Lake County Gazette

Eric Rinehart, Lake County state’s attorney, is vulnerable this election cycle, according to Keith Brin, chairman of the Lake County Republican Party.

Brin expressed concerns about Rinehart’s politicization of his role, contrasting it with past state's attorneys who prioritized their duties over political affiliations.

“Eric is going to run again, and he decided to double down on the politics,” Brin said on the Lake Forest Podcast. “He loves the SAFE-T Act. The Illinois Supreme Court just upheld elements of the SAFE-T Act, the stuff that would have been crucial, the no-bail portion of it, based on a very flexible reading of the Illinois Constitution, and somehow Democrat[s] deferring to the power of the legislature for once ever. But, that being said, he also doubled down in his announcement and said he made it a political re-election announcement.

“He said he's going to make sure, for example, that, and I'm paraphrasing, that he's not going to work with other state's attorneys who have various political beliefs that we're not quite sure – abortion or whatever else – that he's just not going to work with those offices.

“He's taken this political thing to a whole new level, Mike, near Heim and others before him. Didn't matter what party you were from when you were elected. After running under the banner of Republican or Democrat, you did your job as the state's attorney. You kept the politics out and you did your job. Eric is literally doubled down in doubling down on the political aspect of it. And it's [sic] quite frankly, it's disgusting.”

The Lake Forest Podcast noted Brin’s take in a Facebook post.  

“Our guest on this week’s podcast, Lake County IL GOP Chairman Keith Brin, talked with us about how Democratic Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart is soft on crime,” the Lake Forest Podcast host said. “Here’s a great example right here in Lake Forest of why our great police officers (and anyone else who cares about public safety) have no respect for Rinehart and want him voted out next year.”

The Lake County Republicans put out a press release urging voters in Lake County to reject Rinehart's re-election bid.

“When his mentor, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Fox, announced she wouldn't run again, I was worried Rinehart would follow her lead and avoid having to answer to voters for his extreme pro-crime agenda,” Brin said. “I've fielded calls from across the state from people who recognize our far-left progressive state's attorney is out of touch with everyday Illinoisans. As a result, he's extremely vulnerable in this upcoming election.”

The implementation of the SAFE-T Act will begin on Sept. 18. It will allow people accused of crimes to be freed by posting cash bail, according to critics. One hundred of 102 state’s attorneys across Illinois are against the act; 64 of them signed on to litigation seeking to stop the law. Those efforts were supported by a lower court but were later overturned by the state’s high court; Democrats have spent tens of millions of dollars to get favorable judges elected, critics claim.

Rinehart was one of only two state’s attorneys in favor of the SAFE-T Act.