Tribune Endorsements: Cook County Judicial Races
From the Chicago Tribune
Voters in Cook County will find the usual sea of judicial candidates on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election. Here's the maddening thing: You'll find more than 80 candidates seeking election or retention, but you'll have few chances to affect the outcome.
The Republican Party didn't bother to put up candidates in the countywide elections, so the Democrats are guaranteed to win.
And the 72 judges seeking retention? Judges almost never lose a retention vote because the Democratic Party supports them, good record or bad. This year, the two major bar organizations didn't agree on any judge that should be removed, so those 72 judges have an extra layer of protection.
Does this signal that Cook County's court system has a blue-ribbon bench? No, the court system has some deep-seated problems.
Last year, the Illinois Supreme Court sent a review team to figure out how to unjam the backlog of inmates awaiting trial, sometimes for years. We're still waiting for Chief Judge Timothy Evans to act on its recommendations. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has been sharply critical of the operation of the court system.
Anyone who deals regularly with the civil side will tell you it's a long, expensive haul, too.
The Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Council of Lawyers and other bar groups perform a valuable public service by screening and rating judicial candidates. The Tribune relies on their work and our own research, which includes discussions with judges and lawyers who know these candidates.
The evaluations are a voter's best guide to the long list of unfamiliar names at the bottom of the ballot. But this year's results are unusual.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
Voters in Cook County will find the usual sea of judicial candidates on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election. Here's the maddening thing: You'll find more than 80 candidates seeking election or retention, but you'll have few chances to affect the outcome.
The Republican Party didn't bother to put up candidates in the countywide elections, so the Democrats are guaranteed to win.
And the 72 judges seeking retention? Judges almost never lose a retention vote because the Democratic Party supports them, good record or bad. This year, the two major bar organizations didn't agree on any judge that should be removed, so those 72 judges have an extra layer of protection.
Does this signal that Cook County's court system has a blue-ribbon bench? No, the court system has some deep-seated problems.
Last year, the Illinois Supreme Court sent a review team to figure out how to unjam the backlog of inmates awaiting trial, sometimes for years. We're still waiting for Chief Judge Timothy Evans to act on its recommendations. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has been sharply critical of the operation of the court system.
Anyone who deals regularly with the civil side will tell you it's a long, expensive haul, too.
The Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Council of Lawyers and other bar groups perform a valuable public service by screening and rating judicial candidates. The Tribune relies on their work and our own research, which includes discussions with judges and lawyers who know these candidates.
The evaluations are a voter's best guide to the long list of unfamiliar names at the bottom of the ballot. But this year's results are unusual.
Read more in our daily News Update...