From the Southern

CHAMBERS UNHAPPY WITH JUDICIAL BACKING:

STATE BUSINESS GROUP ENDORSES JUDGE KARMEIER IN COURT RACE
BY JEFF SMYTH
THE SOUTHERN
[Wed Jul 07 2004]
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS -- A first-ever endorsement of an Illinois judicial candidate by the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce has some representing local chambers in the region questioning if the state body should take sides in such races.
The state chamber last month threw its support behind Washington County Circuit Court Judge Lloyd Karmeier, who is squaring off against Appellate Court Judge Gordon Maag of Glen Carbon for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court, 5th Judicial District.
Republican Karmeier's base of support includes business owners, doctors and other health care officials concerned with the rising number and size of awards being granted in medical malpractice and class-action lawsuits filed in Madison and St. Clair counties. Democrat Maag hails from the Metro East and is backed by trial lawyers.
"Electing Judge Karmeier will place a fresh face and evenhanded personality into a suspect judicial system," state chamber President Douglas Whitley said in a statement. "And, it will prove voters know there is a problem in their judiciary that must be corrected through the ballot box."
Karmeier campaign spokesman Steve Tomaszewski said lessons were learned in 2000 when Democrats and trial lawyers successfully pushed hard for their candidate for a Supreme Court seat in the 3rd Judicial District while Republicans and business representatives sat passive.
"(The endorsement) shows that businesses who have pretty much stayed on the sidelines when it comes to judicial races in the past realize other organizations and groups get involved. They believe it is time they got involved," Tomaszewski said. "Go back to the 2000 race. The Democratic Party was heavily involved. Business and Republicans lost because they were not engaged."
Todd Maisch, state chamber vice president of government affairs, agrees with that assessment.
"This is our first-ever endorsement in a judicial race. We are late in the game. We should have been paying attention in past years and the economy in Illinois would be better off," Maisch said.