If you've ever wondered where judges rate in the political hierarchy...

The stories you may have heard about some judges insisting on wearing their robes in order to wheel their trash bins to the curb are probably apocryphal, or at least grossly exaggerated. Nevertheless, judges have sometimes been accused of thinking of themselves as Very Important People -- and this goes for judges at all levels, state and federal alike, not just our Cook County bench -- but, if the accusation has any merit, it is only because judges really are important to the persons and businesses that appear before them: If your assets or, worse, your liberty is on the line, you will naturally be inclined to think the judge in your case to be very important indeed.

But do you know who thinks judges are unimportant? Politicians. Judicial hopefuls can be useful to politicians as piggie banks, at least until the hopeful gets on the bench. Then, as Ald. Vito Marzullo complained to Milton Rakove at least a half century ago (paraphrasing here), we never see them again. There's a reason why it takes a whole lot more signatures to run for trustee of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District that it does to run for judge: It's more important. At least, it's more important to the politicians.

The Chicago Teachers Union provides a practical illustration of this principle. Whether or not you are a fan of the CTU, you can not deny that this is one politically active union. Just as one example, it certainly played a key role in electing the current Mayor of Chicago -- a man who was himself a CTU organizer. And, so, when you view the CTU website, it comes as no surprise that has an extensive list of endorsements for the upcoming primary. That's a link to the CTU's endorsement list in the preceding sentence. Click on it. Scan it. Study it.

Yup. The CTU has three endorsements for MWRD trustee... and not a one for any judicial candidate.

To the politicians, judges just aren't that important. For the rest of us, however....