Dem candidates for Cook County state's attorney distance themselves from FOP head's encouraging words

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The Democratic candidates for Cook County state’s attorney distanced themselves Friday from the controversial head of the Chicago police union after he released a video making favorable comments about them both.

John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, said his remarks were not meant as an official union endorsement but an encouragement for rank-and-file police officers to not vote Republican.

“The Cook County state’s attorney’s race will be decided in the Democratic primary,” Catanzara says in a video posted on the union’s YouTube account.

Catanzara goes on to say he voted for former Appellate Court Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke, one of two Democratic candidates in the primary.

But he adds her opponent, Clayton Harris III, a university lecturer and former political aide, would also be “a step up from Kim Foxx,” the current state’s attorney who is not running for reelection.

Catanzara has often feuded with Foxx over her prosecution decisions.

Both Burke and Harris released statements Friday saying they had not sought the endorsement of the FOP or its controversial president — and seeking to tie the other to the union.

Burke’s campaign said she “rejects” the endorsement and called Catanzara’s comments “inappropriate.”

“Given the working relationship between the state’s attorney’s office and the Chicago Police Department, it was inappropriate for the FOP to issue this political statement,” a spokeswoman for the campaign said in an email.

Burke’s campaign also claimed Harris “met with FOP leaders and asked for their support.”

Harris’ campaign acknowledged he had “met with the FOP at their request” but denied seeking their endorsement. The candidate suggested Catanzara’s remarks were somehow linked to conservative donors who have contributed to Burke’s campaign, helping create a considerable fundraising gap between hers and Harris.

“Now her supporters are explicitly urging Republican voters to meddle in a Democratic Party to win this election — because they know Burke will back their extreme MAGA agenda,” the Harris campaign said in a statement.

Mike Cosentino, director of the FOP’s political action committee, confirmed the union met with Harris, which he recalled as informal and a chance to introduce himself.

He said he couldn’t recall when the meeting was held but added he might have explained the union’s endorsement process at the meeting. He said Harris had not asked for an endorsement.

Catanzara told the Sun-Times Friday that neither candidate had sought the FOP’s backing.

His video, he insisted, was not an official union endorsement but a “call for action,” acknowledging that voting for a Democrat might be hard for some members.

“Hold your nose if you have to, but make sure you do it,” he says in the video. “I know some of you are ardent Republicans, 100% great conservatives, that’s all well and good, but that isn’t gonna move the needle here.

“We are encouraging, pleading, all our members, your family members, your friends, your neighbors to not waste a vote and an opportunity by pulling a Republican ballot,” he adds.

Catanzara said his members have a “once in a very long time opportunity to affect our professional well-being. This is more important than the mayor’s race.”

Former Ald. Bob Fioretti is again running for the office, this time as a Republican. Also in the race is attorney and accountant Andrew Charles Kopinski, who is running as a Libertarian.

Anthony Vazquez and Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Catanzara thinks neither has a shot and tells his members in the video that either Democrat would be better than Foxx.

“There is no doubt that Clayton Harris will be a step up from Kim Foxx,” Catanzara says. “But he is the machine candidate.”

Harris is endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party, controlled by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who previously backed Foxx, her former chief of staff.

“A lot of his policies will overlap with what we’ve been dealing with for the last eight years,” Catanzara says of Harris. “So don’t expect much change, but there will be at least some improvement.”

Catanzara says Burke got his vote, and he urged others to vote for her as well to “get back to what everybody seemed to remember being law and order and accountability.”

Asked whether he was concerned his comments could damage Burke, he said the union was in a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” position.

Given the union’s past disagreements with Foxx, he said, “there was never an option to remain silent.”