A public thank you and two new sets of endorsements

My thanks to Jennifer Roche of About.com for including this blog in her list of Illinois Primary 2008 Endorsements and Voter Guides.

In reviewing Ms. Roche's post this morning, I found two sets of endorsements I'd not mentioned here previously.

First, from N'DIGO Online, "a magapaper for the urbane," this list of primary endorsements, including these Cook County Circuit Court endorsements:

Judge of the Circuit Court (Vacancy of Lott) Johnnie Marie “Jody” Rogers	Punch 89
Vacancy of Murphy Paula M. Lingo	Punch 95
Vacancy of Turkington LaGuina Clay-Clark	Punch 108
Vacancy of Bush Furmin D. Sessoms	Punch 108
Judge, 5th Subcircuit (Additional Judgeship A) Stephen Stern	Punch 110
Judge, 7th Subcircuit (Vacancy of Young) Melanie Rose Nuby	Punch 108

The Chicago Free Press has also made endorsements. Herewith an excerpt regarding Circuit Court candidates:

Cook County Judicial Candidates: Lauretta Higgins Wolfson, Jesse Reyes, James Snyder, Aaron Weiss

In countywide races for the Cook County Circuit Court, there are two candidates we are proud to recommend: Judges Lauretta Higgins Wolfson and Jesse Reyes. Both have served with distinction on the bench and are considered highly ethical and fair-minded. Judge Wolfson is No. 77 on the ballot and Judge Reyes is No. 81 on the ballot.

There are two openly gay candidates running in subcircuit judicial races in Cook County and we urge our readers to support both. They are Judge James Snyder and Aaron Weiss. Snyder is a longtime gay community activist who was appointed to the Cook County bench in 2006. He was a leader of the effort in our community to thwart an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution and has served as general counsel of the Illinois Human Rights Commission. Snyder is No. 107 on the ballot, running in the 8th Subcircuit; voters in North and Northwest side areas should look for his name on their ballots.

Weiss has served as a public defender for almost 13 years, for the past six years as a lead attorney, giving him the benefit of thousands of hours of casework in Cook County courtrooms. He is recommended by both the Chicago Bar Association and the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago. He is running in the 8th Subcircuit and is No. 113 on the ballot. Voters in the area roughly between Chinatown and Rogers Park, from the lakefront to Ashland Avenue, should look for Weiss on their ballots.

Update & Correction: As the commenter below picked up, Judge Snyder is running in the 10th Subcircuit, for the Kowalski vacancy. For more about the race for the Kowalski vacancy in the 10th Subcircuit, click here; for more information on the 8th Subcircuit race, click this link.