Cook County officials are hiding the simplest of truths: how many death certificates they issued last year.
What began as a routine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiry has turned into a full-blown confrontation with a triad of government entities — the Cook County Clerk’s Office, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and the Public Access Counselor (PAC) of the Illinois Attorney General — each deflecting, denying, or delaying access to public data paid for by taxpayers.
The core request was clear: how many death certificates were issued. Not names, not personal details — just raw totals. Yet, nearly a year later, the public still has no answers.
A Wall of Denials
In June 2024, SubX.News submitted a FOIA to the Clerk’s Office requesting death certificate issuance totals for 2014–2024. The response?
The office claimed it held no records and pointed to IDPH — despite being the agency that collects $17 per certificate and transmits death data via the Illinois Vital Records System (IVRS).
A June 6, 2024 denial reaffirmed this dodge, citing the Illinois Vital Records Act (410 ILCS 535/24) — a law meant to protect individual identities, not block aggregate numbers.
When SubX.News appealed, the PAC sided with the Clerk’s Office in a brief ruling (PAC 81791), without requiring a serious record search or clarification of what could be disclosed.
Then came a second attempt in April 2025, refined to include only 2024 totals and associated fee data. Again, denial. FOIA Officer Khang Trinh claimed the office had no such data and punted to IDPH’s website.
Another PAC ruling (PAC 86823) rubber-stamped the evasion.
Meanwhile, IDPH, under FOIA No. DPH 25-0759, admitted they had no Cook County-specific issuance data — only fee tallies across all counties — and added that 2024 mortality stats wouldn’t be available until late 2026.
Financial Records and Paper Trails
On May 27, 2025, SubX.News filed a third FOIA — this time demanding Clerk financial logs tied to death certificate fees ($17 for the first copy, $6 for each additional), IVRS transmittal records to IDPH, and any available issuance counts for 2023–2025.
The request explicitly denied any extension, citing the Clerk’s documented pattern of obstruction.
“This office has knowingly and willingly obstructed the FOIA process and the public’s right to know,” the filing reads.
Given prior denials and stonewalling, another rejection appears imminent.
A Syndicate of Silence
What emerges is not mere bureaucratic inertia but coordinated evasion:
The Clerk’s Office claims it issues thousands of certificates yearly — yet maintains no count, no logs, no transmittals. This strains credulity.
IDPH claims it tracks state-level fees but holds no Cook County issuance data. It then delays statistical release until 2026.
PAC decisions validate these dodges, applying exemptions designed for privacy to block non-personal data — effectively shielding agency dysfunction from public scrutiny.
Is this incompetence — or deliberate concealment?
Taxpayers have a right to know how many death certificates their government is issuing.
These numbers aren’t private; they’re foundational public health data. They reveal mortality trends, operational efficiency, and — in moments of crisis — whether public systems are functioning.
Without that data, Chicago and Cook County residents are flying blind.
Public Accountability and a Pattern of Suppression
The implications go beyond record-keeping. In 2024, after the death of Clerk Karen Yarbrough, crippled certificate issuance. Families waited weeks to bury loved ones. But without issuance totals, it’s impossible to know the real scale of the disruption — or whether the Clerk’s Office collected fees for services it couldn’t provide.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office — often the first to certify deaths — has faced its own scandals, with backlogs and operational failures documented by ABC7 Chicago. The Treasurer’s Office may also hold fee revenue records that could shed light — a FOIA is now headed their way.
This isn’t just a paperwork issue. It’s systemic opacity.
Manufactured Myths: When Data Becomes Political Weaponry
What’s happening with death records mirrors a broader trend in Cook County: the political weaponization of data.
Over Memorial Day 2025 weekend, preliminary reports showed 5 killed and 24 wounded in 21 shootings — below the 10-year average. But before final numbers were tallied, media figures were already praising City Hall and spinning early figures into political wins.
Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Sheridan cited a drop in shootings under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s tenure, ignoring decades of statistical manipulation and the deep public skepticism reflected in 2024 polling: 65% of residents fear for their safety, and 44% think Chicago is more dangerous than other cities.
As detailed in Manufactured Myths: Memorial Day Crime, Media Cheerleading, and the Politics of Numbers in Chicago, data without scrutiny is deception. And when public officials bury the truth — whether about crime or death rates — they erode trust, not just in numbers, but in democracy itself.
The deeper threat here isn’t just bureaucratic inertia — it’s a coordinated effort to hide public data, distort accountability, and silence scrutiny in one of the nation’s largest counties. When the public asks “How many people died?” they’re met with spin, shrugs, and multi-agency dead ends.
And it’s not limited to death certificates.
Just like with FOIA stonewalling over death certificates, it’s about controlling the narrative.
And again — it’s not just about violence.
Even Cook County’s property tax bills were quietly delayed in 2025. In a county that processes thousands of digital transactions daily, officials blamed “technical issues” and pointed fingers across departments. The press noted that schools and local governments will suffer — but few asked why these delays happen so consistently in election years.
Public data is supposed to serve the people — not protect politicians.
In 2025, with digital systems logging every transaction, these “delays” are not neutral. They are intentional political acts, designed to obscure, deflect, and delay judgment.
Whether it’s the number of people who died, how many were shot, or when your tax bill arrives, the same tactic is used:
Hide the truth. Control the story. Blame someone else.
That’s not governance.
That’s coordinated corruption.
That’s RICO.
References
Cook County Clerk FOIA Denial for Death Certificate Totals (6 June 2024) Cook County Clerk’s Office
Cook County Clerk FOIA Denial for Death Certificate Totals (7 May 2025) Cook County Clerk’s Office
Cook County Clerk’s death leads to records delay (12 April 2024) Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/12/cook-county-clerks-office-cites-lack-of-special-paper-for-delays-in-issuing-vital-records-following-karen-yarbroughs-death/
Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office Sued After Man’s Body Was Misidentified for 6 Weeks (14 March 2025) ABC7 Chicago https://abc7chicago.com/post/family-files-lawsuit-cook-medical-examiner-kelvin-davis-goes-misidentified-6-weeks-morgue/16023949/
Cook County Property Tax Bills Delayed, Board Pres. Toni Preckwinkle Blames Assessor’s Office Issue (13 May 2025) ABC7 Chicago https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/cook-county-property-tax-bills-delayed-assessors-office/
Cook County Returns to Timely Property Tax Schedule (24 June 2024) Cook County Government https://www.cookcountyil.gov/news/cook-county-returns-timely-property-tax-schedule
Cook County Tax Bill Delay Will Hurt Local Governments (1 April 2022) Crain’s Chicago Business https://www.chicagobusiness.com/opinion/cook-county-tax-bill-delay-will-hurt-local-governments-crains-editorial
Families protest, sue after allegedly not told relatives at Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office (17 Dec 2024) ABC7 Chicago https://abc7chicago.com/post/families-protest-chicago-file-lawsuits-after-allegedly-not-told-relatives-cook-county-medical-examiners-office/15669396/
IDPH FOIA Response No. DPH 25-0759 (26 May 2025) Illinois Department of Public Health
Manufactured Myths: Memorial Day Crime, Media Cheerleading, and the Politics of Numbers in Chicago (2025) SubXNews https://subx.news/manufactured-myths-memorial-day-crime-media-cheerleading-and-the-politics-of-numbers-in-chicago/
PAC Request for Review Determination (8 July 2024) Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor
PAC Request for Review Determination (20 May 2025) Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor
Pilsen homeowners say efforts to curb spike in property tax bills are not enough (19 July 2023) CBS Chicago https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/pilsen-property-tax-relief/
‘We are in peril’: How skyrocketing property taxes are threatening the future of one Chicago neighborhood(6 Feb 2023) WGN https://wgntv.com/news/cover-story/tax-pilsen/
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