State election board hearing set for Monday for judges Baricevic and Haida

An initial hearing for challenges to the election petition of St. Clair County circuit judges John Baricevic and Robert Haida is set to get underway Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the State Election Board.

The challenges were filed by Belleville City Clerk Dallas Cook, who is himself a Republican candidate for county circuit clerk. Baricevic and Haida are Democrats.

In an unusual move, Baricevic and Haida have filed paperwork resigning from their respective judicial jurisdictions and will then run in the primary and general elections in the jurisdiction of the other; Baricevic will run for Haida’s spot and Haida will run for Baricevic’s spot. In this way, they need only to win by one vote in the general election, as opposed to obtaining at least 60 percent of the vote in the retention election, which is listed in the state constitution.

Circuit Judge Robert LeChien has also filed paperwork intending to resign and run in the general election instead of the retention election. He will run as a Democrat in his own jurisdiction. His hearing is also at 10:30 a.m. Monday but will take place before the county electoral board on the fifth floor of the county office building at 10 Public Square.

Cook has described the ploy to avoid the retention election as a “scam” and an attempt to, “...deprive the people of the 20th Judicial Circuit of fair, lawful and impartial justice.”

Baricevic has said that by exposing himself to the voters in both the primary and the general election, he will be giving voters greater latitude to choose and will have greater freedom to speak out on issues affecting the judiciary. Haida and LeChien could not be reached for comment.

In his official challenge to the judges’ candidacy, Cook wrote that the state constitution requires that circuit judges run for retention.

“You have judges that are not following the law,” he said.

In a previous article, the News-Democrat quoted Northwestern University law school professor Steven Lubet as commenting that while the procedure adopted by the judges is so unusual it is “almost unheard of,” he considered it ethical. In 2006, Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto, who has since resigned, ran in the general election instead of the retention election, and won.

The hearing at the state board offices at 2329 MacArthur Blvd., is not likely to result in an immediate decision. At least five state board members must be present for a quorum. The board has the power to remove names from official election ballots and can refer violations of election law to local police agencies.

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This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 9:27 AM with the headline "State election board hearing set for Monday for judges Baricevic and Haida."