51 Weeks After 2006 Election, 2008 Launches Monday

Nine days less than a full year after the 2006 election, Illinois candidates today begin filing nominating petitions for the 2008 contests -- more than a full year before Election Day ballots are cast.

Yes, there will be some important contests on the ballot. We'll elect a new president, new members of Congress, new state legislators -- and in Illinois, at least 59 judges whose names probably will not be much better known on November 4, 2008 than they are today.

But why worry about judges? Governors and legislators control the state purse strings (including taxes -- and highways); presidents can send us to war (or peace). What can judges do?

Ask George Ryan. True, the former Illinois governor was tried in a federal court before an appointed judge but the fact remains that judges -- mostly unknown -- have more power than the other branches of government.

And in Illinois, we have far more judges -- unknown or not -- than we do State Senators or State Representatives or Governors.

As of today -- and the number could change as some judges decide they might opt for retirement -- this is the judicial election battlefield for 2008:

One Supreme Court contest (First District, in Cook County);
Three Appellate Court contests (Two in Cook County, one in Southern Illinois);
Fifty-five Circuit Court contests (25 in Cook County, 30 in the other counties).
Eleven of the circuit court contests are for newly-created judgeships.

Judicial elections are frequently overlooked by the news media, or remain in the shadow of more popular elections, such as this year's presidential primary contest between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. As an example of that media dis-interest, today's Chicago Tribune reports on the opening of candidate filing and ignores the judicial races:

Monday also marks the start of candidate filing for candidates for the Senate, Congress, the state legislature and various county offices.

But judicial elections in Illinois have generated increased interest in recent years, due largely to the increased attention paid to the elections by non-lawyer groups.

While the various bar associations and special interest lawyer groups, such as the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, have weighed heavily in judicial candidate selection and funding of judicial campaigns, it has only been within the past decade that other state interests, including the business community, doctors and hospitals, and other interests have taken significant roles. The Illinois Civil Justice League is one of the relative newcomers to the judicial election arena.

But the ICJL, in addition to taking an activist role by endorsing and in some cases aggressively supporting candidates, has provided more information to the public about sitting judges and judicial candidates than most other organizations, including the various bar groups.

The ICJL invites every candidate for judicial office -- including sitting judges seeking retention -- to respond to a detailed questionnaire that has been reviewed and approved by sitting judges of both parties, including presidents of the Illinois Judges Association.

The candidates' responses to the ICJL questionnaire are posted on the ICJL's judicial website, which also includes maps of judicial districts, biographies of judicial candidates, newspaper endorsements, bar association ratings and links to candidates' campaign financial reports.

No other organization in Illinois -- or nationally -- provides as much information.

With the beginning of the candidate filing season for 2008 today, the ICJL's judicial site -- www.IllinoisJudges.net -- will be back in action. While many of the links on the site today refer to 2006 elections, the site will begin reporting on judicial candidate filings Tuesday, October 30, and will refresh and update candidate and campaign information daily, if necessary, through November 5, 2008, when judicial election results are posted.

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Apart from the actual judicial campaign activity involving actual judicial races, the next 12 months are likely to produce considerable attention to the process of judicial selection in Illinois, and the manner in which information about judicial candidates is disseminated.

The Illinois election ballot in November will include a referendum asking votes if Illinois should call a Constitutional Convention. The question of electing or appointing judges is certain to be one of the major issues of a Constitutional Convention, as it was in 1970, and that potential debate could lead some activists to support the convention call.

On another front, the Illinois League of Women Voters convened a meeting last week to discuss improving the dissemination of information about judicial candidates to Illinois voters. Several organizations and interests, including the Illinois Civil Justice League, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Protestants for the Common Good and the American Bar Association, participated in the discussion. The LWV expects to reconvene the group early next year.

And the ICJL expects to announce a judicial selection reform proposal early next year.

-- Ed Murnane
Illinois Civil Justice League
October 29, 2007