Cook County Public Defenders Association

The winner of the 2011 fall Jack Carey Scholarship is Ashley Petrey of the John Marshall Law School.  Ashley has been clerking for many attorneys in the office including Steve Stach, Al Maldanado, Preston Jones, Lorne Gorelick, Joel Simberg, Vern Scheyler, Peter Benesh, Mark Teague, Brett Balmer, Chandra Smith and several others.  She has been consitently clerking for the office since last 18 months and enjoys every minute.  She was selected among another quality crop of applicants.  But at the end of the selection committee meeting, Ashley was the winner.

Ashley values her clerking experience, reminding us that in the days of her hero, Abraham Lincoln, lawyers learned the art of lawyering not from formal training in schools, but from watching others lawyers practice law.  And that’s exactly what clerks do at the public defender’s office with the vast amount of learning opportunities that are available to them.

Asheley says: Dear Public Defenders of Cook County: thank you so very, very much for the Jack Carey Memorial Scholarship. It means the world to me. I know how much you all loved Jack and I’m honored to receive this, which was created in his memory. I have absolutely loved working with all of you for the past year and a half and can’t wait to see what the next year will bring. We say: Congratulations, Ashley!

The deadline for the next scholaship, which will be for the Spring of 2012, is November 1, 2011.  For an application, just click the Scholarship link on this website.

NOTICE OF GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
AFSCME LOCAL 3315
JULY 19, 4PM, 2ND FLOOR CAFETERIA, 2650 S. CALIFORNIA, CHICAGO, IL 60608
 
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AGENDA

 
1.  ANNOUNCEMENTS
         GOLF OUTING 7/21
         CASTAWAYS PARTY 8/12
         SURVEY
         EMAIL ADDRESSES
          
2.  BRUCE MOSBACHER – RECOGNITION FOR SERVICE TO LOCAL
 
3.  ELECTION CHAIR CHRISTA PETTY’S REPORT
 
4.  SWEARING IN CEREMONY – HON. BERNARD SARLEY
 
5.  OLD BUSINESS
 
6.  NEW BUSINESS
 
7.  NEXT GEN’L MEMBERSHIP MEETING DATE OCTOBER 18, 2011
      LOCATION AND TIME tbd
 
8.  ADJOURNMENT
 
 

This slip opinion just came out and finds that standing at a drug spot and yelling “dro, dro” is not enough as a matter of law to establish probable cause that the underlying city ordinance banning the solicitation of unlawful business is being violated.  Read the opinion, here,  The case is People v. Ronnie Grant and the opinion is authored by Justice Rudolfo Garcia.  With Justice Gordon dissenting, a petition for leave to appeal seems likely.

UPDATE:  PLA was granted by the Illinois Supreme Court so stay tuned.

Pension Cuts Blocked:

As a result of the most potent lobbying campaign ever waged at the Illinois Statehouse, AFSCME and our allies in the We Are One Illinois coalition succeeded in blocking legislation to cut public employee pensions that was backed by leaders of both political parties and our state’s biggest corporations.
SB 512 would have forced almost every public employee in the state of Illinois—including all Cook County employees and all City of Chicago employees, except police and fire–to pay a lot more for their pensions, take a reduced benefit, or exit the pension plan altogether.
But the hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails generated by union members, as well as the union coalition’s potent TV and radio ad campaign, completely turned the tide.
The General Assembly adjourned its spring session without ever even voting on SB 512 because its backers knew they didn’t have the votes to pass it.
There is still much work to be done to put our pension systems on a sound footing, but this is a gigantic victory for every public employee in the state of Illinois that sends a powerful message about our determination to protect our retirement security.
PEOPLE Program Makes the Difference:

Unfortunately, this fight is far from over. The powers-that-be who want to cut our pensions have already announced their intent to try again in the legislature’s fall veto session. We’ve got to be armed for that fight—and the PEOPLE program is our big gun! That’s why it’s so important that every AFSCME member is a PEOPLE MVP member.
AFSCME’s PEOPLE program provides the resources to combine grassroots mobilization, lobbying and public education with the political might to make the difference under the Capitol Dome. If you want to make sure we continue to prevail in the battle to protect your retirement security, then sign up as a PEOPLE MVP member today!

The tee times for the golf outing should be posted shortly. we now have a full slate of golfers.  If you wish to golf, but haven’t Rsvp’d, please contact me immediately. I cannot guarantee that you will get a tee time, but I will make every effort.  If you would like to join us for the banquet, after golf, we would love to see you there.  Thank you.

We have an official date for the golf outing: JULY 21st.  Tee times start at 9:00 am.  Please contact Amy Thompson at athompsonyep@gmail.com to reserve your tee time.  Please let me know if you have a foursome or if you need to be matched. Julie and Jim fell in love at a golf outing, you know. ( Results not typical).Space is limited.  Spots will be given first come, first served. Although I will try to accomodate tee time requests, foursomes will be sent as they get to the course.  Golf will wait for no one.

Any non-local 3315 members, including retirees, who wish to golf must pay $50, make checks payable to AFSCME LOCAL 3315.  The outing will be at Eaglewood Golf Course, Itasca Illinois.  If you don’t golf but you would like to join the party, please come out to the banquet immediately following  the golf. Please RSVP to the same email address to make sure we have enough food.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Just some dates to keep in mind for the summer. On July 19th, we will have a membership meeting and the swearing in of the new executive board, time and place to be announced. The golf outing is tentatively scheduled for July 21st, we’re waiting to hear back from the course, and the summer party will be Aug. 12 at North Ave. Details to follow for each of these events.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR PENSION PROTECTION TOOL KIT.

