Cook County former top prosecutor Anita Alvarez has threatened to sue prominent Illinois journalist Kerry Lester and Kim Foxx, who succeeded Alvarez as Cook County State’s Attorney, unless Lester agrees to retract statements attributed to Foxx in Lester’s new book on sexual harassment in Illinois politics, in which Foxx claims Alvarez failed to act to stop ongoing sexual harassment within her office because the alleged harasser was a friend.
On April 25, attorney Eugene Hollander, of Chicago, sent a letter and draft of a lawsuit to Lester at an address in Chicago, demanding Lester either agree to retract the sections of her book, titled “No, My Place: Reflections on Sexual Harassment in Illinois Government and Politics,” in which Lester discusses information, allegedly supplied by current Cook County State’s Attorney Foxx, accusing Alvarez of essentially turning a blind eye to harassment of women in her office, and particularly harassment involving one male staffer, in particular.
In the letter, Hollander characterizes the allegations as “false,” and warns Lester, unless the allegations are retracted, he intended to file a lawsuit against her for defamation on May 16.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx
“We believe that there is a strong course of action against you for actual malice as you failed to interview or attempt to interview my client or other senior members of the Alvarez administration concerning Foxx’s allegations that my client neglected to take action regarding a purported incident of sexual harassment,” Hollander wrote in his letter.
When contacted by The Cook County Record, Hollander said he did not send a similar correspondence to Foxx, who could also be named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
He said it would be left to Alvarez to decide whether ultimately to file suit against Foxx, or whether to continue such a potential legal action, should Lester comply with the demand for a retraction.
Lester now works as a freelance journalist after resigning from her post as Illinois politics reporter and columnist at the Daily Herald last November. In December, she married Michael Kasper, a lawyer allied with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and who represents the Illinois Democratic Party. Lester did not reply to a request from comment submitted to her account on Twitter from The Cook County Record.
Neither Foxx nor a spokesperson at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office replied to a request for comment on the matter from The Cook County Record.
According to the draft legal complaint prepared and supplied by Hollander, Alvarez alleges the statements allegedly made by Foxx and published by Lester have defamed her and damaged her reputation within the legal community.
“Due to the false statements made by Foxx and published by Lester word in the public and legal community has spread that Alvarez failed to root out sexual harassment in her publicly held office,” the draft complaint states. “Individuals have stopped Alvarez and questioned her about the false statements contained in the book...”
Lester self-published the book in January, ostensibly in response to the rise in awareness of sexual harassment and mistreatment of women in many American workplaces, and particularly in highly public and influential fields such as entertainment, media and politics.
In Illinois, for instance, more than 200 people, including Lester, recently signed a public document asserting they had also been victims of sexual harassment at the hands of politicians, lobbyists and others in Illinois’ state capitol.
In her book, Lester claims to give voice to women in Illinois politics who had been victims of harassment, or had been subjected to workplaces and office environments in which such behavior was allegedly tolerated or encouraged.
Foxx’s tale is among those related in the book.
Foxx defeated Alvarez in the race for Cook County State’s Attorney in 2016, leveraging community disapproval with Alvarez’s handling of high-profile police-involved shootings of black men to oust Alvarez from the post she had held since 2008.
However, before besting Alvarez, Foxx had served both as chief of staff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and as an assistant state’s attorney within Alvarez’s office.
In Lester’s book, Foxx relates she was compelled to resign from her post as a supervisor within Alvarez’s office in 2013 out of frustration, allegedly after neither Alvarez nor her immediate deputies took action to address the conduct of a male “high-ranking official, and purported close ally of Alvarez, “who ‘was known for everything from looking up women’s skirts to saying he wanted his own pretty, female intern to asking a young woman about performing oral sex.”
In an article published by The Chicago Tribune, Foxx is quoted as saying she reported the behavior to Alvarez and Alvarez’s chief of staff and first assistant state’s attorney, but allegedly no action was taken.
Foxx asserted Alvarez later “spoke glowingly at the man’s retirement party when he retired in 2013,” prompting her to resign because “she ‘knew that nothing was ever going to change there. It’s a fruitless effort when the boss knows the predator and says, ‘He’s a good dude.’”
The book does not identify Alvarez or the alleged male harasser by name. But Alvarez asserts both of their identities can be inferred.
In her draft complaint, Alvarez asserts Foxx never reported any of these allegations to her or anyone else in senior leadership within the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office prior to resigning in 2013 or after.
“On information and belief, Lester relied upon false information set forth in the article,” the draft lawsuit states. “… Foxx provided the false information to impugn Alvarez’s reputation.”
Further, the draft complaint asserts Lester never attempted to reach out to Alvarez to gather her side of the story, nor did she reach out to Alvarez’s former chief of staff or the first assistant state’s attorney, to attempt to verify Foxx’s allegations.
The draft complaint indicates Alvarez could seek a judgment of more than $5 million from Lester, and more than $1 million from Foxx.
In an article published by The Chicago Tribune, Lester is quoted saying she had not received the communication from Hollander, as it was mailed to an address at which she no longer resides.
The Tribune article further quotes her, saying she believes she did “due diligence as a journalist writing this book, and State’s Attorney Foxx has stood by her statements.”
Hollander said he and his office have received no reply or response to the communication from either Lester or Foxx. When asked whether he had assurances Lester had received the letter, he said: “I have been advised by the Chicago Tribune that the address may be incorrect – we are investigating.”
Hollander also said the warning letter was sent at Alvarez’s direction, saying Alvarez “would prefer a retraction as opposed to litigating her complaint.”