Press & News

Gerald Skoning Published in Crain's Chicago Business
11/28/2006

In an opinion piece (“Judicial voting: Our current system not recommended”) published in the November 27 issue of Crain’s Chicago Business, Gerald Skoning notes that the recent Cook County judicial election further demonstrates the urgent need to adopt a different system for the selection of circuit court judges. He says:

“Under the current system, in order to remain on the bench, each of the 70 judges on the seemingly endless election ballot needed to receive a "yes" vote from at least 60% of those who cast ballots. Despite the fact that several jurists were rated "not recommended" (should be fired) by prominent bar associations, all 70 Cook County judges on the retention ballot were elected to new six-year terms. In fact, not one judge received less than a 68% "yes" vote. So the seat of each unqualified judge was firmly protected by a comfortable cushion of at least eight percentage points. In fact, since the retention system was initiated in 1990, not one circuit court judge has been voted off the bench despite the fact that bar association reviewers have rated a total of 18 judges "not recommended" in elections over those 16 years. It's pretty clear the system is not working as intended. Judicial elections in small Illinois counties work fine. Citizens know their judges and can fully evaluate their qualifications. However, in Cook County, very few citizens can cast an intelligent vote on the judicial ballot without doing extensive research. … Our system for the selection of judges for the Circuit Court of Cook County is broken. We need a new one based on merit, qualifications and judicial temperament instead of ethnic background, size of campaign war chest and political cronyism. … A blue-ribbon panel of lawyers, judges and concerned citizens should be convened to conduct a thorough evaluation of our flawed system for selecting judges and to make recommendations for changes that will enhance the quality and integrity of our judicial process in Cook County.”