The Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women has been following the Abbate case in Chicago. Police Officer Anthony Abbate was sentenced only to two years of probation for beating a female bartender after she refused to serve him more alcohol. Here are links to the Chicago NOW blog and the AP article regarding the case:

Board member and chair of the Reproductive Rights team, Michelle Staeger, has so far made appearances on the local NBC news in Chicago and on WBBM radio. She will be making additional appearances on local radio and tv speaking out against Judge John Fleming's lenient sentence. Here is the official CNOW press release:

The Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women does not accept the lenient sentence handed down to Anthony Abbate today by Judge John Fleming. We strongly believe that anyone, especially police officers, who commit acts of violence against women, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. In addition, Chicago NOW demands that the members of the Police Board vote to fire Anthony Abbate. If John Fleming chooses to run again for his circuit court seat, we will commit ourselves to doing everything within our power to make sure that he is not re-elected.

Please send letters to or call the following individuals of the Cook County Circuit Court, and let them know that Judge Fleming's sentence is unacceptable:

Dorothy Brown
Clerk of Circuit Court
Richard J. Daley Center, Room 1001
50 West Washington Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-603-5031

Public Information Office
Media Relations
Richard J. Daley Center, Room 1001
50 West Washington Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-603-5690

Dennis McNamara
Executive Clerk for Court Operations
Richard J. Daley Center, Room 1001
50 West Washington Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-603-5400

Gail Lutz
Executive Clerk for Public Policy
Richard J. Daley Center, Room 1001
50 West Washington Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-603-5039

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3 Comments

June 25, 2009 8:50 PM

[0+]  LoLo said:

I saw Michelle Staeger on the news last night talking about this and how Chicago NOW is going to campaign against Judge John Fleming in his next election.

Thanks for posting the Chicago NOW blog, I didn't realize one existed. I am now going to be following the blog and would like to help them out come the next election cycle. I have some field organizer campaign experience and I think it would be very helpful in this case.

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June 25, 2009 10:34 PM

[0+]  eyress said:

Hi LoLo,

The blog is really a new thing for us. Our website is waaay out of date, so until we can get a newer one up and going we're going to use the blog to send out all of our updates and actions. www.chicagonow.wordpress.com.

We really appreciate your support. The board is having an emergency phone conference on Friday, so we should have a pretty solid plan of action come out on Monday detailing our long term plans for the Abbate case.

Anyway, Thanks again and please spread this around to anyone and everyone you know. We're on the verge of going national with this and we'll get there with the help of people like you.

Best,

Michelle Staeger
Chicago NOW

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June 26, 2009 11:46 AM

[0+]  riotgrrl2x said:

When you call any of these numbers they ask you to Fax a written complaint:

312-603-5366

To the Attention of

Chief Judge Honorable Timothy C Evans

I will be sending mine today.

Thanks for posting the numbers.

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