Jennifer Ballard was slated by the local Democratic committeemen for the Rivkin-Carothers vacancy in the 7th Subcircuit. Ballard is a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, but she is young -- graduating from law school only eight years ago, in 2008. Because of her comparatively few years in practice, despite her professional successes so far, Ballard was unlikely to receive favorable ratings from any evaluating bar associations -- and she did not participate in the evaluation process.
Judge Patricia "Pat" S. Spratt was appointed to the Rivkin-Carothers vacancy by the Illinois Supreme Court, and she has strong bar evaluations.
Assistant Public Defender Rosa Silva is one of four other candidates who sought this vacancy. Silva has over 5,000 votes in the suburban precincts of the 7th Subcircuit, with 94.4% of the suburban votes tallied, more than either Spratt or Ballard, but when the City votes are added in, Ballard and Spratt are pacing the field, and are engaged in a fairly close race.
At this point, Judge Spratt is leading with 14,485 votes to Ballard's 13,064.
The March 15th Primaries were a victory for racial bonhomie. The black voters of the 7th subcircuit elected the white Pat Spratt. Additionally the Latino voters of the 6th subcircuit elected the white Anna Loftus and the white Richard Cooke. This shows we are moving closer to achieving Martin Luther King's dream where we judge people by the content of their character and NOT by the color of their skin.
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