Better than Chicago Fox's Conaty and Robinson: Berkowitz w/ Peraica on Daley, Devine, Alvarez and torture cover-ups, Cable and Streaming
Jeff Berkowitz: What happened from 1984 to 1989 when Richard M. Daley was State’s Attorney?
Tony Peraica, Cook County Board Member and Republican Nominee for State's Attorney of Cook County: Nothing happened.
Jeff Berkowitz: [Daley] covered it up?
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Berkowitz: You’re saying [Anita Alvarez] knew there should have been an investigation, and there wasn’t? That’s your allegation?
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Now posted on our Youtube page (top left hand corner] is this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of "Public Affairs," featuring Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State's Attorney of Cook County. Watch the "Public Affairs" show with Tony Peraica.
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Tune in to this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs," to watch a discussion of torture of criminal defendants by Chicago police to obtain "confessions," what Cmsr. and State's Attorney Republican Nominee Tony Peraica says Daley and Devine knew and when they knew it, what Peraica says prosecutor Anita Alvarez knew and what she did about a torture cover-up, what Peraica has to say about public corruption prosecution by the State's Attorney office, or lack thereof; potential legal conflicts of interest in the State's Attorney's office; Cook county tax hikes and many other Cook County Board and State's Attorney issues discussed and debated by Tony Peraica with Show Host and Executive Legal Recruiter Jeff Berkowitz.
You can watch the show with Cmsr. Tony Peraica on your computer, 24-7. State's Attorney Democratic Nominee Anita Alvarez was invited, prior to the taping of our show w/Candidate Peraica, to appear on "Public Affairs." Alvarez has yet to respond with a date when she is available. Alvarez did appear on the show during the 2008 Democratic Primary for State's Attorney. Watch Anita Alvarez here.
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The Public Affairs suburban airing schedule is included, below.
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A detailed list of show topics is included, below.
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A Partial Transcript of this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs, featuring State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cmsr. Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) is included, below:
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Peraica accuses Mayor Daley and State's Attorney Devine of a cover-up.
Jeff Berkowitz: Mayor Daley—now Mayor Daley, Richard M. Daley—became State’s Attorney when, in 1983?
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: 1982 or 1983, yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: 1983, I think. [Ed. note: Richard M. Daley was elected State's Attorney of Cook County in November, 1980]. The torture stuff started going on when?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It went on from 1979 to 1984.
Jeff Berkowitz: So, it was going on while Richard Daley was State’s Attorney.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: For five years, by Jon Burge. Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Part of that time, Daley was the State's Attorney.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Correct.
Jeff Berkowitz: Okay. And then the investigation, and cover-ups, if there were cover-ups, occurred when?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It went on from the time it was discovered-
Jeff Berkowitz: Which was?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: In 1984.
Jeff Berkowitz: It was discovered in ’84?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: 1984, let’s say early 1985. And then it was just covered up, in my opinion, with the Egan/Boyle appointment.
Jeff Berkowitz: What happened from 1984 to 1989 when Richard M. Daley was State’s Attorney?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Nothing happened.
Jeff Berkowitz: He covered it up?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Did [Daley] know of it and he covered it up?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I believe that the State’s Attorney, Richard Daley, knew about the torture. I believe that his chief of staff, or first deputy, Dick Devine, current State’s Attorney, knew about the torture, and I believe the third-in-charge, Bill Kunkel, who is now a judge, knew about the extent of this torture.
Jeff Berkowitz: What do you have to support the allegation that Mayor Daley and his first assistant, Dick Devine, knew about the torture at that time?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: The Egan/Boyle report—the two gentlemen who were appointed by the chief judge of the criminal justice division, Biebel, showed that these two hundred or so African-American citizens of Cook County were tortured by Jon Burge and his men repeatedly, into confessing to crimes that they didn’t commit. And in fact, some of the tortures involved putting typewriter covers [over their heads] and asphyxiating them, attaching car batteries through wiring electrodes to their genitalia, and parts of their face, eyebrows, nostrils. It was just horrific stuff.
