Pictured l-r: Eileen O’Neill Burke and Robert Fioretti
The stage is set for the race for Cook County State’s Attorney. After Clayton Harris III lost by just 1,600 votes, it’s Eileen O’Neill Burke versus Republican Robert Fioretti in the General Election in November.
Burke is a former prosecutor, a tough-on-crime candidate who is changing her tune to address her image problem caused by a highly publicized wrongful murder conviction of an 11-year-old boy she prosecuted in 1994.
Those concerns have some Black voters looking to her Republican opponent and asking, “What about Bob?”
For some Black voters, it’s another race that may keep them home on Election Day.
For many, choosing between O’Neill or Fioretti is not much of a choice for them to go to the polls. Low voter turnout was already a concern with the rematch in the presidential election involving Joe Biden and Donald Trump, where age and disillusionment with the Democratic Party have created a showdown many are not interested in.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s race may turn off more voters.
O’Neill has an image problem after she campaigned hard as a tough-on-crime candidate who is against predecessor Kim Foxx’s progressive policies as a reformer. After approximately 262,857 voters didn’t vote for her in the Democratic Primary, O’Neill has an image problem.
Blacks remember her as a former prosecutor who prosecuted a 11-year-old boy whose murder conviction was later thrown out because it resulted from a false confession made during an interview with no supporting adults in the interrogation room.
During the Primary, Burke raised over $3 million from conservative businessmen who are concerned about crime spilling into downtown and affluent neighborhoods.
On Monday, April 1, Burke, in a Sun-Times article, walks back her campaign message, saying it’s wrong to paint her as a tough-on-crime candidate.
“I think a lot of the concern was unfair that I was going to be very hard on crime. I want to be effective. That doesn’t mean we’re going to lock everybody up.”
O’Neill was quoted as a candidate who wants to implement programs that “get people turned around. That’s my goal. That’s how we’re going to measure effectiveness. Not how many people we lock up, but how many people we get turned around, how quickly we can get our crime rates down.”
It’s a message O’Neill did not push in the final weeks of the campaign, when she and her campaign painted Harris as “Kim Foxx 2.0.”
On WVON1690 Monday, some callers to the Perri Small Show said they will vote for Burke, whom sources say is a more balanced candidate, concerned about wrong convictions as well as being tough on crime.
One caller, Otis, said, “I voted for Clayton. I’m proud of him. He’s a fine Black man who ran a good campaign. Eileen may be the Democratic nominee, but she is not going to get my vote.”
Harold, another caller, said, “I wanted to know if Harris would support Fioretti instead of Burke. Why did Fioretti switch his party to Republican. It looks like it has helped him so far.”
Thurgood, another caller, said, “We can’t prosecute our way in society in dealing with crime. It’s investment in people, not incarceration. We’ve seen that fail over the years. 26th and California is a retirement program for the Irish.”
Fioretti ran unopposed in the Republican Primary after announcing his bid for Cook County State’s Attorney last November. Without an opponent, Fioretti remained low key during the Illinois Primary.
In the last decade, Fioretti, a former two-term alderman for the 2nd Ward, ran numerous unsuccessful campaigns for local and state offices. He ran as a Democrat in most of them.
In 2016, he ran for state senator. In 2018, he ran for the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President. In 2019, Fioretti ran for Chicago mayor. In 2022, Fioretti switched to Republican when he ran again against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
In that race, Fioretti lost to Preckwinkle, who in Cook County towns and suburbs took over 60 percent to Fioretti’s 37 percent. In Chicago, Preckwinkle won 49 wards, but Fioretti in some of them took over 30 percent of the vote. He won the 41st Ward, but Burke, his opponent in November, won nearly 83 percent of the vote during the Democratic Primary.
Burke seeks Harris’ endorsement, but Harris has yet to give his blessing. In his interview on WVON1690 Harris did not say whether he will endorse Burke.
He said, “We cannot prosecute our way out. Yes, we have to address the issues. There’s been a lack of investment in the way we address crime, so that we’re solving the problem that’s creating crime. Crime wasn’t a problem until it hit these white neighborhoods.”
