The hearing on the proposed resolution to remove Ed Burnette has been cancelled. Upon information and belief, attorneys representing Ed Burnette have reached an agreement with attorneys for President Todd Stroger to resolve their differences in court through the pending litigation in Burnette v. Stroger.NO HEARING ON THE RESOLUTION WILL BE HEARD ON 5/20/08 SO DO NOT ATTEND THE COUNTY BOARD MEETING
May 19th, 2008
Sounds like its time for Justice Cordozo to lead a chorus of Kumbaya!
May 19th, 2008
Typical PD “Victory”!!!
Ed “beat his case…he got probation.”
His contract still expires next May.
Saw Ed at the Operation Push meeting Saturday…too bad when he was surrounded by “X” and Lauren nobody saw the benefit to that alliance……ONE MORE YEAR…ONE MORE YEAR!!!! The union and the Directors and Chiefs can all go celebrate together!!!!
May 19th, 2008
The president filed a motion to dismiss. Does this mean that if the Judge Riley grants the motion to dismiss on May 30, 2008, the resolution gets re-introduced? I cannot see how this is a victory regardless of how Judge Riley rules on the motion to dismiss. If the judge denies the motion to dismiss, the President goes for the appeal and the Public Defender faces obstruction from the president on filing vacant positionsduring the appeal. If the judge grants the motion to dismiss, are we back to facing a termination of our Public defender. If so, the nature of the termination hearing is still unresolved. Would the Public Defender have the right to subpoena witnesses for cross examination. (eg. Richard Who?)
May 19th, 2008
You can bet that Stroger will not have any type of hearing next time.
May 19th, 2008
Justice Cardozo:
The removal proceedure requires a hearing before the board.
Bruce
May 19th, 2008
An open termination hearing where the voters could watch the following week on cable access TV? If the judge grants the motion to dismiss, the President still has to answer to the voters as to validity of his allegations in the resolution to terminate. The President started this, he has an obligation to either finish it or publicly announce to the voters that the resolution was a mistake.
May 19th, 2008
O.k…so we have a short breather til the fit hits the shan again.
Justice Cardozo: You’ve been around a LONG time and seen the office go through it’s growing pains for a while now. What qualities do you think the next public defender should have?
May 19th, 2008
The next PD should have trial experience as Ed does….and not war stories from the 1980s…..there is so much that so many people in this Office have to offer….a lot of different perspectives…..the New PD should seek people out…instead of surrounding him/herself with absolute lackeys who would die of fright if they saw 48 registered voters enter the Courtroom.
I laugh when I think of the Downtown Directors picking 12 in front of Jimmy Linn!!!!! This Office needs a PD and 1st Asst. Downtown…those other jobs over the years being filled by some individuals who NEVER tried a felony should be eliminated. WHY DO WE NEED A HUGE OFFICE PRESENCE DOWNTOWN AT ALL????
The new PD had better find out what affects the troops in the trenches….and find confidants with some brains and balls.
May 19th, 2008
Ingrid Gill:
HUH? Have you flipped sides again? Do they sell meds on cable access?
May 19th, 2008
Now thats the thoughtful Ben Cardozo I know. It seems to me that all Directors and Chiefs should be first chair death qualified. Its really not a very high standard and yet many of our current bosses don’t qualify. I guess its the axiom…those who can’t do…teach…and those who can’t teach…become chiefs and directors. I certainly hope the next PD has serious trial and appellate experience in indigent criminal defense.
May 19th, 2008
Now that the Burnette situation is in the Courts, this Union can focus on the Woody Jordan Retirement Gala.
Woody is a dues paying member who has always spent hours trying to figure out how much money we would get in those “Retro Checks” down to the last nickel.
May 19th, 2008
So Ingrid he’s “our” Public Defender now?
And Justice Cardozo, thanks for a fairly cogent comment.
And now I’ll step out on a limb & say that I can see Ed being reappointed as Public Defender. And why not? What we don’t need is further disruption. We need to get on with the business of doing our jobs with the much needed improvements addressed above.
And to my friend Michelle, did you almost curse? And you know that changing around the letters doesn’t change the meaning or you would not have submitted it. That took a lot more thought than did my error, but not my apology that was unacknowledged in your diatribe against me.
May 19th, 2008
when will we receive retro checks??? what about the grade 3 positions that we interviewed for in jan.??? when will we get information about those two issues that everyone is whispering about in their offices????? is ed going to be a lame duck and not get anything done (promotions or new hires)?? or is he sooooo focused on the dispute with todd that nothing is being submitted or processed by ed??? OR is the the hold up with the county personnel office(such as with the juvenile justice situation). no one seems to address these concerns, when the issue is brought up we get no direct response, the focus just continues to be on supporting ed, BUT there are many of us who are just trying to support our families. bill hooks brushed over the issue in his response to the removal resolution- do you mean to tell me that the promotion process is still not completed after 4 months?????? it was only 7 positions posted, maybe 40 applied, God only knows how many will REALLY get filled (it’s been two years since the last posting and we all are familiar w/ the drill, those w/ the least seniority will get promoted and those with more seniority must grieve- what can the union do about that ??????- i don’t know if our office is any better that todd when it comes to playing favoritism on who gets promotions). it gets really frustrating working for an office that operates in this manner and as though we are invisible, (we read daily about how todd is appointing his cronies to 6 figure paying positions yet we can’t get any resources or proper staffing levels to adequately do our jobs without being stretched to the limits). morale is low ! and at this point i really don’t know if anyone gives a damn about what happens to those folks “downtown” who aren’t in the trenches or care to know about the feelings of those in the trenches. i read this blog frequently and am writing for the first time b/c it gets tiresome and irritating reading the same stuff over and over. what about the real issues of the joe blows in the office?????
May 20th, 2008
Bruce,
As you so eloquently point out, being 1st chair death qualified “is NOT a very high standard” so why make that some artificial litmus test as if being 1st chair death qualified automatically deems someone highly competent to “manage” other attorney’s.
There are some very valid reasons as to why a large percentage of criminal defense attorney’s in the state of Illinois are not 1st chair qualified members of the capital defense bar. Having 7 murder juries and a weekend death penalty seminar under one’s belt (and filing out that ridiculously long application) really doesn’t say anything about that person’s abilities as a litigator and, more importantly, it doesn’t speak to that persons ability to “manage.”
I think your minimalist, merit less, artificial, litmus test would be a HUGE disaster for our office and would not move this office forward into the future. I see it as being about as effective as having a toothless pit bull for a security dog.
If one has the opportunity to propose the “ideal” public defender, why not come up with some minimum standards that actually mean something and have some “bite” to them?
I get the sense that we both agree that we don’t have a “deep pocket” of current, management in-house to choose from, but what are your thoughts on someone from the rank & file with NO prior “management” experience becoming the next public defender? Or…what are your thoughts on someone from another state with prior legal management experience as well as successful litigation experience becoming the next public defender?
May 20th, 2008
Justice Cardozo,
Thanks for the reply, you raise some really good points.
As to your question of why the need for such a huge office presence downtown…dunno that we do need it. I’d imagine that as with most business’s, our office will proly always have some management positions that we really don’t need.
It will be interesting to see how this whole thing shakes out and what the office structure will look like 5 years from now.
May 20th, 2008
I have not flipped merely because I used the term “our Public Defender”. The Public Defender needs to put those five attorney positions back into the budget. The right to a fair hearing for the Public Defender is still an unresolved issue if that resolution to terminate is reintroduced. The next elected cook county board President could put this office through another resolution to terminate. Whatever happened to this is not about Ed Burnette but about the office of the Public Defender?
Now that this crisis has past, this union needs to focus back on the dues paying members. When are we going to get a printed copy of our contract that we ratified? What is the status of that 1% that is suppose to kick in when our medical contributions go up? Was the 1% even written into the union contract.
May 20th, 2008
For those curious folks: an arbitrator has been selected for our dispute with the County over the 1% increase in wages scheduled for 6/7/08 but a date has yet to be agreed upon for the arbitration; the contract is being printed but we will upload a pdf version to the website soon and we do not have an exact date for the retro checks but they are forthcoming.
In case members forgot, the complaint filed by the union in Burnette v. Stroger alleges that Ed was not allowed to fill positions in the office in a timely manner because of nonsense at the County building and seeks back-pay for laid off attorneys.
May 20th, 2008
Kulmeet,
Would it be possible for someone from the union to also upload a copy of the complaint filed by our union on our behalf so that we could see it?
There appears to be a large number of folks who either can’t or won’t come to a union meeting to find out correct information and ask questions and that always leads to some pretty bazaar “rumors.”
May 20th, 2008
Hey Skelly!
I know your out there lurking about. Feel free to pop in and post your thoughts. It would be interesting to get some views from PD’s outside of our office.
For those who just went “HUH?” I DID take my meds this morning and haven’t lost all my marbles. Skelly is not a figment of my imagination.
Skelly is a PD in Washington. He has his own Blog…one of the best PD Blogs on the net in my opinion. He’s been following our situation and has posts about it on his blog.
May 20th, 2008
Query Questioner,
assistant public defenders are Shakman protected; consequently,
our first amendment rights to free political speech is protected.
If you want to accuse union members of not taking their meds, use
your real name rather hiding behind an alias.
During this crisis, the union has asked its members to voice their
opinions as both private citizens and union members. As a rank
and file unionized attorney, I have consistently defended our members.
There is absolutely no reason to eliminate union positions.
As a private citizen, I did what was asked of me. I spoke to the
commissioners and the President about the conducting a fair and
open termination hearing. What have you done?
Since you may not be from Chicago, you obviously do not
understand the political climate here.
May 20th, 2008
Marienne
I do not see Mr. Burnette serving out a second term as Public
Defender. As a private citizen, I would like to see him run
as a Democrat in the next judical primary. During this
crisis, Mr. Burnette has shown courage and an ethical
committment to the rule of law.
As a rank and file union member, I would forgive him for
eliminating union positions if he chose to run in the next
democratic judicial primary. I am not happy with his prior
explanations for getting rid of union jobs, but I have to
admit he would be a fantastic canidate on the democrat slate
for the next judical race.
May 20th, 2008
Me tinks QQ is a neglected and abused PD over at 26th street. Why else would they post this:
Query Questioner Says:
May 18th, 2008
Will any management members show up at the county hearing on the 20th or will they hide in their offices as most of them do when the jurors are lined up in the hall or the bench trial is about to begin? Just asking.
May 20th, 2008
Here is the addy to an article published today. The author isn’t listed, but it’s one of the best articles out there regarding this whole mess.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0520edit2may20,0,2289121.story
If we could some how get the power back in the hands of the Chief Judge, we just might stand a chance of having a office capable of functioning properly without political posturing.
May 20th, 2008
I expect Ed to be gone next year. I hope so because then whoever it is could spend more time doing the work of the PD then fighting Todd. I agree with Bruce that several of the “leaders” of our office are not qualified. While they may be nice people, they shouldn’t be in the jobs they are in. The chief at 26th street is highest on that list as well as the chief in Maywood. There are several others and hopefully the new public defender will clean house. We have several in management who do an excellant job and are not fairly compensated for it. That too should change and new leadership at the top would hopefully resolve that issue as well.
I think that division chiefs, except civil, should have significant felony jury trial experience and more than a couple drug cases. They should be people that attorneys can go to for advice on how to try some of our more complex and difficult cases. Several chief do not have that ability. While I don’t agree with Bruce that all should be death penalty qualified, I think it is an indicator of experience.
May 20th, 2008
Ah Michelle you are so young! I say that because the great reformer of this office,
Randolph Stone, now Professor Stone of the University of Chicago Law School, found an
untenable situation when he became the PD here in the late 80s. The Public Defender was
chosen by the Chief Judge and the office was under his supervision! This led to judges
believing that the courtroom PDs worked for them! I understand it was often the case
that judges would be unhappy with their assigned APDs and would complain to the Chief
Judge. (now judges are always happy with “their” pds…lol) This would lead to the local
PD being kicked out of the courtroom so some less zealous type could come in. I would
guess that Randy would say that his most important reform while the PD was giving
us our independence from the judges by placing us under the control of the County
Board. Michelle…I guess that there is no easy solution to our problems.
May 20th, 2008
Bruce,
Yes….there is NO easy solution to any of this. And no matter what happens, there will be those who feel that they got shafted in the process.
As for me being young….I guess being 44 1/2 qualifies, no? LOL!
Having said that, I was aware that our office use to be under the Chief Judge, that was why I worded my post the way I did and said “get the power BACK in the hands of the Chief Judge.”
The situation that you describe of Judges calling and complaining has not changed one bit. They still call to complain and PD’s are still yanked out at a whim so that someone more “palitable” can be put in their place and pacify the Judge. That is why I agreed wholehartedly with Justice Cardozo and his post regarding getting some folks in place who have some brains and balls.
If a PD is doing what is truly in the best interest of their client, there is no reason to yank them out of the courtroom and re-assign them to another Judge just because the Judge is unhappy with what they are doing.
If the PD is not doing what is in the best interest of their client, then that’s a problem that needs to be dealt with swiftly. (i.e. calling in sick all the time, arriving late to court all the time, filing frivolous motions, being disrespectful of courtroom personnel, etc…)
The bottom line with me is that we are mandated to do a job. The clients always come first. We don’t represent anyone BUT the client. That is who we zelously advocate for, that is who we fight for!
May 20th, 2008
I’d be for re-upping Ed, if he still wants the job. If not, I would look for someone already in the office, who has experience with trials and with the other divisions in our office, such as appeals, post-convictions, civil, traffic, etc.
A judge once had the audacity to complain about me to my supervisor. But my supervisor backed me up 100%. Later, when that judge held me in direct criminal contempt, the chief of First Municipal and the supervisor supported me. I appreciated it.
Next time a judge does complain about me, I will make a record of it by noticing up SOJ motions in the clerk’s office based on their admitted and unreasonable prejudice against me. If my supervisor did not like it, I would take it up the chain. If I am convinced I am wrong, I’d drop the motion. But the truth is that sometimes the reason judges dislike us is we are simply doing our job.
