From the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Campaign money hits record in court race
By Paul Hampel

10/18/2004
The two judges competing for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court have smashed records for campaign donations in Illinois judicial races , and most of that money is fueling the escalating television ad battle between the candidates.
According to reports filed with the state Board of Elections, Washington County Circuit Judge Lloyd Karmeier, a Republican from Nashville, Ill., has raised more than $1.5 million. That edged the $1.4 million collected by 5th District Appellate Judge Gordon Maag, a Democrat from Glen Carbon.
Midnight Monday was the deadline for disclosure of all money raised since June.
The previous record in a regular election for the state Supreme Court was $1.38 million in 2002, when Rita Garman, a Republican, won in the 4th District in central Illinois. That was $10,000 more than was spent in 2000, when Democrat Tom Kilbride was elected to the Supreme Court in the 3rd District.
Maag and Karmeier are also likely to easily break DuPage County Judge Bonnie Wheaton's Illinois mark of $1.55 million, most of it Wheaton's own money, which she spent in an unsuccessful primary election in 2000.
The rise in contributions does not reflect well on the state's judicial system, said political professor Kent Redfield.
"When you have candidates who are surrogates for big interest groups, that certainly lowers the stature of the court," said Redfield, of the University of Illinois at Springfield. "In cases of parties appearing before the court on issues that were points of controversy in this election, it makes it hard for them to believe their cases have not been prejudiced."
Most of the campaign contributions have gone to television spots, which have degenerated in recent weeks to vicious attack ads.
As of Saturday, the Maag campaign had spent $1,342,000 this year on 1,650 ads aired on television stations in St. Louis, Champaign, Ill., Evansville, Ind., and Paducah, Ky., which have viewing areas that include viewers in the 5th District.
In those same markets, the Karmeier campaign spent $969,841 on 1,005 television ads.
Not included in the totals tracked by the TNS Media Group were ads that ran for both candidates on television stations in Cape Girardeau, Mo., just across the Mississippi River from Illinois.
Although the judge is elected only by voters in the 5th District, which covers the 37 southernmost counties in Illinois, the judge is involved in all Illinois Supreme Court decisions.
The race has drawn national interest for several reasons. Chief among them is that after the Nov. 2 election, the Supreme Court is expected to consider the appeal of a $10.1 billion verdict in a class-action suit that alleged Philip Morris had deceived Illinois smokers about the dangers of light cigarettes.
Also key in the race is the role the winning judge will play in appointments to lower courts. Supreme Court justices fill vacancies on circuit and appellate courts caused by deaths and retirements. The appointees can then go into the subsequent election as an incumbent.
Karmeier's opponents have portrayed him as the candidate of big businesses, especially insurance companies, which have donated to his campaign in $10,000 chunks, much of it through JUSTPAC, a tort reform group.
National tort reform groups have marked Maag as a puppet of Madison County trial lawyers. Maag has defended doctors and hospitals in his career, but has also sued railroad and barge companies as a trial lawyer with the Lakin Firm in Wood River.
Reporter Paul Hampel
E-mail: paulh@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 618-659-3639