2 judges get unanimous "no"

By Abdon M. Pallasch
Chicago Sun-Times Legal Affairs Reporter
Published October 15, 2004

Twelve Cook County lawyers' groups have reached the unanimous conclusion that two Cook County judges, Susan McDunn and Dorothy Jones, should be voted off the bench next month.

McDunn used her position to advance "her own personal beliefs" against homosexuals, the Chicago Council of Lawyers said. Jones is indecisive and shows "poor judicial temperament," the council said.

The bar groups unanimously recommended "yes" votes on 62 judges. That leaves 10 judges most of the bar groups want kept but a few would prefer seeing dumped.

Every two years voters must punch "yes" or "no" on as many as 74 judges they know little about. The judges need 60 percent "yes" votes to keep their jobs.

Democratic and Republican party leaders urge "yes" votes on all judges. Many judges get their seats with party support and the parties don't want to cede control of judicial elections.

The bar groups spend thousands of hours interviewing lawyers who practice before the judges to determine which are fit. For the last 14 years, their efforts have been in vain. The worst judges scrape by with a little over 60 percent.

Adoption case at issue
This year, the bar groups aim to mimic the parties' approach by having their own people hand out flyers in front of polling places.

The Chicago Council of Lawyers is one of only two that gives reasons for its ratings. It recommends "no" votes on seven judges, including McDunn and Jones.

According to the council, William O'Neal "does not always follow the law;" Arnette Hubbard can't handle her call in Law Division; Edna Turkington lacks judicial temperament; Divorce Court Judge Leida Santiago makes faces as some witnesses testify; and Mel Cole has trouble handling complex divorce cases.

The Cook County Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers Association and the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association found Judge William Phelan "not recommended" but did not say why.

The Illinois Courts Commission dismissed a case against McDunn that charged she displayed bias by refusing to approve uncontested adoptions by lesbian couples without a hearing. It found no explicit statement of bias by McDunn.

McDunn said she assigned a conservative group to argue an adversary point of view on whether adoption by the children's mothers' partners was in the children's "best interests."

Other judges approve uncontested adoptions without such "best interest" hearings. They are violating state law, said McDunn, who was transferred to a division which does not hear adoptions.

Jones was the only one of the 74 judges not to submit her credentials to the bar groups for review.

"I was unable to do so," Jones said. "My daughter passed last year. I had my granddaugter for the summer. My son was sick. I had to focus on my family."

Jones skipped the reviews in past years, too, said Council of Lawyers President David Melton.

The Sun-Times will publish all ratings and Web sites for the bar groups before the election.

Copyright 2004, Digital Chicago Inc.