Thirty on the official Short List for 15 Associate Judge vacancies

This Short List is different.

No recent has list had so many carryovers from prior lists -- no consolation, of course, to a number of disappointed finalists from 2018 and prior who were left off this list.

Let's start with the carryovers. There are 11, 10 from the 2018 list.

1. Amee Elizabeth Alonso
2. Marina E. Ammendola
3. Lloyd James Brooks
4. Michael Angelo Forti (on 2014 list)
5. John S. Fotopoulos
6. Michael James Hogan Jr.
7. Celestia Laurene Mays
8. Diane Marie Pezanoski
9. Leo Steven Rakowski
10. Curtis Bennett Ross
11. Levander Smith Jr.

Five of the 26 finalists on the 2016 list were carryovers from the 2014 selection. Two were selected.

Only two of the 34 finalists on the 2018 list were carryovers from the 2016 selection. Both were selected.

Then there's the fact that four candidates on this list are slated by the Cook County Democratic Party for countywide vacancies. Three of these four are already serving as judges (and all three were AJ finalists in 2018, too).

These are Judges Celestia L. Mays (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Funderburk vacancy), Levander Smith, Jr. (appointed to, and slated for, the countywide Larsen vacancy), and Lloyd James Brooks (appointed to, and slated for, the O'Brien vacancy). Laura Ayala-Gonzalez is not yet a judge, but she is the Democratic Party's slated candidate for the countywide Ford vacancy.

The primary isn't until next March. Filing has not yet opened for these seats. Is this a commentary on the electability of these candidates in particular? Or is this the Circuit Court's way of signaling that Democratic Party slating generally no longer provides enough of an advantage for a favored candidate? Why are soft landings already being sought for candidates who have not yet even launched?

Other currently sitting judges on the Short List are Marina E. Ammendola (countywide Kevin Sheehan vacancy), Fredrick H. Bates (1st Subcircuit, Brooks vacancy), Tyria B. Walton (1st Subcircuit, Crawford vacancy), and Daniel O. Tiernan (14th Subcircuit, Lacy vacancy). One former judge, John S. Fotopoulos, is also on the Short List.

For last night's post I was able to confirm that at least one of the eight countywide alternates pre-slated by the Democratic Party, for vacancies that had, as of August, yet to open (and, as of tonight, still haven't opened) was on the Short List. Actually, there are three. In addition to Frank John Andreou, there are Diane Marie Pezanoski, and Eric Michael Sauceda.

Actually, putting alternates on the Short List makes sense, assuming some level of cooperation between the Democratic Party and the Circuit Court Nominating Committee: Making associates out of alternates should reduce the number of promises that might need to be remembered when the 2022 season starts up (that won't be until March 18, 2020).

In formally announcing the 2019 Short List, the Chief Judge's office noted that of the 212 applicants for this class, 18 withdrew from the process before interviews began. The Nominating Committee interviewed the remaining 194 applicants. One withdrew following the interview, leaving 163 of us sitting forlornly by their phones yesterday for the call that never came. The 30 applicants who did move on to the Short List are:

1. Amee Elizabeth Alonso
2. Marina E. Ammendola
3. Frank John Andreou
4. Laura Ayala-Gonzalez
5. Fredrick Hayze Bates
6. Aileen Bhandari
7. Lloyd James Brooks
8. Jennifer Frances Coleman
9. John Abbrey Fairman
10. Michael Angelo Forti
11. John S. Fotopoulos
12. Ruth Isabel Gudino
13. Michael James Hogan Jr.
14. Edward James Maloney
15. Celestia Laurene Mays
16. Katherine Angela O'Dell
17. Monique Leneé Patterson
18. Jennifer Joyce Payne
19. Diane Marie Pezanoski
20. Paul William Plotnick
21. Leo Steven Rakowski
22. Geri Pinzur Rosenberg
23. Curtis Bennett Ross
24. Eric Michael Sauceda
25. Rouhy J. Shalabi
26. John Anthony Simon
27. Levander Smith Jr.
28. Theresa Marie Smith
29. Daniel Owen Tiernan
30. Tyria Beatrice Walton

Here's what happens next: The Chief Judge notifies the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts of the names of the candidates selected by the Committee and requests the Director to begin the balloting process.

Within 14 days after the Chief Judge’s notification, the Director will mail a secret ballot with the names of each candidate to each of the roughly 250 Cook County circuit judges eligible to vote.

The judges will vote for one candidate for each vacancy to be filled. The judges must return the ballots to the Director within 14 days of the date the ballots were distributed. The Director then counts the ballots which are accompanied by a signed card, tabulates the results and certifies them to the Chief Judge – at all times maintaining the secrecy of the ballots.

It is my understanding that the circuit judges are free to vote for any applicant, whether on the short list or not. In the 2014 selection process, for example, the circuit judges elected a write-in candidate -- a sitting judge who had been bypassed by the Nominating Committee.

In 2016, the circuit judges also elected a write-in candidate, also a sitting judge who had been bypassed.

There was no successful write-in candidate in the 2018 selection process, but there was a tie for the 17th and final vacancy in that class.

The press release issued late this afternoon by the Chief Judge's office announces three different meet and greets for finalists on November 12, 13, and 14, at the Daley Center, the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, and the Cook County Juvenile Center. Other events will be scheduled at the other suburban courthouses to "further minimize disruption of court proceedings." But the finalists will also be trudging through the back hallways of all the county courthouses in the next few weeks, trying to personally lobby as many voting judges as they can.

For the record, the members of this year's Nominating Committee were Hon. Timothy C. Evans, Chief Judge; Hon. Mary Ellen Coghlan, Justice, Illinois Appellate Court; Hon. Grace G. Dickler, Presiding Judge, Domestic Relations Division; Hon. James P. Flannery Jr., Presiding Judge, Law Division; Hon. Sophia H. Hall, Administrative Presiding Judge, Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Resource Section; Hon. Moshe Jacobius, Presiding Judge, Chancery Division; Hon. Raymond L. Jagielski, Presiding Judge, Fifth Municipal District; Hon. LeRoy K. Martin Jr., Presiding Judge, Criminal Division; Hon. Sharon M. Sullivan, Presiding Judge, County Division; Hon. Shelley Sutker-Dermer, Presiding Judge, Second Municipal District; and Hon. E. Kenneth Wright Jr., Presiding Judge, First Municipal District.