Dorothy Brown Wins Dem Nomination for Circuit Court Clerk Under Cloud of Federal Probe

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown (middle) is fending off challenges by Chicago attorney Jacob Meister (left) and Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris (8th).

Final -- Four-term incumbent Dorothy Brown cruised easily into the Democratic nomination for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, despite increasing federal scrutiny and without her party’s endorsement.

By the end of Tuesday evening, with 96 percent of precincts reporting, Brown picked up 47 percent of the vote, compared to Michelle Harris (30 percent) and Jacob Meister (22 percent).

Earlier in the day, one of Brown’s former employees agreed to plead guilty in a federal investigation of her office, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

At her election night event at Letter Carriers Union Hall, Brown told supporters that, “I thank God that the Cook County Democratic Party dumped me because the Cook County Democratic people picked me up. That’s the only machine I need,” according to reporting by the Sun-Times.

Brown will face Republican candidate Diana Shapiro in the November election. Shapiro ran unopposed in the GOP primary.

From her jeans fund to alleged “loans” she may have received in exchange for jobs or promotions in the scandal-plagued Cook County Circuit Court office, Clerk Dorothy Brown may be on the verge of losing her job in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

The four-term clerk is being challenged by Chicago Alderman Michelle Harris (8th) and Chicago attorney Jacob Meister in the Democratic primary for Clerk of the Circuit Court.

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Despite published reports of a federal probe, that didn’t stop Cook County’s Dems from endorsing Brown last August, only to drop their support a few months later and endorse one-time John Stroger protege, Harris.

Although the clerk hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing -- yet -- the U.S. Attorney is said to have an active grand jury looking into Brown’s conduct, according to the Better Government Association.

The FBI is also said to have visited Brown’s South Side home in October, when agents seized her county-issued cell phone in a possible pay-to-pay probe, which Brown has dismissed as a “product of the political season.” The Circuit Court clerk’s office was subpoenaed by the U.S. attorney’s office for Brown’s "office emails on the office email system," sources told the BGA.

And the list goes on, including another federal investigation into how Brown’s husband, Benton Cook III, ended up with anti-violence grant money from Gov. Pat Quinn’s office despite his felony conviction for financial crimes, questionable land deals, and possible arm-twisting of circuit court employees into donating to her campaign fund, the BGA reports.

Harris has served as the 8th ward alderman since 2006. Prior to that, she was the ward’s superintendent, coordinating garbage pick up, street cleaning and snow removal. She’s held down positions as chief of staff to Ald. Lorraine Dixon and as secretary for the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

As a practicing attorney in Chicago for 25 years, Meister was the managing attorney and hiring partner of a 350-attorney law firm, as well as COO of a real estate development company.

Meister is the founder and chairman of the Civil Rights Agenda, a statewide non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights of LGBT people across Illinois, his campaign bio states.

He has won endorsements from Democracy for America and one-time mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia in his bid for Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court.

Meister has also been endorsed by the Daily Herald, the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, which stated: "The Tribune strongly endorses Jacob Meister, a former U.S. Senate candidate whose 25 years practicing in Cook County courts have shown him how desperately out of whack Brown's operation is."

Tuesday’s Democratic primary could determine if the patronage-heavy Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s office is ready for reform from the hacks.