Latecomers

Somewhere around 20 new candidates filed for Circuit and Subcircuit vacancies in Cook County yesterday, November 5, the last day for filing for the February 2008 primary. Some of these latecomers filed in races already profiled here; we'll get back to these in due course.

None of the latecomers will be first on the ballot in their races -- but nearly all those folks who waited outside the Board of Elections in the early morning hours of October 29 won't be first on the ballot either: They only qualified for a lottery to determine ballot position.

Being first on the ballot is supposed to confer an advantage. There are those who believe that, if you can't be first, it is better by far to be last than somewhere in the middle.

Of the latecomers, perhaps the most noteworthy is Judge Dennis J. Burke. Appointed to the Murphy vacancy by the Supreme Court, Judge Burke has apparently decided to challenge Judge Lauretta Higgins Wolfson, appointed by the Supreme Court to, and the slated candidate for, the Disko vacancy. Burke had been the fourth alternate slated by the Cook County Democratic Party -- but no new countywide vacancies have yet been posted for the special judicial filing period that begins November 19.

Burke had to step down as Associate Judge to accept appointment as a Circuit judge. Paula M. Lingo, chief legal counsel to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, was slated for the seat that Burke now holds.