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Devine says he plays three times a week in the Windy City Senior Basketball League to work off some of the pressure of his job and “get some of the junk out of my system so I won’t be snapping at everyone back at the office.” After he had major surgery last year, he was back on the basketball court six weeks to the day after he left the hospital, possibly to the surprise of his doctors, but not of his staff. How does Devine supervise such a huge staff, keep abreast of what’s being done and should be done, get to know each employee and still manage to try cases himself? “The key,” he says, “is quality supervisors and quality leadership,” explaining: “We spend an awful lot of time” looking at staff members who show leadership traits, and promote them on the basis of ability and commitment. Unlike many government offices, Devine says, “It’s hard to hide in a prosecutor’s office, even one as large as this. You have to go into court (and argue your case before a judge and jury) and then face the verdict—up or down. So we can really measure people and their ability.” In retrospect, Dick Devine, who could be the prototype of a Chicago public official, seemed to have been fated to hold his present job. Born on the city’s North Side, one of the five children of William Devine, a city employee, and Helen, a housewife, he attended Loyola Academy, Loyola University, where he received a degree in history; and Northwestern University’s law school, making many friends along the way. Typical of the admiration and loyalty that Devine seems to attract, one of his friends, the late Gene Sullivan, Devine’s campaign coordinator and his basketball coach at Loyola Academy, once said that Devine “is perhaps the finest person I have ever come across, and should be president of the United States.” After receiving his law degree, Devine followed his father’s footsteps by going to work for the city, signing on as executive assistant to the legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Three years later, he left the mayor’s office for private practice. But in 1980, he returned to public service, this time as first assistant state’s attorney under the then-State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley, who subsequently followed in his father’s footsteps, and is currently the mayor. Devine left three years later for a series of partnerships in prestigious Chicago law firms, but the desire to be the people’s attorney never died. And so, with the help of his friends he ran for state’s attorney in 1996 and won. Devine immediately set about revising the priorities of the office. Convinced that it was unproductive to use jail space and other resources for people found with small amounts of drugs in their possession, Devine concentrated on hauling in the major drug dealers and expanding the treatment and diversion programs for minor offenders. Also convinced that “we weren’t paying enough attention to domestic violence,” he created a domestic violence unit and brought in Pam Paziotopoulos, director of the APRI Violence Against Women Program, to run it. “Pam did a great job for us,” he remarks. His third priority was to create an effective juvenile justice bureau. To run it, he called upon Cathy Ryan, an outstanding professional in the field, and, incidentally, a Franciscan nun. “Cathy and I,” he says, “worked on reforming juvenile justice legislation. And we try to reach young people who are just getting into trouble with the law, and get them into programs that involve accountability, while allowing them to boost their confidence and turn their lives around, so that we don’t see them again.” Devine kept his campaign promise to try cases by deciding to lead the prosecution team in a murder case that was not particularly high profile, but which Devine says, “had meaning,” exemplifying his desire to improve the quality of life in Chicago and reflecting his strong feelings for victims. Three men were tried and convicted in 2000 for the murder of Arnold Mireles, a community activist who was making life difficult for slumlords, and was shot to death as he walked to his apartment. “Arnold Mireles,” Devine says, “represented what we all look for in Chicago and Cook County. He was a good citizen and a person who cared about his community. He wasn’t looking for a lot of money; in fact he wasn’t looking for any money. He was just trying to keep the slumlords out of his neighborhood. And he paid with his life. So while he was not a high-profile person during his life, he represented some very important principles." During the trial, Devine became close to the Mireles family, who, he says, “were very grateful (for the verdicts), but of course we couldn’t bring Arnold back…. There’s a limit to the gratification you can bring to people in such cases. You bring them some sense of justice, and it would be terrible if you didn’t bring them that, but nobody should have any illusions that you can right all the wrongs.” One of the defense attorneys in the case suggested that political ambition to run later for higher office played a role in Devine’s decision to personally prosecute the Mireles case. Mike Lyons, chief investigator for the Better Government Association, a citizens’ watchdog group, and adjunct professor of communications at Loyola University, disputed the allegation. He declared that Devine’s Jesuit education was at the heart of his decision. “A Jesuit education,” Lyons explained, “teaches you that there are good guys and there are bad guys, and that you’re one of the good guys.” Asked about whether having a mayor who previously held his job and is figuratively looking over his shoulder has been a problem, Devine says, “Actually it’s a tremendous plus, because he recognizes the challenges the office faces. So when we sit down with him to discuss mutual issues, he’s got the background of a prosecutor to appreciate what we need in terms of resources, cooperation from the police department, working with the board of education, and those sorts of things.” Like the Daleys and many other Chicagoans, Dick Devine has not strayed far from his roots, living in the same neighborhood in which he grew up—a fact that fascinates his wife Charlene, whose family lived in 12 different states while she was growing up. The Devine family of three sons and a daughter includes two high school teachers, a law student (and former newspaperman) and a police officer. Devine says, “Chicago is a special city in the sense that people who grew up here have a tremendous attachment to it, especially to the neighborhoods where they lived and the people they grew up with. Some of my best friends are the people I went to (St. Gertrude’s) grammar school with.” Some of those friends, including former coach Sullivan and fellow Loyola alumni, formed a vast network when Devine ran for state’s attorney—raising $1 million, running errands and doing all the other laborious grunge work that campaigns entail, including placing copies of the Chicago Tribune’s endorsement of Devine under automobile windshield wipers on church parking lots on the Sunday before election. Having had experience both in private practice at the partner level and as a prosecutor at several levels, Dick Devine says there’s no comparison between the two fields. “When I became first assistant to the present mayor when he was state’s attorney back in 1980,” he recalls, “I soon discovered that as far as professional satisfaction is concerned, being a prosecutor is probably the greatest job any lawyer could imagine. You have the opportunity to try cases that mean something to the community, and you do it with people who are similarly motivated. It’s just the most satisfying thing I can think of for a lawyer to do.” Sources from this article included Loyola Magazine of Loyola University. |
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