Tuesday, December 06, 2011

11th Subcircuit roundup

There were 11 candidates qualifying for the ballot and vying for a single vacancy in the 11th Subcircuit in the 2010 Democratic primary. This year, there are two vacancies in the 11th Subcircuit -- and only eight candidates between them, all filing as Democrats.

O'Brien vacancy

Judge Michael R. Clancy was appointed to this vacancy by the Supreme Court in May of this year. He filed to keep his seat. Three candidates have filed to take it away. They are Maritza Martinez, Maureen A. Murphy, and Roger Zamparo.

Maritza Martinez was one of the many 11th Subcircuit candidates in 2010. Both Martinez and Clancy have campaign websites linked from the sidebar.

Maureen A. Murphy is Senior Counsel for the Archdiocese of Chicago. An Illinois attorney since 1984, she has been with the Archdiocese since 1993. Before joining the Cardinal's legal staff, Murphy was in private practice for seven years and spent two years as an attorney for the City of Chicago.

Roger Zamparo filed for this vacancy yesterday. Zamparo tried to qualify for the ballot as an independent candidate in the 11th Subcircuit in 2010, but a challenge to his candidacy was sustained. Zamparo, an Illinois attorney since 1979, has his law office in Rolling Meadows. He had a campaign website in 2010, but it is no longer active; I've been so far unable to find a new site for Zamparo for 2012.

Urso vacancy

The Supreme Court did not fill this vacancy by appointment. Four candidates have filed.

Pamela Meyerson was an 11th Subcircuit candidate in 2010. This year, in addition to filing for the Urso vacancy, Meyerson has filed for the countywide O'Brien vacancy. She'll have to decide soon which post she will seek.

Lisa Ann Marino also filed for this vacancy; she, too, ran in the 11th Subcircuit in 2010. An Illinois attorney since 1988, Marino maintains a law office near Belmont and Harlem in Chicago. She is a former president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers.

Deborah J. Fortier, who filed for this vacancy yesterday, is a former president of the Cook County Bar Association (2006). An Illinois attorney since 1977, Fortier works as Special Counsel at Cook County Health and Hospital System.

The fourth candidate in this race is Oak Park attorney Jennifer A. Blanc. Licensed in Illinois since 1999, Blanc's office website states that her practice is in real estate, bankruptcy, probate, and estate planning. According to her office website, Blanc has also been active in the Cook County Bar Association.

I've been unable to locate campaign websites for Marino, Fortier or Blanc. Meyerson's campaign website is linked from the sidebar.

3 comments:

Oswald said...

Deborah Fortier's campaign website: www.fortierforjudge.com

Anonymous said...

Too bad Deborah Fortier did not win so she could be shown out to be a blatant liar. Current title not special counsel, have never been. Check out http://www.bettergov.org/investigations/payroll_database.aspx.

What else is new from the exclusive and privileged criminals of cook county (not talking about those locked up in jail).

Jack Leyhane said...

I was going to flush the comment above -- I really don't like anonymous attacks on anyone.

And the logic of your comment, Mr. or Ms. Anon -- you evidently believe Ms. Fortier to be a liar, yet you wish she had won? In what universe does that make sense?

But I decided to run the comment to make a point.

I did look at the BGA site, as the clandestine commenter suggested and, yes, the job title doesn't match what the candidate said.

And you know what?

Even assuming the accuracy of the BGA site and further assuming that it reflects up-to-the-minute current information, the mismatch is almost certainly not a big deal.

In pubic employment, job titles do not always match job descriptions. It might be better otherwise; I'll go so far as to agree it probably would be better otherwise. But an individual employee can not be blamed because this happened in her case -- and certainly not branded a liar or worse.

Members of the public should be aware: A judicial candidate who seriously misrepresents his or her employment status jeopardizes his or her license: Judicial candidates can and have been disciplined by the ARDC for false statements in judicial campaigns.