Two Republicans legislators are targeting the type of controversial campaign contributions that have led to a misconduct probe of Madison County Democratic Judge Barbara Crowder.
A bill introduced Wednesday by state representatives Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, and Paul Evans, R-O'Fallon, would force attorneys to disclose to the judge and all parties to a lawsuit any campaign contributions of more than $500 made to that judge by the attorney or their firm within the past five years.
The judge would then have to recuse himself from the case if a motion to do so was filed by any party to the case who did not make the contribution.
"The question of fairness in our court system continues to be a concern in Madison and St. Clair counties especially when judges receive thousands of dollars from the very same lawyers appearing before them," Kay said in a news release. "Whether the judge was influenced by those campaign contributions or not, it gives the appearance of 'Justice for Sale' and is perceived as a conflict of interest. This reform legislation will remove the concern that campaign donations influence the judicial process."
Circuit Judge Crowder was removed as Madison County's asbestos judge Dec. 12 about a week after her campaign committee received $30,000 in contributions from attorneys with three asbestos firms. On Dec. 1, she had signed a preliminary order that gave the same firms the majority of the trial slots for the 2013 asbestos docket.
Crowder has denied any link between the donations and her decisions on the bench, and she has returned the donations, according to an Illinois State Board of Elections database.
Don Weber, a former Madison County judge who is running against Evans in the March 20 republican primary, said he supports the bill.
Weber said two asbestos plaintiffs firms spent more than $182,000 alone to defeat him in the 2006 judicial election. “I understand the inordinate influence political donations play in judicial politics, Weber said.
Weber also said he would seek legislation to override “local rules” that limit the evidence in a case where, for example, a plaintiff may have worked around asbestos every day for 20 years at his place of employment, but changed the brakes on his car once at home with an asbestos-containing brake pad.
“Even though the plaintiff’s main employer may have already paid millions to a plaintiff, the remaining brake-pad defendant is usually prohibited from showing that evidence to a jury. I trust juries. I think they are entitled to know such highly relevant facts,” Weber said.
He added, “The local asbestos rules were adopted by judges who served on the bench, wrote the unfair rules, and then returned to a lucrative private plaintiff’s practice. These local rules need to be changed and I am convinced must be changed by legislation. The unfair rules have made a few local attorneys extravagantly wealthy at the expense of many workers who have lost their jobs and who can’t find work because the job atmosphere is poisoned by the lawyers’ greed.”
Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan has asked the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board to investigate whether Crowder committed judicial misconduct. Almost all of the Republican County Board members have called for Crowder, who is running for retention, to resign.
The Illinois Judicial Conduct Code does not explicitly prohibit judges' campaign committees from accepting contributions from legal firms. The code does state, however, that judges should conduct themselves "in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."
