State's Attorney Cracking Down On Local Corruption

May 4, 2010 - CBS News Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) ―

A crackdown on local corruption has netted everyone from a city treasurer with sticky fingers to a financial manager who stole funds earmarked for special education students. CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez has more on "Operation Cookie Jar."

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says corruption occurs at every level, and we all deserve better.

"We really have to chisel away at the problem, and so you have to start there. So that's what we've been focusing on, moving from the ground going up," she said.

Accused of stealing the most in Operation Cookie Jar: 62-year-old Donald Jacobs, a former treasurer of the Posen Park District.

Authorities say he wrote $266,000 worth of checks to a company that never did business with the park district, and listed only him and his wife as signers on the company account.

Martin Boyd, 62, former accountant for Harwood Heights, is charged with stealing $135,000 by overpaying himself for three years.

Charged with stealing more than $55,000 from the Southwest Bar Association in Tinley Park is 48-year-old Michael Tracy, who simply wrote checks out to himself.

And Robert Baldwin, 67, used a Niles Township credit card to buy more than $10,000 worth of stuff like airline tickets, computers and cell phones for himself. The money came from a fund for special education students.

"Charging a special education director may not be as glamorous as indicting a governor," said Alvarez. "But when a person steals public money needed to help children with special needs, this is a high priority for those children, their families, and of course for the Cook County State's Attorney's office."

If you have your hand in the cookie jar, or know someone who does, the state's attorney's office is looking for you.

Alvarez stressed having checks and balances, no matter how much you trust someone. The men charged today face between two and 30 years in prison.

April 9, 2010   

Chinatown brothel probe leads to felony charges

Accused leader of prostitution ring paid thousands to undercover officer, police say

 By Matthew Walberg, Tribune reporter

The day after Chicago police busted his alleged Chinatown brothel, Sheng Quan Dong called the undercover officer who posed as a john and asked to have dinner with him, authorities say.

The call launched a lengthy undercover investigation in which Dong regularly paid $1,000 a month to the officer to protect his prostitution business from law enforcement, according to charges released Friday. Dong's trust in the Mandarin-speaking officer was misplaced; he was only posing as a crooked cop as their meetings were audio- and video-recorded.

Dong allegedly paid the officer a combined $17,300 in cash over more than a year, Chicago police and the Cook County state's attorney's office said in announcing multiple felony charges against Dong, his wife, a doorman, two suspected prostitutes and a suspected customer.

"This was not your typical prostitution ring," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said. "Asian women from around the nation were being flown into Chicago to work as prostitutes for weeks at a time."

As part of the undercover operation, police even staged a raid in 2006 to convince Dong that the officer was indeed dirty.

By John Flynn Rooney
Law Bulletin staff writer

While reports of hate crimes continue to decline in Chicago and throughout Illinois, prosecutors, police and others must remain committed to prosecuting such crimes, said Cook County State's Attorney Anita M. Alvarez.

Hate crimes are a priority for her office and will be fully prosecuted, Alvarez said Wednesday at a gathering of the office's Hate Crimes Prosecution Counsel in Skokie.

"In my view, no one should have to endure the pain and humiliation of a hate crime, which is truly a repugnant act," according to a copy of Alvarez's prepared remarks. "The damage of a crime such as this goes well beyond the original victim and extends through the entire community."

Orli Gil, consulate general of Israel to the Midwest, delivered the keynote remarks during the event at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, 9603 Woods Drive. About 70 people attended the event, said a spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Alvarez addresses Wise Latinas brunch at ECC

By JANELLE WALKER For Sun-Times Media 

When Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez ran for office in 2008, she was told there was no way the county's voters would elect a woman, let alone a Latina, to lead the second-largest criminal justice system in the U.S.

But not only did Alvarez win the election, she did so against five men, three of whom were politically connected in Chicago.

The "glass ceiling" for women, and Hispanics, is disappearing, Alvarez told about 50 women and men Tuesday at the first Wise Latinas brunch at Elgin Community College. The event was put on by the school's Organization of Latin American Students in honor of Women's History Month, club President Karla Lopez explained.

Alvarez also was asked to speak to recognize the leadership of Hispanics like herself and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Lopez said.

Alvarez never expected to become an attorney, growing up in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, she said. But her parents stressed the importance of education. Alvarez went to Loyola University to study social work, and taking the Law School Admission Test was a last-minute decision, she said.

