Donna  More
Donna More
Anita Alvarez
Anita Alvarez
Kim Foxx
Kim Foxx

In the days leading up to the March 15 primary election, the Daily Law Bulletin will publish responses to questionnaires sent to candidates in all contested Cook County judicial races. Campaign finance information comes from Illinois State Board of Elections reports.


Name: Kim Foxx

Age: 43

Current: Flossmoor

Current position: Consulting

Past legal experience: Cook County state’s attorney’s office, 12 years; Cook County public guardian’s office, three years

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $515,874.19

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $148,943.59

Law school: Southern Illinois University School of Law, 1997

Campaign website: kimfoxx.com

Family: Husband, Kelley; daughters Kai and Kendall

Hobbies/interests: Running, reading and volunteering

Have you ever run for office before?

No.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

My professional and personal experience uniquely qualifies me to handle the demands of this job. I served as a supervisor in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office where I managed a prosecution docket of more than 5,000 criminal cases and prosecuted hundreds of felony cases. I worked as a guardian ad litem in the Cook County public guardian’s office, managing a caseload of more than 150 children navigating the justice system, many of whom had been abused, neglected or had special needs. I hope that voters will choose to support my candidacy because of the work I’ve done as the lead architect of the criminal justice reform agenda, addressing racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems as the former chief of staff to the Cook County board president, where I also oversaw a $4 billion annual budget.

Why do you want to be Cook County state’s attorney?

I’m running for Cook County state’s attorney because our criminal justice system is broken. State’s Attorney Alvarez’s failure to press charges against officer Van Dyke for 400 days in the Laquan McDonald case is only the latest failure to protect victims and deliver justice in a timely and effective manner. I’m the only candidate who has the combination of life and professional experience to know how to fix it.

What was the most interesting case you handled as a lawyer?

In 2010, I was part of a double jury trial — because the defendants implicated each other — where the victim had acid poured over her head on her way to work as a social worker. The two defendants recruited a group of teenagers to commit this vicious attack that resulted from a love triangle. The assault left the victim unemployed and permanently disfigured, and she had to relearn how to eat and walk. We secured double convictions and lengthy sentences.

What priorities make a prosecutor effective in today’s criminal justice system?

I know the fact that so few young people in Cook County believe the system can protect them is the strongest indicator that we need a new state’s attorney who can relate to the people she serves. From my time as an assistant state’s attorney, I understand the direct correlation between the children who start off in the system and the adults who populate our jails. A prosecutor can be most effective by focusing on investing in our young people before they end up as victims or offenders.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

During my work for the Cook County board president, I advocated for the current law that increased the age of automatic transfers of juvenile cases to adult court. This provided a substantial reduction in the number of juveniles who were being unnecessarily tried as adults.

What qualities do you plan to bring to the office?

My experience as a veteran prosecutor, administrator and growing up in the communities most affected by the criminal justice system make me uniquely qualified to reform it. An effective state’s attorney needs the requisite legal knowledge to operate but also the judgment to yield the immense power of the office. Further, this is an office that has operated the same way for decades and has built up mistrust in the community. Only a seasoned administrator that knows how to operate a large government entity can effectively implement the reforms that the office desperately needs.


Name:Anita Alvarez

Age: 56

Current residence: River Forest

Current position: Cook County state’s attorney

Past legal experience: Cook County state’s attorney’s office, 1986-present. Prior to being elected as state’s attorney in 2008, I served as chief deputy state’s attorney; chief of staff to the state’s attorney; chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau; deputy chief of the Narcotics Bureau and supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit; and have prosecuted more than 60 felony jury trials

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $814,248.05

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $117,056.87

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1986

Campaign website: AnitaAlvarez.com

Family: Married, four children

Hobbies/interests: I am an avid runner and a sports fan. I am a hockey and soccer mom and I love watching my beloved White Sox and Blackhawks.

Have you ever run for office before?

