Preckwinkle versus Alvarez, and so far, Preckwinkle appears to be winning:
Just a day after State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez told the Cook County Board that budget cuts would severely impact her office, she issued pink slips to more than 100 office staff members.
Most of the 101 workers were called throughout the day Wednesday. The remainder will be called by Thursday, Daly said.
Seven court reporters were told they were being laid off last week, for a total of 108 job losses so far, Daly said.
- Fifty-eight assistant state’s attorneys and 20 investigator positions could also be eliminated to meet the 8 percent reduction Alvarez is willing to cut in her budget, Daly said. But Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has demanded a 10 percent cut.
So what will be the effect on court operations? Fifty-eight ASA's probably means no "third chair" in anything but the big trials. Twenty investigators means a whole bunch of witnesses and summonses don't get delivered. The savings in gas and vehicles might be substantial, but the always inefficient court operations may grind to near immovability in short order, and a system that can't even convict murderers in 66% of its cases may see that number climb even higher in other categories.