Saturday, February 13, 2010

Acknowledgments and archives

The 2010 judicial primary campaign is over now and, before moving on, it's time for me to gratefully acknowledge those who helped me to get the word out about Cook County Circuit Court candidates.

I have to begin by thanking the candidates themselves. I was able to dig out a fair amount of stuff on my own -- but I could never have obtained and organized as much information as I did without the active cooperation of many of the candidates and their supporters. I suppose there may have been some stealth judicial candidates this time out -- people hoping to sneak by on the basis of a euphonious appellation or felicitous ballot position -- but, having looked closely, it is my opinion that most of the men and women who sought election to the Circuit Court in Cook County were trying their darndest to get word out about their campaigns and their credentials. I had regular email communications from several candidates about fundraisers and endorsements -- and when I got something wrong, as happened from time to time, oh my did I hear about it.

(Fine print on a sample ballot? Who ever heard of such a thing?)

I'm also grateful for all the assistance of Joyce Williams, who coordinates candidate evaluations for the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening. Thanks to Ms. Williams, I was able to put up the evaluations by Alliance members as soon as they were released. Allen Adomite of the Illinois Civil Justice League was quick to share information he received; I hope I was able to reciprocate at least occasionally. Avy Meyers of North Town News Magazine allowed me to post candidate interviews he conducted. Albert J. Klumpp, PhD, a Research Analyst with the Chicago firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, has been generous with his comments and his suggestions. CBA members will recall Klumpp's article in the January 2010 issue of the CBA Record, "What Influences the Voters?" Klumpp has written on the subject of judicial elections before. See, "Voter Information and Judicial Retention Elections in Illinois," 94 Ill. B.J. 538 (October 2006), and "Cook County Judicial Elections: Partisanship, Campaign Spending, & Voter Information," CBA Record, January 2007. Dr. Klumpp's 2005 Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois (Chicago) was entitled, "Judicial Retention Elections in Cook County: Exercise of Democracy, or Exercise in Futility."

Steve Levinthal, who started a Facebook page called Cook County - Know Your Judicial Candidates, was one of many people whose acquaintance I made during the course of this primary season. Actually, Facebook was a new acquaintance for me this primary season -- Judge William H. Hooks was one who nudged me in that direction -- and, thank heavens, all of my kids actually friended me.

This blog may actually have helped some voters make informed choices in judicial elections. There were over 8,000 hits on Page One of this blog in January -- and nearly 19,000 page views. People were stopping by -- and looking around. (Since I started tracking visits to Page One of this blog, over 71,000 visitors have viewed nearly 150,000 pages.) A lot of visitors seem to have emailed posts to others, increasing the 'reach' of this effort.

Anyway, it's time now to mothball the candidates' websites. I'll keep them here, on Page Two, for archival purposes. Some of these will still be 'live' in 2012; some are probably already gone. The only sites I'll leave up on Page One are those of the only two candidates who still have an election to worry about -- Daniel J. Gallagher and Maureen Masterson Pulia -- who will face each other in November in the race for the countywide McCarthy vacancy.

2010 Cook County Circuit Court candidate websites:
Posted by Jack Leyhane at 7:39 PM
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