I have been the sitting state’s attorney since 2008, after spending my entire career as an assistant state’s attorney in the state’s attorney’s office.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

Cook County needs an experienced and independent prosecutor, who will make decisions based on only the facts, the evidence and the law. I’m proud of both my record in the courtroom and my record of reforming this office to be smarter and more compassionate about how we handle low-level offenses and prioritize the violent crime that continues across the county.

No other candidate can match my experience, my independence and my record of both cracking down on illegal guns and improving the justice programs through innovations like my Conviction Integrity Unit, my neighborhood-based Community Justice Centers and the alternative sentences and diversionary programs we’ve introduced that help thousands of low-level offenders avoid felony convictions and get the services they need.

Why do you want to be Cook County state’s attorney?

Since I joined the office 29 years ago, I have had a great passion for standing up for the law and for the victims of crime in Cook County. I am proud of my record as the most progressive reformer in the history of the office, dramatically modernizing how we handle non-violent offenses while prosecuting more violent gang and illegal gun crime than ever before.

I look forward to another term because I know better than anyone the improvements we’ve made to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, and the reforms we need going forward to make the office more effective, efficient, diverse and compassionate.

What was the most interesting case you handled as a lawyer?

With more than 60 felony jury trials as a prosecutor, I have had the opportunity to try many complex and difficult criminal cases, including the conviction of three Chicago police officers on violence, bribery and misconduct charges, and a case that became known to the public as the “Girl X” case.

In that case, I prosecuted Patrick Sykes for the predatory criminal sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl left severely disabled by her attacker.

I am also proud to have personally tried and convicted the three individuals responsible for the murder of Chicago police officer Alejandro Valadez, a case which prompted me to draft and help pass the “Valadez Law,” which mandates tougher penalties for known gang members who commit illegal gun offenses.

And I was honored to successfully argue before the United States Supreme Court, in a case that upheld the conviction of a Chicago rapist and protected the ability of prosecutors to use expert testimony in criminal cases about scientific evidence such as DNA.

However, I think it is also important to remember that the role of a prosecutor is not simply to win the dramatic cases that grab the headlines, but to work for justice in tens of thousands of felony cases and many more misdemeanors every year.

In some cases, that means jury trials that lead to a conviction of a violent offender — but I take just as much satisfaction when the result is connecting a struggling addict to the social services they desperately need through a deferred prosecution program or ensuring a juvenile case is dismissed when appropriate so a child who makes one mistake is not forever followed by a conviction on their record.

What priorities make a prosecutor effective in today’s criminal justice system?

It is clear that any effective prosecutor must prioritize the crimes that truly affect public safety. We need to be tough on violent crime and repeat felony offenders, but we also need to be smart on crime by developing and expanding programs that steer non-violent offenders out of the criminal justice system and towards second chances.

I have changed our drug policy to treat more drug cases (including all simple marijuana possession cases) as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice issue, and have more than tripled the number of programs offering second chances to those charged with a felony, which now serve more than 5,000 individuals a year.

By directing our attention and scarce resources away from non-violent and low-level offenses, we can prioritize the violent crime that we see every day across the county and more aggressively prosecute violent gun offenders and the highly organized street gangs which fuel much of the violence in Cook County.

This has become even more important as the county has cut the budget of the state’s attorney’s office year after year.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

It is a rare and exceptional honor for any attorney to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court and I was very humbled to have had the opportunity to do so as the sitting Cook County state’s attorney, and to have prevailed in a case that defended and protected the rights of victims of sexual assault.

In Williams vs. Illinois, Sandy Williams was convicted of raping a young woman on Chicago’s South Side in 2006. Williams challenged his conviction claiming that his constitutional rights were violated when an expert witness testified about DNA evidence linking him to the crime.

In 2011, I argued the case and the high court later upheld Williams’ conviction. The court’s decision was a major victory for prosecutors and law enforcement across the nation because an unfavorable ruling could have adversely impacted a prosecutor’s ability to use expert testimony in criminal cases about scientific evidence such as DNA.

It was a privilege to be able to argue such an important case before the high court, and I was extremely pleased with the ruling because it was a legal victory for victims of crime and victims of sexual assault across the nation.

