TOM DART • JD ’87
KEEPING THE PEACE
A 1987 graduate of Loyola’s School of Law, Tom Dart has been the sheriff of Cook County for four years. In that time, as the head of the second-largest sheriff’s office in the United States, he has made national headlines for instituting a moratorium on some foreclosure evictions and for advocating for
a more humane and thorough foreclosure process. He initiated a national lawsuit against Craigslist that resulted in the shutting down of their adult services section, and his office won accolades for its investigation of Burr Oak Cemetery and the subsequent services it offered affected families. In 2009, Time magazine listed Dart among the 100 most influential people in the world.
Your office has made a lot of headlines for your approach to foreclosure evictions. What role does the Cook County Sheriff’s Office play in the foreclosure process? • The sheriff’s office is there on the street, executing the evictions that are the result of foreclosure. We get the court order and are supposed to execute it. The evictions can be served on either the homeowners themselves or on tenants who live in buildings in foreclosure. It’s a very painful process. You’re putting kids out on the street, elderly people. That’s why our office has done so much to make sure these people are protected as much as possible. I still personally go out on some of the evictions. It’s a job that has
to be done, but it’s heart-wrenching. Our office is still seeing more foreclosures all the time. Some neighborhoods have just been emp- tied out. Now we’re even seeing some foreclosures in more affluent neighborhoods.
You recently issued another moratorium on foreclosure evictions that involved certain banks. Why is that? • We found out that certain banks weren’t doing their job. Their employees were signing off on these foreclosure documents without having read them. That’s just unconscionable. They admitted to doing it publicly, so we had to do something about it. We’ve requested that these banks sign affidavits certifying that they’ve thoroughly reviewed their documents before we proceed with any more evictions.
SCOTT STRAZZANTE • CHICAGO TRIBUNE (2009)
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart (JD ’87) holds a pit bull rescued from a dogfighting ring in the western suburbs.
How did it feel to be listed in Time’s 100 most influential people issue? • It was a surprise. People in the State’s Attorney’s Office like to play practical jokes on each other. So, at first I thought it was a Photoshop job. Yes, it was a surprise. The best part about it was that at the time my father was dying of cancer, so it was really nice for him to see his son in Time magazine like that.
Despite being considered a strong contender in Chicago’s upcoming mayoral election, you decided not to run. Why? • I’ve been asked to run for national office, and I seriously considered running for mayor, but my children, who are 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, are still too young for me to be at the office 16 hours a day or off in Washington DC half the year. I still drop my kids off at school in the morning and I want to act like a dad should. When they get older, we’ll see.
You’ve been described as a very un-sheriff-like sheriff. What’s your approach to the office? • You know, I attend a biannual national sheriff’s conference—I stick out like a sore thumb. I wasn’t an officer or a deputy before doing this, so I do bring a different approach to issues and might have a different way of looking at things than others. It might sound cheesy, but we’re always looking to do things better and more efficiently. I want our office to be the best in the country.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80