A fourth Republican candidate surfaces

Only one #CookCountyJudicial candidate filed papers yesterday after the 8:00 a.m. rush.

That lone candidate was Republican Daniel Patrick Fitzgerald, who was nevertheless the first candidate to file for the Lawrence vacancy in the 13th Subcircuit. (That's a link to the candidate's website in the preceding sentence, if you didn't know already; a link has been added to the blog Sidebar as well.)

According to ARDC, Fitzgerald has been licensed in Illinois since 1991. He currently serves as a Senior Counsel for Walgreens, according to his campaign bio, a corporate position which is not on the usual path to the judiciary. However, Fitzgerald's campaign bio also notes that he began his legal career clerking for a Cook County Chancery judge, moving next to the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

After six years as an AAG, Fitzgerald became Chief Legal Counsel for the Office of the Inspector General and Chief of the Bureau of Administrative Litigation in the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. "In this capacity," the campaign bio notes, "Fitzgerald provided legal advice to the Inspector General’s office on healthcare regulatory and compliance matters" and "participated in civil prosecutions and litigation enforcement actions against Medicaid providers, working with the US Attorney’s Office and the Illinois Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to root out Medicaid fraud and abuse."

The campaign bio also notes that Fitzgerald has been an elected Trustee of Barrington Township since 2009. In 2014 Fitzgerald was elected Republican Committeeman for Barrington Township. He also serves on the University of Illinois College of Business Alumni Association Board of Directors, according to the campaign bio.