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Kim Foxx coverage roundup

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Sun-Times | Foxx political exit sets the stage for a free-for-all in 2024 race for state’s attorney:

* Tribune | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx says she will not run for reelection: Asked why she isn’t running for a third term, Foxx said she promised her family that she would leave after two. She said she hasn’t “allowed myself the whimsy to think” of her next step. I’m really proud of the work that we have done on running the second largest prosecutor’s office in the middle of a pandemic and still doing the work,” Foxx said.

* Crain’s | Defiant Foxx defends her record as potential successors start to emerge: Foxx’s speech had something that both her allies and critics will find familiar. Mixing passion with, at times, outright defiance, she made no apologies for leading the office in a new direction, one that mixed prosecution with criminal justice reform. As the daughter of a single mother who grew up in the Cabrini-Green area and had firsthand experience with poverty, “I was supposed to fail,” she said. “My very presence (at high levels) of government was disruptive.” But that gave her the drive to make the office “what it was supposed to be (about) . . . justice.” That meant doing something about a jail filled with mostly young Black men, many of them held on minor drug charges or other offenses because they didn’t have the money for bail. The new statewide criminal reform bill now awaiting a final signoff in the courts will remedy that by abolishing cash bail, she said. State legislation to end prosecution of cases dealing with possession of small amounts of marijuana was passed with her help, she continued. The office established a data portal with detailed information on the status of arrests and prosecution that was “a national model.” Fewer minors were transferred to adult court. And people who had no access to power suddenly did.

* WBEZ | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx won’t seek reelection : Foxx said she informed Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson of her decision Monday and called him “the man of the moment” whose election reminds her of her own first win in 2016. “I told Mayor-elect Johnson as a Black man in leadership that his role would be very difficult,” Foxx said. “You have to keep going. But know what’s coming. His responsibility is to do the work with the full knowledge that it’s not going to be fair … but he has a job to do and elevate the voices of the people who put him there.”

* Block Club | Kim Foxx Slams Media, Critics For Jussie Smollett Obsession: Foxx said her very presence in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office was “disruptive” since she was the first Black woman to lead the agency after being elected in 2016. But she was focused on enacting reforms, she said. But critics overlook the changes Foxx has made and the wrongfully convicted people she’s freed — instead focusing their attention on Smollett again and again, she said. “Probably when I leave this earth, my epitaph will mention Jussie Smollett,” Foxx said. “And it makes me mad.”

* The Triibe | Kim Foxx blazed a trail of progressive reforms in the State’s Attorney’s Office: In 2019, she began expunging marijuana convictions, and by 2022 had surpassed 15,000 such expungements. She also directed CCSAO to stop prosecuting shoplifting under $1,000 and to dismiss drug cases in favor of alternatives to prosecution. Ultimately, Foxx declined to file charges in thousands of low-level cases that her predecessor would have prosecuted. During the 2020 rebellions in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Foxx issued a policy to decriminalize protest, making her one of the only prosecutors in the nation to do so.

* WGN | Illinois reaction mixed over news Kim Foxx will not seek 3rd term in office: “I think the writing was on the wall and good riddance,” said current Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara. The relationship between the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the FOP was often icy. […] Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson released a statement Tuesday, praising some of Foxx’s accomplishments during her tenure, including overturning nearly 200 wrongful convictions and expunging more than 15,000 cannabis crimes, saying: “She has led her office with dignity and civility, and as a colleague at the county level, I am grateful for the work that she has accomplished in her two terms. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

* Daily Herald | ‘I leave now with my head held high’: Oft-embattled Kim Foxx won’t seek reelection: “At the conclusion of my term in November 2024, I will be stepping down as state’s attorney. I will not be on next year’s ballot by my choice,” Foxx said Tuesday during remarks to the City Club of Chicago. “I leave now with my head held high and my heart full knowing that better days are ahead,” said the Chicago native.

* NBC Chicago | What Kim Foxx Told Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson During Recent Meeting: “I told Mayor-elect Johnson that I saw that despite the fact that he had yet to put his hand on the bible, that doesn’t happen until May 15, that he was somehow responsible for the violence in our communities,” Foxx said. Foxx added that Johnson would be taking on a role “in a city that has not fully acknowledged or reckoned with its history of racism and what it does to Black leaders.”

