Lake County State's Attorney Forum: Rinehart Repeats Trump Jab, Cole Calls Out Hawaii Cost

WAUKEGAN, IL — The two people who want Lake County voters to make them the county's top prosecutor for the next four years faced off in a contentious forum, as Democratic incumbent Eric Rinehart tried to tie his Republican opponent to Donald Trump while challenger Mary Cole sought to portray herself as above the political fray.

Though there were some areas of agreement, the state's attorney hopefuls disputed crime statistics, public safety policy and the handling of high-profile cases in an Oct. 10 forum hosted by local chapters of the League of Women Voters.

Rinehart, a former public defender and criminal defense attorney, referenced Trump a half-dozen times in the 10-question forum.

"I believed in the SAFE-T Act. It wasn’t popular—[Cole] didn’t, and she was wrong because it has made us safer," Rinehart said, referencing the law that ended cash bail in Illinois last year.

"She criticized the SAFE-T Act along with every other Illinois extreme Republican, and just like every other Illinois extreme Republican, she has told people it’s okay to vote for Donald Trump," Rinehart said. "Ms. Cole, it’s not okay to vote for Donald Trump."

Cole said she favored the portions of the SAFE-T Act that mandate body-worn cameras and training for police officers, but saw problems with the way it has reduced the discretion of judges to decide who winds up jailed while awaiting trial.

"I think we need to probably tweak it a little bit to give judges back their ability to help participate in determining whether someone should be detained or not," Cole said.

"Also, the issue is: if you don’t have a state’s attorneys doing their job, people aren’t going to be detained, because they need to ask the judge to detain the person," she said. "So, if the state’s attorney is not actually filing the petition to request detention, it never even gets in front of a judge."

Cole, a Gurnee-based attorney and Lake Bluff village trustee who left her job as a Lake County assistant state's attorney when Rinehart replaced two-term Republican Mike Nerheim as her boss, criticized the culture of the office under her opponent.

"My opponent had never prosecuted a case ever before becoming the chief prosecutor, so it’s harder for him to understand the culture and the morale and what keeps people at an office other than money," she said.

Cole twice mentioned a taxpayer-funded trip to a conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, for six employees of Rinehart's office that cost nearly $20,000 in hotels and airfare alone, according to public records published by her campaign.

One of those employees, who has also been a consultant to Rinehart's political campaign, stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Grand Waikikian Honolulu for four additional nights after the five-day conference, which was called the "21st Hawai'i International Summit on Preventing, Assessing, & Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan, Cultivating Healing and Nurturing Connections: Caring for the Earth and Personal Wellness."

Cole said that even though it may have become easier for government agencies to obtain grant money in recent years, it should still be used appropriately.

"As far as budgeting goes, I think being more responsible with our money is important. I mean, sending people to Hawaii is not an acceptable way to spend government money, period. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, right? The farthest I ever went for training, I think, was in Naperville. It's just a complete misuse of funds."

Rinehart said he had increased his office's budget and invested in people and technology, attributing the high level of staff turnover since he took over — more than 100 out of about 155 employees — to salary problems when he first began.

"I am the one who has secured the first raise in 20 years. Forget my party — I am the one who got it done. I am the one who used my skills to get it done," Rinehart said.

"And the reason we had turnover was all in the misdemeanor traffic division — that's where Ms. Cole worked — in the misdemeanor traffic division. People left consistently because they were underpaid, and she's double-counting, and her frequent reference to Hawaii," he said, "shows how she has launched the most cynical, Trump-like, misleading campaign."

The state's attorney said the Honolulu conference was approved by the Department of Justice to count for 20 hours of continuing education.

Rinehart said his office has gotten tougher on gun crime, including through a $5 million gun violence prevention initiative and a dedicated violent crime unit.

And the sitting state's attorney criticized Cole for a lack of advocacy on behalf of the Protect Illinois Community Act, the gun regulations passed in the wake of the Highland Park shooting, and a proposed bill, named after spousal homicide victim Gonzalez, that would require guns to be seized through an order of protection and expand potential petitioners for firearm restraining orders.

"I’m wearing an orange ribbon today because I’m for the assault weapon ban, and I’ve been for the assault weapon ban for five years. I’m for Karina’s Bill," Rinehart said. "My opponent has never talked about the assault weapon ban. She has never talked about Karina’s Bill."

Despite some areas of clear disagreement, the two candidates found some common ground on key issues.

Both agreed that the handling of drug-induced homicides needed improvement, with Cole calling for a task force and Rinehart proposing a dedicated investigator. And both candidates supported the mental health court system and recognized the importance of addressing mental health issues within the criminal law system and partnering with nonprofit organizations.

Rinehart was admonished by the moderator for violating the prohibition against participants addressing their opponents after accused Cole of fear-mongering over his office's use of community violence interrupters to reduce gun violence.

"We are one of only five prosecutor’s offices in the country that have brought in these youth mentors to work with kids," Rinehart said.

"Ms. Cole, they’re just working with kids," he said. "They’re just trying to get them out of gang life and street life, and yet you criticized me, you criticized me for this program where we’ve brought in millions of dollars."

Cole said the conversation during the candidate forum had become over-politicized.

"I’m just not a political creature. One of the reasons I left the office was because of how politicized it got. One of the very first things that will happen on day one is the removal of politics from that office," Cole said.

"But also, I think it’s important to point out there’s a very distinct fundamental difference between myself and my opponent. I have the heart of a prosecutor," she said, noting that she herself had needed an advocate as a crime victim.

"Compared to somebody who’s literally never prosecuted a case before he got to the office — and the only case he did prosecute, which they won at trial, came back reversed," she said,

"And then, the only other trial he almost ran was the Highland Park shooter’s dad’s case, and on the day of trial, instead of running it and defending the people of Lake County, he amended the charges to misdemeanors in front of everybody."

Rinehart said he thinks about his job as state's attorney with the same "urgency and innovation" as he thinks about the safety of his spouse and children.

"Not only do we have to make sure that we secure justice in every courtroom for every victim and every survivor, but we also have to be thinking about prevention," Rinehart said.

"Every crime we prevent is stopping a funeral, is stopping the trauma that is rippling through our communities. The United States is the most-resourced country in the world. We must put those resources to help people, and to invest in people," he said.

"Crime is down in Lake County, murders are at their lowest rate ever," he said. "We have brought in the people we need to keep going to make Lake County safer."

Both candidates are due to meet for an in-person candidates forum hosted by the Lake County Bar Association at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Greenbelt Cultural Center, 1215 Green Bay Road in North Chicago.

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