Jeff Berkowitz: When did the Egan report say that Daley first learned of this?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: This went on, and during the time that the statue of limitations did not expire. The state’s attorney’s office could have taken steps to investigate, convene a grand jury, prosecute this, take testimony from various individuals. It wasn’t done. And, it wasn’t done by accident. It was done on purpose, yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: You say that about Mayor Daley—he could have done it and he didn’t do it. He didn’t have his First Assistant do it, Dick Devine.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Correct.
Peraica accuses Prosecutor Alvarez of being complicit in the Cover-up?
Jeff Berkowitz: And, how does Anita Alvarez get caught up in this?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Anita Alvarez was a part of that office from 1986 up until the current time.
Jeff Berkowitz: She’s a junior prosecutor. Could she really be expected to turn around what Daley and Devine were doing? I mean, let’s be fair.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: She could have raised her voice in indignation. She could have demanded that her superiors do something about it. She could have resigned.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you’re saying she knew about it.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: She could have had a press conference.
Jeff Berkowitz: You’re saying [Anita Alvarez] knew there should have been an investigation, and there wasn’t. That’s your allegation?
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: Absolutely. There’s no question about it, and some of the other things that took place, beyond and besides the Burge torture of African-American citizens of Cook County, such as the involvement of, now her finance chairman, Robert Clifford, who sued the CHA on the Girl X case, that Ms. Alvarez prosecuted, was one of the prosecutors on, and now all of a sudden he’s her finance chairman, is raising money for her, when there was in fact a relationship between the two offices- the State’s Attorney office
Jeff Berkowitz: Is there a conflict? Isn’t that over now? There’s no longer a legal conflict.
Peraica alleges Conflict of interest between Alvarez and attorney [and WTTW sponsor] Robert Clifford?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I believe there’s a conflict [of interest] when the State’s Attorney’s office prosecutes a criminal defendant who had brutally, physically abused a young girl and left her for dead after horrific physical abuse and that testimony and that investigation is turned over to a private attorney who then goes ahead and sues the Chicago Housing Authority and obtains a thirty five million dollar judgment.
Jeff Berkowitz: On behalf of?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: On behalf of the estate of this young girl. Yeah.
Jeff Berkowitz: The estate, or Girl X?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Well, she was rendered disabled, and they had to have a guardian appointed for her.
Jeff Berkowitz: She’s still alive.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Number one, did they do anything wrong when they turned that over? Should they have fought or resisted having Girl X have her day in court? Through Robert Clifford?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It’s not a question of resisting, obviously those who engage in criminal conduct should be held accountable, but that’s another example where Ms. Alvarez, who had the responsibility to handle that case, provided very sensitive information to a personal injury attorney who is now her finance chairman, who obtained for his law firm, a thirty five million dollar judgment.
Jeff Berkowitz: She provided it without the force of a subpoena, right?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I don’t know exactly how they did it, but-
Jeff Berkowitz: If he didn’t subpoena, couldn’t he have gotten it anyway? I mean, did she just short-circuit that?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Perhaps. Perhaps.
Jeff Berkowitz: So in that sense, no harm, no foul. If that’s the way it happened.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It raises, it raises-
Jeff Berkowitz The Chick Hearn rule of torts. You know that rule of torts? No harm, no foul? [Ed. Note: Chick Hearn was a college basketball play by play sportscaster during the 70s who would invoke that “rule of torts,” frequently during his “call,” of basketball games, and Richard Epstein, University of Chicago Law School Professor, would reference Hearn often during Epstein’s conduct of his torts class during the 70s].
Peraica accuses Alvarez of Appearance of Impropriety
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It raises the appearance of impropriety, Jeff, when you have a government employee who is prosecuting a criminal defendant turn over documentation to a private attorney who is suing a government entity and gets a thirty five million dollar judgment that you and I have to pay, and all the citizens of Cook County.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you think maybe Clifford is supporting her for that reason-- is that what you’re suggesting?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Robert Clifford has made hundreds of millions of dollars by suing the citizens of Cook County.