What qualities do you plan to bring to the office?

I believe my independence and experience distinguish me as a candidate — in short, I am a professional prosecutor with a record of reform and results. I will continue to be a tireless advocate in Springfield to bring tighter penalties for illegal gun violations and continue to expand in number and scope the alternative sentencing and diversion programs that give low-level offenders a second chance.

More than anything I will continue to stand up for justice in big cases and small, because along with the roughly 850 assistants in my office, I am responsible for bringing justice for the victims of crime. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office handles between 30,000 and 40,000 felony cases every year, many of which never make the newspapers, but still have real victims who deserve an efficient and effective prosecutor to seek justice.

I will continue to advocate for the citizens of Cook County and continue to work to improve the system so that every resident has full access to the criminal justice system that they deserve.


Name:Donna More

Age: 58

Current residence: Chicago

Current position: Managing partner, Fox, Rothschild LLP

Past legal experience: Private practice, 1995-present; chief counsel, Illinois Gaming Board, 1990 to 1995; assistant U.S. attorney, 1989 to 1990; Cook County assistant state’s attorney, 1984 to 1989

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $569,283.35

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $352,678.96

Law school: Georgetown University Law Center, 1983

Campaign website: voteformore.com

Family: Married with an 11-year-old daughter.

Hobbies/interests: Tennis, reading and travel

Have you ever run for office before?

No.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

People have lost faith in the state’s attorney. After a series of high-profile missteps on lightning-rod cases, they don’t trust her to do the right thing as influence seems to take a backseat to evidence. I offer voters a way to reverse the cover-ups that have put the community on edge. My political independence, my state and federal prosecutor experience and my activist view of the office as a force for crime prevention, distinguish me from the incumbent’s poor judgments and my other opponent’s lack of experience and prevarications about credentials.

Why do you want to be Cook County state’s attorney?

Our community is enduring an unprecedented crisis of fear and distrust that can be traced to failures in our criminal justice system. A secretive, inconsistent, influence-driven and seemingly tone-deaf incumbent has been at the center of the problem. I am running to change the office, i.e., reform it so we are focused on doing what is right, not on win rates. I also want to lead the community’s crime prevention efforts, i.e., initiate new policies to address gun violence, police shootings, mental health and public corruption

What was the most interesting case you handled as a lawyer?

The “Red Shoe Rapist” case where the estranged wife of a local MD presented the state’s attorney with photo evidence of dozens of rapes that her husband committed, but in time frames outside the statute of limitations. We had to find victims, many of whom were flight attendants lured to the doctor’s office for procedures, to help identify the doctor (the photos showed only one of his parts). The case broke when a victim from Colorado discovered that she had been billed for a procedure that the doctor never performed; she was raped while anesthetized instead. We brought the doctor up on charges of theft by deception, which opened an avenue to his eventual conviction for the rapes when laws changed ending the statute of limitations.

What priorities make a prosecutor effective in today’s criminal justice system?

Cook County’s chief prosecutor has to be tough on crime no matter who commits it. She must not let politics, race, uniform or money triumph over justice. She must have a broad view of her role in the criminal justice system: Lead the community’s fight on crime, protect the innocent and convict the guilty and believe strongly in the court of justice and the higher court of conscience. She owes the community a transparent, evidence-based approach to prosecution.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

Professionally, I’m proudest of the work my staff and I did to create and implement the rules that still govern riverboat casinos. The work helped launch a $1.5 billion industry that employ thousands of Illinoisans and has earned public trust. The greatest personal rewards have come from helping people get second chances. Two pro bono clients have earned much deserved pardons and, as a result, have regained their self-esteem and their economic and professional lives.

What qualities do you plan to bring to the office?

I bring federal prosecution experience to the office. I bring well-thought out plans for reform and crime prevention — strategies to address gun violence, police shootings, mental health and public corruption. I bring a belief in public interest over self-interest: The political theater is not where I want to perform. Finally, and most critically, I bring much-needed independence to the office — independence from political bosses, money interests and polarizing special interests.