Public Defender Union Press Release.
Todd Stroger has presented his budget proposal to the County Commissioners. His plans for our Office, prepared by Public Defender Edwin Burnette, call for the elimination of all 32 Grade I positions, and the elimination of 7 Grade II positions. Not surprisingly, Burnette and Stroger did not see fit during this time of alleged budget tightening to address the real waste in our Office: bloated upper management appointees filling redundant positions.
However, we were surprised to learn from Stroger’s budget proposal that while Edwin Burnette was devising his proposal of layoffs and wage givebacks for assistant public defenders, he managed to obtain a hefty pay raise for himself: $149,632 to $161,506. At a time when politicians are attempting to cut our Office budget to the bone and hinder our services to the poor and working poor of Cook County, Burnette’s substantial pay raise is inexcusable.
These budget numbers clearly show that if anyone is going to stand up for this Office and the work we do for the poor and working poor in Cook County, it has to be us.
Therefore, we held a press conference at the Courthouse today, January 17th, to get our message out about the great work we do in this office, on a budget that is already cut to the bone. You can download our press release here. Feel free to forward our message to any people of importance who may support us in our fight to maintain adequate legal services to the poor and working poor in Cook County. Stay tuned for more news on the budget process.
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