Why I Am Running For Re-Election

I am running for reelection because the job of making Lake County safer and fairer is not over yet. Public service continues to call me as we sharpen our focus on violent crimes, strive to end racial disparities, and engage in long-term strategic planning in order to prevent crime.  This is the way to make our communities, our families, and our children safer.

I have dedicated my life to improving a local legal system that has not been connected to the community and that has neglected to be transparent about its priorities, its process, or its philosophies. 

It has also failed to acknowledge the racial disparities that have plagued our system for too long. Our system had also tolerated and promoted the same prosecutors who had incarcerated innocent men. So, in 2019, I decided to run for State’s Attorney in 2019 to bring a change to Lake County – the place where I decided to raise my family. 

We have increased resources for investigating and prosecuting violent crime with the first-ever Violent Crimes Unit. We have secured millions of grant dollars to aggressively find and convict human traffickers and to upgrade our cyber-lab. We have also started the first Gun Violence Prevention Initiative to address root causes of crime while also engaging the entire community. We have finally increased the number of attorneys working in mental health court and drug court. 

But there is more work to do – particularly as we grapple with the lack of mental health treatment as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.  We will continue to work with our community partners like NIRCO, the Lake County Opioid Initiatve and the Health Department to expand treatment into every corner of the community. And we continue to use technology upgrades to find, prosecute, and convict violent offenders. 

I hope you will join me in making sure that we move forward and that we support every victim, make every community safer, and secure justice for all.