But despite the flood of big name Democrats lining up to support her reelection with barely a passing reference to her obvious shortcomings, two gaps in her performance preclude us from adding our endorsement to those of the establishment politicians.
One, Jussie Smollett. There's just no good explanation for the decision by Foxx's office to allow the actor to walk away from charges that he lied to Chicago police about an apparently staged mugging.
One moment, her office was filing charges against him. The next moment, Foxx was taking a phone call on his behalf. The next moment, charges were dropped without so much as an apology required in exchange for the favor.
Foxx wants us all to believe that her only lapse was one of transparency, but sorry, there's a lot more going on here than that.
Two, the first job of the state's attorney's office is to protect the victims and potential victims of crime. The sense we get from listening to Foxx is that it's not the first priority for her.
She maintains that her reforms provide protections for those accused only of nonviolent crimes, but the bond reforms she supports have failed to include the proper safeguards. In many cases, they have put felony suspects back on the streets and in 21 instances, according to reporting by the Chicago Tribune, those suspects have been accused of murder after they were released.
Three challengers from Chicago are joining Foxx on the March 17 Democratic primary ballot.
Well-financed former prosecutor and U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer Bill Conway has been campaigning for more than half a year and hits the right notes on the issues, but it's hard to tell where the packaging ends and the conviction begins.
We are impressed by the candidacy of former Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti and believe he fully appreciates the fundamental obligation of the state's attorney's office to fight crime.
Our endorsement goes to former prosecutor Donna More, a highly credentialed candidate with the breadth of experience to excel in leading the state's attorney's office.
She expresses a broad mission of fighting corruption and favoritism, expanding real criminal justice reforms and cracking down on violent crime.
"The job of chief prosecutor," More aptly says, "is to secure public safety. That will be my top priority. It will require a multipronged approach."
She's strong, intelligent, articulate and experienced. She could be an outstanding state's attorney. She has our endorsement.