Accountability
Forest Preserves
Public Safety
Cook County Budget
Forest Pres. Budget
Property Tax Appeal
Health & Hospitals
Policy Resolutions

During my 10 years as state's attorney, I have been privileged to lead an office of men and women dedicated to seeing that justice is done for our citizens. Our assistant state's attorneys prosecute violations of our state's criminal laws and represent the county and its elected officials in thousands of civil suits.
Our people love their work and are proud to be lawyers serving their community. They are responsible for the tens of thousands of felonies brought to our office each year by local police departments. They work with the police to build good cases against violent criminals and to prevent bad cases from entering the system. They are in high-volume misdemeanor courts working to ensure that today's domestic battery does not become tomorrow's homicide. They are in Traffic Court arguing against experienced defense attorneys so that victims of drunken drivers and their families can find justice. They are in Juvenile Court protecting the victims of child abuse and working extra hours out in neighborhoods to help turn around the lives of juvenile offenders.
In our felony trial courts, prosecutors seek justice for the innocent victims of violent criminals. It is in these courts that the murderer of Officer Michael Ceriale was found guilty; where Patrick Sykes was convicted of the brutal sexual assault of the 9-year-old known as Girl X; where Harry Aleman was brought to justice for the 25-year-old murder of Robert Logan; where serial killer Paul Runge was found guilty of sexual assault and murder, and where gang leaders and drug dealers are held accountable for their crimes.
They do all this -- and more -- not for high pay, because they could earn much more in private practice, and not for public praise, because most of their hard work will be unnoticed. They do it because they are fulfilled by using their abilities to serve their community. All they really ask is respect for what they do and to be treated fairly. Events in recent weeks have led many of them to question whether anyone really understands or even cares about what they do.
Last year, the salaries of all county employees became public. Assistant state's attorneys found that public defenders working in the same courtrooms had substantially higher salaries. News stories revealed that public defenders earned an average of $9,000 more than prosecutors.
The disparity in pay raised obvious concerns that were then compounded by the Cook County Board voting substantial cost-of-living increases for the public defenders and refusing to do so for prosecutors. Our prosecutors saw public defenders receive an increase in salary, additional checks for retroactive pay and a $500 bonus while they received nothing. To make matters even worse, this pay disparity will increase in the coming years because of these raises. But that was not enough. We are now presented with a budget that cuts our salaries and wages by more than $6.2 million but reduces the public defender's office by less than $1 million.
And there is still more. We are now told that after all the cuts, we will be restricted to 98 percent of our budget in each quarter. The result? As assistant state's attorneys leave because of these unfair pay practices, those promoted to take their places will not receive additional pay to reflect their new duties because the funds will not be there.
While our assistant state's attorneys are being treated so shabbily, they are also being asked to do more. We will be short-handed because about 80 positions will be lost in the coming weeks. Higher caseloads mean less time to prepare, to meet with victims, witnesses and police officers, to work with the crime lab and perform the many other tasks that make for a professional prosecution.
We know that many of our best people will depart for better and higher-paying jobs. And as our prosecutors go out the door, the memory of our informal motto of ''Do the right thing'' so that justice is served will linger along with the sad reality that no one stepped up to do the right thing by them.
Richard A. Devine, Cook County state's attorney