From the News-Democrat

Jun. 10, 2005

Attorney who backed McGlynn says politics did not play a role
BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN
News-Democrat

An Effingham attorney who recommended Steve McGlynn as a finalist for an appeals court seat said Thursday that McGlynn's political ties and support of state Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier were not a factor.
The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that McGlynn, a Belleville attorney who has been serving as co-chairman of the state Republican Party, had been appointed to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon, based on a recommendation by Karmeier, a Republican from Nashville.
"I thought he was a qualified candidate for the position," said committee member Matthew Hortenstine of Effingham. "I was the person who interviewed him first, and I have no ties whatsoever to St. Clair County. I thought he was a qualified candidate based on his legal background and his experience as an attorney."
Karmeier had set up a committee to screen candidates for the judgeship and recommend finalists. One of the seven committee members interviewed each of the 17 applicants, then that committee member reported to the whole committee, which then decided whether to recommend the applicant be interviewed again by Karmeier.
Asked whether he was aware of McGlynn's political background or his support of Karmeier's campaign for the Supreme Court, Hortenstine replied: "I did not ask his political affiliation at all. I think an honest answer to that would be 'no.'" He added, however, that McGlynn mentioned he had supported Karmeier's campaign.
Karmeier defeated Democrat Gordon Maag of Madison County in November in the election for the Supreme Court seat from southern Illinois. The race drew $9 million in campaign donations. Maag also failed to retain his seat on the appeals court, leaving the vacancy McGlynn will fill until an election next year.
Hortenstine said Karmeier made no suggestions to committee members.
"Not at all," Hortenstine said. "I never discussed with Justice Karmeier or anyone else whether Mr. McGlynn should or should not have been a candidate for the appellate court judge prior to my making that recommendation."
Hortenstine said he is neither Republican nor Democrat. He said he held a fund-raiser for and supported a Democratic candidate for state representative in the last election, and did the same for Karmeier.
Hortenstine described the committee members as having varied backgrounds and political leanings.
"If the issue was you had to be the right political flavor, I would not have been on that committee," he said.
The Supreme Court, on Karmeier's recommendation, also appointed Alexander County Circuit Judge Stephen Spomer, another Republican, to another spot on the appeals court. The appeals court, which covers Southern Illinois, now has a 4-3 majority of Democrats; it had been a 6-1 majority.
Karmeier's critics decried the appointments as partisan. But Republicans said Democratic judges have made partisan appointments for decades. Don Weber, a Republican lawyer in Madison County, said that's why Associate Judge James Hackett is the only Republican on the bench in Madison and St. Clair counties.
"Out of 37 judges in Madison and St. Clair counties, he's the only one in the last 30 years," Weber said. "That's because the Democratic Supreme Court judges always -- always -- appointed Democrats."
He added, "My question is, when was the last time a Democrat judge appointed a Republican? My answer is, I can't remember, and I've been around here 30 years."
The last time a Republican was appointed or assigned to the 5th District Appellate Court was in 1979, when Democratic Supreme Court Justice Joseph Goldenhersh recommended Dorothy Wilbourn Spomer -- Stephen Spomer's mother -- who served a two-year term.
Before Karmeier, every Supreme Court justice from Southern Illinois has been a Democrat since 1970.
Doug Wojcieszak, a political activist supported by trial lawyers, who heavily financed the campaign of Karmeier's opponent, agreed Democrats have traditionally appointed Democrats to local judgeships.
"It's just more of the same," Wojcieszak said. "It's just a different party doing it."
Wojcieszak said his gripe is that Karmeier said during the campaign he would remove politics from judicial appointments.
Kent Redfield of the Institute for Legislative Studies at University of Illinois at Springfield said judges who are elected in partisan elections will tend to appoint people with whom they're familiar and share the same values -- likely people from the same party.
"The problem is, the system sets it up so that if you want to be cynical about it, question it or raise the issue of politics, then it's very easy to do," Redfield said.
McGlynn said Wednesday he plans to run in the election for the appellate judgeship in November 2006 and immediately resign his position with the party.
Contact reporter Brian Brueggemann at bbrueggemann@bnd.com or 692-9481.
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