- Tom Dart
Tom Dart is the current sheriff of Cook County,
Illinois , and a former member of theIllinois House of Representatives .Dart won the Democratic Party
primary election on March 21, 2006, defeating Sylvester Baker and Richard Remus by a wide margin. Later that year, he won the general election and officially replaced Michael F. Sheahan as Cook County sheriff.Dart served as state representative for the Illinois' 28th House District from January 1993 until January 2003. In November 2002, he was the Democratic nominee for
Illinois State Treasurer but lost to incumbent RepublicanJudy Baar Topinka .In October 2008, Dart made national news when he announced that he was suspending all
foreclosure eviction s in Cook County. The number of such evictions had increased dramatically since 2006 as a result of the nationalsubprime mortgage crisis . Dart stated that many of the people being evicted were renters who had faithfully paid their rent but had not known that theirlandlord was in financial trouble. He explained that in many cases, mortgage companies had not fulfilled their obligation to identify tenants in the foreclosed properties, and said, "These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care [...] who gets hurt along the way." He continued, "We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today." [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/chicago.evictions/index.html "Illinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch",]CNN , October 8, 2008]The Illinois Bankers Association was critical of Dart, accusing him of "ignoring his legal responsibilities" and of engaging in "vigilantism." [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/chicago.evictions/index.html "Illinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch",]
CNN , October 8, 2008]Dart, for his part, notes that he is enforcing an Illinois state law which requires the banks to determine whether the persons resident at an address are actually the persons to whom the foreclosure notice should be served. [ [http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1211633,CST-NWS-evict09.article "Sheriff Dart explains why he refuses to evict tenants"] , "Chicago Sun-Times", Oct. 9, 2008.]
References
External links
* [http://www.dartforsheriff.com Tom Dart's campaign website]
* [http://www.cookcountysheriff.org Webpage for the Cook County Sheriff's Office]
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