Meet the Candidate

Today is the official opening of campaign season in Illinois and my friend, Bonnie Carol McGrath, is running for Cook County circuit court judge. Since I didn’t know judges were elected–I thought they were always appointed–I decided to interview Bonnie to learn about the process. It turns out judges do campaign, even on “L” platforms.

There’s a reason I was under the impression judges don’t run for office. In Cook County, judicial campaigns usually don’t receive much coverage, and Bonnie explains why below. But as President Obama’s campaign demonstrated, the Internet gives candidates more opportunities to communicate with voters and gives voters more opportunities to participate in the campaign. Even if you’re not a registered Illinois voter, I hope you enjoy this first-hand account of a candidate’s run for judicial office.

Bonnie Carol McGrath is a Chicago native, graduate of Senn High School, University of Illinois (B.A), University of Missouri (M.S.) and John Marshall Law School. She is, as TV news reporter Harry Porterfield used to say, “Someone You Should Know” (especially if you live in Cook County).

Frances: When’s the election?

Bonnie: The primary is Tuesday, February 2, 2010. In my race, that IS the election–because no one filed as a Republican–so there is no one to run against in the general election in November.

F: If you win, where would you serve?

B: I could be assigned to any court in Cook County. A lot of people don’t realize about 450 judges work in Cook County courts, and more than half are elected by Cook County voters. The rest are appointed.

F: What does it mean to be “slated?”

B: Getting that designation is a mysterious process that is riddled with rumors of family connections, past service as a precinct captain, monetary donations to the party and other twists and turns, favors and quid pro quos. (A great article to read about the most recent slating was written by Abdon Pallasch in the Chicago Sun-Times.)

The advantage of being slated is that the regular Cook County Democratic organization (“the machine”), as well as a number of the ward and township committeemen, will put your name on the literature that they pass out. That can be an advantage in a race that is very dependant on name recognition, name attractiveness and name familiarity as opposed to positions on issues–such as taxes, crime, patronage hiring, etc–as in other races. Not many people care about the judicial races. It’s not an “issue” race. It’s more of a “name game.”

F: Would you call this a hotly contested race?

B: Yes. There are three candidates in my race, including a slated opponent who filed rather fierce and spiteful petition challenges to our candidacies. The other nonslated candidate and I had our objections overruled (they are appealing mine), but it was a VERY time consuming and expensive process. I will say, though, going through the process–as hard as it was–it was interesting to see how it played out. Many candidates–people I know–were challenged.

F: How long is the term?

B: Six years. At the end of their term, judges must run for retention in the general election in November. The public simply votes “yes” or “no” and the judge running for retention must get 60 percent of those voting to vote “yes.”  It has been a long time since a judge has been removed from the bench by the voters, although some have come very close.

F: How important are bar association endorsements?

B: Bar associations don’t endorse candidates per se. They evaluate their backgrounds and come up with a rating such as “recommended” or “qualified.”  There are 11 bar associations in Cook County that evaluate candidates.

One thing that the public doesn’t realize is how few lawyers are involved in the evaluation process–and often one lawyer will make the decision for more than one bar group. If that person has a bias or simply doesn’t understand–or doesn’t like–a candidate’s background, that can hurt the candidate tremendously. By the same token, many candidates get a “pass” because a member of the evaluation committee is easy going and open-minded. Because most candidates will face different combinations of people during the process, this becomes unfair. Some VERY prominent members of the legal community have been speaking out recently about the process, and have expressed skepticism about the people doing the evaluations, the process used, the biases involved and the lack of evaluation of the evaluation process.

Having said all that, I have been found Qualified by the Asian American Bar Association, and Recommended by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago. And I am truly grateful for that and very appreciative. Most of the other bar associations have said very complimentary things about my background, my integrity, diligence, commitment, etc., but have not given me those same qualified and/or recommended ratings.

F: How much will you campaign?

B: A fair amount. Many organizations will have get-togethers so the candidates can introduce themselves and ask for votes. Friends of candidates have coffees and fundraisers intended to spur enthusiasm, campaign money and votes.

F: When you campaign, what do you tell people about yourself?

B: There are Illinois Supreme Court rules that constrain judicial candidates from speaking out on issues, about their opponents, etc. And for good reason. If there was a lot of latitude in this area, candidates could be accused of having biases in certain areas of law that could make the public suspicious and uncomfortable. It is improper to say how you would rule in particular cases, and you have to be careful not to imply otherwise. For this reason, you generally hear judicial candidates talk about their backgrounds, their bar ratings, their endorsements, maybe a little about how their personality would work on the bench, etc. You generally don’t hear them talking about substantive issues or saying negative things about their opponents.

F: Do you have a hero in Illinois judicial history?

B: The late Arthur Goldberg, who grew up in Chicago, studied here and worked here before becoming a justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1962-1965 (as well as ambassador to the UN and Secretary of Labor, among other great jobs). He wrote a concurring opinion (based on the Ninth Amendment) in Griswold v. Connecticut, the case which established that the right to personal privacy is embedded in the US Constitution, even thought it doesn’t say that explicitly.

His sister was our next door neighbor when I was growing up. Her name was Shirley Pearl and she was a widow. When she passed away, her brother Arthur came to Chicago and made himself at home at our house when making all the arrangements for her funeral. He hired a limousine and had us ride with him in the procession. We sat up front at the funeral with him because he knew we were like family to her and he treated us that way. I was really impressed with how down to earth he was. And yet so tremendously powerful and accomplished.

F: Will you use the Internet in your campaign?

B: I have a website and I will definitely email friends and ask them to email their friends to remind them to vote. That is the modern day version of the friend-to-friend card (postcards that candidates ask friends to mail to THEIR friends to remind them to vote for their friend). I have mentioned the election occasionally on Facebook. And will do more as the time gets closer. I have certain references to it on Facebook permanently, such as the date and my website. I would also love to have a presence–such as this one–on friends’ blogs.

As someone recently said, you win by getting one vote at a time.

BONNIE CAROL McGRATH  for Circuit Court Judge  *  Punch 164