When Lou Bianchi held his annual fundraiser at Boulder Hill Country Club, he gave the following speech.  It followed his annual joke, which, this time I had read on the internet.

It was the one about the Catholic who had not been to confession stumbling into the wrong side of the confessional and finding it stocked with all sorts of goodies.

The punch line was the priest yelling,

“Get out you idiot…your on my side”

The serious part of the talk follows:

On a more serious note, Your lawyers in the State’s attorney’s office have been busy this past year as you can see from the handout at the tables.

On the Criminal side:

a. There is a list of those criminals that received a sentence in the penitentiary of more than three years.

b. Here are three from the last month:

1. Joseph Ziegler – 12 years for torching the wrong house in retaliation for stolen drugs
2. Jimmy Dill -28 years for criminal sexual assault
3. Jimmy Bell – 38 years for the brutally stabbing his ex-girl friend and her new boy friend.

c. We also have a partial list for those convicted of drunk driving.

d. Our bad check program has now recovered over $330,000 for our local businessmen and women.

On our civil side:

a. We are days away from finalizing a large recovery in the high 6 figures resulting from a long standing legal battle. We would not take no for an answer and our 90% recovery will put additional money in the county’s bank account. It is unbudgeted, unexpected and unplanned revenue. I call it FREE MONEY.

b. Our office initiated a program a couple of years ago to go after uncollected debts….those fines and costs that were not paid.  We work closely with the circuit court clerk and with outside attorneys (but at no cost to the county). To date, we have collected over 750,000. More Unexpected/and unbudgeted revenue. More free money.

c. Since we started our speakers bureau a few years ago, we have appeared and presented at over 50 locations throughout the county on such topics as

• Identity theft
• Immigration
• Orders of Protection
• Domestic violence
• Elder abuse
• Internet dangers
• Sexual assault
• DUI awareness
• Right to carry
• Sexual predators

And now I would like to introduce all those that make it happen. I would ask our Lawyers, administrative assistants, investigators and victim counselors to please stand up. I am very proud of this group of layers and staff for their dedication and commitment to serving you more effectively, ethically, and energetically.

Please join me in acknowledging their good work for our community.

I want to conclude by a thought that I am reminded of almost daily.

When I think about where I have been, where I am now and where I will be going in the future, I realize that it is not about where I went to school, how many cases I tried, or about what kind of lawyer I was, or how many elections I won. In short, it is not about/ what I have accomplished or where I have been it is about those whom I have been there with those who I am with now and those who I will be within the future.

Thank you for having been with me, especially for your unrelenting and uncompromising loyalty during those terrible times, thank you for being here now, and thank you for being with me in the future.

And, above else, thank you for your continued confidence in me as your State’s Attorney.