Cook County Democrats announce judicial slate

Rewritten and bumped up because of new information received.

My thanks to David Fagus, 49th Ward Committeeman, for passing along this information. Late Friday, September 11, Fagus announced on his blog, Democratic Party - 49th Ward, that the Cook County Democratic Party has endorsed the following persons for judicial office:

For the Appellate Court:

• Judge James R. Epstein, who currently sits in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court;
• Judge Pamela E. Hill Veal, who currently sits in the First Municipal District; and
• Justice Sebastian T. Patti, a Circuit Court judge who was assigned to the Appellate Court by the Supreme Court this past June.

For the Circuit Court:

(This is the list in the order provided by Mr. Fagus and posted on the 49th Ward website.)

• Linda Pauel, an Assistant Chicago Corporation Counsel, and a finalist for Associate Judge in the current selection round;
• Sandra Ramos, a criminal defense attorney who was an alternate selection of the Democratic Party for the 2008 primary -- pre-endorsed for a vacancy that never opened up;
• William H. Hooks, appointed by the Supreme Court to the Berland vacancy;
• Raymond W. Mitchell, appointed by the Supreme Court to the Hayes vacancy;
• Thomas V. Lyons II, appointed by the Supreme Court to the O'Malley vacancy;
• John Patrick Callahan, recently appointed by the Supreme Court to the Kelly vacancy -- after the Supreme Court effectively "transferred" Daniel J. Pierce, who had been appointed to this position, to the "A" vacancy in the 14th Subcircuit; and
• Diann Marsalek, a lawyer with the Secretary of State's Office in Chicago, who was another alternate party choice in 2008.

When I put this post up over the weekend, I did not know, and could not find out, which person was endorsed for which vacancy. John Flynn Rooney, in this evening's Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, clears all this up. Per Rooney's article, the Democratic Party's endorsements are for these vacancies:

Judicial Office (Name of Vacancy)	Endorsed Candidate
Appellate Court (McNulty)	James R. Epstein
Appellate Court (O'Malley)	Pamela E. Hill Veal
Appellate Court (South)	Sebastian T. Patti
Countywide Circuit Court (Berland)	William H. Hooks
Countywide Circuit Court (Bronstein)	Diann K. Marsalek
Countywide Circuit Court (Dolan)	Linda J. Pauel
Countywide Circuit Court (Hayes)	Raymond W. Mitchell
Countywide Circuit Court (Kelley)	John P. Callahan, Jr.
Countywide Circuit Court (O'Malley)	Thomas V. Lyons
Countywide Circuit Court (Riley)	Sandra G. Ramos

Also of note: The Democratic Party has again "pre-endorsed" candidates for the Appellate and Circuit Courts. For the Appellate Court, the candidates waiting in the wings are Circuit Judges Jesse Reyes and Mary Rochford. For the Circuit Court, the alternates are Daniel Gallagher and Associate Judge Mathias Delort.

One Additional Note: This post has been updated with current information.