Chicago                                                                                          

Cook County subcircuits elect their first judges By MANUEL GALVAN

Proponents of subcircuit districts for Cook County judges promised that the new system would put more minorities on the bench and remove politics from the selection process. Detractors warned of more politics and less qualified judges. Both sides were right — and wrong.

The November election gave some insight into how the long-debated sub-circuit system actually works. But it will take several elections before the system can be fully and fairly evaluated.

Under the new system, Cook County has been divided into 15 subcircuits. Some circuit judges will still be elected countywide, but as city and suburban-wide judgeships become vacant, they will be assigned to one of the 15 districts for elections of new circuit judges. The number of associate judges will be significantly trimmed. As the current associate judgeships become vacant, some of those posts will be assigned to a subcircuit for an election of full circuit judges.

In November, voters elected 31 new circuit judges from the 15 districts. Eventually, 11 judges will be elected from each district. When they run for retention, their election will be county-wide. Beyond the 165 subcircuit positions, judges will still be elected county-wide, and the bench will continue to make appointments of associate judges to complete its roster. Exactly when all the 165 positions will be filled by sub-circuit elections is impossible to predict, since it depends on so many variables.

Of the 31 new judges, nine are African-American and two are Hispanic. While these numbers barely increase African-American and Hispanic overall percentages as judges in the Cook County Circuit Court — the world's largest unified court system — they are very significant as part of the new sub-circuit total.

Going into last year's March primary, there were 172 full circuit judges in Cook County and 189 associate judges. Blacks accounted for 13 percent of each bench. In November the nine black judges were elected from the city's south and west side subcircuit districts. They represent 29 percent of the total elected from all subcircuit districts. That percentage is much closer to parity in a county where blacks make up 25 percent of the population.

Hispanics increased their representation of full circuit judges by 200 percent with their two wins since the lone Latino on the circuit bench before the election was David Cerda. (There were also six Hispanic associate judges before this election.) Circuit Judge Cerda is now joined by fellow Democrats David Delgado and Leida J. Gonzalez Santiago from the northwest side 6th subcircuit. Associate Judge Ralph Reyna, a third Hispanic candidate, lost in the Democratic primary to Assistant State's Atty. Robert W. Bertucci, who went on to win the southwest side 14th subcircuit in November.

Women and Republicans — two other minority groups in Cook County Circuit Court — made sizable gains on the bench. Voters elected 12 women and seven Republicans as judges from the subcircuits; the women jurists represent 39 percent of the subcircuit total and the Republicans 23 percent.

While advocates for the subcircuit system had also predicted an increase participation for Asians and independ

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Chicago                                                                                          

ents, the groups remained outsiders. No Asians ran, and Janice H. Robinson, the only independent, was defeated 9-to-l by Associate Judge Bertina E. Lampkin, a Democrat, in the south side 2nd sub-circuit district.

While the number of minorities on the bench increased, the new subcircuit system didn't exactly remove politics from the election process. For example, former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, a longtime political powerhouse on the south side, successfully pushed for three big Democratic winners. Assistant State's Atty. Edna Mae Turkington, who worked for Sawyer when he was a member of the Chicago City Council, was elected from the south side 1st subcircuit district. Sawyer also backed two winnners in the south side 5th subcircuit district: Bernetta D. Bush, a legal adviser to the Illinois State Board of Education, and former Alderman Timothy Evans, who had sought to be mayor when the City Council elected Sawyer instead after Mayor Harold Washington's death. State Sen. William Shaw (D-15, Chicago), who is 9th Ward committeeman, brother of 9th Ward Alderman Robert Shaw and member of the Illinois House during the campaign, successfully backed Democrat William D. O'Neal for election from the 2nd subcircuit district.

Sawyer also backed. . . former Alderman Timothy Evans, who had sought to be mayor when the City Council backed Sawyer instead.

No candidates, however, had bigger political heavyweights in their corner than Santiago. In addition to her husband, state Rep. Miguel Santiago (D-3,Chicago), she was supported by 32nd Ward Alderman Theris Gabinski, 33rd Ward Alderman Richard Mell, Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-22, Chicago), state Rep. Joseph Kotlarz (D-20, Chicago) and Illinois' outgoing incumbent U.S. senator, Alan J. Dixon.

