Illinois Judges For Sale

Professor Dick Simpson reports:

Hey bud, would you like to buy a judge? Judges in Illinois can be bought by cash or votes.

The Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Cook County buys judges with the promise of votes, naming them to the party's official slate in exchange for implicit support. The key phrase at the slating session of prospective judges is "I am a lifelong Democrat," which is code for saying, I'll decide cases when I can the way the party wants.

Terry Lavin, a current slated candidate, put his credentials for judge at the slating session this way: "I have been a loyal Democrat. I voted in each of the Democratic primaries [of the] last twenty years. I helped the Speaker [Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan] out on a number of elections in the south suburbs, same thing for [former state Senate President] Senator Emil Jones. When the Democratic Party wanted somebody to go down and testify in Springfield, I did that. When they needed help writing legislation, I did that." Lavin is an able candidate, former president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association with many victories as a trial lawyer, but before the party slatemakers, that doesn't count as much as party loyalty.

The political parties choose the judicial candidates for the bedsheet ballot, which has so many people running for so many offices that even informed political junkies don't know much about the candidates for judges except their party affiliation. But campaign contributions also buy judges.

Isn't nice to know that the man who's Chairman of the Cook County Judicial slating committee runs Chicago's tax code, runs a property tax appeals law firm, and has his wife on the Illinois Supreme Court, and was an early supporter of Barack Obama.