Cook County judges to voters:
Keep us on the bench

By John Flynn Rooney
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Published November 3, 2006

A group of 70 Cook County judges who are seeking new terms on the Nov. 7 ballot are spending the final days before the election urging voters to just say yes.

''We're putting out friend-to-friend cards and still trying to appear at local political events to ask the people to support the retention judges,'' said Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel A. Riley, a co-chair of the committee of judges seeking retention.

Radio commercials currently airing urge voters to vote for the judges seeking new terms.

Justices Patrick J. Quinn and Leslie E. South are vying for new 10-year terms on the 1st District Appellate Court, while 68 Cook County Circuit judges are seeking six-year terms.

(Circuit Judge Barbara J. Disko's name is on the retention ballot, but she plans to retire from the bench by year's end, according to a court official.)

To be retained, each judge on the retention ballot must receive at least a 60 percent ''yes'' return from voters who cast ballots in the nonpartisan election.

No Cook County judge has lost in a retention election since 1990. And the president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers does not expect any losers on Tuesday.

The Council and 10 other bar groups constituting the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening issued ratings for the judges on the retention ballot, as did The Chicago Bar Association and the Suburban Bar Coalition. The Council and CBA are the only bar groups that provide written reasons for their evaluations.

''I would encourage all voters to read the Council's write-ups on judges we rated as not qualified for retention,'' Carrie K. Huff, the Council's president said in a telephone interview Friday. ''Realistically, I don't expect that any amount of effort by the Council will result in these judges not being retained by the voters of Cook County.''

Roy E. Hofer, a past CBA president, said Friday, ''The bar associations are wasting their time evaluating judges for retention. The judges are going to be retained. It's a hopeless cause. It's a waste of resources.''

But CBA President Kevin P. Durkin offered a different view.

''We do believe we made some impact [upon voters] and we'll continue to try to do better,'' Durkin said.

The Alliance's ratings can be found on the Web at www.voteforjudges.org, while the CBA's can be located at www.cba.org.

Copyright © 2006, Law Bulletin Publishing Company