Page 31 - 01A_CL7_OCT20.indd

lationship, a kinship between Judge O’Brien and the FOP prob- ably developed over Foxx’s inexplicable decision to drop all 16 charges in the Jussie Smollett case.
That was the tipping point for O’Brien to run for state’s at- torney. He, too, was sick of not seeing anything being done to protect the city from all the violence.
“I was sitting there with another judge, and our phones just started going off. We couldn’t believe it,” O’Brien explained. “There didn’t seem to be any reason other than doing a political favor.”
There didn’t need to be extensive conversation about mak- ing this endorsement. And it was easy for Lodge 7 to glean that O’Brien was, and will be, one of them.
“No way can the police continue in a place where it’s only fit to be robbed,” O’Brien articulated. “I wanted a change, and the FOP wanted a change. Given that we’re headed in the same di- rection, we decided to walk on the same path.”
Catanzara confirmed that he had not seen a résumé as fit for office as O’Brien’s. He has done two tours in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, including high-level leadership posi- tions in the Felony Review Unit, bureau chief of the Criminal Division and chief deputy.
O’Brien later served as an assistant Illinois attorney general working closely with the elected state’s attorneys in each county. And in 2006, O’Brien was elected as a judge of the Cook Coun- ty Circuit Court, where he presided in both criminal and civil courtrooms for eight years before returning to private practice.
He pledges to get the state’s attorney’s office back in the busi- ness of being prosecutors and is targeting reorganizing the of- fice to attack gangs with a combination of assistants special- izing in gangs, guns and narcotics. Two ways he sees getting politics out of the office are ensuring that attorneys work a case
Chicago Lodge 7 supports Willie Wilson in his run for U.S. Senate because of his longtime commitment to advocating for law enforcement.
from investigation all the way through trial and procuring the budget that will facilitate witness relocation to get more of them to come forward.
First and foremost, O’Brien says, he will be looking at felony review to make sure that crimes are charged as the legislature intended. Retail theft is, of course, the biggest mess to clean up, with drug offenses with intent another hot spot of criminals be- ing released back on the street not far behind.
“It’s just common sense,” he reasoned. “We had a lot more crime in the 1980s and ‘90s, but because we were actually prose- cuting cases, we were solving murders at a 70-percent rate. Last year, the solve rate was 21 or 22 percent. We can increase that rate just by good management.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
Lifelong Chicagoan representing those who serve and protect since 2008.
JONATHAN SCHATZ, JD/LLM
Law Office of Jonathan N. Schatz
33 North Dearborn, Suite 1930 • Chicago, Illinois 60602
(312) 343-2800 SCHATZFAMILYLAW@GMAIL.COM
Divorce • Parenting Issues • Pension Division • Child Support MATRIMONIAL & FAMILY LAWYER
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2020 31