* AP | Chicago-area prosecutor Kim Foxx won’t seek third term: Foxx, who was raised in Chicago public housing, first ran for the office in 2016 in a race dominated by questions about then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s handling of a Chicago police officer’s killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014. Foxx became the first Black woman to hold the job, joining a wave of big-city prosecutors elected on promises to overhaul the criminal justice system, including more accountability for police and a willingness to forgo prosecutions of minor offenses.

* WTTW | Kim Foxx Announces She Won’t Run for 3rd Term as Cook County State’s Attorney: “I refute the supposition that where we see ourselves today with the rise in crime and violence that coincides with a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is somehow the result of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office,” Foxx said. “It just doesn’t add up. It just doesn’t. It feels convenient. To suggest that this administration is somehow responsible for the rise in violent crime is disingenuous at best. And a lie.”

* NBC Chicago | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Announces She Won’t Seek Reelection: Former Inspector General Joe Ferguson is a prime candidate to potentially run for that office, along with former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, who lost his seat to now Chicago mayor-elect Brandon Johnson in 2018, and Dan Kirk, who was first assistant to former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

* Block Club | Bill Conway Won’t Run For Kim Foxx’s Seat, Says He’s Focused On Serving As 34th Ward Alderman: “I’m squarely focused on the job I was just elected to do, which is to help build a stronger and safer city and new 34th Ward, and I couldn’t be more excited to be sworn in next month,” Conway said. “I am not considering a run for Cook County State’s Attorney.”

posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 8:52 am

Comments

Now we are down to merely one pro-SAFE-T Act State’s Attorney, right? That’s either really good or really bad news for Eric Rinehart from Lake County. Foxx might look smart in the long run but her brand is down right now with those who aren’t CJR activists.

Comment by Torco Sign Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:00 am
== Dick Devine, the former first deputy who replaced Richard M. Daley in 1989==

This is incorrect. Cecil Partee replaced Daley in 1989. Partee was defeated by Jack O’Malley in a special election in 1990. O’Malley, then was defeated by Devine in 1996 in a great win by Cook County Dems.

Comment by low level Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:10 am
===Now we are down to merely one pro-SAFE-T Act State’s Attorney, right? ===

lol

She’ll be state’s attorney until after the 2024 election. And it’s far too early to making such bold predictions about how that election will turn out.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:13 am
Foxx was leading an increasingly empty office in a new direction. She knew she’d get clobbered, so she decided to leave.

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:25 am
There’s plenty of run up to petitions come this fall, so any Republican (not named “Tony Peraica”) that feels they have a chance at an open seat, “have at it”

If you look back at “Jack(exclamation mark)” and O’Malley’s loos as an incumbent, the open seat is there for Republicans to recalibrate their own “law and order” thinking to a policy that wins elections, by allowing Cook County voters to grade the message and candidate recruitment.

If they run a “Tony Peraica” (or actually Tony Peraica runs, lol) what exactly is the point?

You can’t complain the “Democrat Party” in Cook, Collars, “Illinois” is overwhelming when the candidates chosen are flat out losers (policy wise, candidate wise) before any discussions can begin to winning.

Since I don’t identify as these new Trumpkin Republican cultists that win primaries and run the ILGOP in an overall “hostage-ness”, my interests is only in a sporting one.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:34 am
I liked Kim Foxx’s prosecutorial philosophy and I hope whoever is chosen (and elected next) has a similar one. Look you’ve got the guy for 5 years time, let’s not upcharge that into a 10-15 year life-ruining charge.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:48 am
Agree with OW.

If Republicans are going to run a candidate that is policing individuals health care, and calling it “freedom and liberty”, then don’t bother.

Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:49 am
“I leave now with my head held high and my heart full knowing that better days are ahead,” said the Chicago native. Well, you aren’t leaving yet though I can dream of you resigning. And she continues her trashing of other people to make herself look better by calling Jussie Smollett a D list actor. His sister, you know the one on the phone with several people, will probably not take your calls now Kim. Trashing other people…what you did to your staff over and over…is not a way to do the job. She can’t leave fast enough.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:51 am
She was a nationwide target for the right.
My Trumpster brother from Seattle was just in town last week saying that he could’t stand that “Kim” person.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 9:52 am
==Now we are down to merely one pro-SAFE-T Act State’s Attorney, right?==

Rather depends on who replaces her, doesn’t it? I don’t think that being against the SAFE-T Act will give you a leg up in a Democratic Primary, and being a Republican won’t give you a leg up in the General.

Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 10:06 am
Kim Foxx is a terrible State’s Attorney and my opinion has nothing to do with her policy positions regarding criminal justice reform. She is a horrible administrator that chased away dozens of talented lawyers, and it left her office lacking in competence and experience. Certain parts of the Civil Actions Bureau is operating at malpractice level staffing. As someone who used to interact with that office nearly daily, I am extremely disappointed with how she administered that office. It will take years to rebuild what she has destroyed.

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 10:07 am
Hannibal Lector has my Post of the Day.

Trump was incompetent and blamed it on the deep state. Foxx was incompetent and blamed it on race. It’s the same thing taking zero accountability on the job.

Comment by Almost the Weekend Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 10:41 am
Hannibal Lecter is spot on. It’s very troubling talking to people who recently left the office as they still love the place but could not take the way it was run. I think she tried to function as Anita Alvarez did, but Anita had decades of big trial experience and leadership positions and knew how to handle people. Previous State’s Attorneys actually functioned way more hands off and had their supervisors handling things. Kim Foxx did not even have an active law license when she declared for the office so she was not even up to speed as a lawyer. And Foxx chewed through how many First Assistants and trashed them and others? She appears to be a jerk.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 10:48 am
==I think the writing was on the wall== says the man who failed to remove Kim Foxx in a year with actual destructive riots and was very recently on the losing side of an election widely viewed as a referendum on the FOP

Comment by 48th Ward Heel Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 10:54 am
If memory serves, O’Malley was supposed to be coasting to reelection while Devine was strapped for cash. Relying upon pollsters, O’Malley canceled his final television commercials since he expected to win by a comfortable margin. Had the commercials been broadcast, Devine had no funds to counter.

Come Election Day, the suburbs hit the snooze button while Devine outperformed Jack! in the city. O’Malley trusted a faulty poll and wound up moving to take a judicial seat.

Comment by Gravitas Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 11:04 am
=== She also directed CCSAO to stop prosecuting shoplifting under $1,000===
Still less than half of Texas’ felony limit for shoplifting.

Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 11:19 am
@Gravitas, plus Devine’s main supporters were on a revenge tour as several had been fired by O’Malley so they were fired up. When Devine got back in he listened to them and then he figured out they were mostly wrong and he moved on.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 11:20 am
I’d want to know why those attorneys left. Did they not like that she was taking away their ability to get people to settle by threatening to overcharge? Because I’m not a fan of that tactic.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 11:42 am
=== I’d want to know why those attorneys left. ===

When Kim Foxx took office, several supervisory level attorneys in the Civil Actions Bureau were told that they were going to be demoted, in many cases, several notches down. They weren’t going to stay under those circumstances. Others left because they did not feel like they were being given the resources to effectively perform their jobs. It has nothing to do with overcharging or criminal law at all.

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 11:50 am
Hannibal Lecter is correct. and the whole where she’s from and they don’t like her bit is a smokescreen. After all, they just had a Latina as their leader, a working class kid from the SouthSide. Say what you will about the big case that led to her downfall (and it’s not as bad as people make it out to be) Anita could kick ass try a case, AND lead a softball team, as pitcher. She is still loved by many.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:04 pm
=== Three years ago Cook County state’s attorney Anita Alvarez described marijuana as a dangerous “gateway drug” while prosecuting thousands of cases involving the possession of dime bags. ===

Anyone waxing poetic about the tenure of Anita Alvarez is deeply misguided.

Comment by Mark Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:42 pm
It’s very difficult to write an accurate annd nuanced assessment of Kim’s record as State’s Attorney, because it’s so mixed, and because it’s so entangled with the Office’s sad history.

Historically, the Office was an insular culture that grew up alongside and tolerated the corrupt, racist practices of much of the CPD. The Office didn’t act as a check on those practices, and helped to cover up the CPD’s history of torture and coercion.

Though Anita came from a different background, she was a worthy successor to Devine, in that she bought into the culture and didn’t challenge it. Instead, she continued to defend indefensible prosecutions, based on questionable confessions. (Remember the 60 Minutes interview?)

