North Cook News

GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey is calling out Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in his advocacy for a referendum option for disaffected voters to remove politicians.

“Having Kim Foxx as Cook County state’s attorney is akin to having the proverbial fox guard the hen house,” Bailey said in a statement. “She ran for office with the intention of not doing her job. She is violating her oath of office, and she is a national embarrassment. She needs to go and we can’t wait until the next election. We need a law to allow Cook County voters to recall Kim Foxx and we need it now.”

James Murphy III, a former office manager who oversaw grand jury and criminal bail hearings in Foxx's office, chastised Foxx for the faults of her division, according to CWB Chicago.

“I cannot continue to work for an administration I no longer respect. A few months ago, I was summoned into a meeting with the state’s attorney so she could criticize some bond hearings I did. One involved a massive shootout and the other involved a woman who was walking to the store when she was gunned down in a crossfire. The bond hearings involved gun possession charges only. The state’s attorney communicated that she was upset because a headline in a newspaper read ‘Man won’t face murder charge under the Safe-T Act.’ The state’s attorney voiced her concern with the headline and the heat she was getting from her backers and never voiced any concern over the fact that this woman was shot and killed simply walking to the store. And nobody was going to face a murder charge,” Murphy said in the letter. “That is what is wrong with this administration. I’ve seen it day after day. How many mass shootings do there have to be before something is done? This administration is more concerned with political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime. That is why I can’t stay any longer.”

In addition, Murphy attacked the SAFE-T Act, which would go into force on Jan. 1, 2023.

Criminal proceedings will no longer require cash bail. According to the SAFE-T Act, the burden of proof rests with the prosecution if they believe that a suspect in a crime ought to be held in jail. Detention is only permitted by law if it is proven that the defendant "poses a specific, real and present threat to a person or has a high likelihood of willful flight."

"This January, if nothing is done, mayhem will ensue across Illinois as alleged perpetrators held in pre-trial confinement for crimes from petty theft all the way up to murder will be let out of jail everywhere," Mike Koolidge, a spokesman for the Political Action Committee People Who Play By the Rules, said, Prairie State Wire reported. "Any respectable legislator and state's attorneys who doesn't do something about this before then will have blood on their hands, the least of which being the man who signed this catastrophic bill into law, Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker.”

Activist prosecutor Foxx made headlines last year for suggesting she'd avoid arresting gang members engaged in a group gunfight she deemed "mutual combat," Chicago City Wire reported.