Jeff Berkowitz: He [the Clifford Law Firm] sponsors things on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, Chicago Public TV
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Wonderful.
Jeff Berkowitz: You wouldn’t say they-- I mean WTTW announces occasionally that [Clifford’s] a sponsor of WTTW [when a Clifford law firm attorney is on a WTTW panel], but they hardly ever say there’s any conflict. Do you think they possibly--
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Robert Clifford has sued the Oak Forest Hospital, County of Cook, on behalf of a woman who was severely injured by an anesthesiologist, and has obtained a thirty six million dollar judgment in that case. He has sued the [Cook] County taxpayers regarding the fire at 69 West Washington, for in excess of a hundred million dollars.
Jeff Berkowitz: You’re saying Clifford feeds off Cook County, and now he’s trying to be a part of Cook County?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: That’s right. And the State’s Attorney’s office-
Jeff Berkowitz: He’s trying to be a part of Cook County by supporting Anita Alvarez?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: He’s trying to cover both sides of the equation, and that’s inappropriate.
Jeff Berkowitz: Covering all bases? Is that-
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: When you have a personal injury private attorney suing the County of Cook—that the state’s attorney’s office has the responsibility to defend, and they settle these cases and get hundreds of millions of dollars, and now all of a sudden he’s using that same money to finance Ms. Alvarez’s campaign. I have a problem with that.
Where is Anita Alvarez? Silent on the issues?
Jeff Berkowitz: And, we’ve asked Anita Alvarez to [be on this show]. We contacted her this week, as we contacted Cmsr. Peraica. We contacted her at her personal number: we never heard back. We contacted her campaign: we never heard back. So, if they are out there, we’re fair and balanced. We’d like to have Anita Alvarez on, as the Democratic nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County, both separately and together with Cmsr. Peraica. So, she’s not here, but that’s her choosing. She didn’t return our calls.
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Thanks to "Public Affairs," intern Amy Allen for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs."
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Public Affairs Chicago Metro suburban airing schedule.
The show with State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cook County Board Member Tony Peraica is airing this week in the North and Northwest Chicago Metro suburbs in its regular slot:
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 (Tuesday) 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 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm airing on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
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Public Affairs City of Chicago and City of Aurora airing schedule, featuring Cmsr. Tony Peraica this coming Monday night.
The "Public Affairs," show with State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cmsr. Tony Peraica will also air throughout the City of Chicago this coming Monday night, Aug. 4, at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and that same night on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
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Tony Peraica, Cook County Board Member and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County debates and discusses the issues with show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz. Topics discussed include whether Peraica’s focus on private sector legal practice is a plus or minus for the State’s Attorney position; was illegal torture of accused criminal defendants occurring under State’s Attorney Daley’s watch? Did State’s Attorney Daley and First Ass’t Devine know about the torture in 1984? Did Daley and Devine know about the torture in the mid and late 80s and fail to prosecute Chicago cops involved in these activities? Should Anita Alvarez have done something about the failure to prosecute in the 80s?
Additional topics include the following: is there a legal conflict of interest between Democratic State’s Attorney Nominee Anita Alvarez and her Finance Chairman Robert Clifford relating to the Girl X civil and criminal cases? Did Anita Alvarez improperly authorize only misdemeanor negligent driving charges in a case involving an off duty, inebriated police officer driving a car that killed two young Hispanics in an auto accident? Is this an instance of politics influencing how the State’s Attorney office chose to prosecute, as Cmsr. Peraica argues?
Democratic State’s Attorney Nominee Anita Alvarez did not respond to invitations by show host Berkowitz to join Cmsr. Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) to discus and debate the issues on “Public Affairs.” It would have been good to have her there to get her views about the State’s Attorney’s office, as well as her responses to specific issues relating to her raised by Republican State’s Attorney Nominee Peraica. Should a candidate for State's Attorney be willing to appear on public policy TV shows to debate the issues?
