From the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Karmeier wins Illinois Supreme Court race
By Paul Hampel
Of the Post-Dispatch
Republican Lloyd Karmeier defeated Democrat Gordon Maag in the hotly
contested race for the Illinois Supreme Court from the 5th District.
With 73 percent of the precincts reporting, Karmeier led Maag, 55 percent
to 45 percent.
The race set a national record in campaign contributions for a judicial
contest.
Karmeier, a Washington County circuit judge reported raising $4,291,863
and 5th District Judge Maag reported $3,482,141.
An additional $2 million poured into the two men’s campaigns from outside
groups raising money on their own.
While the candidates behaved politely in person, they fought a
no-holds-barred battle on television.
They led all national judicial campaigns in spending with television ads
that ran in rapid rotation on stations in Illinois — and in Missouri,
Indiana and Kentucky, which have viewing areas that include the 5th
District.
Those ads were among the nastiest of the thousands of political ads that
ran locally, featuring ominous narrators implying that the candidates
allowed torturers to go free, or that they coddled child murderers, or
released sexual predators. Karmeier’s supporters, mostly insurance companies and other corporations,
expected that his election would begin to change the circuit courts of
Madison and St. Clair counties, where they say justice is tilted in favor
of trial lawyers at the expense of business defendants.
Maag’s financial backing came largely from Madison County trial lawyers,
who defended the current court system, saying it provided speedy justice to
thousands of plaintiffs from across the country.
The candidates themselves hinted at the tort reform controversy in public
appearances, both contending that they opposed so-called frivolous medical
malpractice suits.
In their stump speeches, the pair abided by Illinois Supreme Court Rule 67,
which bars judicial candidates from making statements that commit or appear
to commit the candidate with respect to cases, controversies or issues
within cases that are likely to come before the court.
Maag noted that he had defended doctors and hospitals in medical
malpractice suits. He also touted his devotion to conservative values, his
lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association and his Army service.
Karmeier consistently stressed his small-town roots and common-sense
approach to justice, along with what he said was a need to bring more
balance to a court dominated 5-2 by Democrats.
The last Republican from Southern Illinois to serve on the state’s highest
court was Byron O. House, a Supreme Court justice from 1957 to 1969.
Karmeier started his law career in 1964 as a clerk to House.
The 1970 Illinois Constitution instituted a system for electing judges by
district.
Reporter Paul Hampel
E-mail: paulh@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 618-659-3639?