A special meeting to discuss developments, proposals, and strategies on the Holiday Bond Court issue will be held at 3:00 pm in the 7th Floor Library at 26th Street on Tuesday, May 17, 2011.   If you are unable to attend, feel free to send an email to the board at board@cookcountypd.org and we will share your ideas and thoughts about the issue at the meeting.

Sisters and Brothers:

Pension Politics

Tim, Brendan and I are back from Springfield on a lobbying effort by our Local and AFSCME Council 31, and other members of the We Are One Coalition to bring the truth about pensions to the lawmakers in Illinois, who are on the verge of changing the landscape of our retirement plans.  On Wednesday May 11, 2011, 500 AFSCME leaders descended on the State Capitol to remind and explain to the members of the General Assembly that we’ve done our part by making our contributions toward our pensions each pay period and now government needs to do its part and  keep its pension promises to public employees.

How we got into this mess is the fault of our public officials.  For far too long, the State has shirked it’s responsibility of matching the contributions State employees have been making to their pension funds and the result has been a balooning of the State’s pension obligations.  The response from big business, AKA the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, has been to put the blame for the legislative neglect at our doorstep and characterize our pensions as more than generous.  The have done it using the “Illinois is Broke” campaign and they enjoy the support of the pro-business editorial boards of the major Chciago papers- which both have had their share of financial problems.  They they have pitted working class in private industry with public employees.  And it’s no secret that big business fought tooth and nail to keep the private sector  from having collective bargaining (think WALMART).  Now, they are portraying teachers, fire fighters and child protection workers as fat cat bureaucrats who don’t deserve their modest pensions.

The new bill, which is not completely available at this time (because it is a “shell bill” which will be amended later) will most likely force members to choose one of three options going forward: 1) go into a 401k, 2) join the Tier II system like all new hires after 1/1/2011 (retire at age 67, no 3%COLA and a cap of 106K  on salary) or 3) stay in the current system but pay more  in contributions (as high as 28% but we don’t now yet).  Rumor has it that it will apply to State Employees including the General Assembly, but not the Judges Retirement System.  Also, rumor has it that President P and Rahm Emmanuel have asked that the legislation apply to City of Chicago and County employee retirement systems as well! The bottom line is that the General Assembly is going to try to push this problem over to the judiciary to solve and they are playing their best hand by excluding the judges.  We will update the members and have a link to any bill sent via email burst as it becomes available.

I know many of  you called your elected officials and left messages or spoke to them about this issue and how it’s unfair to make us pay for the legislative neglect of the past.  I know you have made the arguments like the fine lawyers that you are about the unconstitutionality of their plan to make current employees pay more into their pensions.  And I know some of you sent letters explaining your position and urging support.  Keep up the pressure and continue with all available means to let your State Representative and State Senator know that a pension is a promise that is protected by the Constitution. Tell your state senator and representative to OPPOSE the pension bill by calling 888-412-6570 or using the simple Click-to-Call tool at http://www.weareoneillinois.org/click-to-call to be connected.

ELECTIONS

Another election is over and has gone smoothly under the guiding hand of Election Chair Christa Petty and all the brothers and sisters who helped staff the polling places.  Also, it was refreshing to see new faces run for the board.  I want to thank Mary Butterton, Colleen Gorman, Sara Resnick, Richard Porter and Presita West for their efforts to win an Executive at Large seat on the Executive Board of this Local.  They each presented the members with their vision, and qualifications to make any one of them an effective member of the board.  It is their participation in the process that makes our Local a true democracy.

Bruce Mosbacher and Monique Patterson will be stepping down from the Board.  Bruce is retiring and has also resigned as administrator of the Local’s FB page.  Amy Thompson, who will continue as our Secretary, will now also be an administrator of our FB page along with myself and our Council 31  staff rep, Maggie Lorenc.  Monique is now the Trustee-elect for the position currently held by Beatriz Santiago which expires in July.

I want to thank Tim Leeming for his service as Treasurer and welcome his continued involvement on the Board and also look forward to his help in fostering a smooth transition for our incoming Treasurer, Mark Douglass. Kevin Ochalla will join Tim Leeming and Joe Gump as the three Executives at Large for the local.

A decision on who will succeed Monique Patterson in the role of Chief Steward has not yet been made.

HOLIDAY BOND COURT

The local is still in discussions with management regarding the lack of funding for it’s continued compliance with our contract with respect to Holiday Bond Court pay.  This payment was negotiated back in the mid 90’s.  Prior to that, the attorneys with the lowest 150 seniority would have to do bond court without any pay or comp time. While no agreement has been reached on how to fill the 348 slots between June and the end of the fiscal year, I will update the members as the situation warrants through email burst.

JOB AUDITS

The local has been told that written job audit results will be forthcoming from Human Resources next week. Preliminary numbers are quite high for members working out of grade and requiring reclassification.  The office, however must still explain to the President’s office the legal basis for the increase in our budget for the reclassification.

STAY INFORMED

If you aren’t receiving the email bursts in which we discuss matters in more detail, send an email to board@cookcountypd.org. Members only, please.  Also, stay tuned for our updated website.

In Solidarity,

K. S. Galhotra