Candidates in contested subcircuit races tout endorsements

Voters in the November election will have to live in the 12th or 13th Subcircuits (far north suburban and far northwest suburban, respectively) in order to have any choice in filling any Cook County judicial vacancy.

The elections for all other judges in the county are mere formalities: There are only Democrats running in every other race, all unopposed. Wonderful for the happy candidates, of course... although this may not reflect well on the health of our polity. For now, however, and for the foreseeable future, this is beyond our control. So we look at what we have. In the only two contests there are.

Each of the four candidates for these two seats touts their many and various endorsements on their respective campaign websites. Susanne Groebner doesn't have a separate endorsements page on her site, but her Tribune endorsement pops up as soon as her site loads. Her opponent, Gary Seyring, has a separate endorsements page, as do both 12th Subcircuit candidates (Frank R. DiFranco's, Patricia M. Fallon's). I certainly encourage readers to click over to the candidates' sites and peruse the endorsements themselves.

In addition, I have added some of the endorsements you'll find on the candidates' websites to my Organizing the Data post about the two races -- but only some.

This drives candidates crazy, I realize, but I have a reason.

It's not that I doubt any of the candidates' assertions about who has endorsed them -- I believe them all. But my policy here has been to report only those endorsements that I can independently verify. I typically can't do that with individual, personal endorsements. Many organizations or groups have websites that proudly boast of their endorsements -- but, perhaps suprisingly, a great many other organizations or groups do not. They may have websites, but these are silent on political endorsements. It's hard to imagine why a group would go to the trouble of giving a candidate an endorsement... and then keeping it quiet. But many do. Labor unions are among the worst at this, in my experience. I don't know why. (For what it's worth, the Chicago Federation of Labor endorses Fallon in the 12th Subcircuit, Groebner in the 13th. The Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA endorses DiFranco in 12, Groebner in 13. I didn't say that no labor groups published their endorsements -- but too few do.)

Candidates try to get endorsements from as many groups as possible; winning coalitions have many disparate components. The Northwest Political Coalition has endorsed DiFranco. The Italian American Political Coalition and the Italian American Police Association have endorsed DiFranco and Groebner. Fallon and Groebner are endorsed by Personal PAC, the abortion rights lobbying group. Seyring has been endorsed by the United Hellenic Voters of America.

Both candidates for the 12th Subcircuit vacancy, Fallon and DiFranco, were "recommended" by the Advocates Society in the March primary. The Advocates Society, an association of Polish-American attorneys, is not a member of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening (which is why it issues endorsements and recommendations). The Advocates announced this week that, "due to COVID-19 difficulties... renewed its previous Circuit Court recommendations from the March 2020 Primary." The Advocates, presumably, will be satisfied with the outcome in 12, regardless of who wins; the group made no endorsement (or recommendation) in the 13th Subcircuit race.