Well, so much for relaxing following approval of the 2008 budget. Here we go again with the political machinations of the Stroger Jr. administration. Rumors began yesterday, April 3, 2008 and were confirmed within hours that County Board President is scheduling a hearing on April 9, 2008 before the County Board to determine whether Edwin Burnette should be relieved of his duties for “good cause or dereliction of duty.”Now most unions don’t really take a position when it comes to such situations because we represent the members and are not beholden to Management. So why should we care who the manager is? Well the situation is a little different when the manager is doing everything he can to keep his office free from political influence and well staffed. Even if everything he can do includes suing his boss (Burnette v. Stoger 07 CH 33805).But that seems to be the very crux of the proposed resolution which cites six counts of alleged willful negligence. A clear example of the pot calling the kettle black.Although Burnette and his attorney can speak for themselves, (and if the hearing is not a sham, they will have an adequate opportunity to defend him) some of those counts are so outrageous that they deserve comment.Yes, sometimes clients spend years in jail waiting for trial. And it is entirely possible that 34 clients have waited for over 5 years for a trial. But there are many reasons for delay: interlocutory appeals, change in counsel, extensive and voluminous discovery, illness of judge or counsel, death of counsel, fitness for trial, delay in obtaining DNA testing, delay in obtaining documents, etc. Not to mention that a majority of the cases are death penalty cases which require experts and an extensive mitigation history workup. There are even times when attorneys wait for up to an hour at the jail to see their clients because of the lack of staffing at the Cook County Department of Corrections. Some of our clients are housed at facilities hundreds of miles from Cook County and their representation imposes logistical burdens that most people do not appreciate. Some of us work way more than 40 hours a week representing our clients. Some of us work less. But we all work consistent with our professional responibility- as we are contractually and professionally obligated to. And we are paid for working hours consistent with our professional responsibility, not for working 40 hours a week. If the Law Office of the Public Defender was solely responsible for hiring and staffing, then there would probably be no lawsuit captioned Burnette v. Stroger. To say that the public defender is responsible for the lack of staffing is insulting. Human Resources, under President Stroger, controls when someone is hired by the office. My understanding is that to this day, no postings are up at Human Resources for the hiring of entry level public defenders. The ones hired recently are from a batch who interviewed for the job years ago. As to managers, they are seriously understaffed and underpaid. I can only speculate that the reason supervisors are not being hired is because Mr. Burnette does not want our office to be the political dumping ground that we all fear. As to the Special State’s Attorney issue, it seems best left to the forum in which it is pending – Chancery Court. The resolution appears to be a retaliatory and collateral attack on the pending suit and is perhaps an effort to render it moot or at the least, intimidate the plaintiff.So here is the part where I am going to tell my brothers and sisters what I think you should do. Our job is to defend people. It shouldn’t be out of character for us to defend Mr. Burnette – especially when the allegations are as spurious as the ones contrived by Stroger Jr. & Co. At a minimum, we should ensure that the hearing isn’t a sham and has all the trappings of a proceeding where Mr. Burnette receives due process.On Wednesday, take time off to attend the hearing and show your support for Mr. Burnette. Also, make sure you call your commissioner and tell them how you feel. The commissioners who sponsored the resolution are: PERAICA, BEAVERS, GOSLIN, MORENO, SILVESTRI, MURPHY, SIMS, STEELE AND DOODY-GORMAN. Be sure to tell them to vote “no” on this resolution.
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