Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Read This Before Voting For Judicial Candidates

A reader writes in:
During election season, judicial candidates do not get a lot of coverage. However, these elections directly impact the safety of our communities. I am asking that you share the attached document with your readers in hopes that they make educated choices when entering the voting booth! Link for the document is here.

6 comments:

  1. There is a fairly amusing post on the SecondCityCop blog in which the author states that he has a practice of voting NO for every single candidate for judge because he is under the impression that it takes 3 yes votes to counteract every no vote.

    While the far better alternative is to do one's best to be an educated voter, it appears SCC's motivation is to, as he puts it, throw "sand in the gears of the machine."

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  2. I voted early this year. The majority of the ballot (at least in Evanston) consisted of whether to retain judicial candidates.

    I wish this had come out last week, as I voted "yes" for all of those listed.

    The weird part: Sen. Dick Durbin is up for re-election, but you could never have known from reading the papers during the past six months. I guess he's so popular that no one paid attention to him or his opponent.

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  3. To back up your point, billyjoe, can anyone even name Durbin's opponent?

    Or Jan's, for that matter?

    The Trib did cover Durbin's debates a few weeks back, but that was all I'd seen or heard from the good doctor.

    Needless to say, I doubt he's all that popular. Not even Obama's campaign staff knew who he was during the DNCC in Denver. I met him wandering all by his lonesome in the Pepsi Center, and then had to explain to Obama's folks that he is the senior senator from Illinois.

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  4. Did anyone else notice that of all of the "Not Recommended" candidates only one was a man? The rest are women.

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  5. It's best to consult numerous bar associations when evaluating a particular judge.

    In the next few days, Northside DFA will be distributing a flyer that summarizes the judicial ratings from 10 bar associations. If we miss you, you can still find all ratings here:

    http://www.voteforjudges.org

    As noted on VoteForJudges website: "The bar groups who participate in the evaluation of judicial candidates have reviewed some of each candidate’s legal work, talked to other lawyers and judges about the candidates, and had the opportunity to interview each candidate. Still, the bar groups don’t always agree on the fitness of the candidates. If you have questions about the rating of an individual candidate, contact that individual bar association for additional information."

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  6. I consult the bar every night after work but we don't talk about the Judges.

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