Thomas J. Dart (born May 22, 1962) is an American attorney, politician, and law enforcement officer serving as the

Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois The Cook County Sheriff is the Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, heading the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Office description Terms are currently four-years in length. Officeholders Elect ...

. He previously served as a member of both chambers of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

Education

Dart was born May 22, 1962, in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and general social studies from

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

Career

He served as a staffer to U.S. Senator

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

(D-RI) and on the staff of the Illinois Senate's Committee on the Judiciary. He was also an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County. In 1991, he was appointed to the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Jeremiah E. Joyce ( D-Chicago). In the 1992 Democratic primary, Dart defeated Nelson Rice Sr., a five-term incumbent lawmaker for a seat in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

. He served from January 1993 until January 2003. After his time in the legislature, he became chief of staff to Cook County Sheriff Michael F. Sheahan. In November 2002, Dart was the Democratic nominee for state treasurer of Illinois but lost to incumbent Republican Judy Baar Topinka. When Sheahan announced that he would retire as Cook County Sheriff in 2006, Dart announced his candidacy to succeed Sheahan. Dart won the Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

on March 21, 2006, defeating Sylvester Baker and Richard Remus by a wide margin, and won the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

in November 2006. On November 2, 2010, Dart faced Republican Frederick Collins in the race for the Cook County Sheriff's office and won handily with 69.37% of the vote. Dart declined to be a candidate in the

2011 Chicago mayoral election The city of Chicago, Illinois held a Non-partisan democracy, nonpartisan mayoral election on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Incumbent Mayor Richard Michael Daley, a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party who had been in o ...

. After defeating three Democratic opponents in the 2014 primary election, Dart was unopposed for reelection in the general election of November 2014.

Foreclosures

In October 2008, Dart made national news when he announced that he was suspending all

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

eviction Eviction is the removal of a Tenement (law), tenant from leasehold estate, rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosure, foreclosed by a mortgagee (often ...

s in Cook County. The number of such evictions had increased dramatically since 2006 as a result of the national

subprime mortgage crisis The American subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010, contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. It led to a severe economic recession, with millions becoming unemployed and many busines ...

. Dart stated that many of the people being evicted were renters who had faithfully paid their rent but had not known that their

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

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 ... We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today.""Illinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch"

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, October 8, 2008 The Illinois Bankers Association was critical of Dart, accusing him of "ignoring his legal responsibilities" and of engaging in "vigilantism". Dart claims 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. In 2009, ''Time'' named Dart one of its 100 Most Influential People of that year.

Craigslist lawsuit

In March 2009, Dart filed a lawsuit in federal court against

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

, Inc. (09-CV-1385), to close the "erotic services" section of Craigslist. The suit claims that Craigslist is the "largest source of

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

". The lawsuit was dismissed on October 23, 2009, on the grounds that Craigslist is protected by

Section 230 In the United States, Section 230 is a section of the Communications Act of 1934 that was enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which is Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and generally provides immunity for on ...

immunity.

Personal life

He and his wife Patricia live in Chicago's Mount Greenwood neighborhood. They have five children.

Electoral history

The following is Dart's electoral history since 1998:

References

External links

Cook County Sheriff's Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dart, Tom 1962 births Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people Loyola University Chicago School of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Politicians from Cook County, Illinois Providence College alumni Sheriffs of Cook County, Illinois 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly