Cook County prosecutor quits after 20 years: ‘this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster’
Here’s what he wrote:
After 20 years, I always kind of figured an email like this would start with “It is with a heavy heart that I leave…” The truth is, I can’t get out of here fast enough.
Let me start with the positive. There is not a single day that has gone by that I have not felt truly honored to work with such an incredible group of people who spent every waking hour on behalf of victims. This opportunity has been a gift for which I have no words to explain the extent of my gratitude.
My partners, our Victim/Witness advocates, our Investigators, our support staff, the police officers and detectives, time after time I see each of you putting everything you have into helping people we encounter on the worst days of their lives. So often I see our personal lives, and indeed at times our own well-being, set aside just to do a little bit more on that last case for that last victim. It’s been nothing short of inspiring not as a lawyer, but as a person.
And yet, I’m leaving. Why could that be? The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt.
Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation.
Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years). If it were just me to consider, I’d stick it out. I’ve been through stupid State’s Attorney policies before. But this Office’s complete failure to even think for a moment before rushing into one popular political agenda after another has put my family directly in harm’s way.
The current people in charge of this state, including the [State’s Attorney’s Office] suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding…we live in a society with adversarial court and criminal justice processes. Defense attorneys, legal aid clinics, Public Defenders, defendant advocate groups…they fight like hell to protect the rights of criminal defendants. And they should. Their work is as noble as our’s. But we have an obligation to fight like hell on behalf of the People. It should go without saying that this must be done ethically and evenhandedly. When both sides vigorously defend their positions, a balance is reached between protecting rights while preserving some sort of order and safety. Once we start doing too much of the defense’s job, once we pull our punches, once we decide that it’s worth risking citizens’ lives to have a little social experiment, that balance is lost. The unavoidable consequences are what we are witnessing in real time, an increase in crime of all kinds, businesses and families pulling up stakes, and the bodies piling up; the whole time with a State’s Attorney who insists that there is nothing to see here, and if there is it must be someone else’s fault. And then they wonder why they cannot retain experienced prosecutors or even hire new ones…it’s because any true prosecutor recognizes the importance of this balance, and that they will not be permitted to be a prosecutor under this administration.
I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe.
To everyone in the trenches in the State’s Attorney’s Office and in law enforcement, my one regret is that I cannot be at your side anymore as you continue to fight the good fight. I do not envy the task you have before you, but you have my utmost respect for carrying on. I hope one day you are successful at returning some kind of common sense and security to our communities.
Thank you all so much for this opportunity to serve. I will treasure every moment of this chapter in my life. Be safe, be well, fight hard.
Jason F. Poje
Assistant State’s Attorney
End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
50 illegals landed on Martha’s Vineyard and the left went bonkers
700,000 illegal aliens are waiting to rush the border once Title 42 ends and the left claims everything is fine
It would seem , The Quickening has arrived.
Lyrics more/ less ok.
One of my most hated songs.
A matter of taste anyway.
Here are some more or less OK lyrics…
Or, I love living in the (democrat run) city.
Lee Ving was fun…
When people like this capitulate you know it’s tipping point
He didn’t capitulate, he gives accolades to all the “wonderful” team members he pretended to work with maybe 3 hours a day of actual work. He gets religion AFTER he leaves? Or…he felt this way while he is working in the system he now condemns but cashed his paychecks anyway, 20 years…pension, ding, ding, ding!
Fucking coward, hypocrite, POS.
Fucking parasite.
Guess who gets a pension for the rest of his life paid for by you know who? Pensions for retired Gov. workers, teachers, cops, etc… are killing the budgets many states .
Give up your pension if your so righteous.
You’re.
Correct about the pension schemes.
Give up “you’re” means …… A hyphenated “you are” but I ain’t no Nazi because I is an English Major with a degree from the University of HK.
But I may have come late to the Witch Burning in Salem
Also you Maroons, the correct spelling is Moron, you Moron.
“moron”
noun
a stupid person.
