From the Crain’s Chicago Business

Justice for sale
Campaign cash is pouring into Downstate's 5th District Supreme Court race. Here's why.

By Greg Hinz

Justice is a thing of inestimable value. But in the fields and hamlets of Southern Illinois this fall, justice surely is for sale.
In a clash filled with enough ready cash to make a Chicago precinct captain blush, the state's business community and trial lawyer bar are locked in an all-out battle to buy the 5th District seat on the Supreme Court of Illinois.
Dozens of interest groups or individuals, almost all from up here, have dropped $25,000 or more each on the contest. More dough is flowing in — this, in a region where five bucks still buys a nice lunch plus a piece of pie.
By the time it's over on Nov. 2, an unprecedented $5 million or more will have been spent, about $10 per voter. And one side or the other will have claimed a prize in the newest front in the great tort reform war.
"This is not the way we're supposed to pick judges," sighs Cynthia Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a Chicago group that monitors electoral spending. "Judges are different from other public officials. They don't represent constituents. Their job is to represent the law."
As in any race, the 5th District match between Democrat Illinois Appellate Court Justice Gordon Maag, 52, and GOP Washington County Circuit Court Judge Lloyd Karmeier, 63, touches on many things. My favorite: The National Rifle Assn. has endorsed both, which proves nobody's perfect.
But the big firepower — and almost all the money — comes from those with a keen interest in tort reform. The money is fueling debate over two key questions: Has the Illinois Supreme Court hurt the state's economy by making it too easy to collect fat judgments from business? (The court would be divided just four-to-three if the GOP's Mr. Karmeier wins.) And, has long Democratic control of the judiciary in the 5th District's Madison County made it a honey pot for trial lawyers in search of a friendly, easy venue?
"Madison County has established itself as a national icon of bad justice," declares Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League, a business-backed group that has accepted five-figure donations from firms like Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., and expects to package together at least $600,000 in such funds for Mr. Karmeier.
Madison County courts handled more class-action suits than any other jurisdiction in the country last year, Mr. Murnane contends, noting that the new justice will appoint judges to fill county court vacancies. What's needed is someone who "believes the law should be made by the Legislature and not the court system," Mr. Murnane says.
The other side is just as vociferous.
The business groups "are trying to do what they did in Texas, where they picked off justices one by one, and now have probably the most conservative Supreme Court in the nation," says Chicago trial lawyer Robert Clifford. His firm is one of several that donated $100,000 each to the state Democratic Party, which in turn has spent $800,000-plus on the Maag campaign so far.
The fight has grown so desperate that local doctors are giving their patients fliers urging a vote for Mr. Karmeier, Mr. Clifford gripes.
The Illinois State Medical Society's political action committee confirms that it furnished the pamphlet because Mr. Karmeier "will restore fairness to the Illinois court system."
The irony is that neither state Supreme Court candidate can really give a detailed position on tort reform, because judges are supposed to be neutral toward any potential case. So, voters have to take the contributors' word.
Meantime, legislation is stalled to allow voluntary, limited public financing for Supreme Court races and cap the size of donations. Barring public outrage, nothing will happen except more cash to tilt the scales of justice.
"I'm not saying this is a good way" to select judges, says Mr. Clifford.
On that, counselor, we agree.