Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Confirmation: There are no independent Cook County Judicial candidates

The Illinois State Board of Elections confirmed this morning that its website is back up to date -- and that no independents filed to challenge the many, now confirmed as, uncontested Cook County judicial candidates.

I admit to a certain amount of relief on this.

I'd been sitting on a number of comments claiming that a horde of independent filings were in the offing.

A couple of non-specific examples:
Who cares. Too busy circulating petitions in light of the court decision Jack hasn't discussed that is material to the topic of this blog. Wonder why?

Censorship, Jack? The Independents are coming And when we win, we won't be giving you any scoops.

I think that all of this is wonderful. My slate and I now have until the end of August 2020 to get our petition signatures to run as independents due to federal judge Pallmeyer's ruling that we only need to get 2,500 signatures. With all of the Democrats and Republicans failing us and tanking our economy, plenty of people will be looking to retaliate and vote for some independents. And remember, if you lost in one slot during the primary you can run again in another slot....
I don't know what the purpose of these comments may have been -- perhaps to scare up some money from skittish judicial nominees. Judicial candidates can be among the most nervous people ever put on this Earth, not that I blame them.

But I hadn't seen any evidence that any of this was real. So I didn't run the comments.

Of course, in this Year of Never Ending Pandemic, I'm out and about even less than usual. Still, I was pretty sure.

And it looks like my instincts were right, at least on this occasion.

(Although, before anyone takes the trouble to say so, I am all too aware that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you finally figured out that many of us use your blog as a conduit for misinformation. I wondered how long it would take you. But one day I will send you something so unbelievable that you won’t believe until you see it.

Take care, Jack.


Svengali

Anonymous said...

Surprise, surprise! Who was the last independent judicial candidate to file, or attempt to file? How many have ever made it on the ballot? Has there ever been an independent judicial candidate win? EXACTLY!

Anonymous said...

Some of the whoppers that have been told over the years in the comments section that send judges and candidates into a tailspin have been so obviously false that their reactions were so rich. BUT there have been a few highly reputable exceptions. Example No.1: the initial reports that Matt Coghlan was being targeted for a "no" retention in 2018 caused plenty of people to mumble "yeah, sure, good luck." Lo and behold it was correct and WOW what a result. As many of you already know, JAPAC is at it again. I get their emails and it would appear that there are at least 2, and likely 5, judges that they are targeting this cycle. No. Not all of them sit in Criminal Court. And some of them have some serious baggage. So good luck. I hope the 2020 Retention Class demonstrate their world renowned unity. And not act like those "rats jumping ship" class of 2018. I hear that Toni is in a pickle since one of the targeted few lives (or lived) in Toni's subcircuit.


Sincerely,

Nobody nobody sent

Albert said...

According to my historical data there have only been three independent judicial candidates on the November ballot in Cook County's history: Janice Robinson in the 2nd Subcircuit in 1992; Maryam Ahmad in the 1st Subcircuit in 2016; and Benjamin B. Magruder running for Supreme Court all the way back in 1906. There were certain contests in the early 20th century that were nonpartisan and there were plenty of third-party slates and candidates in partisan contests, but no other candidates running as independents against established party candidates.

Anonymous said...

Well then in that case just you wait!

Anonymous said...

This is so amusing. People finally admitting how they use the comments section as a means of misdirection, misinformation and all around mischief and yet so many people still flock to this blog to read the comments and get worked up.

I can't wait until Fall 2021.

Svengali