Chicago’s Most Important Election

The presidential election receives all the attention, but nothing will likely have as large of an impact on Chicago residents as the primary for Cook County State’s Attorney. Taking the office away from a person who has refused to use it to administer justice will make the city a safer, fairer place to live. The candidate best positioned to do that is Bill Conway. Mr. Conway previously held a position in the State’s Attorney’s office where he worked in the Public Corruption and Financial Crimes unit.

The incumbent is Kim Foxx, who you have doubtless heard of centering on the Jussie Smollett scandal. That scandal, though, is merely a red herring when placed up against the scale of the issues surrounding her tenure. The intentions, as is so often the case, are good. She wanted to reduce the prison population and raise accountability in law enforcement. If she had any success on those measures, she would doubtlessly have been broadly popular. The reality of her policies is, however, much different. Her efforts to keep people out of jail have included letting violent criminals go free and the supposed accountability does not, apparently, include herself. A few of the problems she has created include failing to retry old cases with new evidence, failing to prosecute theft, and releasing violent felons without bail.

Let’s briefly review some of the consequences of those errors. When you decide not to retry a case, the defendant gets something called a certificate of innocence, which effectively exonerates them from all wrongdoing and, as such, they are entitled to compensation. This is a drain that we simply cannot afford given the sorry state of our finances. On the other end, failing to prosecute retail theft (shoplifting) unless offenders have already been caught 10 (!) times, encourages lawlessness and punishes law-abiding citizens. Businesses must recoup those losses somewhere and it shows up in higher prices or stores closing. This disaster is particularly acutely felt on the south and west sides among our most vulnerable residents. Food deserts are losing their few oases. Probably the most obviously flawed policy, though, is releasing violent criminals without bail. Twenty-one felons who were released from custody while awaiting trial for violent crime have gone on to commit murders (that we know of). To me, the most damning thing about this is her response to criticism; she considers all of it fearmongering. The people most impacted, as always, are the vulnerable, and they deserve better.

This election is about restoring rule-of-law. It’s about reminding ourselves that we can only live in our crowded cities when everyone follows the rules. It’s about the safety of everyone, especially our most vulnerable residents. Fortunately, there is a candidate on the ballot who promises to restore rule-of-law while enforcing the laws and keeping our streets safe.

Bill Conway is a return to actually administering justice, but his campaign is about more than that. He wants to take nonviolent offenders out of the bail system and work to reduce the 40% of State’s Attorney resources that go towards drug crime. His time as a prosecutor was spent rooting out corruption and financial crime and he wants to use that experience to expand prosecution of dirty politics. Most importantly, he has vowed to keep violent criminals in jail. For those reasons, I am encouraging all my friends here in Chicago to vote for him and against Kim Foxx.