Three St. Clair County judges face election challenges filed with state
The candidacies of three St. Clair County circuit judges who spurned running for retention and instead intend to run in the general election have been challenged by Belleville City Clerk Dallas Cook, who filed objections Monday with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The election papers filed by Chief Judge John Baricevic, and Circuit Judges Robert Haida and Robert LeChien, all Democrats, were objected to on state constitutional grounds, according to paperwork filed by Cook, who is a Republican candidate for county circuit clerk.
Baricevic, Haida and LeChien could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
According to copies of the objections, Cook raised arguments that the state constitution requires, “...all circuit judges to seek retention for the Office of Circuit Court Judge and not re-election,” and to actually file for retention, “...not less than six months before the general election,” in November.
You have judges that are not following the law, and these are the people who represent the law. It’s incredible.
Belleville City Clerk Dallas Cook
“What the three judges are doing is wrong. They are attempting to scam the system and deprive the people of the 20th Judicial Circuit of fair, lawful and impartial justice,” Cook said. “You have judges that are not following the law, and these are the people who represent the law. It’s incredible.”
But a legal ethics professor at Northwestern University disagrees.
In an article on Aug. 26, the BND asked legal ethics professor Steven Lubet at Northwestern University in Evanston to comment on the judges’ tactic. Lubet replied, “I think it’s within the law and I think the voters will have a choice. I don’t see anything unethical about it. But it’s virtually unheard of.”
In 2006, former county Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto did the same thing and ran in the general election where he was elected. Cueto is a Democrat.
By not running for retention, where a candidate must obtain at least 60 percent of the vote, the three judges need only beat their general election judicial opponent by a single vote to be elected.
By choosing the avenues that I have, I expose myself to the voters in the primary and I expose myself to the voters in the general.
Chief Judge John Baricevic
Hearings for Baricevic and Haida are set for Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m. at the state board in Springfield. For LeChien, the same date and time were set but the location will be the county electoral board in the county office building in Belleville.
The judges made the announcement in August that they will technically resign and then run for the general election in the 20th Circuit, which covers St. Clair, Monroe, Perry, Washington and Randolph counties. In August, Baricevic said that voter choice is actually increased in the general election as opposed to the retention election.
“If you resign and run for a vacancy you have to run twice,” Baricevic has said. “By choosing the avenues that I have, I expose myself to the voters in the primary and I expose myself to the voters in the general.” He also said at the time that by resigning and running in the general election he has more ethical latitude to talk publicly about issues facing the judiciary.
The candidacy papers for Baricevic and Haida show that Baricevic is running for Haida’s spot, and Haida is running for Baricevic’s spot. LeChien is running for the spot he currently holds.
A Republican candidate has not filed to run against Haida.
Republican Ronald Duebbert of Belleville filed to run against Baricevic while Republican Laninya Cason filed to run against LeChien.
George Pawlaczyk: 618-239-2625, @gapawlaczyk
This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Three St. Clair County judges face election challenges filed with state."