Laura Washington’s column on Monday in which she reports that questions about qualifications of an African-American candidate equate to racism is an example of what’s wrong with politics in Cook County.
Kim Foxx is running for an office whose symbol, Lady Justice, wears a blindfold to color or any other non-evidentiary difference. Yet she is apparently happy to play the “race card” so she can deflect attention from her prosecutorial inexperience. The deflection is quite disconcerting when you think about it. Is this the kind of profiling that we should expect from a Foxx-led state’s attorney’s office?
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On the same note, one has to wonder about the journalistic integrity of the Sun-Times. Ms. Washington did not call me to probe the nature of my questions on Ms. Foxx’s qualifications. Nor, oddly, did she call Anita Alvarez, Ms. Foxx’s boss for five years, to gather facts.
I have repeatedly said that Ms. Foxx was never in the Felony Trial Division of the state’s attorney’s office, the unit where the most complex cases are tried before juries. As a result, she lacks the felony jury trial experience of prosecutors who work in the criminal courts at 26th and California. These are facts.
When asked about her experience, Ms. Foxx says she has tried “hundreds” of cases. What she doesn’t say is that those cases were bench trials in juvenile court. That is quite different than leading a team of investigators and lawyers for a felony jury trial.
Why is the question important? Because the cases that are ripping our community apart are the ones adjudicated in the Felony Trial Division by professional felony trial lawyers. To gain their respect and lead them effectively, I believe you have to have walked in their shoes.
I will not stop making these points to voters. They have a right to decide who has qualifications and who doesn’t. Credentials aren’t about color any more than elections are about settling for the political status quo.
As a former prosecutor, I know how hard it is to chase down the facts. I’m disappointed that my opponent and your reporter find it easier to resort to name calling.
I think voters deserve better.
Donna More,
candidate for Cook County state’s attorney
Beleaguered cops
The continued onslaught of beleaguered Chicago police officers may seem to some as the answer to all that is wrong with our city. It is no secret that in the past there have been rogue cops who have been shielded by mediocre disciplinary policies or protected by political clout. But know that if police officers continued to be used as scapegoats, the once proactive men and women in uniform will cease to be no more. The elimination of the only group that stands between democracy and anarchy will force untrained citizens to police themselves.
As of this year there have been 110 shootings, triple the amount from the same time last year. Cook County Jail, which for decades averaged over 200 inmates daily, now has seen those numbers drop by almost half. Which means only two things. That criminals have seen the light and want to be productive citizens or that police officers are not arresting as many people as before. You be the judge.
Be careful for what you wish for.
Louis Martinez, Uptown
Case for term limits
Let’s hope Gov. Bruce Rauner gets the term limits he made one of the cornerstones of his political campaign. With his latest proposal to take over the Chicago Public Schools, this ineffective, disingenuous plutocrat is demonstrating once again why his tenure as governor — or as dog catcher, for that matter — should be limited to one term. In a just world, state Sen. Christine Radogno and state Rep. Jim Durkin would have their terms limited, as well.
As a middle-class product of those schools (who also went to Yale and Harvard) along with other of my contemporaries who went to Harvard College, Stanford, Yale Medical School, and Harvard Law — I feel compelled to bear witness to the fact that CPS was a very good system before we disinvested in those schools and began to privatize them.
Rick Rose, West Ridge
Toxic leaching
Michigan Gov, Rick Snyder is getting national attention since the scandal over changing Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron Pure to Flint River Lead. That represented a feather in Gov. Snyder’s austerity cap, saving Michigan a cool $15 million. Alas, Flint River Lead, besides looking like molasses, began poisoning Flint residents two years ago as it leached lead from water pipes into fragile bodies of unsuspecting Flintites.
While not well publicized outside the Land of Lincoln, there’s a form of toxic leaching going on here that deserves national attention. It’s the leaching of the budget austerity that Gov. Bruce Rauner has imposed on us 13 million Illinoisans, poisoning the lives of the needy being denied basic services they depend on to lead a semblance of a decent life. Whether its cutbacks to help for sufferers of autism or day care for low wage workers unable to afford this basic need, Gov. Rauner is holding them all hostage to his refusal to provide a budget with sufficient revenue till the Legislature passes his non-budgetary priorities to diminish workers rights, wages and dignity.
Gov. Snyder has launched an apology tour to extricate himself from having to resign or even possibly hire a defense attorney to defend against criminal misconduct against the hapless residents of Flint. Don’t expect an apology tour from Gov. Rauner. He’s just a year in to his four-year hitch, leaching heartless insensitivity into the lives of Illinois’ needy.
Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn
