Scott Drury

Name: Scott Drury

Age: 45

Party: Democratic

Current residence: Highwood

Current position: Illinois state representative; adjunct professor of law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law; attorney, Drury Law LLC

Past legal experience: Drury Law LLC, 2016-present; adjunct professor, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Adjunct Professor, 2011-present; Reed Smith LLP, 2011-16; assistant United States attorney, 2003-11; Sachnoff & Weaver Ltd., 1999-2003; Holleb & Coff, 1998-99

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $854,081.65

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $143,912.74

Law school: Northwestern University School of Law, 1998, cum laude

Campaign website: scottdrury.org

Family: I have been married to Shelby Drury for 17 years. Shelby is an attorney at Novack Macey. I have two children, 15 and 12, who attend public schools.

Hobbies/interests: I enjoy spending free time with my family, playing tennis and guitar, and reading presidential biographies.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

As an attorney, my greatest accomplishment has been earning a position with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago and successfully prosecuting corrupt public officials, violent gun offenders, sexual predators and business executives. As a state representative, I am most proud of my successful efforts to reform police interrogation procedures before it was popular for public officials to address the issue of police reform. These reforms were necessary given Illinois’ sordid history of convicting innocent persons.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

I am running for attorney general to clean up Illinois. As a former assistant U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted corrupt public officials and a state representative who has witnessed how corrupt our government is, I know that Illinois needs an attorney general who is not beholden to the entrenched politicians intent on maintaining the status quo. I have a demonstrated history of taking on the country’s most powerful interests — including the NRA, big insurance companies and Mike Madigan — without regard to politics or political party. I will continue doing this as Illinois’ attorney general.

What would be your top priority as attorney general?

As attorney general, my top priority will be to clean up Illinois. This means rooting out corruption at all levels of government, ending the gun violence and opioid epidemics plaguing our state and protecting Illinois residents from the large corporations and powerful interests/political leaders who are intent on violating our rights and promoting a failed political system built on inequality and self-interest. Illinois must stop outsourcing the fight against public corruption to the federal government. Further, Illinois must take a comprehensive approach to ending the gun violence and the opioid epidemics, as opposed to trying to address the issues solely via criminal sentencing.

Regarding the ongoing consent decree talks with the Chicago Police Department, what policies or measures do you view as being necessary for the department to adopt?

As a federal prosecutor, I led the successful investigation of a corrupt police department, resulting in multiple convictions and also convicted an officer who violently assaulted a helpless victim. There must be a zero-tolerance policy for false police reports or officers who help cover up misconduct. Police officers involved in shootings should be treated like everyone else and not be given time to meet and confer with each other and union officials before giving a statement. It is critical to have community involvement in the process and make sure that community members have a seat at the table.

How do you view the attorney general’s role in conjunction with the federal government?

As attorney general, I will seek to partner with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the state on issues such as public corruption, gun violence and opioid abuse. To the extent the federal government implements policies that infringe on the rights of Illinois residents, I will oppose those policies and vigorously fight against their implementation via litigation and advocacy. As a litigator with a great deal of experience in federal court, I will not hesitate to file civil rights lawsuits and seek injunctions in federal venues.

Do you believe state employees should be paid absent an appropriation? Under the current laws of the state, would you go to court to block their pay if they continued receiving checks absent a budget?

During the budget impasse, I was the first — and for a long time, the only — legislator to call for an end to piecemeal appropriations and to stop pay to state workers. In the end, my colleagues and legislative leadership agreed with me. This resulted in an end to the impasse because legislators actually saw the harm they were causing to everyone. The lesson learned was that future impasses will not extend for lengthy periods if legislators have the courage to not appropriate funds.