Friday, June 12, 2009

Want to be a Judge in Obama's Cook County?

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Abdon Pallasch wrote an interesting article for Illinois Issues explaining how one becomes a judge, which is an elected position, in Cook County. You'd think that the ultra Democratic Cook County would be tolerant of all minorities:
Jewish attorneys in particular have been hard-hit by Cook County voters’ preference for Irish-named judges.
Who's in charge of slating judges in Cook County?:
At the end of the debate, Ald. Edward Burke, who runs the show, lamented, “It was a hell of a lot easier in the old days when Mayor Richard J. Daley handed you a list.”

The highest spot getting slated was for a seat on the State Supreme court. And the candidate these folks found most qualified in all of Illinois was Anne Burke, who chaired the national conference of lay Catholics overseeing the priest sex abuse scandal.

She’s also married to Ald. Burke.
Here's more on the man running the show in Chicago and Cook County.Alderman Burke has been accused by a top FBI informant of helping the Chicago Mob but hasn't sued over this accusation.