There are other familiar political names among the successful judicial candidates in the new subcircuit districts. State Rep. Anthony L. Young (D-17, Chicago), who championed the 1989 legislation that created the new judicial districts, ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and in the general election from the west side 7th subcircuit district. Raymond L. Jagielski, a former Republican commissioner of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, turned Democrat and ran unopposed to win the judgeship in the south-west side 14th subcircuit district.

The jury's still out on judicial qualifications of the subcircuit winners. Prior to the March primary when 101 candidates were running for the 31 subcircuit seats, an analysis by the Chicago Reporter found that nonminority candidates averaged significantly more years of legal experience. Average years of experience for the 79 nonminority candidates was 17, African-American candidates averaged 12 years, and Hispanics averaged 11 years.

Of the 48 candidates on the November ballots in the subcircuit districts, the reform-minded Chicago Council of Laywers found 20 candidates or 42 percent not qualified for the bench according to its evaluations. And the Chicago Bar Association rated 13 candidates or 27 percent as not qualified for a judgeship.

Of those winning the 31 judgeships, 13 or 42 percent had been rated either "not qualified" or "not recommended" by either the Chicago Bar Association or the Chicago Council of Lawyers. There were six winning judges that received failing grades from both of these bar groups.

Many supporters of the subcircuit system are quick to point out that judges convicted in the Greylord corruption scandal had received passing grades from bar groups. The supporters also charge that bar ratings are loaded, contending that quality lawyers are often turned down because they are advocates.

Consider, for example, Llwellyn Green-Thapedi, a former president of the Cook County Bar Association, which is the black lawyers' group. An attorney for 16 years, she was found "not recommended" by both the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Laywers. A careful reading of their ratings, however, reveals that both groups note she did not participate in their evaluation process, triggering her poor marks. Green-Thapedi went on to win in the 5th subcircuit district without a challenger.

In the case of Associate Circuit Judge Ronald A. Himel, a Democrat, the Chicago Bar Association rated him "highly qualified," yet the Chicago Council of Laywers said he was "not qualified." Himel won a circuit judgeship in the north suburban 9th subcircuit district with 63 percent of the vote.

The other winners in the subcircuit elections include:

1st district (city south side): Janice R. McGaughey, Democrat. She was a public defender and had no opposition.

3rd district (city southwest side): Thomas F. Carmody and Patrick E. McGann, both Democrats. Carmody was a division chief with the public defender. McGann was an associate judge rated "highly qualified" by the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

There were six winning judges that received failing grades from both of these bar groups

4th district (west suburban): Thomas M. Davy, Democrat, and Richard J. Billik Jr., Republican. Davy was a longtime assistant state's attorney, and Billik has worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

7th district (city west side): Dorothy F. Jones, Democrat. An assistant public defender, she was unopposed.

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8th district (city north side): Sheldon Gardner and Maureen Durkin Roy, both Democrats. Gardner was an associate judge. Roy, an assistant state's attorney, ran unopposed.

9th district (north suburban): Allen S. Goldberg, Democrat. An assistant public defender, he was chief of felony trials.

10th district (city northwest side): Susan G. Fleming and Daniel Michael Locallo, both Democrats. Fleming was general counsel for St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. Locallo, an associate judge, was the only other winner rated "highly qualified" by both the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

11th district (west suburban): Carol A. Kelly and Susan Frances Zwick, both Democrats. Kelly had been an assistant state's attorney for 15 years, and Zwick was an attorney in private practice.

12th district (north suburban): John K. Madden and William O. Maki, both Republicans. Madden was an associate judge, and Maki, who ran unopposed, was village president of Arlington Heights.

13th district (northwest suburban): Jeffrey Lawrence and Lester A. Bonaguro, both Republicans. Lawrence was a veteran attorney in private practice, and Bonaguro was an associate judge with 11 years on the bench.

15th district (south suburban): William M. Phelan and Joanne L. Lanigan, both Republicans. Phelan was a private attorney for 25 years, and Lanigan aprivate attorney for 34 years.

The subcircuit districts will test the question whether these judges will be more "representative" as elected jurists as the system is phased in for Cook County. The first round did increase diversity on the bench to represent better the county's population of African Americans, Hispanics, women and Republicans. As for quality, the new judges produced by this new elective system will establish a record by their performance in office. Pushed aside, probably into the next century, is serious consideration of the alternate method of assuring quality on the bench: merit selection. 

Manuel Galvan is a Chicago writer and marketing consultant.

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