Want to Get Illinois Out of Stupid? Pay Attention and Vote Erika Harold for Illinois Attorney General.

Erika Harold for Illinois Attorney General *- ASAP!

If are happy with your tax burden and the endless parade incompetent, larcenous and creepy elected officials in this City, County and State, vote the way you are told by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, WTTW, WBEZ, Crain's  NBC, WBBM, FOX 32, WGN, Chicago Business, The Reader and all of Fred Eychaner's Free Newsstand. 

Vote like Eric Zorn, Steve Chapman, Andy Shaw, Mike Flannery, Dane Placko, Chuck Goudie, Phil Ponce, Carol Marin, Mark Brown, Bruce Dold and Neil Steinberg.

That will ensure that, Sneedless to say, the buckshot, the upshot and the bullshot for Illinois will be JB Pritzker, Rahm Emanuel, Toni Preckwinkle and Kwame Rauol  in control City Hall, the County, the Governor's Mansion and, most importantly - Illinois Attorney General.

With 13 weeks till the primary election and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s surprise decision not to seek re-election, Illinois voters have a crowded field of eight Democratic and two Republican candidates to choose from.

Though the Cook County Democratic Party last month crowned State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, as their choice, former Gov. Pat Quinn has secured the top ballot spot via a state lottery, which might help get him some votes. Raoul and Quinn are perhaps the most familiar names on the Democratic primary ballot.
In the Republican primary, Erika Harold — a Harvard-educated attorney and former Miss America who has the backing of the state’s Republican Party — faces Gary Grasso, a DuPage County Board member.  Sun Times

I don't know a thing about Mr. Grasso - probably a very nice gent. But, I know a little about Erika Harold.

This might be the only time you read about Erika Harold, Sneedless to say. Lisa Madigan was an access ticket for our lazy Illinois media and she had fourteen years of unexamined performance protecting Illinois politics from scrutiny.


Lisa Madigan has done nothing in her fourteen years as Attorney General but become the first woman to hold that office. 

Ms. Madigan argued successfully before the United States Supreme Court in Illinois v. Caballes," where the court reaffirmed the ability of police officers to use specially trained dogs without a search warrant or probable cause to detect the presence of illegal drugs during traffic stops."  Not exactly groundbreaking.

Ms. Madigan raised her profile by speaking out on many issues and accepted awards.

Illinois cork-screwed deeper into the rich soil of this State.

Kwame Rauol and Pat Quinn are equally challenged human beings, in fact the Lake Zurich Patch called them 'an unbeatbale ticket 2014.'  They lost, huge.

Now they face each other in duel of the challenged for Attorney General.   Pat Quinn secured the top spot on the ballot, but Kwame nailed imprimatur of the State Democratic Party.

The Illinois Attorney Generalshould not be a security blanket for crooks, cons, conniving creeps and cretins. Instead the States Attorney General's homepage reads like programming from NPR

• Advocating for Women
• Protecting the Environment
• Safeguarding children
• Advocating for the Older Citizens

Name one crook sent to the Illinois Corrections System by Lisa Madigan. Name one investigation of corporate collusion in the explosion of Pay Day/Car Title Loan industry in Illinois during Madigan's tenure.  

These Usury Utilities prey on the poor, but the Attorney General's Consumer Affairs site offers this advise to the desperate: 

Consider Other OptionsWith their extremely high interest rates and many charges and fees, small consumer loans, payday installment loans, and payday loans can quickly transform a short-term financial crisis into a long-term debt problem. You should exhaust all possible resources – family, church, friends – before you even consider taking out one of these high-cost loans.

Should you exhaust all possible resources -family, church, friends - turn to gun violence on yourself after you have been taken to court by the good folks at PLC Illinois.

Thanks Lisa!

Like President Obama, Erika Harold is Harvard Law Alumna and, unlike POTUS 44, a practicing attorney in Illinois with a list of legal achievements.

• When she was blessed with the opportunity to attend Harvard Law School, she was thrown a curveball. She couldn’t afford the tuition.
• But Erika didn’t give up. Lacking the funds to pay for school, she got creative. She decided to compete in the Miss America Organization to attempt to earn the scholarship money necessary to pay for law school.She won. And she used her platform to not only pay for school, but also to give back.

• As Miss America 2003, Erika became a national leader in the fight to end youth violence and bullying, sharing with more than 100,000 students her own experience of overcoming bullying. Erika was named one of Fight Crime, Invest in Kids’ “Champions for Children” and received a leadership award from the National Center for Victims of Crime.

• Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, Erika worked as an attorney in the litigation groups of Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C.

• Erika represented businesses in commercial disputes and advised religious institutions in matters involving First Amendment protections. She also was active in the law firms’ respective legal education efforts, teaching students about the U.S. legal system as part of the Lawyers in the Classroom program and coaching a team of high school students in the City-Wide Mock Trial Competition. She was also part of the teaching faculty for Harvard Law School’s 2017 Trial Advocacy Workshop.

• In 2015, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Erika to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality.

• Erika is also a member of Trinity International University’s Board of Regents, and serves as a Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

• Erika currently serves on the national board of directors of Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest outreach to prisoners and their families. In that capacity, she advocates for criminal justice reform.  She was also recently selected to the 2017 Emerging Lawyers list and was recognized in the categories of commercial litigation, civil rights/constitutional law.Erika Harold works as an attorney at Meyer Capel, one of Champaign County’s largest law firms.  

I doubt if Erika Harold will receive the Caroline Kennedy New Frontier Award, like Lisa Madigan, because Ms. Harold is not a child of nepotism, but she is willing open the books on Lisa's Dad and his minions, because, " Erika Harold knows that home is worth fighting for. That’s why she’s stepping up to take on Mike Madigan’s political machine."

Jeanne Ives should be linked arms with Erika Harold, ASAP.  Jeanne could point out all of the bones in Springfield graveyard of deals. 

That is something worth bucking the trend. 

Let's see if Illinois is ready to grow a pair. 

* My apologies - I had earlier confused States Attorney with the office of Attorney General.  My error was pointed out by a kind soul.  I am nothing, if not flawed.