Park Forest, IL–(ENEWSPF)– State Representative George Scully, Jr. (D-80) was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to fill the 15th Subcircuit vacancy created by the resignation of former Judge Marcella Lipinski. The term will expire on December 6, 2010. Scully said he plans to campaign and run in the February 2010 primary to win the seat for a six year term.
“I will be campaigning, I will be running for that office to hopefully finish my career on the bench. If I am successfull, I will be sworn into that office in December 2010.”
Rep. Scully said he expressed interest in the appointment soon after he learned of the vacancy, “After Judge Lipinski announced her resignation, I became aware of the vacancy in the 15th Subcircuit for a full circuit judge, I sent a letter to the [Illinois] Supreme Court asking that I be considered a vacancy if an appointment was going to be made. They told me there was a process with the Chicago Bar Association that I should follow to have my application considered – very extensive process, very lengthy application.
“They literally made phone calls to references for every job I’ve had since college in 1974.”
“I had to give them the names and telephone numbers ten opposing counsels on litigated matters, and ten opposing counsels on non-litigated matters. So, I literally had to give as references twenty of my opponents. Fortunately, professional attorneys understand the importance of this, and, to the best of my knowledge, they gave good, honest references about my legal skills.”
Scully said he estimates the Chicago Bar Association made about sixty phone calls checking references. He expects Chief Judge Timothy Evans will assign him to traffic court for the first few months. “[Evans] has a reputation of trying to comply with people’s requests to either be downtown or be close to home. He has always tried to utilize people where their skills are best, and at a location that they would like to serve.” Scully said.
He said his experience is in civil litigation, “I’ve never done criminial cases.”
On Former Governor Blagojevich
“The important thing is that we got past the impeachment as quickly as possible. Blagojevich’s very poor decision to in the process at all actually speeded the process up. We had originally antipitated that the trial would conclude on February 13. When he chose not to participate, it certainly abbreviated the process, giving us the ability to move on to the next step.”
According to Rep. Scully, Blagojevich’s media blitz is giving some ammunition to the prosecutors, “The pattern of his conduct is to simply try to solve every problem by campaigning. An Iowa farmer once told me if your only tool is a hammer, your problems will tend to look like nails. Blagojevich is a classic example of this. The only tool he really had was campaigning. So, no matter what problem he was confronted with, he tried to campaign his way to a solution. That didn’t work in this case.
“The really important thing is for us to let him go, let the U.S. Attorneys Office deal with his criminal prosecution. We as a state have to move on, because now we have to tackle the real problems – the economy and the budget deficit.
“Fortunately, he’s out of our way.”
Scully said he looks forward to more time to stay in shape and spend time with his family.
Scully’s appointment is effective February 27, 2009, and will have to close his law practice by that date. He will earn about $168,000 annually.