Tuesday, January 26, 2010

What Cook County Circuit Court race are you looking for?

This post is a duplicate of the top post on Page One. Itwill stay on top of the page until after the February 2 primary. Scroll down the page to look for new posts.
Click on the vacancy and get information about all the candidates in that race.

Countywide races:



Subcircuit races:

This map will give you a rough idea of which subcircuit you're in. If you're still uncertain, check your voter registration card or use a site like the "Ballot Builder" on the Chicago Tribune website.



First Subcircuit
Coleman vacancy, Steele vacancy,
"A" vacancy
(uncontested)

Third Subcircuit
Carmody vacancy, Darcy vacancy,
"A" vacancy

Ninth Subcircuit
Otaka vacancy, "A" vacancy

Eleventh Subcircuit
Riley vacancy

Fourteenth Subcircuit
"A" vacancy (uncontested)

Fifteenth Subcircuit
Lipinski vacancy, Panichi vacancy,
Phelan vacancy

Monday, January 25, 2010

Mary S. Trew appearance on NTNM "extras"



Mary S. Trew's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Trew is a candidate for the "A" vacancy in Cook County's 9th Judicial Circuit.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

William Burnett Raines' second appearance on NTNM



William Burnett Raines' second appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Raines is a candidate for the countywide Berland vacancy.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

William J. Luby appearance on NTNM "extras"



William J. Luby's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Luby is a candidate for the "A" vacancy in Cook County's 9th Judicial Subcircuit.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

Deidre Baumann appearance on NTNM "extras"



Deidre Baumann's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Baumann is a candidate for the countywide Berland vacancy.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

Joanne Fehn appearance on NTNM "extras"



Joanne Fehn's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Fehn is a candidate for the countywide Kelley vacancy.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

What I've learned... or what I think I've learned... from the 2010 judicial campaign

Taking a Republican ballot on Groundhog's Day effectively deprives a voter of the opportunity to vote for judges in Cook County. There are only two Republicans who filed for any Cook County judicial vacancy (both in the countywide McCarthy vacancy, in case you want to look). That means, with that sole exception, the winners of the Democratic primary races on February 2 are effectively elected. (There are no Green candidates either.) I think that this situation strongly indicates the need to make judicial primaries non-partisan -- so that anyone voting in the primary can vote for any judicial candidate.

Voters who do take the time to investigate the credentials of Cook County judicial candidates will, on balance, be pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the people offering to serve. In some races, voters may find it genuinely difficult to choose from among several good candidates. While this year, as always, there are some candidates who have shunned the bar evaluation process, the trend seems to be toward participation. That's a good thing.

Even in uncontested races, candidates have submitted to bar association screening. That hasn't always been the case: In prior elections, some candidates who knew they'd be uncontested didn't bother to seek evaluations. In three of the four uncontested judicial races this year, though, the candidates not only participated, they were found recommended or qualified by each of the investigating bar groups. These candidates are Daniel Gallagher in the Democratic primary for the McCarthy vacancy and Judges Thomas V. Lyons (countywide O'Malley vacancy) and Daniel J. Pierce (14th Subcircuit "A" vacancy). The fourth uncontested candidate, Bonita Coleman-John (1st Subcircuit "A" vacancy), also participated in the bar screening process and was found recommended by the Cook County Bar Association and the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago.

This is the second time I've tried to cover a Cook County judicial primary on For What It's Worth. I undertook this project because I did not think that most Cook County Circuit Court candidates had the opportunity to get their messages out to the voters and most voters did not have anywhere to look for information about Cook County Circuit Court candidates as a whole.

This landscape has changed -- for the better -- since 2008. In 2008, there was IllinoisJudges.net and For What's It's Worth. We're both still at it this year. But there's a lot more available this time around. This year, the Tribune not only collected questionnaires from judicial candidates seeking the paper's endorsement, it published these online. And a new service, eVoter.com has sprung up this year. The site compiles a list of all the candidates in all the races. For a fee, candidates can post all their information right there on the eVoter sample ballot. In December, when I first wrote about it, only one Cook County judicial candidate had signed up for eVoter. By the time I finished compiling my Organizing the Data posts this weekend, several more candidates had jumped in. I wouldn't be surprised if more do between now and the primary next week. I'll predict right now that, if eVoter survives, most judicial candidates in 2012 will participate.

------------------------------------------------------------
Related posts:
Endorsements versus Evaluations
What Circuit Court race are you looking for?


See also:
Alliance of Bar Associations - updated grids
Chicago Bar Association 2010 Green Guide
Chicago Council of Lawyers Report on Judicial Candidates in the February 2, 2010 Primary

Friday, January 22, 2010

Sharon Finegan Patterson campaign video



Sharon Finegan Patterson is a candidate for the countywide Bronstein vacancy.

For more on Cook County Circuit Court elections, visit page one of For What It's Worth.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

John Patrick Callahan, Jr. appearance on NTNM



John Patrick Callahan Jr.'s appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Callahan is a candidate for the countywide Kelley vacancy.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

Michael Ian Bender appearance on NTNM



Michael Ian Bender's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Bender is a candidate for the "A" vacancy in the 9th Judicial Subcircuit.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Thomas David Bilyk appearance on NTNM



Thomas David Bilyk's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Bilyk is a candidate for the Riley vacancy in the 11th Judicial Subcircuit.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Linda J. Pauel appearance on NTNM



Linda J. Pauel's appearance on North Town News Magazine is provided courtesy of Avy Meyers. Pauel is a candidate for the countywide Dolan vacancy.

For more on Cook County judicial races, see page one of this blog.