Additional topics include the allegation by Peraica that politics is used to determine who is hired, promoted, as well as to influence many other important decisions in the State’s Attorney office; is there a corruption tax in Chicago, Cook County and the State of Illinois and is this due in good part, as Peraica argues, to the failure of the State’s Attorney of Cook County to prosecute public corruption; Is Peraica’s lack of experience as a prosecutor an issue in the State’s Attorney race? Is Anita Alvarez “one of the boys.” Did Alvarez have implicit support from Mayor Daley, Speaker Mike Madigan and Ald. Ed Burke, as Peraica argues, in her primary?
Additional topics include whether street crime is out of control in Chicago and Cook County? If so, who is to blame? Did Anita Alvarez look the other way, as Peraica argues, when it came to prosecuting pubic corruption? Does the State’s Attorney’s office focus on the low hanging fruit- the self abusers, as Peraica argues, giving the folks running the drug operations, the pushers, a pass?
Has the Gang of Four on the Cook County Board been reduced to the Gang of Two? What happened to Suffredin and Quigley? Did President Todd Stroger win in his battle with the reformers? Is Cook County just not ready for reform? Are Peraica and Claypool blood brothers? Will the Cook County Board roll back the Stroger sales tax increase? Can Peraica win the State’s Attorney of Cook County race? Can Republicans win in Cook County?
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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 Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox, a recent edition of Public Affairs with RealClearPolitics.com's Tom Bevan, Monday night's City of Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, our prior shows with State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), Ald. Sandi Jackson(Chicago, 7th Ward)...and shows with many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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Included on the Public Affairs YouTube page is our show withAld. Sandi Jackson. Additional very recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include the "Public Affairs," show featuring Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , Monday night's Chicago and Aurora editions of "Public Affairs," featuring State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and our recent show featuring State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda). Other recently posted shows include our shows featuring 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper, Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols. Soon to be posted is the show we taped this past Sunday with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, Barrington Hills Village President, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo. Cong. Manzullo is scheduled to tape "Public Affairs," on Sunday.
Tony Peraica, Cook County Board Member and Republican Nominee for State's Attorney of Cook County: Nothing happened.
Jeff Berkowitz: [Daley] covered it up?
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Berkowitz: You’re saying [Anita Alvarez] knew there should have been an investigation, and there wasn’t? That’s your allegation?
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Now posted on our Youtube page (top left hand corner] is this week's Chicago Metro suburban edition of "Public Affairs," featuring Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State's Attorney of Cook County. Watch the "Public Affairs" show with Tony Peraica.
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Tune in to this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs," to watch a discussion of torture of criminal defendants by Chicago police to obtain "confessions," what Cmsr. and State's Attorney Republican Nominee Tony Peraica says Daley and Devine knew and when they knew it, what Peraica says prosecutor Anita Alvarez knew and what she did about a torture cover-up, what Peraica has to say about public corruption prosecution by the State's Attorney office, or lack thereof; potential legal conflicts of interest in the State's Attorney's office; Cook county tax hikes and many other Cook County Board and State's Attorney issues discussed and debated by Tony Peraica with Show Host and Executive Legal Recruiter Jeff Berkowitz.
You can watch the show with Cmsr. Tony Peraica on your computer, 24-7. State's Attorney Democratic Nominee Anita Alvarez was invited, prior to the taping of our show w/Candidate Peraica, to appear on "Public Affairs." Alvarez has yet to respond with a date when she is available. Alvarez did appear on the show during the 2008 Democratic Primary for State's Attorney. Watch Anita Alvarez here.
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The Public Affairs suburban airing schedule is included, below.
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A detailed list of show topics is included, below.
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A Partial Transcript of this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs, featuring State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cmsr. Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) is included, below:
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Peraica accuses Mayor Daley and State's Attorney Devine of a cover-up.
Jeff Berkowitz: Mayor Daley—now Mayor Daley, Richard M. Daley—became State’s Attorney when, in 1983?
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: 1982 or 1983, yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: 1983, I think. [Ed. note: Richard M. Daley was elected State's Attorney of Cook County in November, 1980]. The torture stuff started going on when?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It went on from 1979 to 1984.