Foxx swept that away. She established a real conviction integrity program, and agreed to dismiss many prosecutions that were questionable. She also tried to dismantle much of the old boy culture in the Office. She deserves real credit for that.

Her changing of prosecution priorities had mixed results. Too many poor defendants — disproportionately black — were kept in jail because they couldn’t make bail for relatively minor offenses. She deserves credit for her leadership on this point, as well. But she arguably went too far in refusing to bring some felony charges against repeat offenders whose crimes affected the quality of life in the county.

By almost all accounts, her administrative skills were poor. Both longtime Office stalwarts and former AUSA’s and other outsiders she had hired were unhappy with her management. The complaints didn’t come only from the old boys’ club.

So, Smollett aside, IMHO Foxx deserves praise for some of the big things she got correct, and criticism for day-to-day things she got wrong.

Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:43 pm
I am very curious as to Toni Preckwinkle’s personal opinion on how Kim Foxx has performed as SA.

Comment by Rogo Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:44 pm
Amalia’s oblique reference to that “big case” not being “as bad as people make it out to be” is LOL-worthy. I think Foxx is spot on when pointing out that the media and the public had a disproportionate focus on the Jussie fiasco and not nearly enough recognition for the good works accomplished. That point really resonates with me.

Comment by Luke Steele Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 1:04 pm
I don’t mean to sound silly, but no one goes to Subway
for a sandwich at 2 am when it’s below zero in Chicago.

I knew the fix was in right away as did many others.

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 1:09 pm
=== I don’t mean to sound silly, but no one goes to Subway
for a sandwich at 2 am when it’s below zero in Chicago.
I knew the fix was in right away as did many others.===

Well yes, you do sound silly. I used to eat at the Subway at Central and Archer because I worked the graveyard shift at Midway. Not much else was open ar 2 or 3 am. By 4 am I’d figure I’d wait till I was off.
Below zero? Yes it was below zero often and I had to work outside. Good thing the Subway was nice and warm inside.

Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 1:21 pm
@BettyDraper’scigarette The problem with your logic is that Jussie wasn’t working the graveyard shift.

Comment by Torco Sign Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 1:39 pm
Hannibal Lecter and Oswego Willy each earn the “Craftsman Tools Award” for hitting the nail on the head.

Comment by Richard Afflis Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 1:43 pm
Betty Draper: please watch Dave Chapelle talking about this case…it’s as ridiculous as it sounds..

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 2:22 pm
And Rogo has the million dollar question IMHO…

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 2:25 pm
===please watch Dave Chapelle===

lol

No.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 2:25 pm
Foxx took longer to charge on a huge recent heater case involving the police than Alvarez did for the LMcDonald case. no one said a peep. and with LM case there was WAY more evidence to analyze. Foxx gets a total pass on the heater case and Alvarez wore the jacket for Rahm.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:02 pm
Daley’s nephew killed a kid and Alvarez as SA essentially argued on his behalf like a defense attorney. Good riddance to her still.

Comment by Count Floyd Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:24 pm
=== BettyDraper’scigarette The problem with your logic is that Jussie wasn’t working the graveyard shift.===

I never said he was. Who knows why people are up at night? Insomnia? Just restless? I don’t know why people who I don’t know do things, do you?

Loop Lady said “but no one goes to Subway
for a sandwich at 2 am when it’s below zero in Chicago.” She was wrong. People go to Subway at two am when it’s below zero.

Why do the people who own Subways keep them open, and pay people to work there? Because they like to throw away money?

Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:28 pm
She was in the wrong job. She has a good heart and clear policy objectives, but seems better suited to the public defender’s office, or perhaps she should become a legislator and try to change laws she doesn’t like, rather than using selective prosecution to achiever her progressive aims.

Comment by Chitruth Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:45 pm
You may agree with her policy decisions, and she might have had the best of intentions - but the bottom line is that Kim Foxx is ineffective and a poor manager. I will not be sorry to see her go.

Comment by 4th Generation Chicagoan Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:49 pm
omg enough with the Daley’s nephew killed a kid. no one who is a criminal lawyer who knows the details of that case thinks a punch in a fight is more of a charge than he got. no one. I asked at the time and over and over to attorneys. jeez.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 3:58 pm