North Cook News

State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) is questioning the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission's decision to not pursue an investigation into Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx over her handling of the Jussie Smollett case.  

“Kim Foxx’s handling of the Smollet case was a disgrace," Morrison told North Cook News. "It’s obvious to everyone that Foxx and her office treated him differently simply because of his powerful friends and celebrity.” 

Morrison underscored that Cook County police officers have a tough job,  "but their efforts to keep safety and order are completely undermined if there’s a revolving door for criminals.”  

“We’re going to continue to have a growing crime problem as long as the county prosecutor and her staff act more like the county’s public defenders,” he said. “I hope voters understand how much greater impact their local and state governments and elected officials have on their day-to-day lives than what happens in D.C.”

The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission said it was not pursuing an investigation into Foxx’s bar license. The ARDC noted, "as a matter of policy, the ARDC does not review or direct the discretionary decisions of elected officials who may also be lawyers absent some clear indication of fraud, criminal activity or other serious misconduct by the lawyer-official." 

"Judging by this letter, it appears that elected officials who are also attorneys are immune from [an] investigation into their professional conduct unless it’s what the ARDC considers serious," Martin Preib, a former Chicago FOP spokesman, who previously contacted the ARDC, told Chicago City Wire. 

Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Dan Webb wrote in a report that Foxx committed "serious abuses of discretion" in handling the Smollett criminal case. Foxx and her team also presented "conflicting stories" of who and why Foxx's administration negotiated their arrangement with Smollett, according to the investigation. 

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Webb declined to answer a question from a Sun-Times reporter in December about whether he had transmitted his report to the Commission. Webb also did not respond to a CCW inquiry about if he had filed a formal complaint.