Jeff Berkowitz: So, it was going on while Richard Daley was State’s Attorney.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: For five years, by Jon Burge. Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Part of that time, Daley was the State's Attorney.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Correct.
Jeff Berkowitz: Okay. And then the investigation, and cover-ups, if there were cover-ups, occurred when?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It went on from the time it was discovered-
Jeff Berkowitz: Which was?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: In 1984.
Jeff Berkowitz: It was discovered in ’84?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: 1984, let’s say early 1985. And then it was just covered up, in my opinion, with the Egan/Boyle appointment.
Jeff Berkowitz: What happened from 1984 to 1989 when Richard M. Daley was State’s Attorney?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Nothing happened.
Jeff Berkowitz: He covered it up?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Did [Daley] know of it and he covered it up?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I believe that the State’s Attorney, Richard Daley, knew about the torture. I believe that his chief of staff, or first deputy, Dick Devine, current State’s Attorney, knew about the torture, and I believe the third-in-charge, Bill Kunkel, who is now a judge, knew about the extent of this torture.
Jeff Berkowitz: What do you have to support the allegation that Mayor Daley and his first assistant, Dick Devine, knew about the torture at that time?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: The Egan/Boyle report—the two gentlemen who were appointed by the chief judge of the criminal justice division, Biebel, showed that these two hundred or so African-American citizens of Cook County were tortured by Jon Burge and his men repeatedly, into confessing to crimes that they didn’t commit. And in fact, some of the tortures involved putting typewriter covers [over their heads] and asphyxiating them, attaching car batteries through wiring electrodes to their genitalia, and parts of their face, eyebrows, nostrils. It was just horrific stuff.
Jeff Berkowitz: When did the Egan report say that Daley first learned of this?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: This went on, and during the time that the statue of limitations did not expire. The state’s attorney’s office could have taken steps to investigate, convene a grand jury, prosecute this, take testimony from various individuals. It wasn’t done. And, it wasn’t done by accident. It was done on purpose, yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: You say that about Mayor Daley—he could have done it and he didn’t do it. He didn’t have his First Assistant do it, Dick Devine.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Correct.
Peraica accuses Prosecutor Alvarez of being complicit in the Cover-up?
Jeff Berkowitz: And, how does Anita Alvarez get caught up in this?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Anita Alvarez was a part of that office from 1986 up until the current time.
Jeff Berkowitz: She’s a junior prosecutor. Could she really be expected to turn around what Daley and Devine were doing? I mean, let’s be fair.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: She could have raised her voice in indignation. She could have demanded that her superiors do something about it. She could have resigned.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you’re saying she knew about it.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: She could have had a press conference.
Jeff Berkowitz: You’re saying [Anita Alvarez] knew there should have been an investigation, and there wasn’t. That’s your allegation?
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: Absolutely. There’s no question about it, and some of the other things that took place, beyond and besides the Burge torture of African-American citizens of Cook County, such as the involvement of, now her finance chairman, Robert Clifford, who sued the CHA on the Girl X case, that Ms. Alvarez prosecuted, was one of the prosecutors on, and now all of a sudden he’s her finance chairman, is raising money for her, when there was in fact a relationship between the two offices- the State’s Attorney office
Jeff Berkowitz: Is there a conflict? Isn’t that over now? There’s no longer a legal conflict.
Peraica alleges Conflict of interest between Alvarez and attorney [and WTTW sponsor] Robert Clifford?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I believe there’s a conflict [of interest] when the State’s Attorney’s office prosecutes a criminal defendant who had brutally, physically abused a young girl and left her for dead after horrific physical abuse and that testimony and that investigation is turned over to a private attorney who then goes ahead and sues the Chicago Housing Authority and obtains a thirty five million dollar judgment.
Jeff Berkowitz: On behalf of?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: On behalf of the estate of this young girl. Yeah.
Jeff Berkowitz: The estate, or Girl X?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Well, she was rendered disabled, and they had to have a guardian appointed for her.
