We continue with our series on layoffs and cutbacks in Cook County government. 

Cook County departments provide many essential services to some of those most in need—health care for the uninsured, legal protection for abused children, dental care for the poor. Many of those services have been hurt by recent budget cuts. Now it appears the staff of one county department, the Public Defender's office, was cut unnecessarily.

The Public Defender’s office is the one that provides legal counsel to people who can’t afford a lawyer to represent them.

Chicago Public Radio’s Ben Calhoun reports.

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In the movies, when they say if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you—they’re talking about public defenders.

They’re the people who guarantee our right to legal representation.

This year, County Board President Todd Stroger wanted to cut dozens of attorneys from the Public Defenders office—about a tenth of the lawyers on staff.

Suffredin: They cut things willy nilly without understanding how it fit into the delivery of service.

Commissioner Larry Suffredin is one of the people on the county board who fought Stroger’s idea to eliminate lawyers.

Suffredin and others pointed out the Cook County Public Defender is one of the most cost-effective public defender offices in the country.

And at the same time, lawyers there have some of the heaviest caseloads in the nation.

Suffredin: We already know that we’re understaffed there, that we have way too many cases for all of these lawyers.  When they wanted to make cuts there, it didn’t make sense.

In Cook County, public defenders handle many more cases than the American Bar Association recommends.

And so, in the end, Suffredin and others commissioners put the jobs back in the budget.

Suffredin: By subsequent amendment, we restored those.

The final budget set aside enough money for 465 public defender attorneys.

At the time, the Public Defender had fewer attorneys on staff—459 to be exact.

Basically, that means the balanced budget included more than enough money to pay for all the attorneys on staff—maybe even a few hires.

Nixon: February 1st, 2006 was my first day at the Public Defender’s office.

Takenya Nixon was one of the lawyers at the Public Defender’s office in March.

She’d spent more than a year trying to get her job there.

Nixon: I was always the type of person that wanted to help the little guy or the underdog because I always felt that I was the underdog.

She worked in child protection—a job she describes as part attorney part social worker.

In that job, Nixon essentially helped parents put their families back together.

Nixon: I can recall, coming into work thinking like “I love my job.”  And I actually said it out loud, like, “Man, I love my job.”  Yeah.  It was my absolute dream job.

Then, Nixon lost her dream job.

Nixon: Around the end of March was when we found out we were going to be laid off in April.

Nixon was one of 13 attorneys in the Public Defender’s office who got laid off in April.

She’s been out of a job ever since, doing piecemeal legal work—and teaching to pay the rent.

But remember, the county budget included more than enough money to pay for all of the attorneys at the Public Defender’s office.

Commissioners like Larry Suffredin made sure of it.

Suffredin: NO CUTS RIGHT?  There would have been no cuts.  That’s right.  We restored all of the key positions.   

So... why did Nixon and the others get laid off?

Suffredin says he blames the Stroger administration.

Suffredin: I think that what we’re seeing is confusion, freshman mistakes—they don’t know how to implement their own budget.

Cook County Public Defender Ed Burnette has been out of town for more than a week—and couldn’t be reached.

But several sources speculate President Stroger’s administration was behind the layoffs.

After all, when Stroger first told Burnette to make cuts earlier this year, Burnette flatly refused.

Ten days ago, I asked Stroger’s Chief of Staff Lance Tyson why the 13 lawyers were laid off.

Tyson: DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT CUT CAME FROM?  I don’t.  THEY FUNDED AT LEAST ALL THE ATTORNEYS THAT WERE ON STAFF AT THE TIME, IS THERE ANY REASON THOSE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LET GO?  I can’t comment on that because I don’t know what happened.  I don’t have the facts.  IF THE FINAL BUDGET FUNDED ALL OF THOSE POSITIONS, WOULD THEY THEN BE REINSTATED?  I don’t know.  I don’t know the facts.

The administration said, with more time, it could find the answer.

And a week later, Budget Director Takashi Reinbold tried to explain the situation.

He said the final budget set aside more for upper-level attorneys than there were on staff, and too little for beginning attorneys.

But that still means, overall, the budget had more money than needed to keep all the lawyers.

So, again, why was anybody laid off?

Reinbold: Okay, I understand where you’re going with that.  But we have to look at, as far as total dollars available for these positions.  THERE WAS MORE MONEY AVAILABLE FOR STAFFING AT THAT OFFICE THAN WAS NEEDED, SO WHY WERE 13 PEOPLE CUT?  The funding become available they could recall these people.  FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND THE FUNDING IS AVAILABLE BECAUSE THERE’S FUNDING FOR 465.5 ATTORNEYS.  Right.  And that is a question that I can’t address as to why they aren’t coming back.

But there’s more.

Shortly after the 13 attorneys were laid off, it was discovered that an inexperienced lawyer hired to give advice to President Stroger, had been inexplicably placed on the Public Defender’s payroll.

Richard Velazquez has a six-figure salary, about double what some of the laid off attorneys were making.

A member of Stroger’s administration says it was a mistake to put Valaquez on the public defender’s payroll.

But now, a month later, sources say he still hasn’t been removed.

Commissioner Suffredin says for him... all this stems back to management... to the president’s office.

And he says, as much as he disagreed with Stroger’s father, former County Board President John Stroger—he’s increasingly concerned about the current administration.

Suffredin:  John Stroger was much more of a hands on president than his son Todd is.  And at least with John Stroger in the board meeting you could get to the heart of an issue.  Because if you asked a question, he would have been in the meetings with people.  Today, every question you ask of president Stroger, he asks someone else to answer it for him.  And it’s really disconcerting to never know if the president has a full grasp on what we’re talking about.

At the end of last week, no one in the Stroger administration could say if the 13 attorneys would be hired back.

A spokeswoman for Stroger said she was still trying to find out why exactly the attorneys were let go in the first place.

I’m Ben Calhoun, Chicago Public Radio