Alvarez Tells Senators of Child Prostitutes' Ordeals
Cook County state's attorney says office treats them as victims, not crimnals

February 24, 2010
Some young Chicagoans are practicing "survival sex" and selling their bodies for food, clothing or a safe place to sleep, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez told a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday.

Alvarez, addressing a subcommittee looking into human trafficking, told of a girl who didn't want her pimp to face charges because he bought her a Subway sandwich whenever she wanted one. Another girl had sex for cash to buy food and clothing, unable to rely on her mother, a drug addict.

The state's attorney said her office rarely charges juveniles arrested for prostitution-related offenses, treating them instead as victims who need "support, services and a safe future."

The hearing was called by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. He estimated that 100,000-plus U.S. children become sex-trafficking victims every year.

For nearly two hours, the subcommittee heard graphic, sometimes gruesome testimony about kids trading sex in the streets — or up and down interstate highways — and becoming addicted to drugs while veering between feelings of love for and fear of their pimps.

Here's Hoping Flower's Arrest Brings Reform

January 15, 2010  

CHICAGO - Charles Flowers no longer will be able to use his public office as if it were an ATM. On Thursday, the superintendent of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education was arrested and charged with theft by the Cook County state's attorney's office.

In a series of stories by staff writer Duaa Eldeib over the past nine months, the SouthtownStar has exposed a long list of corrupt and questionable practices by Flowers.

Although he inherited an office already $425,000 in debt, Flowers put his two sisters and a nephew on the payroll.

As the debt mounted to $1 million, the office defaulted on a $190,000 loan from Cook County, was evicted from its headquarters for failing to pay the rent and failed to make payroll.

The Art of Balance

By Patrick Markey 

Anita Alvarez, the first Hispanic female CBA President, is focusing on expanding CBA services. Alvarez, who was elected Cook County State’s Attorney in November 2008, had spent 22 years as a prosecutor before she ran for the top job and bested six Democrats in the primary and then handily won the general election. Prior to becoming States Attorney, Alvarez already had a distinguished legal career in the office that she now heads. She served as the Chief Deputy State’s Attorney, Chief of Staff to the Former Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Bureau, and Supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit. Her list of awards is long. In 2001 she was named Person of the Year by Chicago Lawyer Magazine. In 2002 she was the recipient of the Professional Achievement Award from Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 2005 Alvarez was named Person of the Year by the Latin American Police Association and also named States Attorney of the Year by the Illinois State Crime Commission.

Editorial, April 9, 2009: 

Busting Crooked Pols

If you’re a local prosecutor and want to go after gangs or drug dealers, state law gives you an arsenal of powerful weapons. One of the most potent: the ability to eavesdrop on conversations by tapping a telephone.

But if you’re a local prosecutor going after a Chicago alderman or suburban mayor who’s on the take? Sorry. State law says you can’t tap the phone even with a court order.

No wonder corrupt pols here fear only one person: U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald.

Most government corruption cases are brought by the U.S. attorney’s office, in large part because federal prosecutors have the tools to pursue them. They aren’t hamstrung by Illinois’ stifling anti-anti-corruption laws.

Fitzgerald has made crooked pols a priority: He has convicted one former governor and indicted another. He has convicted 148 federal, state and local officials in seven years. He has at least eight prosecutors working on public corruption cases.

And that still isn’t enough.

.    .    .

Editorial, March 23, 2009:

Reforming Illinois:
Who's listening in?  Not county prosecutor - yet

Say you’re an ambitious county prosecutor who wants to stamp out political corruption. Say you’ve got solid evidence that a certain politician is a crook, but the only way to really get the goods on him is to listen in on his phone conversations – and you’ve exhausted every other investigative option. 

In Illinois, if you’re a county prosecutor, you simply can’t do it. You can’t wiretap the phone. State law doesn’t allow it. 

Federal law does, so federal prosecutors can do it, as they did in the case of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

In one of the more curious twists of Illinois law, county prosecutors are prevented or hamstrung in using listening devices to go after public corruption and other white-collar crimes. They have to jump through many more legal hoops that the feds for instance, if they want to put a wire on a snitch to record conversations with a bad guy – whether it’s a gang leader or a political boss. 

So many hoops, in fact, that using a wire is often all but impossible for county prosecutors. 

GLBT applause-o-meter rings, and pols listen

Laura Washington 

           
The applause-o-meter wildly careened as the tuxedoed politicians strutted across the stage Saturday night at the annual Equality Illinois gala. Dawn Clark-Netsch, the grand dame of progressives, floated by in a billowy green and red gown, reprising Christmas. The meter went through the roof. 

