Public Defender Sues Stroger Over Budget

    November 18, 2007
    Chicago Tribune
    By Tribune Staff

    Cook County Public Defender Edwin Burnette filed a lawsuit Friday against Board President Todd Stroger and other officials, challenging budget cuts that he says threaten his ability to provide counsel to low-income criminal defendants.

    Burnette is seeking a court order that would force the county to reinstate about 30 staff members, including attorneys, who he says were wrongly dismissed in April and May.

    The layoffs were "arbitrary and capricious" and "previous attempts ... to resolve these matters with defendant Stroger without litigation have gone unanswered," according to the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
    Ibis Antongiorgi, a spokeswoman for Stroger, said Sunday that although his office hasn't seen the lawsuit, Stroger supports a proposed 2 percent increase in the sales tax "so that he can fund the needs of the public defender's office and … all the other county-wide offices that rely on funding."

    Burnette also wants a judge to block Stroger from cutting public defenders' pay, forcing them to take "furlough days" or making other employment decisions without his approval.

    In the lawsuit, Burnette cites U.S. Supreme Court decisions that guarantee criminal defendants the right to counsel.



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