So what else is new?

Newcomers to FWIW -- and, from the stats Blogger provides, there are many, and not all of them Russians -- may wonder why I keep talking about #CookCountyJudicial candidates who filed Monday. I mean, it's Thursday already... hasn't anybody else filed in any of these races since Monday?

Why, yes -- just this morning, in fact, Judge Marina E. Ammendola filed for the Garcia vacancy in the 14th Subcircuit. (She has no campaign website or campaign Facebook page yet that I can find.)

But she's the only one.

That will almost certainly change now that I'm putting up a post -- and, of course, it will certainly change by close of business next Monday, when the regular filing period ends. The bottom ballot position is supposed to be almost as advantageous as the top one, and with a multitude scrumming for the top line, some candidates hold back, deliberately lingering on the sidelines in hopes of snagging the bottom line. If you peruse the blog Sidebar, you will notice that there are several declared candidates who have, for whatever reason, chosen to hold off on filing... so far. Some of these may be worried that their petitions are yet too 'thin' -- but others may have the Good Book in mind in fashioning this strategy: The last shall be first, and the first last.

Turning back to those who have filed, lets quickly look at the countywide races:

For the countywide Brewer vacancy, there are three candidates at present, two of whom are already known to FWIW readers, Kathryn Maloney Vahey and Judge Oran F. Whiting. The third candidate filing in this race is John Maher. Maher's name is linked to a campaign Facebook page; I've been unable to find a campaign website. I believe the candidate is Assistant State's Attorney John G. Maher, who has been licensed in Illinois since 1993 according to ARDC. My conclusion in this regard is heavily influenced by Russ Stewart's October 11 column, which forecast that a John Maher would be on a 'state's attorney's slate' and would file to oppose Whiting.

Four candidates filed Monday morning for the Clay vacancy, three of whom were previously introduced to FWIW readers, Kathaleen Theresa Lanahan, Jonathan Clark Green, and Michael I. O'Malley. But also filing Monday was Mary A. Lopez (pictured at left), a partner with the Integrity Law Group. Lopez was a nurse for roughly 20 years before she graduated from law school. According to ARDC, Lopez has been licensed as a lawyer in Illinois since 1999. Her name here is linked to a campaign Facebook page; I could not find a campaign website.

There were two candidates filing for the late-opening Dooling vacancy, neither of whom yet appears in the blog Sidebar. One is Tom Sam Sianis, who, as one of the Cook County Democratic Party's alternates, was 'pre-slated' for this race. That's a link to his Facebook campaign page; there is no campaign website yet that I can find. A bullet point biography on the Facebook page lists Sianis's career highlights: Special Assistant Attorney General for the Illinois Attorney General's Office, Enforcement Division Chief of the Illinois Securities Department, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, and owner of the Billy Goat Tavern. (I will save for a future Page Two post my favorite Billy Goat Tavern story -- the night the great Mike Royko called me a yuppie and then took it back.) Sianis has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 2004.

The other candidate filing for the Dooling vacancy is Assistant Public Defender Timothy John Leeming. I couldn't even find a Facebook campaign page for Leeming, but I did find this May 2014 Law Bulletin story about Leeming's artistic talents. Leeming is the husband of Circuit Court Judge Pamela M. Leeming; he has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1986.

I wrote about the four candidates filing for the Flanagan vacancy in a post yesterday.

There were two candidates in line at the Board of Elections Monday morning with petitions for the Jordan vacancy, both of whom are known to FWIW readers, Jerry Barrido and Judge Clare Joyce Quish.

Two candidates also filed for the McGinnis vacancy, Judge Peter Michael Gonzalez and Brian Terrence Sexton. Gonzalez will be familiar to current FWIW readers, but unless you go back quite a ways with this blog, you may not have heard of Sexton: He sought a countywide vacancy in 2008. His candidacy was forecast by Russ Stewart as part of the 'state's attorney's slate,' but Sexton retired from that office (he had been Chief of the Narcotics Bureau) about a year ago and set up a practice in Naperville. He has been licensed in Illinois since 1987.

Only one candidate has so far filed for each of the remaining countywide vacancies, Rosa Maria Silva (Egan vacancy), Thomas F. McGuire (Dunford vacancy), Cecilia Anne Horan (Hartigan vacancy, and Jack Hagerty Rooney vacancy. (All links here to campaign websites except for McGuire; his is to a Facebook campaign page.)