Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x1 * Dorothy Brown won’t seek reelection

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

DOROTHY BROWN BOWS OUT. The longtime clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County will not seek re-election, she told Playbook. “I’ve decided to look at the next chapter. It’s time to do something new, and go to an even higher level.”

Brown says that includes working as a community activist and applying her “financial, technology and legal skills in the for-profit arena.”

After weeks of speculation about whether she was running, Brown said that stepping down from public office at the end of 2020 dovetails with logging 20 years with the county. That’s when she’ll be able to draw a full pension.

Brown, who ran for mayor of Chicago earlier this year before getting knocked off in a petition challenge, said she wasn’t swayed by the crowd of candidates angling to unseat her, or her meager campaign war chest compared to those seeking to take her on. Brown also said the FBI probe into pay-to-play allegations in her office wouldn’t hurt her chances of winning, either (No charges have ever been filed).

“I felt that I would have definitely won re-election,” she said. “Nothing weighed me down. I have just as much confidence as I ever had.”

Discuss.

*** UPDATE *** Press release…

Progressive reformer and Democratic candidate for Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Jacob Meister has issued the following statement in response to Dorthy Brown’s announcement that she will not be seeking re-election for Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court:

“Four years ago I announced my candidacy to run against Dorothy Brown because the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office is a patronage den and bureaucratic disaster of lost paperwork and dinosaur age technology. It is tragic that the second largest court system in the country still relies on carbon paper and hastily handwritten documentation on a daily basis. Lost files and handwritten paperwork result in an unacceptable rate of errors, which often translates to people remaining in jail when they should be released, wrongful evictions and foreclosures. The office needs to be transformed, both operationally and ethically and I offer a clear vision to achieve the needed reform.

“The Democratic Party needs to seize this opportunity to offer the voters a candidate that is the most qualified to reform the office and is absolutely free from ethical questions and pay-to-play politics. Unfortunately, instead of heeding the clear message sent by voters who elected reformers Fritz Kaegi and Lori Lightfoot, many of the leaders of the Cook County Democratic Party are headed towards slating yet another ethically bankrupt candidate to head the Clerk’s office.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 8:47 am

Comments

Luck eventually runs out.

Maybe walking away makes her less of a target?

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 8:52 am
“Technology skills”?
She may have some good qualities (debatable), but an understanding of technology is certainly not one of them.

Comment by Truthiness Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 8:54 am
Carbon paper was once “technology” I suppose.

And yes Willy, no longer being in public office may help take the steam out of any public corruption case.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 8:57 am
“Nothing weighed me down. I have just as much confidence as I ever had.”

Ya see? That right there’s yer problem…

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:03 am
Never charged but certainly implicated. Her opponents would have had a gold mine …

“Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown was implicated in a federal indictment unsealed Friday linking her office and campaign with a bribery conspiracy involving a Pennsylvania businessman.”

Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:05 am
Full pension plus hopes that she’ll be less of a priority for the FBI. I wonder what she has lined up.

And which of the mayoral hopefuls will run.
Pawar, Fioretti, Ford perhaps.

Comment by Robert the Bruce Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:05 am
The weirdest thing about Dorothy Brown is that her office was years ahead of the rest of the nation in making case information available online, and then all but stood frozen in time for two decades. It’s one of the last major systems to automate for attorneys, and they had to be dragged kicking and screaming, kept asking for extensions, etc.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:11 am
@truthiness

She’s the leading expert on one area of technology, carbon paper. I firmly believe that she must have a relative in the carbon paper business, because stepping into the Daly Center is like stepping backwards in time to the late 70s.

Comment by Just Another Anon Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:15 am
I guess it is hard to raise money when you can no longer sell low level jobs for $10,000.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:16 am
====And which of the mayoral hopefuls will run.
Pawar, Fioretti, Ford perhaps====

Pawar failed as a gubernatorial candidate and then lost the city treasurer’s race in a 2 person race.

Comment by Pawar Lost Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:17 am
Remember when she endorsed Amara Enyia for mayor? Hmm. I do.

Comment by Ted Kaczynski Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:21 am
You guys are all missing it.

She’s an attorney.

She’s planning to run against Kim Foxx.

Clerk salary around 110K.

States Attorney salary around 195K.

You can’t stop rock and roll or Dorothy Brown.

Or I could just be making it up.

Comment by IrishPirate Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:25 am
Pawar Lost, sorry, I lost track of the losses. I still think he’ll run.

Comment by Robert the Bruce Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:26 am
For those suggesting other candidates, or other offices for her, keep in mind slating starts tomorrow per the article. The circuit clerk race has at least 4 contenders already.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:31 am
“I’m leaving office to spend some more time with my goats.”

Comment by ChrisB Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 9:41 am
She probably could have won, but the heat from the feds and the ability to draw full pension probably pushed her out. Given where she would have performed well, and the current candidates probable lack of appeal in those areas, I’d expect someone else to jump in. Maybe Boykin, or dreaming, Leslie Hairston? Michelle Harris again? But it’s pretty late in the game.

Comment by TopHatMonocle Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:21 am
=== Her opponents would have had a gold mine … ===

Her opponents have had a gold mine on her for years… yet still got crushed by her.

Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:23 am
When one door closes a cell door opens.

Comment by Flynn's mom Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:37 am
“knowing tech”

The cook county case website is light-years ahead of dupages abomination. That site thinks it’s 1998 still…

Comment by Fav human Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:46 am
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Comment by Anon E Moose Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:46 am
For her replacement, I’m for whoever will allow me to download case files over the internet without having to go over there in person, pay my 10 cents a page for physical copies, and then scan them back at my office.

Comment by A Young Person Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 10:49 am
==Luck eventually runs out.==
Or in Brown’s case, the statute of limitations.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 11:04 am
===Or in Brown’s case, the statute of limitations.===

- Da Big Bad Wolf -

You’re not… wrong…

…but then you’d have to concede Brown has been on the up and up since she’s been on the radar.

Dunno if I can concede that, lol

Be well.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 11:07 am
I may be leaving, but rest assured. My employees who still want to donate to to me, I mean to the “jeans fund” can still send me money.

Comment by siriusly Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 12:16 pm
” … applying her ‘financial, technology and legal skills in the for-profit arena.’”
Perhaps she’s opening a consulting firm with Hardik Bhatt?

Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Aug 14, 19 @ 12:29 pm