From the Associated Press

Karmeier wins ugly Supreme Court race
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By Ryan Keith
Associated Press Writer
November 3, 2004
Republicans cut into the Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court on Tuesday with a surprisingly strong win in a nasty race that pitted powerful lobbying groups for trial lawyers and doctors against each other.
The race between Republican Lloyd Karmeier and Democrat Gordon Maag, two relatively obscure southern Illinois judges, easily shattered state and national spending records for a judicial contest.
With 92 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results, Karmeier had 55 percent of the vote and Maag captured 45 percent.
Karmeier's win cut Democratic control of the court to a 4-3 majority, which could prove to be significant in high-profile cases.
Karmeier credited the win to strong support from voters upset with the judicial system in Madison County, which has been heavily criticized for large jury awards in some cases and has been home to a Supreme Court justice for decades. Karmeier lives in Nashville in Washington County, while Maag lives in Glen Carbon in Madison County.
``I think there is a message being sent,'' Karmeier said shortly after declaring victory.
The two battled for the sprawling, 37-county 5th District seat in a race with unusually high political stakes.
They combined to take in more than $8.5 million in campaign cash and spent at least $7.6 million. The old spending record for an Illinois judicial race was about $3.2 million; the national record was $4.4 million, set in Alabama in 1996. Karmeier said he regretted the negative tone of the race and the millions of dollars spent, and he hopes it acts as a ``catalyst for change'' in the way judicial races are financed and conducted.
``Basically that's obscene for a judicial race,'' Karmeier said. ``What does it gain people? How can people have faith in the system?''
Business groups, doctors, trial lawyers and others ponied up millions of dollars to help the candidate they believed would be most friendly to them on such highly charged issues as tort reform and medical malpractice.
Trial lawyers backed Maag, an appellate court justice for the past decade. Doctor and insurance groups supported Karmeier, a circuit judge since 1986.
Despite vowing in August to avoid negative campaigning and agreeing to let a special committee act as ethical policeman, the candidates and their political allies used their unprecedented cash to sling mud.
Television ads painted each judge as soft on crime and less qualified than their opponent. The ethics committee rebuked both candidates' tactics, but the campaigns simply blamed each other for misleading ads and kept up the attacks.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Associated Pres