Bring on the witches, bitches.
p.s While I was venting 32 Ukrainian men, two dogs and a cat have been sent, like AC /DC……..
Back in Black
read to the end of the sentence: Give up your pension if YOU’RE so righteous.
100% agree. He stayed to get his pension and now can ride off into the sunset and collect it. Many pensions in Illinois also provide 3% bumps each year. I know most of my high school teachers that retired in the early 2000s, earn more in their pensions than they earned in any year of teaching.
You were pretty quick to blow by “moron” as a possibility in assigning blame.
20 years to identify a problem you work with every day suggests some mental “anomaly”.
I’ma givin’ ya one up, irregardless!
The government pension was supposed to offset what were supposed to be lower paying jobs. Unfortunately the growth of government and a booming economy brought on by deficit spending produced the situation were in now. I try not to begrudge a cop for his pension (or teachers obviously), but the biggest problem with govt. pensions is that the employee money that was to have been set aside was used to pay for other political promises. So watch what happens when the market implodes and state and local governments have a tax revenue decrease. I expect you’ll see a LOT of angry people reacting to broken promises – myself included.
And he will move to some Red state, fully confident that he is a “conservative” and proceed to fuck shit up all over again. That mf should be forced to stick it out where he lives.
…” the whole time with a State’s Attorney who insists that there is nothing to see here, and if there is it must be someone else’s fault. And then they wonder why they cannot retain experienced prosecutors or even hire new ones”…
OMG… kill me…..It’s because GOOD lawyers start there own practice and have GOOD partners and make bank.
Mediocre/ lazy lawyers work for the public, for the steady paycheck and benefits. Same thing with Judges…they are not the best and brightest, they feed at the the public trough like the dirty pigs they are. Lose a case…still get paid. I lived in Santa Barbra County when the first Michael Jackson trial was going on in 2005. The head prosecutor for the county lost that case even though he had tons of evidence and cost the county 2.7 million dollars!
Did he get fired? No. Did he retire with a pension ? Yes. Is he a good lawyer? No.
In my youth, there was a phenomenon called ‘white flight’. It was when white people left the inner cities for the safety of the suburbs. It gave rise to today’s situation where what’s left in the cities are society’s dregs. They tried to legislate and intimidate people into staying but, lo and behold, they cared more about their family’s wellbeing than the social engineers imagined. That continues now at a state level. Shake the milk bottle as hard as you want but the cream always rises to the top.
Apparently you have never heard of ‘The Peter Principle’ and I’m also pretty sure everybody here knows what ‘white flight’ is, but thanks anyway.
What drivel.
I read it 40 years ago.
Drivel? Buy a fucking clue pal.
Drivel? It perfectly explains Kamala Harris.
The Peter Principle…hrmm.
One is reminded of Kamala Harris, or perhaps Pete Buttigieg.
Go down on the peter to rise up in the ranks. That’s how that works right?
Of course I know this has nothing at all to do with the O.P., but it amuses me just the same 🙂
I can’t even begin to imagine how bad crime will get. Maybe Kurt Russel can do a sequel. Escape from Illinois.
Ted Turner could digitally blackface Kurt and use the same movie! Cameo by Dave Chappelle!
Instant blockbuster for da Jooos.
Well bye. Can’t say I blame you.
The truth is, I can’t get out of here fast enough.
It is no longer safe to live in the State I helped create. I will be moving to a much safer red state!
How long?…….how long have you known?…you mean for all your education and experience,you just saw this yesterday???
You see,you give an inch,they take a mile…how many of these liberal/leftists have you voted for or supported that you lasted this long?
Are you going to leave Chi-Raq to make another someplace else??
While you may see yourself as a victim,I believe your part of the problem……so,how long???
So which set of ideals did you buy in law school,the Constitution or legalism?….question kind of answers itself!
If you do not adopt the AMERICAN ideal,how can you call yourself one?
I don’t believe ad-hominims lead to awareness.
Good luck.
Being part of the solution requires courage.