What Voters Didn't Know About Judge Cynthia Brim
From the Chicago Tribune
Voters should have known better than to give Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim another six years on the bench in November. It turns out they didn't know everything, though.
There were plenty of headlines after she was arrested in March for shoving a deputy providing security at the Daley Center. Local bar associations that screen judicial candidates had recommended that she be denied retention because of poor performance.
But there's more.
Since becoming a judge in 1994, Brim has been hospitalized five times after going off her antipsychotic medications. That was revealed Monday at her trial, at which she was found not guilty of misdemeanor battery because she was "legally insane" at the time.
"This is not the action of a rational human being," Brim's attorney told the trial judge. "This is someone acting pursuant to the symptoms of a mental disorder."
The trial judge agreed, and we won't argue. We wish Brim only the best in her struggles. But it's clear her mental health issues have had unacceptable effects on her work.
One of the episodes noted in court was in 2004, when she was removed from her courtroom by firefighters and taken to the hospital. The day before her arrest last March, Brim had been ejected from her Markham courtroom after a 45-minute rant. She's been suspended ever since, still drawing a $182,000 taxpayer salary.
Over the years — in 2000, 2006 and 2012 — the bar associations have found her not qualified. This page has recommended a "no" vote for retention. At the same time, Democratic leaders have urged voters to keep her on the bench.
That was the case this year, when she was backed by the Cook County Democratic Party and the Committee for Retention of Judges in Cook County. The latter is a campaign committee funded by judges. Surely the judges knew Brim had mental health issues that impaired her ability to do the job. Yet she was endorsed anyway.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
Voters should have known better than to give Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim another six years on the bench in November. It turns out they didn't know everything, though.
There were plenty of headlines after she was arrested in March for shoving a deputy providing security at the Daley Center. Local bar associations that screen judicial candidates had recommended that she be denied retention because of poor performance.
But there's more.
Since becoming a judge in 1994, Brim has been hospitalized five times after going off her antipsychotic medications. That was revealed Monday at her trial, at which she was found not guilty of misdemeanor battery because she was "legally insane" at the time.
"This is not the action of a rational human being," Brim's attorney told the trial judge. "This is someone acting pursuant to the symptoms of a mental disorder."
The trial judge agreed, and we won't argue. We wish Brim only the best in her struggles. But it's clear her mental health issues have had unacceptable effects on her work.
One of the episodes noted in court was in 2004, when she was removed from her courtroom by firefighters and taken to the hospital. The day before her arrest last March, Brim had been ejected from her Markham courtroom after a 45-minute rant. She's been suspended ever since, still drawing a $182,000 taxpayer salary.
Over the years — in 2000, 2006 and 2012 — the bar associations have found her not qualified. This page has recommended a "no" vote for retention. At the same time, Democratic leaders have urged voters to keep her on the bench.
That was the case this year, when she was backed by the Cook County Democratic Party and the Committee for Retention of Judges in Cook County. The latter is a campaign committee funded by judges. Surely the judges knew Brim had mental health issues that impaired her ability to do the job. Yet she was endorsed anyway.
Read more in our daily News Update...