Editorial: TRIBUNE ENDORSEMENTS

For the Appellate Court

January 25, 2008

The Tribune offers endorsements today in contested primary elections for the Illinois Appellate Court. In making these endorsements, the Tribune relies on evaluations from various bar associations, information provided by the candidates and the advice of lawyers, judges and others who are familiar with the candidates and their work.

The 1st District includes Cook County. The 5th District includes 37 counties in southern Illinois.

1ST DISTRICT

(Burke vacancy) -- It may give some people pause that Alan J. Greiman, at age 76, is running for a 10-year term on the Appellate Court. It doesn't sway us in the least. Judge Greiman has served brilliantly on the court since 1991. Attorneys and other judges marvel at his intellect, his drive and his ability to lead the court. Major bar associations give him their highest ratings. The court would suffer from his absence, and he is endorsed in the Democratic primary.

He has an excellent opponent in Circuit Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman. She has been rated "qualified" by the major bar groups and has very good legal ability, courtroom-management skills and a fine judicial temperament. If Coleman wins, she will be an asset to the court. And if she does not, she ought to try again.

Circuit Judge William D. O'Neal, who has run unsuccessfully three times for the Appellate Court, also is on the ballot.

The endorsement goes to Greiman for his vast experience and superb leadership.

(Campbell vacancy) -- Circuit Judge John O. Steele has been on the bench for eight years and has earned a great deal of respect. The Chicago Council of Lawyers says he is "a conscientious and hard-working judge who is fair to all parties." Steele, a former alderman of the 6th Ward, is endorsed in the Democratic primary over Circuit Judge Richard F. Walsh and Frank Edward Gardner, a former attorney for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District who is now in private practice.