The Law Offices of Kathleen Colton, Ltd.
Criminal Defense / P.O. Box 1364 / St. Charles, IL 60174
Published Wednesday, September 21, 2011
I have been reading for years how the Kane County Board has consistently skirted the issue of pay raises for assistant public defenders and assistant state’s attorneys. The Sept. 15 article just about tells you all that you need to know about Kane County: board member Deb Allen is quoted as saying that “the proposal was inappropriately timed.”
This county board now wants to push off the issue on the to-be-elected 2012 board.
I had to attend law school because I’m not great at math, but that tells me that the pay issue has likely been pushed into the year 2013, at the earliest.
No one except those of us who practice in this county realize that the vast majority of assistant public defenders and assistant state’s attorneys work long hours during the week and on the weekends, giving up time with their families. Many of them have student loans that exceed their yearly salaries.
Kane County has lost young lawyers to other counties, lawyers who have given up felony positions for misdemeanor slots, just so that they can earn a decent wage.
Allen also is mentioned as “challenging” the board and State’s Attorney Joseph McMahon to find a different mechanism to fund the courts and raises for attorneys. I have a couple of ideas for them: stop engaging in lawsuits with other county officials and start realizing that we live in a wealthy county which pays its public attorneys a pittance.
Shame on the Kane County Board.
Kathleen Colton, Attorney at Law
