SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Chicago Republican and Illinois Attorney General candidate Bob Fioretti says the SAFE-T Act, which incumbent opponent Kwame Raoul supported, has done nothing to help lower crime in the state.
As Fioretti sees it, it makes crime worse.
“(It is) just the revolving door of catch-and-release,” said Fioretti, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “You arrest somebody, and then they are back out on the street in a few hours. And (Raoul) hasn’t said anything.”
While there are a number of examples of judges ordering offenders to remain locked up at least until trial, Fioretti says there are plenty who have been released and re-offend. He says judges don’t really have the power to decide themselves what happens to those who are arrested, and they need their discretion back.
One of the ways Fioretti says he thinks he can do better than Raoul, is by not spending so much time on lawsuits against the Trump administration.
“He makes a big deal out of suing 68 times the administration,” said Fioretti. “Let’s look at what he’s done. He gets a call from the Democratic Attorney Generals Association — which gave him $250,000 — to join in on lawsuits. He does not file under his name.”
Fioretti claims most of the lawsuits are filed in other states and not by Raoul. Nevertheless, he claims they still cost Illinois taxpayers a lot of money and are a big waste of time, when there are other areas the Attorney General should work on.
“Right now, my campaign office is receiving daily complaints into the failure of this current Attorney General to do what is necessary, from consumer fraud to the failure to attack the proposals that the electric companies are putting up,” related to their annual proposed rate hikes, said Fioretti.
In a somewhat related matter, Raoul’s office did recently announce an $82 million settlement with Chicago-area-based Nicor Gas that lessened a 62-percent rate increase for those customers. The Illinois Commerce Commission later approved the settlement.
Fioretti is a former Chicago alderman, and describes himself as “fiercely independent” and a coalition-builder to get a number of things done during his time in office. He claims he was “rewarded” with being “gerrymandered” right out of his ward.
Raoul’s campaign did not respond to our invitation for an interview.
