Pictured at left is John Garrido. He is a lawyer (according to Sullivan's, his office is at Foster & Harlem in Chicago) -- but he's not running for judge.Nevertheless, Garrido may have a significant impact on the upcoming Cook County judicial primary.
If you followed the link in the opening paragraph of this post, you'd discover that Garrido is, in addition to being a lawyer, a Chicago Police lieutenant. And Garrido is running for President of the Cook County Board -- as a Republican.
Garrido signs are popping up all over my neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago. A lot of Chicago policemen live up that way as well. A friend of mine from the neighborhood, who happens to be CPD, has touted me on Garrido's candidacy. My suspicion is that Mr. Garrido is receiving significant support from his police colleagues.
Some of these policemen might have voted in the Republican primary anyway. I live in the one and only Chicago ward (41) which has a Republican alderman.
But I am beginning to suspect that Mr. Garrido will draw some voters into the Republican primary next month -- voters who would otherwise have taken Democratic ballots. Most policemen care very deeply about judicial races. (Note that I didn't say that most policemen necessarily care very much for judges. Anyone struggling to understand the distinction here need only read Second City Cop for a couple of days.)
Policemen who take a Republican ballot on Groundhog's Day, however, will forfeit their opportunity to vote in all but one judicial race: There are Republican candidates only in the race for the countywide McCarthy vacancy. The winners of the Democratic primaries in each of the other races, countywide and subcircuit, are unopposed in November.
Primary elections are all about turnout -- and no matter how many (or how few) show up at the polls, history shows that a significant portion of these will not vote all the way down the ballot. Many will pass by the judicial races entirely. Conventional wisdom holds that Chicago policemen are among those most likely to work all the way through the judicial races -- but not those who follow Mr. Garrido into the Republican primary this year. Thus, all by himself, John Garrido may become a significant factor in the outcome of judicial races in Cook County.
One of the many reasons that having to declare a ballot for only one party is a ridiculous idea! It stops many people for voting for John because they want to vote for a certain Judge, and it stops others from voting for Judge's because they want to cast a vote for John. The entire process is suspect!
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