Jeff Berkowitz: She’s still alive.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Berkowitz: Number one, did they do anything wrong when they turned that over? Should they have fought or resisted having Girl X have her day in court? Through Robert Clifford?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It’s not a question of resisting, obviously those who engage in criminal conduct should be held accountable, but that’s another example where Ms. Alvarez, who had the responsibility to handle that case, provided very sensitive information to a personal injury attorney who is now her finance chairman, who obtained for his law firm, a thirty five million dollar judgment.
Jeff Berkowitz: She provided it without the force of a subpoena, right?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: I don’t know exactly how they did it, but-
Jeff Berkowitz: If he didn’t subpoena, couldn’t he have gotten it anyway? I mean, did she just short-circuit that?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Perhaps. Perhaps.
Jeff Berkowitz: So in that sense, no harm, no foul. If that’s the way it happened.
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It raises, it raises-
Jeff Berkowitz The Chick Hearn rule of torts. You know that rule of torts? No harm, no foul? [Ed. Note: Chick Hearn was a college basketball play by play sportscaster during the 70s who would invoke that “rule of torts,” frequently during his “call,” of basketball games, and Richard Epstein, University of Chicago Law School Professor, would reference Hearn often during Epstein’s conduct of his torts class during the 70s].
Peraica accuses Alvarez of Appearance of Impropriety
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: It raises the appearance of impropriety, Jeff, when you have a government employee who is prosecuting a criminal defendant turn over documentation to a private attorney who is suing a government entity and gets a thirty five million dollar judgment that you and I have to pay, and all the citizens of Cook County.
Jeff Berkowitz: So you think maybe Clifford is supporting her for that reason-- is that what you’re suggesting?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Robert Clifford has made hundreds of millions of dollars by suing the citizens of Cook County.
Jeff Berkowitz: He [the Clifford Law Firm] sponsors things on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, Chicago Public TV
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Wonderful.
Jeff Berkowitz: You wouldn’t say they-- I mean WTTW announces occasionally that [Clifford’s] a sponsor of WTTW [when a Clifford law firm attorney is on a WTTW panel], but they hardly ever say there’s any conflict. Do you think they possibly--
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: Robert Clifford has sued the Oak Forest Hospital, County of Cook, on behalf of a woman who was severely injured by an anesthesiologist, and has obtained a thirty six million dollar judgment in that case. He has sued the [Cook] County taxpayers regarding the fire at 69 West Washington, for in excess of a hundred million dollars.
Jeff Berkowitz: You’re saying Clifford feeds off Cook County, and now he’s trying to be a part of Cook County?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: That’s right. And the State’s Attorney’s office-
Jeff Berkowitz: He’s trying to be a part of Cook County by supporting Anita Alvarez?
Cmsr. Tony Peraica: He’s trying to cover both sides of the equation, and that’s inappropriate.
Jeff Berkowitz: Covering all bases? Is that-
Tony Peraica, Cook County Cmsr. and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County: When you have a personal injury private attorney suing the County of Cook—that the state’s attorney’s office has the responsibility to defend, and they settle these cases and get hundreds of millions of dollars, and now all of a sudden he’s using that same money to finance Ms. Alvarez’s campaign. I have a problem with that.
Where is Anita Alvarez? Silent on the issues?
Jeff Berkowitz: And, we’ve asked Anita Alvarez to [be on this show]. We contacted her this week, as we contacted Cmsr. Peraica. We contacted her at her personal number: we never heard back. We contacted her campaign: we never heard back. So, if they are out there, we’re fair and balanced. We’d like to have Anita Alvarez on, as the Democratic nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County, both separately and together with Cmsr. Peraica. So, she’s not here, but that’s her choosing. She didn’t return our calls.
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Thanks to "Public Affairs," intern Amy Allen for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs."
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Public Affairs Chicago Metro suburban airing schedule.