The main attraction was the parade of politicians, who each stepped briefly into the spotlight and wooed the 1,100 or so supporters of the gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender rights group. It’s a must do for any politician who cares about Chicago’s GLBT vote. 

The state’s top pols were there though the next big election isn’t until 2010. Dozens, including a U.S. Senator, a governor and an eager passel of congressional wannabes all jostled for the limelight. 

Alvarez for state's attorney

Cook County's next state's attorney will take the job at a treacherous time: The murder count in Chicago is escalating, citizens in many communities distrust law enforcement, and economic hardship could well lead to troubling increases in robberies, burglaries and property crimes. Add to that Cook County government's chronic financial dysfunction, plus the probability that political insiders will pressure the new chief prosecutor for jobs and other favors, and you have a near-perfect storm.

We like all three of the available choices for state's attorney. We also want all three of them to stay where they are now. Let us explain:

• This page frequently praises Cook County Board member Tony Peraica for his courage in combatin the arrogance, bloat and corruption that suffuse county government.
• Green Party candidate Thomas O'Brien, an assistant state's attorney for two decades, is broadly respected for his work in Juvenile Court on behalf of children; lawyers who've practiced there especially praise his work in child-abuse cases.
• Democrat Anita Alvarez, though, has demonstrated the crime-busting skills, the professionalism and—this is crucial—sufficient independence from the office's old-boy culture to now retool it to negotiate its mounting challenges. We have a few quibbles with Alvarez. But we're confident she will grow in office, realize that taxpayer-provided resources are finite, and say a resounding no to the County Building mismanagers and the Democratic insiders who'll try to take advantage of her. That confidence on multiple levels leads us to endorse Anita Alvarez for Cook County state's attorney.

•••

Daily Herald, October 25, 2008

Our picks for Cook County offices

Daily Herald Editorial Board

For Cook County state's attorney, Anita Alvarez is the clear choice for her experience, understanding of the office and dedication to its mission.

Republican challenger Anthony Peraica, a Cook County Board member known for his outspoken criticism of the county administration, has tried to make a case that the state's attorney's office is incapacitated by internal politics and needs to focus more attention on rooting out government corruption. But such thinking shows a lack of appreciation for the functions of the office, which certainly has more than enough of a challenge keeping up with the violent crime that is its primary focus.

While it's naive to suggest that politics doesn't play a role in the nation's second-largest prosecutorial office, Alvarez, a Cook County prosecutor for 22 years, demonstrates the strength and independence to address the office's structural problems and shape it into an effective organization going forward. Attorney Thomas O'Brien also is seeking the position from the Green Party, but it's Alvarez who has the best personal and professional qualifications.

COMMENTARY :

Alvarez is our pick for state's attorney

September 29, 2008
The people of Cook County need a state's attorney who is ready to run the office now, not someone ready to learn on the job.

This is the crucial difference between the two candidates running for the job, career prosecutor Anita Alvarez and Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.

Alvarez has been a prosecutor in the Cook County state's attorney's office for 22 years. After graduating from Chicago-Kent College of Law, she worked her way up from the bottom wrungs of the prosecutor's office -- a rare Hispanic women in an old boy's club -- to the office's No. 3 position.

ANITA NAMED ONE OF CRAIN'S 'WOMEN TO WATCH 2008'

By: Greg Hinz May 05, 2008

From this week's Focus
ANITA ALVAREZ
DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE • COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY

Yes, she's a self-declared "hockey mom" who's — yawn — struggling to balance family and career and has taken to wearing a lot of red power suits lately.

She's also a political novice who made history Feb. 5 by beating five men to become the first woman and Hispanic to win a primary for Cook County state's attorney.

Anita Alvarez, 48, a career prosecutor and marathon runner — her best finish is 4:12 — is still a relative unknown. But that will change if, as expected, she beats GOP nominee Tony Peraica in the general election in November.

ON Q: WITH ANITA ALVAREZ, HISTORIC STATE'S ATTORNEY CANDIDATE

By Demetrius Patterson | N'DIGOnline, March 6-12, 2008

DIGGING FOR AN EPIPHANY ON ALVAREZ

By John McCarron | Chicago Tribune, February 8, 2008

ONCE COUNTED OUT, ALVAREZ GETS BIG HELP FROM WOMEN, SUBURBS

By Rob Olmstead | Daily Herald Staff, February 7, 2008