Tuesday, October 23, 2007

More entertaining than Law and Order: Suffredin on Torture/Capital Punishment/Devine/Chicago cops/Englewood, on Cable and soon streaming

Jeff Berkowitz: But, the Mayor was the State’s Attorney in 1983 and he had as his First Assistant, Dick Devine. Is that why Dick Devine hasn’t done a number of things that you—

Comm. Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston): I have no idea, you’ll have to ask Dick Devine that.
**********************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: So, you think people in Englewood and in other areas that are crime prone, they are getting—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: They are getting short shrift. They are not getting--
***********************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Is Todd Stroger a mistake as Cook County Board President?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Todd Stroger at this point has certainly not shown the inclination to be a good Cook County Board President and he needs to—

Jeff Berkowitz: Do you take some responsibility since you supported him?
********************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: How much of a tax increase do you need [at the Cook County Board]?
*******************************************
This week’s Chicago metro suburban edition of Public Affairs features Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin [D-Evanston], likely to be one of seven candidates in the Democratic Primary for State's Attorney of Cook County. See below for the Public Affairs suburban airing schedule.
************************************************************************
The show with Comm. Larry Suffredin also airs through-out the City of Chicago this coming Monday night [Oct. 29] at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV] and on Monday night [Oct. 29] at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The Aurora station reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
***********************
You may also soon watch the Suffredin show, along with the very recently podcast posted shows with 8th CD Republican candidate Kirk Morris, Senator Cullerton (D-Chicago), along with other recently posted shows, including Rep. Lang (D-Chicago), Rep. Hamos (D-Evanston) and Senator Garrett (D-Lake Forest), 14th CD Republican Primary candidates Senator Chris Lauzen and Mayor Kevin Burns and former Senator Rauschenberger on your computer at PublicAffairsTV.com.

In addition to those shows, prior shows on the "Public Affairs," podcast page feature Presidential candidates Obama, Giuliani, Richardson, McCain and Cox, and many other pols, including Obama-Bean in April, 2006 and Bean in January, 2006 and opinion makers. You may also watch these "Public Affairs," shows and others at www.itunes.com
*****************************************************************
State's Attorney candidate Larry Suffredin debates and discusses with show host and Executive Legal Recruiter Jeff Berkowitz a broad range of State's Attorney of Cook County issues from what did State's Attorney Richard M. Daley and other high level Cook County State's Attorney officials know about torture by Chicago police to obtain confessions from the accused and when did they know it, how best to allocate resources in the State's Attorney office, diversity hiring, lack of prosecution by the State's Attorney of Cook County of Chicago public corruption, whether the moratorium on capital punishment should be lifted, whether more guns result in less crime, whether gun control laws should be expanded, whether Chicago Democrats can be sufficiently independent of the Democratic political leaders to discharge their State's Attorney responsibilities--if elected to that office, whether Chicago residents ought to be able to own handguns to protect themselves in their home, whether Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has done a good job and much, much more.
**********************************************************
A partial transcript of this week's suburban "Public Affairs," show with guest State's Attorney Candidate Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) is included, directly, below.
*********************************
The Dick Devine-Larry Suffredin relationship: a plus, a minus or irrelevant?

Jeff Berkowitz: You’re at [the 70 attorney Chicago Loop law firm of] Shefsky and Froelich right now?

Comm. Larry Suffredin [Democratic Primary Candidate for State’s Attorney of Cook County]: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: You are a partner there.

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: Before that, you rented space there?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Yes.

Jeff Berkowitz: Back in ’96, who came out of that law firm? Dick Devine, right?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Devine was there, yes, as a partner but I--

Jeff Berkowitz: When you were there—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I was just a tenant.

Jeff Berkowitz: Were you working on his [State’s Attorney] campaign, though?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I helped him in ’96, yeah.

Jeff Berkowitz: All right. You supported Dick Devine along the way?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I’ve supported Dick Devine all along. Dick Devine is a very fine lawyer and a very good person.

Jeff Berkowitz: Well, then, how independent can you be if you find there are things you suggested—there are things that you’ve said the Office and he should have been doing that they haven’t been doing? How independent can you be as State’s Attorney when [Devine] has been somebody who has been a friend who you have been supporting all along the way?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: There’s a non-sequitur to your question.

Jeff Berkowitz: Well, the short question is—he’s been a friend of yours—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Here’s what—If I am the State’s Attorney, my independence in this whole issue is to determine what has to be done on the day that I take office. Going forward, we’re going to get everything done. Going backward, we’ll go wherever the facts lead us. There are no people who have immunity from prosecution going backward. I will go—

Jeff Berkowitz: You don’t have to recuse yourself?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I do not have to recuse myself. I probably know half the lawyers in the City of Chicago. I can’t —

Jeff Berkowitz: Some better than others…
********************************
Mayor Daley, State's Attorney Devine and Comm. Larry Suffredin

Jeff Berkowitz: Everybody talks about the coziness and the Chicago way of doing politics.