The show with State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cook County Board Member Tony Peraica is airing this week in the North and Northwest Chicago Metro suburbs in its regular slot:
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 (Tuesday) 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 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm airing on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
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Public Affairs City of Chicago and City of Aurora airing schedule, featuring Cmsr. Tony Peraica this coming Monday night.
The "Public Affairs," show with State's Attorney Republican Nominee and Cmsr. Tony Peraica will also air throughout the City of Chicago this coming Monday night, Aug. 4, at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and that same night on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
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Tony Peraica, Cook County Board Member and Republican Nominee for State’s Attorney of Cook County debates and discusses the issues with show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz. Topics discussed include whether Peraica’s focus on private sector legal practice is a plus or minus for the State’s Attorney position; was illegal torture of accused criminal defendants occurring under State’s Attorney Daley’s watch? Did State’s Attorney Daley and First Ass’t Devine know about the torture in 1984? Did Daley and Devine know about the torture in the mid and late 80s and fail to prosecute Chicago cops involved in these activities? Should Anita Alvarez have done something about the failure to prosecute in the 80s?
Additional topics include the following: is there a legal conflict of interest between Democratic State’s Attorney Nominee Anita Alvarez and her Finance Chairman Robert Clifford relating to the Girl X civil and criminal cases? Did Anita Alvarez improperly authorize only misdemeanor negligent driving charges in a case involving an off duty, inebriated police officer driving a car that killed two young Hispanics in an auto accident? Is this an instance of politics influencing how the State’s Attorney office chose to prosecute, as Cmsr. Peraica argues?
Democratic State’s Attorney Nominee Anita Alvarez did not respond to invitations by show host Berkowitz to join Cmsr. Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) to discus and debate the issues on “Public Affairs.” It would have been good to have her there to get her views about the State’s Attorney’s office, as well as her responses to specific issues relating to her raised by Republican State’s Attorney Nominee Peraica. Should a candidate for State's Attorney be willing to appear on public policy TV shows to debate the issues?
Additional topics include the allegation by Peraica that politics is used to determine who is hired, promoted, as well as to influence many other important decisions in the State’s Attorney office; is there a corruption tax in Chicago, Cook County and the State of Illinois and is this due in good part, as Peraica argues, to the failure of the State’s Attorney of Cook County to prosecute public corruption; Is Peraica’s lack of experience as a prosecutor an issue in the State’s Attorney race? Is Anita Alvarez “one of the boys.” Did Alvarez have implicit support from Mayor Daley, Speaker Mike Madigan and Ald. Ed Burke, as Peraica argues, in her primary?
Additional topics include whether street crime is out of control in Chicago and Cook County? If so, who is to blame? Did Anita Alvarez look the other way, as Peraica argues, when it came to prosecuting pubic corruption? Does the State’s Attorney’s office focus on the low hanging fruit- the self abusers, as Peraica argues, giving the folks running the drug operations, the pushers, a pass?
Has the Gang of Four on the Cook County Board been reduced to the Gang of Two? What happened to Suffredin and Quigley? Did President Todd Stroger win in his battle with the reformers? Is Cook County just not ready for reform? Are Peraica and Claypool blood brothers? Will the Cook County Board roll back the Stroger sales tax increase? Can Peraica win the State’s Attorney of Cook County race? Can Republicans win in Cook County?
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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 Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox, a recent edition of Public Affairs with RealClearPolitics.com's Tom Bevan, Monday night's City of Chicago and Aurora edition of Public Affairs with State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, our prior shows with State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), Ald. Sandi Jackson(Chicago, 7th Ward)...and shows with many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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Included on the Public Affairs YouTube page is our show withAld. Sandi Jackson. Additional very recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page include the "Public Affairs," show featuring Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , Monday night's Chicago and Aurora editions of "Public Affairs," featuring State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), this week's suburban edition of Public Affairs with Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica and our recent show featuring State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda). Other recently posted shows include our shows featuring 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper, Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols. Soon to be posted is the show we taped this past Sunday with 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, Barrington Hills Village President, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo. Cong. Manzullo is scheduled to tape "Public Affairs," on Sunday.
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