* Press release…
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is pleased to share the endorsements of Illinois Democratic Leaders:
Governor JB Pritzker
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle
Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Congressman Bobby Rush
Congressman Danny Davis
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Congresswoman Robin Kelly
“Today, we couldn’t be more proud to come together to endorse Kim Foxx for re-election as Cook County State’s Attorney.
Under Kim’s leadership, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has blocked the Trump administration’s discriminatory attempt to threaten immigrants who seek public health services, which would have created a crisis for both families and our public health. She has taken on the gun lobby – and won, defeating a challenge to the county’s assault weapons ban. Kim is a leader who stands up to a man in the Oval Office who uses our city as a punching bag and isn’t afraid of the NRA, which is hellbent on letting guns flood our streets.
Kim Foxx has brought reform to Cook County, and her leadership has inspired reform across this country. Kim represents the future of our Democratic Party, standing for justice while rejecting the fear-mongering of those who are set on reversing the progress we’ve made.
We are confident and ready to hit the ground running to re-elect Kim Foxx.”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 8:46 am:
Looks like Fox is drilling down to secure and highlight the strong support from Democratic electeds and making a point that she is embraced by them, while still feeding off things like Smullet, mea culpa notwithstanding.
We’ll soon see how that plays out with these names, possibly in ads closer to March?
- Just Me - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 8:50 am:
It makes political sense that Lightfoot would endorse the machine candidate for State’s Attorney. No need to further the war with the County President, but as someone who voter for Lightfoot hoping she would bring much needed reform, I’m a bit disappointed.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 9:10 am:
Strong. We haven’t begun to see the effects of marijuana reform. Foxx supported that. If it’s done right, people from communities disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition will get a lot of help through expungement of criminal records, entrepreneurial opportunities and social programs.
- Bad Politician - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:04 am:
If Foxx wants to win she needs to answer one question:
Why did you drop the charges?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:15 am:
===If Foxx wants to win she needs===
She needs to avoid taking advice from people who wouldn’t vote for her even without the Smullet case.
- City Zen - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:17 am:
I get most of the rubber stamps, but why would our governor offer an early endorsement in his own party’s primaries when all the candidates haven’t been fully vetted?
Early results from Foxx’s reforms on crime have resulted in a steep increase in theft that risks the safety of working families. I’d hope for more introspection on this endorsement from JB.
- Bad Politician - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:32 am:
===She needs to avoid taking advice from people who wouldn’t vote for her even without the Smullet case.===
And yet here we are, one year from the incident and she still can’t state why the charges were dropped.
That’s odd. Just explain the rationale and move on. But for some reason the attornery can’t provide a motive…
- revvedup - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:39 am:
Thanks for the list of people not to vote for Kim. By the way, did you look up the Official Misconduct statute yet? Dan Web has. So has the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
- Why, again... - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:46 am:
is JB out front of this? Pandering?
Foxx needs to go. Time to get a real States Attorney in that seat.
- Moody's Blues - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 11:05 am:
It’s fair to say that Kim Foxx has asserted, although not /explained/, why charges were dropped. But perhaps there’s a bigger issue:
Why did the state’s attorney’s office take the case through the lengthy grand jury process, secure the criminal charges it sought, and THEN drop them?
What happened, what conversations with insiders or outsiders, take place in that brief window of time? Because the reasons she has asserted for dropping charges — we have bigger priorities, etc. — were just as present BEFORE her people took the case to the grand jury.
So when Dan Webb asks questions, maybe the main one is, Why, exactly did your office aggressively go the grand jury route, succeed fully, and THEN abandon the case? That’s not a matter of priorities suddenly rearranged. That timing suggests a powerful intervening variable. What was it?
- Amalia - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 11:17 am:
It will be interesting to see what professionals….not pols….endorse her. Don’t see anyone on that list in the mix on corruption roundup stories, but with pols, one never knows the issues. well, except for the spouse of one, sexual harassers who quit for another…
- crazybleedingheart - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 11:34 am:
==Early results from Foxx’s reforms on crime have resulted in a steep increase in theft that risks the safety of working families. ==
It’s truly impressive how 4 false statements can be nested in this one sentence, just like Russian dolls.
- Too-da-loo-mf - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 11:46 am:
Every one of those politicians will need cook county black votes when they seek re-election. Why would they not endorse an African-American woman in a cook county primary? If she loses no big deal. If she wins, she’ll return the favor.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 12:55 pm:
Here are the stats including 2017 and 2018(Foxx’s tenure). Every category of crime went down except for rape.
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/ilcrime.htm
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 1:34 pm:
According to the CST writing on the Marshall Project: “Violent crime in Chicago and Cook County is on the decline. Murders and shootings in Chicago are at their lowest level in four years. Robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts in the city are at 20-year lows. Crime in Cook County has been trending down for longer than that.”
This is part of a statewide and nationwide trend and not all due to Fox.
However you can’t really argue that crime is going up.
- City Zen - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 2:00 pm:
==However you can’t really argue that crime is going up.==
Crime is just the first portion of law enforcement workflow. What also matters for CCSA metrics is how those cases are treated once they get to the office.
CWB has some interesting insight into theft numbers under Foxx:
https://cwbchicago.com/2019/10/update-rejection-of-felony-shoplifting-cases-skyrockets-under-foxx.html
- Tim - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 2:14 pm:
I hope she gets her hat handed to her. Just another individual that thinks punishing folks that break the law isn’t required.
- ConcernedModerateChicagoan - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 4:32 pm:
It is amazing to see how after decades of false accusations, torture and forced guilty pleas upon men of color by this office you all are now angry over this one gay black guy who cried wolf? Now you want justice? Give me a break…you have no memory, or you want to forget. Not a fan of Foxx but I will say that she is way better for real reform than another white guy.
- 17% Solution - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 6:06 pm:
According to the CWB article cited above, shoplifters who stole over $300 worth of goods are still charged with misdemeanors. A misdemeanor conviction can land one in jail for a year. So that is still punishment.
- Southwest Sider - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 10:33 pm:
These endorsements are quite redeeming. Would have thought she’d be an easy target. The progressive wind is still at her back.
- 17% Solution - Friday, Nov 22, 19 @ 1:00 am:
Here’s some info. The actual sentence would be decided by a judge, not Preckwinkle.
https://azharillc.com/what-you-should-know-about-shoplifting-charges-in-illinois/
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Friday, Nov 22, 19 @ 7:28 am:
The graphs in the CWB story show shoplifting reports have been going up since 2014, three years before Foxx’s tenure.
- crazybleedingheart - Friday, Nov 22, 19 @ 7:37 am:
It’s pathetic that commenters here would use CWB as a reference in the first place, much less distort its claims on top of that.
Or that people would be referred to as “slugs” on this blog.
Some people simply disagree with Foxx’s reform agenda.
But it’s obvious that a lot of her detractors fall below the usual standards of decency, much less the standard for comments on this site.