Jacob Meister: Candidate profile

Bio

Party: Democrat

City: Chicago

Office sought: Cook County circuit court clerk

Age: 54

Family:

Occupation: Attorney at Jacob Meister & Associates

Education: J.D. University of Wisconsin Law School, with honors in 1990

and a B.A. in International Studies and Political Science from The American

University in Washington D.D., cum laude in 1986.

Civic involvement: Founder & CEO of The Civil Rights Agenda, a statewide nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights of LGBTQ people. Support to various political and issues campaigns, including the Democratic Coordinated Campaign, Pat Quinn for Governor, and Illinois Unites for Marriage.

Elected offices held: None.

Incumbent? If yes, when were first elected: No.

Website: www.jacobforclerk.com

Twitter: @JacobForClerk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacobjmeister

Questions and Answers

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?

I am running for this office because I am passionate about justice and believe that the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court must be reformed.

I have spent my entire 29-year legal career practicing in the Cook County courts and am intimately familiar with its operations and procedures, having practiced in almost every division and courthouse. I have also practiced in courts around the country, know how good court systems operate, and how the practices and procedures in Cook County fall short.

The Clerk's office is broken, both operationally and ethically, steeped in decades of patronage and riddled with inefficiencies, inadequate technology, and a culture of corruption. I will tackle the operational as well as the ethical problems that have plagued the Clerk's Office for too long.

Ethically, changing the culture of the Clerk's office is a top priority. I will institute a merit-based hiring and promotion system, bringing the office into strict compliance with Shakman standards. Employees will no longer work in a pay-to-play environment requiring them to do political work to get or keep their jobs.

Operationally, I will modernize the technology of the court system and increase access to justice for all residents.

2. If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?

After spending 29 years practicing in the Cook County courts, I know that the ethical and operational problems in the office are the direct result of decades of patronage and control by machine politicians.

There is a sharp contrast between the candidates. My opponents are career politicians with deep ties to the Democratic machine and shallow understanding of this office. I understand that decades of mismanagement have left our courts in shambles and created obstacles to justice that are often difficult to overcome. The Clerk's office can no longer tolerate leadership that has conflicted priorities, loyalties, or a history of putting personal and political gain over the public interest. I am the only candidate in this race that is independent of political influence, motivated by the public good, and has the experience working in the Cook County courts.

I am dedicated to reforming, modernizing, and bringing ethical transparency to this office. I will reform this ethically and operationally challenged office by modernizing technology and management systems from another era while instilling a new culture of open and accessible service to residents in every corner of Cook County.

3. Describe your position regarding the allocation of resources in the clerk of the circuit court's office. Are personnel allocated as they should be? Are there capital expense or other budgetary items that the office must address, and, if so, how do you propose to address them?

In the last 20 years, staff in the clerk's office has been reduced from approximately 2400 to 1500 employees. The result is that the clerk's office does not have enough trained courtroom personnel to staff all of the 400+ courtrooms in the county. Similarly, the customer service counters in every courthouse have been shut down, non-English interpreters are mostly unavailable, the lines for assistance for online pro se litigants are regularly backed-up for hours and cash register transactions keep people languishing for 30 minutes or more.

As we modernize the technology in the Cook County courts to meet the needs of all stakeholders, the Clerk's staff will need new skills and tools to run a more professional and efficient office. As personnel is reallocated from managing the old paper file warehouses into a modern system, they will receive proper ongoing training to ensure the clerk's office is user-friendly and efficient. By reallocating and properly training all staff to manage a modern Clerk's office we will provide users of the Courts a better experience that ultimately saves time and returns the focus to justice.

4. Name one concrete program you'll create or personnel move you'll make to improve efficiency in the office or make it more successful. Explain how it will be funded and how you will overcome any obstacles to initiating it.

In order to remove barriers to the justice system for pro se litigants (parties without the assistance of an attorney) who are required to file using the confusing and cumbersome electronic filing system, I will introduce a new countywide "access to justice" program. Currently, the only assistance for pro se litigants seeking to file electronically is at a courthouse, during business hours. The "unintended consequence" of the mandatory electronic filing system is that it has created tremendous hardship for those who cannot afford a lawyer, do not have access to a computer, lack the technical knowledge of the court's e-file system or cannot afford to miss time from work just to file a document.

My program will install computer kiosks in public libraries around the county and provide regular training seminars for reference librarians and others, thereby allowing pro se litigants the resources and assistance needed to electronically access the court system in their own neighborhoods, on evenings and weekends. This program can be implemented with minimal financial investment and will make a large difference in the lives of the people who are most often negatively affected by the mandated electronic filing system.

5. Describe your position on transparency in the office and the ease of access to records by the public. If you believe improvements are needed, what are they and how would you go about achieving them?

The plan to modernize the office's case management system will mean more information and tools will be accessible online to the public, practitioners, and other stakeholders who need access to court files.

The Clerk's office must move from a paper-based to a digital system. All active files stored in the county records center should be digitized and incorporated into a new case management system and the current system which is based on judges and lawyers writing orders by hand in triplicate will be replaced by a digital "minute order" system, with the vast majority of orders being recorded electronically in real-time by trained courtroom personnel.

I will comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and will work with the General Assembly in Springfield to expand the requirements for disclosure, keeping in mind that personal information needs to be protected. It is imperative we make data available to academics and those conducting research about criminal and civil justice issues.

Further, I will submit the Clerk's financial records to a full audit so that the Clerk is held accountable for its handling of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, fees, and forfeitures every year.