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Voting for Judges in Cook County: Who to Retain, Who to Drop in 2018


Justice, Albert V. Bryan District Courthouse, Tim Evanson
Justice outside the Albert V. Bryan District Courthouse in Alexandria, VA. (Photo: Tim Evanson – Flickr – CC license)

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- eNews Park Forest is pleased again to share information regarding judges running for office and judicial retention. Members of the public have told us they feel least informed when it comes to voting to retain or not retain judges. Toward that, we offer this 2018 guide for which judges to retain and which to drop.

We recommend that any judge who did not receive 100% recommendations from all 11 of the Alliance of Bar Associations not be retained. Being a judge is more than an ordinary job. Lives hang in the balance when judges make decisions. Less than 100% means a judge has failed.

To gather our information, we began with VoteForJudges.org. Vote for Judges gathers information from the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening (referred to hereafter as “Alliance”).

The Alliance gathers results from a number of bar associations and published this document: Summary: Alliance of Bar Association Results for the November 6, 2018Retention Election (PDF) for judicial candidates. 

Here is the breakdown for each judge seeking to be retained in Cook County showing the percentage of the 11 Alliance Bar Associations recommending judge retention. If a judge has received less than 100% of the 11 Alliance Bar Associations, the association(s) are noted. A key to the bar association acronyms appears at the end of this article.

To make the task easier for voters, here are the judges who received less than 100% of the 11 Alliance Bar Associations’ recommendations. Toward that, we recommend that these judges not be retained.

Do Not Retain Matthew E. Coghlan

We especially recommend that voters not retain Matthew E. Coghlan as only 44% of the Alliance Bar Associations recommended him. The Chicago Council of Lawyers, the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, and the Puerto Rican Bar Association ALL SAY NO (BWLA AND CCBA not yet reporting).

These Judges Should Not Be Retained

Kathy M. Flanagan:: 90%
Chicago Council of Lawyers says NO

Catherine Marie Haberkorn: 91%
Cook County Bar Association says NO

James M. Varga: 89%
Illinois State Bar Association says NO (BWLA and LAGBAC not yet reporting)

Maura Slattery Boyle: 89%
CCL says NO (BWLA and CCBA not yet reporting)

Matthew E. Coghlan: 44%
Chicago Council of Lawyers, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, and Puerto Rican Bar Association ALL SAY NO (BWLA AND CCBA not yet reporting)

Andrea M. Schleifer: 89%
Illinois State Bar Association says NO (CCBA not yet reporting)

Lionel Jean-Baptiste: 80%
Illinois State Bar Association and Lesbian and Gay Bar Association say NO (BWLA not yet reporting)

11 Alliance Bar Associations 

Illinois Supreme Court

Anne M. Burke: 100%

Illinois Appellate Court

Margaret McBride: 100%

Cook County Circuit Court

Kathy M. Flanagan:: 90%
CCL says NO

Moshe Jacobius: 100%

Stuart F. Lubin: 100%

Martin S. Agran: 100%

Ronald F. Bartkowicz: 100%

E. Kenneth Wright, Jr.: 100%

Catherine Marie Haberkorn: 91%
CCBA says NO

James M. Varga: 89%
ISBA says NO (BWLA and LAGBAC not yet reporting)

Marcia Maras: 100%
BWLA and CCBA not yet reporting

Peter Flynn: 100%

Paul A. Karkula: 100%

Maura Slattery Boyle: 89%
CCL says NO (BWLA and CCBA not yet reporting)

Mary Margaret Brosnahan: 100%

Matthew E. Coghlan: 44%
CCL, DSL, HLAI, LAGBAC, and PBRA say NO (BWLA AND CCBA not yet reporting)

Joyce Marie Murphy-Gorman: 100%

Joan Margaret O’Brien: 100%

Thomas David Roti: 100%

Colleen F. Sheehan: 100%

Carl Anthony Walker: 100%

Daniel Patrick Brannan: 100%

Grace G. Dickler: 100%

Ellen L. Flannigan: 100%

Carol M. Howard: 100%

Jill C. Marisie: 100%

James Michael McGing: 100%

Mike McHale: 100%
CCBA not evaluating

James Patrick Murphy: 100%

Thomas W. Murphy: 100%

Ramon Ocasio III: 100%

Mary Colleen Roberts: 100%
CCBA not evaluating

Diane M. Shelley: 100%

Celia Louise Gamrath: 100%

Lorna Ellen Propes: 100%

Tommy Brewer: 100%

Andrea M. Schleifer: 89%
ISBA says NO (CCBA not yet reporting)

Thomas R. Allen: 100%

Erica L. Reddick: 100%
CCBA not evaluating

Aicha Marie MacCarthy: 100%

Lionel Jean-Baptiste: 80%
ISBA and LAGBAC say NO (BWLA not yet reporting)

Michael R. Clancy: 100%

Regina Ann Scannicchio: 100%

Diann Karen Marsalek: 100%

Pamela M. Leeming: 100%

Larry G. Axelrood: 100%

Carl B. Boyd: 100%

Daniel R. Degnan: 100%

John H. Erhlich: 100%

Terry Gallagher: 100%

William G. Gamboney: 100%

Elizabeth Mary Hayes: 100%

Martin C. Kelley: 100%

Kimberly D. Lewis: 100%

Edward M. Maloney: 100%

Lisa Ann Marino: 100%

Michael Tully Mullen: 100%
BWLA not yet reporting

Karen Lynn O’Malley: 100%

Paul V. Pavlus: 100%

Cynthia Ramirez: 100%

Beatriz Santiago: 100%

BAR ASSOCIATION ACRONYMS

  • AABA: Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area
  • BWLA: Black Women Lawyer’s Association of Greater Chicago
  • CCL: Chicago Council of Lawyers
  • CCBA: Cook County Bar Association
  • DSL: Decalogue Society of Lawyers
  • HBA: Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois
  • HLAI: Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois
  • ISBA: Illinois State Bar Association
  • LAGBAC: Lesbian and Gay Bar Association
  • PRBA: Puerto Rican Bar Association
  • WBAI: Women’s Bar Association

See VoteforJudges.org for more.


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