As far as the Tribune link is concerned, for some reason my computer can’t connect to that site. So much the better. The Tribue is an anti-union newspaper. I rarely share its opinions.
May 20th, 2008
Sorry about the link Dan, not sure why it won’t come up for you. If the author was known, I could get approval to repost it here, but I don’t want to cause copyright problems.
Perhaps going to the main tribune site and searching for “politics and public defenders” (the title of the article) will pull it up for you and whomever else may be having trouble with the link. (I know that AOL often won’t let you directly link to things, you have to cut & paste)
That’s great that your supervisor & chief backed you up! That’s what should happen when your doing what you should be doing for your client. I’ve been fortunate that in my 8 years with the office, I’ve only had one immediate “supervisor” that wasn’t worth a poot. Unfortunately, many of our brothers & sisters haven’t been so fortunate…….
I really like your idea of the PD having a varied background…I think that type of person would bring more insight to the position.
May 21st, 2008
Ouch! Double Ouch!
Now here is an article that sorta implies that all ain’t well downtown and a few toes have been stepped on….
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/public.defender.lawsuit.2.728818.html
So much for the short breather….
May 21st, 2008
Looks to me that Todd just tried to save face. Not to worry for a few months at least. Call Gump and sign up all your brothers ans sisters in PEOPLE.
May 21st, 2008
I re-upped at the last union meeting. They now take out $4.20 per pay check instead of $2.10 per pay check.
That’s less than a gallon of gas now days.
May 21st, 2008
Who in the hell is this “Paid Attorney” arrested for trying to smuggle dope into the Jail?
UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!!!!!!!
He made bond, so he isn’t our problem…..what a goof.
May 21st, 2008
JC, it ain’t the first time that happened with a private.
May 21st, 2008
I remember Barry Matis and his whole fiasco a few years back. I still can’t figure out how someone would hire a mope like that in the first place.
I’m not familiar with this new guy that just got busted tho. Never heard of him before.
When he gets done with whatever sentence he gets, Stroger will probably hire him to revamp the TASC program! He’ll proly start out at $120k and get 3 months vacation time and a county car as a signing bonus….
May 22nd, 2008
Justice Cardozo,
This Hammond, IN newspaper gives more detail than the chicago papers do.
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/05/22/news/illiana/docba4367bb10a39eb78625745100061f1f.txt
May 22nd, 2008
This lawyer, Nathan Billmaier, looks like a featured speaker at the next Office seminar at Mc Cormick Place….sponsored by Sambuca.
This guy can tell us of the perils of transporting contaband to the Jail!!!!!
The new LAP video will feature Judges telling Judges to turn each other in for boozing.
CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT SEMINAR!!!!!!!!!
May 22nd, 2008
Query?
Who will be the speaker at McCormick Place on bringing love into the jail? A retiree?
May 22nd, 2008
Brothers and Sisters (Cardozo, Michelle and Dan): Let’s not forget that there are two sides to every story and that he is cloaked in the presumption of innocence. Give the man a fair trial. What if the facts are that Billmair was not a regular at the jail and represented the individual visited in jail on civil matters only? Has anyone seen how the contraband was packaged? Could a novice to the criminal mileu be duped into muling in contraband that was well secreted without knowledge? What if ” Mr. Billmaier was just totally set up and is now between a rock and a hard place while trying to restore his good name” as his lawyer, Stanley Hill said? Let’s wait and see what the facts really are before we rush to judgment. Shame shame for convicting him without even reading one report!
May 23rd, 2008
The State has convicted a lot of people without reading one report!!!
LMAO!!!!!
Let me guess, Mr. Billmaier is going to ride with the “necessity” defense….His life was threatened….I don’t PRESUME him Guilty…..I presume him to be a dumb ass.
May 23rd, 2008
White Sox on a roll….wait until they start actually playing well.
How can the Bulls waste the first pick in the draft…stay tuned….
Can we throw garbage on the field at Wrigley on the Jack Carey Scholarship Night?
I’m bringing 6 baseballs.
May 23rd, 2008
Dunno Kulmeet, 4 ounces of weed is a crapload! How in the heck do you secretly conceal 4 ounces of weed in TINFOiL so that a “reasonable lawyer” won’t have a clue what you just gave him?
Then to throw in 4 MORE ounces of tobacco & 6 ecstasy pills…..
What did she do to it, chemically reduce it to dust?
Shame on him for not bothering to even look at what he was given by the girlfriend PRIOR to taking it in with him on his visit. Who does that?
An why is someone who works for Stanley working without malpractice insurance? Why does the firms website say he’s been licensed since 2005, yet the ARDC says he wasn’t licensed until August of 2006? I know….it’s none of my business…..I’ll leave it alone…
May 23rd, 2008
Fair enough Bob. Perhaps he merely showed poor judgment in walking in the jail without checking what was in his files. You’re right. Stranger things have happened.