Illinois Judges Foundation plans Summer Reception for August 17

The Illinois Judges Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois Judges Association, will host its Summer Reception on Wednesday, August 17, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Corboy Hall at the Chicago Bar Association building, 321 S. Plymouth Court.

Proceeds from the reception support the charitable and educational programs of the Illinois Judges Association, including in particular the Harold Sullivan Scholarship. Headlining the event will be Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, retired Illinois Appellate Court Justice Gino L. DiVito, and Lake County Chief Judge Jorge L. Ortiz. This year's Harold Sullivan Scholarship recipients will be honored.

A special tribute to the late Laura C. Liu, Appellate Court Justice and IJF President in 2013-14, is also planned.

Refreshments will be served.

Tickets for the event are $100 apiece and can be purchased online or by calling Christine Athanasoulis at (708) 705-4355.

Persons interested in becoming a sponsor of the event should contact either IJF Executive Director Kevin Fagan at ijf@chicagobar.org or Christine Athanasoulis.

Rhonda Sallee's independent judicial bid undergoes challenge

Update 7/20/16: According to the Illinois State Board of Elections website, Ms. Sallee withdrew her candidacy on July 18. Daryl Jones is again unopposed in his bid for the Williams vacancy in the 5th Subcircuit.

It will probably not come as a surprise but, for the record, a challenge has been filed to the petitions recently filed by Rhonda Sallee, seeking to run as an independent candidate for the Williams vacancy in the 5th Judicial Subcircuit.

If Ms. Sallee survives the coming challenge, her opponent in November would be Democratic nominee Daryl Jones.

An initial hearing has been scheduled on the objectors' petition for the afternoon of July 12.

One Appellate Court justice, 58 Circuit Court judges file for retention in Cook County

Appellate Court Justice Joy Virginia Cunningham has filed for retention and will appear on the November ballot, according to information provided by the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Actually, the headline here is slightly misleading, inasmuch as three of the 58 Cook County Circuit Court judges who have filed for retention are currently serving by assignment on the Illinois Appellate Court (but must be retained in office as Circuit Court judges in order to remain in their assignments). One of these three, Bertina E. Lampkin, is unopposed in her bid for election to the Appellate Court in November. The other two are Mary Lane Mikva and Daniel James Pierce.

Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans has also filed for retention. By law, circuit court judges elected in Illinois, whether elected countywide or from subcircuits, must seek retention every six years in order to remain in office. (Justices of the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts must seek retention every 10 years.) In Cook County, the retention election is countywide, meaning voters from the entire county can vote on each judge's retention, even for judges originally elected from other subcircuits. Retention judges have no opponents; voters are asked whether Mary Jones (to make up a name) shall be retained in office as a Cook County Circuit Court judge. Voters choose 'yes' or 'no.'

Each judge must obtain a 60% 'yes' vote (60% + 1 if you wish to be technical) to be retained; the last time any Cook County judge failed to achieve a 60% yes vote was in 1990, when seven judges were removed (though one was simultaneously elected to the Appellate Court). That may sound like a pretty sure thing... but strange things have happened already in 2016... and even in 'normal' election years judges who have been hailed by every bar association, civic group, and scout troop, by every newspaper, community group, and garden club -- the best, the brightest, the acknowledged cream of the crop -- will have a hard time cracking the 80% positive level.

That means that, at a minimum. two out of every 10 Cook County voters seek to oust each and every retention judge regardless of that judge's qualifications.

Of the 58 Cook County Circuit Court judges filing for retention, twenty-three were originally elected countywide; thirty-two were first elected from subcircuits. Three judges on this year's retention ballot were elected prior to 1992, when the subcircuit system was adopted. Before 1992, Cook County voters elected judges on either a countywide, Chicago-only, or outside Chicago basis. Two of the judges on this year's retention ballot were first elected on a Chicago-only basis; the third was elected from outside Chicago.

Here, then, is the complete list of all Cook County Circuit Court judges who have filed for retention in 2016:

• Robert Balanoff
• Steven James Bernstein
• Robert W. Bertucci
• Kathleen Marie Burke
• Charles Patrick Burns
• John P. Callahan, Jr.
• Jeanne R. Cleveland Bernstein
• Bonita Coleman
• Ann Finley Collins
• Paula Marie Daleo
• Deborah Mary Dooling
• Laurence J. Dunford
• Timothy C. Evans
• Denise Kathleen Filan
• Nicholas R. Ford
• Daniel J. Gallagher
• Vincent Michael Gaughan
• John C. Griffin
• Sophia H. Hall
• Kay Marie Hanlon
• Edward Harmening
• William H. Hooks
• Arnette R. Hubbard
• Cheryl D. Ingram
• Raymond L. Jagielski
• Sharon O. Johnson
• Linzey D. Jones
• Thomas J. Kelley
• Susan Kennedy Sullivan
• John Patrick Kirby
• Geary W. Kull
• Bertina E. Lampkin
• Diane Joan Larsen
• Daniel Joseph Lynch
• Thomas V. Lyons
• Terry MacCarthy
• William Maki
• Daniel Malone
• Leroy K. Martin, Jr.
• James Patrick McCarthy
• Claire Elizabeth McWilliams
• Mary Lane Mikva
• Raymond W. Mitchell
• Allen F. Murphy
• Patrick T. Murphy
• Timothy Patrick Murphy
• Kathleen Mary Pantle
• Sheryl Ann Pethers
• Daniel James Pierce
• Sandra G. Ramos
• Jim Ryan
• Kevin Michael Sheehan
• Irwin J. Solganick
• Sharon Marie Sullivan
• John D. Turner, Jr.
• Edward "Ed" Washington, II
• Alexander Patrick White
• Thaddeus L. Wilson

Any errors or omissions in this list are mine.