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I have fought it the whole time since I have been elected.

Jeff Berkowitz: But, the Mayor was the State’s Attorney in 1983 and he had as his First Assistant, Dick Devine. Is that why Dick Devine hasn’t done a number of things that you—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I have no idea, you’ll have to ask Dick Devine that

Jeff Berkowitz: Well, I know. But, isn’t that a problem. Now, you’re going to be the guy there.
********************************************
Race, Diversity and the State's Attorney office: an issue whose time has come?

Jeff Berkowitz: What percentage should you have to say Diversity is working [in the State’s Attorney office].

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I need to have at least a fifth of my staff to be minorities to feel that I am representing—

Jeff Berkowitz: 20%? What is it now? 6%?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: It is 7%. [That] is what they told me in a debate yesterday [Oct. 20].

Crine prone areas in Cook County get the short end of the stick?

Jeff Berkowitz: So, you think people in Englewood and in other areas that are crime prone, they are getting—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: They are getting short shrift. They are not getting—

Jeff Berkowitz: They are not getting the prosecutions?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: They are not getting the justice that I am getting: here in Evanston or in Niles Township or the other places I represent.

Has the Democratic Party failed to give equal justice to low income residents in Cook County?

Jeff Berkowitz: Why? Has the Democratic Party failed them? They have been there—

Comm. Larry Suffredin: It has nothing to do with the Democratic Party.

Jeff Berkowitz: 12 years [Ed. Note: Democrat State’s Attorney Dick Devine was first elected to that office in 1996; Democrats have held the Chicago mayoralty position, which in large part controls the Chicago Police Department, since 1955, and a Daley has held the position of Chicago Mayor for 39 of the last 52 years].

Comm. Larry Suffredin: It has to do with police resources, the Court’s resources and [how] the State’s Attorney office have allocated it. It has nothing to do with the Democratic Party. It has—that these public offices—

Jeff Berkowitz: They [the Democrats] have controlled the offices for twelve years.

Comm. Larry Suffredin: The public offices have failed to adjust and to insure and give confidence to the people of those communities.

Tax increases from the Cook County Board?

Jeff Berkowitz: Everybody is raising taxes now, including the Cook County Board—800 million dollars [of tax increase proposals, at least, for Cook County]

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I am against them all because we don’t need them.

Jeff Berkowitz: How much of a tax increase do you need?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: We don’t need a tax increase. That’s the whole problem.

Jeff Berkowitz: Nothing? Zero?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: We need some additional revenue—

Jeff Berkowitz: You’re telling Todd Stroger that?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Yes, I am. In fact, just before I came here [on Sunday, Oct. 21], I told his Chief of Staff [Lance Tyson] that. We need some additional revenue and there are some revenue enhancements.

Has Todd Stroger failed as Cook County Board President?

Jeff Berkowitz: Is Todd Stroger a mistake as Cook County Board President?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: Todd Stroger at this point has certainly not shown the inclination to be a good Cook County Board President and he needs to—

Jeff Berkowitz: Do you take some responsibility since you supported him?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: No, because I looked at the race and it was between Peraica and Todd Stroger and I will tell you again Peraica’s judgment is flawed. We’re better off today with Todd Stroger than Peraica.

Jeff Berkowitz: You’d do the same thing?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: I’d do the same thing.

Jeff Berkowitz: In a heartbeat?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: In a heartbeat.

Jeff Berkowitz: Even with an 800 million dollar tax increase?

Comm. Larry Suffredin: He [Todd Stroger] is not going to get the 800 million dollar tax increase because there is nobody gonna give it to him.
**********************************************
Cook County Board Member Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) as he is airing this week on Public Affairs in 35 Chicago Metro suburbs. [See below for the suburban airing schedule] and as will be airing on this coming Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and on Monday, Oct. 29, 2007 at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The show was recorded on October 21, 2007.[You may also go here soon to watch the Suffredin show and also recent shows with Senator Cullerton (D-Chicago) and 8th CD Republican Primary candidate Kirk Morris (Gurnee) along with other currently posted shows with Presidential Candidates Richardson, Obama, Giuliani and many other politicians on PublicAffairsTV.com].
***************************************
The airing schedule for the Chicago Metro suburban edition of "Public Affairs," is included directly, below.
****************************************************
In twenty-five North Shore, North and Northwest suburbs, the "Public Affairs," show airs every Tuesday night in the regular weekly Public Affairs slot, 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or 35, as indicated, below.

In ten North Shore suburbs, the Public Affairs show airs three times each week in its regular slots at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as indicated, below. ********************************************************
The suburban episode of Public Affairs with guest Comm. Larry Suffredin(D-Evanston)airs:

tonight at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette

And tonight at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.

and this week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday night at 8:30 pm, airing on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Richardson, Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
***************************