New at Christmas: Filings, withdrawals and a blog

New filing. Judge Kay Marie Hanlon filed for the Cahill vacancy on the Appellate Court last Thursday, becoming the third candidate in that race. Judge Hanlon presently sits in the Third Municipal District, in Rolling Meadows, where, according to Sullivan's Judicial Profiles, she presides over preliminary hearings in felony cases.

Hanlon was elected to the bench from the 12th Subcircuit as a Republican in 2004. (And here's kind of a Wheels Within Wheels thing: Hanlon beat Ellen L. Flannigan in the 2004 general election, but Flannigan would go on to win her own seat on the bench from the 12th Subcircuit in 2006. This year, Flannigan is also a candidate for the Appellate Court, seeking the O'Brien vacancy.)

Before becoming a judge, Hanlon served as an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County for 12 years (1985-1997). After leaving the State's Attorney's Office, Hanlon headed up her own firm (from 1998-2004) until her election to the bench. From 1998-2000, according to Sullivan's Judicial Profiles, Hanlon also served as the manager of former State Representative Elizabeth Coulson's district office. I have so far been unable to find a campaign website for Judge Hanlon.

The deadline for filing for the Cahill vacancy is tomorrow.

New withdrawals. Two candidates pulled out of their judicial races Friday morning. Debra A. Seaton dropped her bid for the countywide Stewart vacancy, while Toya T. Harvey ended her bid for the Stuttley vacancy in Cook County's 2nd Subcircuit. The remaining candidates in these races are as follows:

Stewart vacancy -- countywide

• Pamela M. Leeming (Objection Pending)
• Terrence M. Jordan (Objection Pending)
• Deidre Baumann
• Mary Margaret Burke (Objection Pending)
• Sammy W. Lacey Jr. (Objection Pending)
• Rhonda Salleé (Objection Pending)
• Steve Demitro (Objection Pending)

2nd Subcircuit -- Stuttley vacancy

• Carl B. Boyd (Objection Pending)
• Arthur Wesley "Wes" Willis (Objection Pending)
• Alma Learetta Tyson (Objection Pending)
• Chester Slaughter (Objection Pending)

New blog. I had an email from Wauconda attorney Timothy J. Storm who wrote to advise that he will be covering judicial races in Lake County, Illinois on his blog The Appealing Lawyer. Storm writes that there are three circuit court seats in Lake County up for election this year, all in subcircuits. There is a primary contest only in the "B" vacancy in the 3rd Subcircuit of the 19th Circuit, Storm says, where "current Associate Judge Thomas Schippers is up against attorney Todd Brian Projansky." Unlike Cook County, however, there will be general election contests for all three Lake County seats.

If you are an Illinois voter in Lake County, swept here by your search engine, you may wish to follow the link to Mr. Storm's blog (I've also added a link to Mr. Storm's blog in the Lawyer Blogs and News Feeds section on the Sidebar; you'll probably have to scroll down a bit to find it.)

And a reminder: A valuable resource for Illinois voters interested in any or all Illinois judicial races is the IllinoisJudges.net website. The IllinoisJudges.net site is maintained by the Illinois Civil Justice League and has information about all judicial races across the state (including Cook County), including links to candidate websites where available (and, sometimes, even links back to this blog).