Pre-Slating will be held June 25-26 for offices up for election in 2016. Please contact the Cook County Democratic Party for the information needed to be submitted prior to receiving a scheduled time for this process. Slating will be held in August of 2015, dates to be announced. For questions or further information please contact the office at (312) 263-0575.Appearing at the "pre-slating" process is, of course, no substitute for a close, personal relationship with one or more, or preferably dozens, of ward and township committeemen. But, for the candidate interested in obtaining Party support, what can it hurt?
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Saturday, June 20, 2015
Cook County Democrats to "pre-slate" judicial candidates next week
From the Cook County Democratic Party website:
Jack, I used to think it was a numbers games too, that if I had enough committeemen backing me, I'd get slated, but that is not the case. There is no weighted vote as the party claims. Only a handful of committeemen (5 to be exact) decide who gets slated for judge, and those decisions have already been made. The current slate for 2016 has been in place for months now -- months. Don't be fooled by this charade; it is nothing more than an opportunity for the committeemen to get a list of names and addresses of people who want to be judge so that fundraiser invites can be mailed to them. It is also a charade for the media to report that the process is fair and open. It is all a complete joke.
ReplyDeleteAnon -- I'd be genuinely shocked if there weren't some places pretty well reserved on the slate at this point. There have been a number of appointments, after all, and intimations of likely support were no doubt made following the 2014 slating -- but all places, set in stone? I wouldn't expect that. I don't suppose you'd like to send me an email telling me who all the slated candidates will be, would you? I wouldn't run it now -- but it'd make a great post in August after the slate is announced, don't you think? (I'd be willing to preserve your anonymity if I can verify first that the predictions are in fact coming from the author of the comment above.)
ReplyDeleteI'm also not surprised that a 'core group' of committeemen would be most influential in the judicial slating process. There is a circuit court slating committee, right? And, while it may have more than five members nominally, who hasn't served on a committee where some actually do the work and others are happy just to have a title? That's how committees work everywhere, right? But your suggestion is that the weighted vote of the 50 wards and the 30 'county towns' (as the late Mayor Daley used to call them) would be ignored in favor of those favored by this Fab 5? I find it easy to believe that a group of five could have disproportionate influence; I find it difficult to believe that the group can veto the weighted vote of their fellow committeemen.
But I'm an outsider. I can't know for certain. So I'm willing to listen to those who are willing to share.